Our two year anniversary was in September. Last year, we went back up to Glenwood Springs, where we honeymooned and had our "Honeyversary" we ate out and stayed at a cute B&B in town and had a nice relaxing vacation. I was about five months pregnant, so basically all I wanted to do was eat and buy clothes that I looked more pregnant than fat in. With a newborn this year, we didn't want to go out of town, especially since last time we went to stay in the mountains Emmett ended up with RSV and we had to rush back into town. No fun. I've seen all these "Plan monthly dates for a year" blogs and decided to do that for our anniversary. I had plenty of time, until one day, Nick says, "did you know the second year anniversary gift is cotton?" Well, shit. That was his not-so-subtle-hint that he got me something cotton. Normally I don't buy into that traditional crap, but I was feeling crafty. So I decided to continue with my gift, but hand make cotton envelopes. For weeks, every time Emmett slept I worked on these envelopes, I even hid the sewing machine back in its place every day. Until that got old. Soon the secret was out that I was sewing something. Nick was excited to see the finished product.
I give to you, my very first (and probably last, fuck sewing) sewing tutorial:
DIY Cotton Envelopes:
So I did a variation of this this tutorial on YouTube, and that was all I needed to go off of. I skipped some of her steps, such as sewing all the edges, I only sewed the ones that weren't getting sewed together in the end. The type of fabric I used didn't matter to me because I didn't need them to be fancy, or pretty. Just simple and cute. I bought some scrap fabric on clearance, and it worked like a charm. I also ironed pretty much after each step. It was much easier for me to keep things accurate.
Start with a square of fabric. I used 12x12 inches.
Next, cut a diagonal corner from the square. since mine was 12x12 my slit was 1.85 inches. In the video her squares are 13x13 and her slit was 2 inches.
Then pin the square with an identically sized and cut piece wrong sides out.
Sew together, leaving the corner that was cut off open to use to reverse the fabric.
Reverse the fabric to right side out, and iron.
Sew shut the corner, place the fabric you wish to be the liner on the outside. Then pin the edges to that flat corner to create the pocket
Sew those together, reverse the fabric, and iron.
TA-DA! there you have it! They're not perfect, as I am completely unable to sew/draw/walk a straight line. Ever. However, I'm sure some of you perfectionists, unlike me would be able to make immaculate envelopes!
We open a new envelope to reveal our date at the beginning of every month. It's fun to have a date/activity planned each month, as new parents we need the alone time. So far we've gone to brunch, next up is making cookies for friends and family, so be on the lookout for your cookies :). I'd post the other dates I've planned, but I don't want to give anything away, in case hubby decides to read my blog ever ;).
What would your dream envelopes say? Mine would have lots of dinner dates and a couple of vacations. I tailored some of the dates to Nick's preferences (and some to mine), I'm really excited to see him open some of those. I think this is a beginning of a fun anniversary tradition.
