Baby Shower gifts

I went to a baby shower a couple of weeks ago for my husband's cousin's wife, who was only a couple of weeks away from having her first baby - a little boy. I was able to get crafty and put together a few things for the new arrival.

Card: Stamp set - Baby Prints and Nursery Necessities

Cardstock - Whisper White, Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss

Ink - Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss

Other: Oval punches, Polka Dot embossing folder

Tie Bodysuit to wear to church:

Newborn Snuggler from the Lotta Jansdotter book - Simple Sewing for Baby. Its a simple swaddling cocoon for a new baby. It's made from cotton fabric on the outside and minky on the inside to keep the baby warm.

(I also made one of these for my baby...)  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Please excuse the big blogging break. I've been sewing and sewing and crafting in order to enjoy a slightly more stress-free Christmas. I had hoped to be finished everything by now, but I still have a few things to do :-)

Anyway, over the last couple of days I dusted off my Stampin' Up demonstrator skills, sorted through my abundance of cardstock and put together my own little stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards. It was a great time to catch up with friends and start on my own Christmas cards for this year. Here's what we made:

My favourite is definitely the last card with Mary and Joseph. I found the idea on Splitcoast Stampers and there is a tutorial with all the folding measurements on lavenderthoughts.wordpress.com.

More cards

We've had a few birthdays and an engagement party recently - here are the cards I made:

Engagement card -

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

DSP: Greenhouse Gala

Stamps: Love Owl-ways, Cute By the Inch

Punches: 1 3/8" and 1 3/4" circle punches

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Real Red and Garden Green markers

Whisper White Ribbon

Birthday Cards -

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Dream Wheel

Cardstock: OHT sheets (instead of window sheets), Lovely Lilac and Pixie Pink cardstock (now retired), Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo, White Staz On

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Scallop Square Die

Top Note die

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

DSP: Bella Rose (retired)

Punches: 1 1/4" Square punch, Word Window punch

Stamp: Sweet Birthday

Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Brads

Square Lattice embossing folder

Circles #2 die

Punches: Two Step Bird, Oval and Large Oval punches

Stamps: Sweet Birthday, Punch Potpurri

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip

Bashful Blue Ribbon

A few more cards...

We've had a few birthdays recently in the extended family. Oh and Mother's Day :-) Here's my latest card-making attempts:

Got Treats stamp set, Melon Mambo, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock, Cupcakes wheel, Versamark and Melon Mambo ink, Rhinestone Brads, Dazzling Diamonds glitter and gingham ribbon I picked up at my local scrapbook store (which is now unfortunately closed)

Occasional greetings stamp set, Dinosaurs die set by Cuttlebug, Bold Brights assorted cardstock (retired), Crystal effects.

Dragon stamp by Snag 'Em Stamps, Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set (for greeting), stars embossing folder, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Bold Brights markers and cardstock, Staz On ink.

I know black, red and white is a bit unusual for a mother's day card, but I really like the way these turned out.

Basic Black, Whisper White and Real Red cardstock, Real Red and Garden Green markers, Real Red and Basic Black ink, sponges, Square Lattice embossing Folder, Pocket Silhouettes and Occasional Greetings stamp sets, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon (retired)

Card Catch-Up

Its been quiet on the crafting front lately. I started back at work from maternity leave, and was working extra shifts to have some extra spending money for our upcoming family holiday to Tasmania :-) Here are a few cards I managed to finish though...

(sorry for the bad photos... I hope to learn photo editing someday soon...)

A card for my niece's baby blessing. I've used the Baby Tees wheel, the Nursery Necessities stamp set (retired), pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon (also retired), pink pirouette and pretty in pink cardstock, the scallop border punch, the oval and scallop oval punches, and Crystal Effects.

Thank you cards for my flood auction winners. I've used Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze cardsotck, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Elegant Soiree DSP, Soft Suede ink and Endless Kindness stamp set (retired).

