Drew's 2nd Birthday Gifts

My sweet nephew Drew is turning 2 next weekend.  He is here this weekend with my sister and parents.  It is wonderful to see him play with his cousins and see his sweet smile and hear his laughter. He loves cars of any kind.  I wanted to make something special for his birthday that went with his love of cars.

As you know, I think handmade is the best way to go when giving a gift.  You don't have to make it yourself, buying a handmade item is just as nice.  That is why Etsy was created!  When I can,  I like to personally make a gift.  It is that extra special touch.

In addition to being part of this blog, I follow a ton of blogs.  I love all the ideas that come my way and that are shared among all the craft blogs.  Both of these gifts were from tutorials given by two wonderful blogs.

The first gift I made was an Art Notebook.  This is similar to the ones I made for two sweet girls birthdays.  You can see those here. If you would like the full tutorial, you can find it on the Sutton Grace blog, found here. (Thank you to Sutton Grace for having such a thorough and pictured tutorial!)

Again, I made some changes to this notebook from the original tutorial. This time I placed crayons on the side and didn't do the overlapped pocketing.  I found that the crayons fell out easier when they were horizontal (when notebook is opened).  Therefore, I made two vertical pockets.  I liked this better, unfortunately, I didn't measure well enough.  The crayons in the top pocket stick out a bit, but it isn't a huge problem, just another lesson learned.  Maybe by the time I make this on the fourth or fifth time, I will have it just like I want it.  Overall, I think this is another successful art notebook.  I am sure Drew will like it and will like that it has cars all over the fabric.

The crayons are loaded, now I just need to slip in a coloring book and some stickers for the sticker pocket.  I can't wait for Drew to point out the "Fire car" as he calls it!

The next item I made was a Cozy Car Caddy.  Homemade by Jill (not me, but I love her name!) has a fantastic tutorial for this easy to make caddy, found here.  This is a wonderful idea for little boys (or a girl who loves cars as well, I was one of those girls).  I like that it can be folded up, stored in a purse or diaper bag and taken anywhere. What child wouldn't like to drive a few cars on their mini-highway, while they play in the car or waiting for dinner at a restaurant!

Once again, I picked a cute car fabric and added a ribbon and velcro strap for easy closure.  I think this was another successful handmade gift.  The first picture is of the caddy all folded up.  The second picture is the caddy unfolded.  I need to load it with a few cars and Drew will be set to play!

I am giving Drew these gifts this evening.  We are having a mini birthday party for him here.  I love cake and will take any opportunity to enjoy a cake from Sam's Club!  Hopefully, I will get a great picture of him with his new travel gifts.  I will add that later!  These were very easy tutorials, please try them out.  I finished both gifts in about 3 hours. 

I hope that Drew likes them and that he has a fabulous 2nd birthday!  Aunt Jill loves you sweet Drew!