A return to cuteness

Okie Dokie, I'm getting back on track finally:

One of my nephews celebrated his 1st birthday two days ago.
For the record: since I keep mentioning nieces and nephews: on my husband's side of the family there are 19 grandchildren presently. On my side of the family there are 26-28 (one passed away as an infant and one is expected in August). So if you take out my kids they have a total of 39 cousins to play with! But I digress...

So, birthday party on Saturday: My husband's sister and her husband have recently opened Saratoga Tool Rental and Fire and Ice Dance Studio in Saratoga Springs, UT. The party was held there and everyone had a great time.

Since I have only daughters, I was momentarily stumped on what to do for a little boy's birthday. Besides that, since we're still on the first paycheck after Christmas, I didn't have any money to spend :") So, after some consideration and consulting other crafters for their ideas, I decided to stick with what I first thought of: An "Eye Spy Bag".

This isn't just any Eye Spy Bag: it's Eye Spy: Family Edition. I made the bag of white cotton (two layers for strength) and use iron on transfer paper to put a picture of the extended family on the back, and a cropped picture of "Bubber's" family on the front above the viewing window. Inside I used short grain rice as a filler and included 19 bottle caps, each with a picture of one of the grandchildren on that side of the famly, and 1 more with a picture of the two favorite aunts. The bottlecaps are all glazed and finished.

Hopefully the bag will be a fun thing to play with even as he grows up. In the mean time, his sister seemed to enjoy trying to find herself. (She's 3 years old). Happy Birthday "Bubbers!"

Sorry the pictures are not the greatest.
I quickly took them in the car on the way to the party just before I wrapped it up >g<