A birthday card for my sister. I've used an acetate sheet (well... actually an overhead transparency...), Basic Black, Melon Mambo and Whisper White cardstock, Melon Mambo and Basic Black ink, Cute by the Inch stamp set (Hostess set) and Melon Mambo polkadot ribbon (Unfortunately retired)

And finally, an engagement card. I think the blue/vanilla/brown combo is one of my favourites at the moment - I seem to use it a lot :-) I've used the Elegant Soiree DSP, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Cardstock, Top Note die, Happy Everything (retired) and Punch Potpurri (hostess) Stamp Sets and Full Heart Punch.

Stampin' Up

I've also managed a little bit of time lately to stamp... Not as much as I'd like with Christmas coming up but with all the sewing I've been doing there hasn't been room on my desk for stamps! :-)

This first card was for a baby shower I attended a couple of weeks ago. I've used Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Whisper White cardstock. I've used the Scallop Border punch on the Certainly Celery to create the scalloped border. I stamped the Baby Tee's wheel with Staz On ink, and then water coloured the onesies, cut them out and stuck them on with Dimensionals. I've also embossed the background (which you can't see in this photo very well) with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. The "It's a boy!" is from Nursery Necessities (unfortunately retired) and punched out with the Word Window punch.

Christmas Ideas! (Which I badly need... cause December is just too close now...) I hosted my own workshop with Debbie a few weeks ago now, where we made the patchwork Top Note card and the little red Milk Carton. Then I attended her November Stamp-a-Stack where we made the lolly tube, gift boxes, felt flower clips, apron card and a lollipop flower (which was grabbed by my son before I got a chance to take a photo...).

This card I made on Saturday for my niece's birthday. I've used Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock, the Flight of the Butterfly and Sweet little Sentiments stamp sets, the butterfly punch, the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, and the Scallop Square and Timeless Type Big Shot Dies.

Now to just make a start on my Christmas cards!

I went a little crazy...

Do you remember a few posts ago when I showed off the blocks and goofball that I made for my sister-in-law's baby shower? Well, as the baby shower came closer I found more and more tutorials that I wanted to try - I had the material, so I thought why not? ;-) So here's what I ended up making...

I had a couple of singlets put away that were a more t-shirt like material than your general singlet type ribbed material. So I decided to add a couple of sleeves and applique the middle...

(I'm actually working on my first ever tutorial to show you how to make these sleeves... Hopefully it will be up soon!)

A shirred baby skirt from Creation Corner... Yes I am a little addicted to shirring...

A pair of Big Butt Baby pants from the pattern by Made By Rae. These pants are designed with an extra panel in the back to be able to fit over cloth nappies. These are probably more like 3/4 length on a newborn, and I've added a couple of rows of shirring to the legs to make a cuff (yes, more shirring again ;-D)

A nursing cover from the pattern by Christina from Sometimes Crafter:

And I pulled out my Stampin' Up! supplies to make a card and decorate a gift bag:

It was so much fun to go a little crazy :-)

Fathers Day card

I was trying to tidy up my craft desk the other day (cleaning up lasts about 5 mins... then I start a new project and you can't see the desk again) when I came across some Stampin' Up! demonstrator newsletters from my time as a demonstrator. In one they had an article all about punch art and had an example of this little house. So I decided to use the little house on my father's day cards. The quote you may recognise as the chorus from the song "Fathers" from the Children's songbook. I wanted to have that verse typed, but we had major computer issues over the past week. So I had to stick with handwriting. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out - I'm so grateful for the fathers in my life - my father, father-in-law and most of all for my husband and the amazing job he does as the father of our children :-)

Two birthday cards

We've had a couple of birthdays in our family recently so I sat down and made a couple of cards. I've use the same technique to make the flowers as in the framed flowers post. The smaller flowers are made using the largest flower on the Stampin' Up! Boho Blossoms punch. These cards were so quick and easy to put together (I love using my Big Shot to help things go quicker!)

Framed Flowers

I saw this idea on the very talented Adele's blog. The flowers are so easy to make but they look so effective! This is my favourite type of craft - something that is quite simple to do, doesn't take too much time but looks so nice. All the papers, brads etc are from Stampin' Up!