*I have to preface this post by just saying to all my sweet sisters & sisters-in-law that I would make one of these for each and every one of my beautiful little nieces if I could...I mean no slight to any of my sweet nieces--Betsy just benefits by proximity!*
About a year ago, I was shopping at Goodwill for who knows what when I spotted this newspaper/magazine caddy. After spending far too long admiring many varied projects on
this site in particular, I had a moment of inspiration when I spotted this old caddy. I envisioned the perfect gift for my niece's first birthday (which at that time was almost a year away!)
Here's what I started with:
First order of business was to remove that handle, which came off easily enough:
Sanding was a bigger chore than I'd anticipated...each of those spindles took forever:
Painting turned out to be far more of a dilemma than I'd originally thought too--we had THE RAINIEST March (truly, we set a new record, which knowing this is Oregon says a TON) so I couldn't get outside to paint it. Meanwhile the clock was ticking as Betsy's birthday approached. I got the primer on and then put the final coats on (and you'll notice there is SNOW on the ground (which in itself was a record too)! I had to finish though so I just did it, snow or no snow.) I chose this yummy creamy Heirloom White:
And then I don't have pics of the process of making the bedding...but here 'she' is with the bedding I made! That ugly old newspaper caddy became a gorgeous little doll crib!!!
You can imagine how much fun I had making this in all its girly glory... I loved every little pink ribbon and butterfly...
I made this little fleece butterfly blanket to go with it. (I use the term 'made' quite loosely...all I did was cut it out and add a straight stitch along each side.)
I'm quite proud of myself for the detail in the bumper...I'd never done anything like that before but I think it turned out pretty well--just don't look too closely.
I also crocheted a blanket to go with it. At this point the blanket was unfinished.
Here it is when I finished it a few days later:
This went underneath:
And here's Betsy with her new doll crib, though she's rather oblivious to it just yet. I can't even begin to tell you how fun this was for me to make. I hope Betsy will get many happy hours of play out of it.
