cinched up backpack

My little nephew just turned one last week. He and Baby Ben are exactly 9 months apart. Andy's sister and i planned very hard to work that out.... hee hee. But we are super thankful for this little guy and have big plans for he and ben to be best buddies. 

That said, he had a party this weekend and i kinda scrambled to think of a gift. 

MADE had just posted a great tutorial on how to make boxed-out totes so i started with that. 

Then i decided he needed his name in felt on the front,  another pocket on the inside and some cheater lining.

Then i wanted to add another color so i sewed on the yellow cinched up tie on the top...

 and BACK PACK straps to the back. Everything was done extremely randomly and probably more complicated that it needed to be but i was happy with the result and can't wait to see a toddling little eric stuffing treasures into his pack soon.

and to get him started i made sure this {most adorable} Eric had a new title to add to his collection of Eric Carle's books.

Now, i have to spend a little time on the star of this post. This baby (i mean BIG boy, sorry joelle! ;) is the most expressive and interesting little guy i've ever known. He is full of fun and sweetness but he also has the most extensive collection of absolutely hilarious little faces. He entertained a group of at least 10 adults at his party for nearly 15 minutes with his expressions alone. And those brown eyes with the longest lashes i've ever seen...well, i guess i've seen some like them on his lovely momma.
Anyway, he's just too much cuteness to take.

We were delighted to celebrate his birthday and even more delighted to have him in our family.