Another Sewing Project...I should go into business!

I spent the evening last night working on another baby gift. A childhood friend of mine is having her first. The entire gift is pictured below. I included one of my owls...the other I gave away recently was a huge hit at the baby shower so that kind of gave me more confidence about them. The invitation to this most recent baby shower suggested giving a children's book instead of a card. I like that idea. One of my most favorite books, "My cat likes to hide in boxes" was a gift to me when I was a child. It has a short note written in the front, when I open that book it brings back memories. So I liked their idea. The jute bag is another made from the coffee sacks the husband has collected for me recently. It has been fun making more things out of those lately. The new baby is going to live very close to the beach - they live in the town that I went to college in, San Luis Obispo, CA. It is minutes away from the ocean. The mommy and daddy to be are also the type to hike and spend lots of time outside. So I thought the jute bag would be a nice way for them to hold beach toys - I didn't line it so sand will shake out easily. It could also be used to collect treasures in nature - any dirt that ends up in the bag will be easy to shake out. The tissue wrapped package is two onesies that I made specifically for this baby, they are shown below.She decided not to find out the gender - an idea I kind of like. Yes it will be more difficult to pick out the colors of things, but there's no rule that says you can't pick out the items that you want to be a particular color after the baby is born. I like it that it is going to be a suprise for her. Seems like anything to make your labor something that you are actually looking forward to would be good. So anyway, I decided to go with another guitar onesie, she and her husband are both musicians. I had thought I'd put the five stitched "guitar strings" on this one, but when I got to that point I decided I like it better the way it is, simple, so the strings were skipped this time. The print of the fabric is a little "flowerish", but the colors are not overly girlie, so I think it will work whether she has a boy or girl. Besides, I think baby boys can get away with a ton more than they can when they get older. Have you ever seen the old fashioned pictures of baby boys in christening gowns? Those gowns were as lacy as can be and they'd put a lacy bonnet on the little guy to top it all off. Looking overly "masculine" isn't as important for babies. I also went with the little chick/duck/birdie because I like how it turned out in the orange print (by the way, that is an Amy Butler pattern - I have it in green and blue as well, love all of them.)
The picture below is the "DeetlesBird" tag I made and sewed into the jute nature bag...All of the baby gifts that I've been working lately have come at a good time. I want to gain confidence with my sewing and the ideas I have for making bags, embellishing onesies, even making the quilted play pad. My jobless status has had a huge effect on my thinking lately. More and more I am seeing the option of starting my own small business as not only a nice idea, but something that I could be successful with.I am going to set aside time in the next week to research local farmer's markets and art fairs for the summer. My soft goal would be to sell my things at least twice a month this summer. I feel like I'm just putting my toe into the water so-to-speak, maybe that's being to safe. But selling things that involved my creativity is scary - it's like putting yourself on display and asking people if they think you're worth something. Each time I put together a gift I gain a little more confidence. Besides, it's nice to not spend much money but still be able to give (what I consider) a nice gift.