your child's name: bean bags

I haven't mentioned any ABC books in a while, so I thought I would share two that I think are just beautiful. The first one pictured is Green Tigers Illustrated ABC. Ben got me this for Christmas this year. It's a collection of images from various vintage ABC books. I love vintage books, so this one is really fun for me. I get to see a lot of images from different books in one convenient place!

This second one is on my wishlist. I love Charley Harper's artwork and this book Charley Harper ABCs is just gorgeous.

I think ABC books make great gifts, but a great way to personalize them is to make lettered bean bags that spell a child's name. I made a few for gifts this past year and thought I would share them with you.

I followed this tutorial on Lil Blue Boo (Do you know this blog? If you love crafty things, you really need to check it out! She will blow you away!) with one exception. Instead of stenciling the letters on, I bought iron on letters and took the easy (and unfortunately, less cute) way out.

I made Juliet a trial set and she really enjoyed them. She was about 2.5 when I made them and already knew how to spell her name (meaning she could recognize her own name when she saw it in print), but when she got these bean bags she began actually arranging the letters in the correct order on her own. I think these are a great hands-on way to help your child learn early spelling skills.

These are ones I made for Juliet's sweet little 2 year old friend, Stella.

We wrapped them up in a nice black bow and gave them to her for her Christmas present. The first thing Stella did when she opened them was to begin flinging them across the room. (I think that means she liked them.)

Here's a side view of the beanbags.

Here's another set I made as a new baby gift for little Eva. She's not quite old enough to use them yet, but it won't be too long before she is learning to spell or name and/or flinging them across the room!

Do you have any favorite ABC books or crafts to share?

I'm linking up with Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple! Check it out for more great projects!