Baby Bath Gift Set

To go along with the crab card I made for my last post this is the gift. I got the idea off of pinterest (of course!) I took a frappucino box and covered it in coordinating papers. I had some sticky-backed ribbon that applied over the top and edges to make it look more finished. I put two hooded towels, baby body wash, and a bottle of bubbles inside.

All the cuts are from my cricut. The sides have a crab border from Life's a Beach placed over an embossed pink layer. (I was annoyed with myself when I realized I forgot to emboss the brown paper before adhering it to the frappucino box, but decided pulling it off and trying to fix it would probably only make matters worse!)

The front and back have cuts from Once Upon a Princess. That cartridge has an adorable little mermaid on it that I have been waiting to use,  and this was the perfect occassion!

 The eyes of the mermaid are cut out. You can cut cheeks and lips in pink to glue on, however I opted to draw a nose and mouth (this is just further proof to me that I NEED some peechy keen face stamps, haha!)

If you have a crab put it in water!

The best parenting advice I have ever gotten: "If you have a crab put it in the water". It has worked from the time my kids were just a month old and still works now that they are almost 5 and 7. It's the inspiration for a baby card I put together today. The gift will be some bath products.

The card is the square crab card from Life's a Beach. I embossed the paper with my Big Kick and added some twine and buttons. The way the card is intended the background paper wouldn't be there and the inside of the back would show through. But, I wanted to add a sentiment to the inside of the card so I glued a background paper on (which is actually a really sweet pink argyle, it just doesn't show up so well here).

The sentiment I had wrote and cut "crab" and "water" using the Once Upon a Princess font (welded letters together on my Gypsy).

I'm entering this project into a couple of challenges:
Alphabet Challenge Blog: Dry Embossing
Card Makin' Mamas: Buttons

Onesies! (no cricut on this project, lol)

So, I've seen a lot of different projects on pinterest and finally have made one of them, lol! Off to a baby shower today and made onesies using the computer and iron on transfers. One monesie for each of the baby's first 12 months. I think it makes an adorable baby gift!

I downloaded a free font for the numbers and created the design in microsoft word.

 At first I created them using primary colors, but didn't like how they turned out so I opted for slightly more "cool and trendy" colors which I think ended up looking quite sharp. It made a big difference, I think.

I hope she enjoys it and can't wait to see a picture of the new baby each month in his onesie!!

Addicted to Create a Critter

Seriously, every time I go to make a new project my only criteria is "I will NOT use Create-a-Critter". I feel like I use it way too often and am neglecting all my other beautiful cartridges. Yet, every time I come up with a project and the picture I need to have just isn't on any of my other ones. (Well, usually the image I MUST have I don't own and a new cartridge gets added to my amazon wish list!)

I have a baby shower to attend and wanted to make a card but had "writer's block". So, I decided to check out some ongoing challenges and got some inspiration from those. I've often looked at the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge ,but have never entered it. Today their cupcake was perfect for my project!

I am also entering this project into the following challenges:

 2 Sisters Challenge Blog (use stitching). One day I might try real stitching - not quite that ambitious yet!

Crazy 4 Challenges (use stripes and polka dots). 

Desert Island Crafts Challenge (I used # 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). At first I thought you had to use all the items on the list, and was relieved when I realized you didn't. I LOVED having a recipe to follow - really helped pull my project together! I was using all browns, but added some green for the challenge and love it!

Where do you all find the challenges you participate it? Do you keep a list? I have just depended on a list my sister (Crafting Misfit) has on her blog. Does anyone else have a good link to different challenges?

Monster Baby Shower

So, my brother's wife is expecting and is not finding out what she is having. We were throwing her a shower and didn't have a gender, a theme or any clue what we wanted to do. My sister Rebecca (at Crafting Misfit) and I decided to do a theme with a cartridge we both had since we'd be working on it while living a bit over 3 hours away from each other. Then we thought of Mini Monsters and came up with some really cute projects!

I made the invitations using a variety of multi-colored papers. I then just made color photocopies of the card to mail out. I love it, personally. Boy or Girl? LOL. Of course one guest did say they were "very cute owls". The title on the back was  "A Cute Little Monster is on the Way!"

Next came the fun part - decorating!!

For favor bags I made the monster bag from mini monsters (30 of them...I never want to make another one again!). We filled the adult ones with colorful Lindor Truffles and the kids got Skittles and Starbursts.

I also made my first banner (I made Rebecca string it, though - and it was totally her concept. It's just that her Gypsy broke so she was at a loss of how to actually use the buttons on her Cricut I think ;)

 

I was excited to get to use my Big Kick to emboss the letters :) I'm still getting the hang of it, but I love it.

Because I am a tad over-ambitious I also decorated the silverware (only did a single layer on these monster, though! lol)

Then, perhaps my favorite project was the poster where we made people guess what she was having!

Rebecca made some super-cute centerpieces as well. (It was actually amazing how long we hemmed and hawed over which faux-flowers to buy for them).

Then I made a cake. Ugh - what a disaster. I had such a cute vision, but who knew it would be so muggy in Maine on a September day! This was how it came out - I was totally disappointed but it was still a big hit. I've been waiting for the perfect occasion to make a rainbow layer cake so was super excited to do it this time!

Overall it was an awesome day and I had a lot of fun making the projects (even if it was exhausting!) I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew, and knowing my brother it is sure to be a little monster!!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Scrappy Mom's Stamps (mini moster challenge)
Decorate to Celebrate (Baby party!)

Another baby card

Well, I did end up staying up the other night and making one more quick card. I know a dozen people having babies so this one is for a baby girl.

 The paper is Nana's Nursery (baby boy) and the bird is from my favorite - Create a Critter.

I'm entering this at Celebrate the Occasion for their sketch challenge.

Baby Boy Card

Well, with all the stress of life lately I have been feeling relatively uninspired. However, I have several cards to make  and finally had the time this evening to work on projects. I stumbled across a layout challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps and finally felt some inspiration! My sister (over at Crafting Misfit) and I are always looking at the stamps at Peachy Keen but neither of us has splurged on them quite yet.

It's amazing, but having the layout just got my creative juices flowing! Now it is nearing midnight and I don't want to stop crafting!

Whimsical Wednesday is having a challenge this week as well to use one of the inspirational words "fath", "hope", "love", "peace", or "believe":

I just freehanded the dashed line and wrote "love" which I think looks incredibly sweet and simple on this card that is so full of pattern already.

I don't usually outline my images, but where each image was only one layer I did (and I'm still not sure I should have done it). The onesie is from "B is for Boy" and the bear is from "Every Day Paper Dolls".

I wish the lighting was better in the photos, as alwasy I think it a hundred times cuter in person!
Well, off to either clean up my mess or make the next card. Not sure which to do!