pregnancy: crafting for kiddo.

I know I have mixed feelings about the overwhelming nature of baby stuff, but I'm no different from the next person who in the long, dragging months of pregnancy fills some of the time with fussing over nursery decor and cute onesies. I don't want to overdo it--nothing like setting a kid up for an overly materialistic attitude from the start. But I am a crafty, creative person, who very highly values the satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, and even practicality that comes from making things with your own two hands. It's something I want to pass along to Baby Epic. When I was a kid, I was always decorating big appliance boxes (how did we come by so many of those?) to make them play houses, or making my own magazines, or creating clothes and things for my dolls and stuffed animals. I want to encourage our kid to find joy in making things instead of always just buying things.

That said, I hope to DIY some things for the baby to help fill the long wait until he or she arrives. I'm not going to hand-craft all the kid's clothes and toys or anything--it's awesome that some people are capable of and have time for that, but I have neither of those things going for me. But I do intend to create several wall hangings for the nursery, for starters. I may even make the curtains myself, too, if I don't find any I particularly like. After that, I'll go from there and see what I have the time, energy, and ambition to DIY.

Here is one project that's nearly complete:

I actually made these Star Wars paper people for a library program, but I kept them for future use. I bought a large square shadow box, which I'm going to line with starry black paper, and then arrange these guys inside and hang it in the nursery. I think I'm going to make a Harry Potter set of them, too, but I haven't decided for sure which characters to include--it's so hard to narrow it down!

I have a huge collection of vintage buttons, which I normally use to make jewelry for my Etsy shop. The shop is currently closed--I'm not always in the mood to devote all that time and energy into the business side of crafting, and I have the luxury to close it whenever I want to, which is nice. Anyway, some of those vintage buttons are now earmarked for another nursery decor project I have in mind: making button mosaics as wall art.

Here are a few examples I've found on Pinterest (not made by me):

Link! Found HERE

Vader! Found HERE

Inky, the Pac Man ghost! Found HERE

A shooting star, found HERE

I can't wait to get started on some vintage button mosaics! I'm thinking I'll make a TARDIS one, for sure. Not sure which other ones I'll do. I need to spread the nursery decor love around multiple fandoms, of course.