Baby Shower Gift Ideas

One of my goals this year was to go back to some of the online classes I signed up for last year (style school, summer camp, home ec) and actually try a few more of the projects.

Two teachers at school are expecting and I really wanted to make them something special for their shower gift. So I decided to make a quilted baby bib for each of them. Luckily they are both having boys, so that made it simple to make 2 of everything.  The 'VWX' fabric is from a sesame street sheet I got at the Salvation Army. I went there recently and bought a bunch of sheets--they are a perfect supply of solid and printed fabrics at a reasonable price -- some were only $2 or $3 for queen-sized materials.

This baby bib was fun to make and it was really easy. I will definitely make it again!

These designer burp cloths are not from any of the online classes I have taken. I actually got the idea from a friend.

It is a cloth diaper, with some pretty fabric and a ribbon added to make it more 'designer'. Super easy to make!!

I put two burp cloths, a quilted baby bib and a book together for a nice little shower gift.

Oh, and I used some of the leftover fabric to make a drawstring gift bag. Super easy and cheap!! (I think I got the basic idea from one of the online classes, but I don't remember which one.

If you are looking for any hand made baby gift ideas, these were very easy and cheap, hope this post helped!

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Well after a camping trip was completely canceled and I realized that it was too late to plan an alternative vacation this weekend, I decided to make a list of things to accomplish around the house. Item One: Clean out my closet, removing summer and replacing it with fall....it is Sunday night and I still haven't done that yet.

Saturday I woke up feeling extremely creative. I was IN THE ZONE. I started out by organizing my craft room. I was vacuuming at 6:30 a.m. From there, I was spray painting, taking pictures, paper scraps were flying and by Saturday night I had completed a whole array of creative projects that were on my LIST. I will be posting those throughout the week so please check back!

Item two: Make a baby scrapbook gift (by Saturday the 12th) for my brother's baby's shower. Done! I spent Saturday night creating a nice baby book/photo album for the mom-to-be to add pictures as soon as the little guy gets here.









You might recognize this from the Animal Cookies CTMH workshop. This was such a cute layout and the nursery will be done in a jungle theme so I thought this would be perfect for the album.














I love the last layout!

When it comes to scrapbooking + stamping...I am all or nothing. I generally don't mix stickers and stamps on projects (letter stamps excluded). By using part of a baby book kit and a few printables for the pages, I was able to save a LOT of time. I can't imagine creating all those parts by hand. I have a couple more layouts for 'Baby's First Christmas'. I may go pick up a sticker set or if I feel like it, I will stamp some things for that. NINE two pages lay-outs in a night is pretty good. I think they will love this book.

Thanks for reading. I hope your weekend was productive!!

1st Birthday Party Invites!

Last summer it seemed like all my friends were having babies...this summer, all the babies are turning ONE!


I worked on some super cute birthday party invitations with my best scrapping buddy, Abby a couple of weeks ago. Her nursery is in monkey so we continued the theme with this little invite! It is super cute!!


While we worked on this tri-fold card, I kept thinking of ways to make it cuter...Everything I suggested was cute, but it was LABOR INTENSIVE! Hand-cutting all the onesies, hand-cutting all the #1s, hand-coloring all the monkeys! Whew!! We had fun!! I like to cut. Luckily.


Ingredients: CTMH Stamps...Tiny Typewriter, Life's a Jungle and Baby Steps
Martha Stewart Patterned paper
Craft Cardstock
Scallop punch and circle punch
Blender pen
CTMH Vellum, brads
CTMH Exclusive Inks: cocoa

Baby Shower Gift for Jill

I decided to make a baby gift for a friend. She is not into scrapbooking or card making at all. I invited her to a workshop at my house and she actually said, "I don't really want to come make something because I will probably just throw it away..." Eeeek!! I cannot imagine throwing away something that is handmade, especially if I made it. I would rather give it away!! I make LOTS of cards.

Last weekend I woke up feeling generous so I put out a bunch of cards in a basket at a crop and only charged for them at a donation...some people gave me a dollar or two for each card...I know I could've sold them on Etsy for at least $4 a card, but I donated all the money to a local children's organization. It felt good to give the money to a charity and give the cards to people who appreciate handmade things.

You might be wondering why I would make a handmade gift for a friend who may or may not appreciate it...well, I can't knit and I can't sew, but I want to do something from the heart.....This is my best bet. I made her a memory keeper box with the baby's name on the top. She isn't super sentimental, but she may have little things from his birth that she wants to save. I also covered a chipboard peek-a-boo album with matching paper so she could stick some pictures in it.

Finally, I stamped a few thank you cards and envelopes for her to use after all the baby showers.


All of the paper, inks and stamps are Close to My Heart. I used a few buttons and chipboard letters from my stash. I tried to distress and ink the book to make it look like it would be perfect for a rough and tumble boy....I also went with colors that might match her house. This is the perfect memory keeper box because it will slide right into a bookshelf and she can write his name on the back edge as a label.

** EDITED: By the way, yes my friend's name is Jill and her husband is Jack...and their baby will be Jack Eugene IV.....SOOO CUTE!!

Baby Shower Gift

I've been working on a baby shower gift all weekend! This gift is for a teacher at school, she is expecting her first baby. This is a set of 12 thank you cards with envelopes, seals and a gift box. I got the box template here.

This paper is from Close to My Heart, it is the Aspen paper pack. I used mostly Twilight ink and the stamp set is 'Into the Wild'. I really wanted to stamp the little lion to match the outfit and shoes that I got for her, but the lion is missing!! I searched all over the house, but he is totally lost. I decided to use the elephant and the monkey instead. I stamped the leaves, monkey's head, and elephant head, cut it out and used pop dots to raise it up.