Babies, Babies Everywhere

I'm not sure what was in the water lately, but it seems like I am surrounded by expectant mothers due around April and May.  So far the list includes my cousin, two women in my Sunday School Class, a former co-worker, and a friend of ours... two unknown, two girls, and one boy.  I am so excited.  Not only am I excited about the beginning of new life, but I am also excited because many of these will be the children that grow up with my son and are in his class in school.  Selfish, I know, but I love being able to get together with other families and have the kids play together.

With so many babies due, the baby showers are beginning.  And that of course means coming up with cute baby shower gifts.  I admit that my baby shower shopping changed drastically after having my own children.  I definitely learned what is practical and what is not (newborn sized outfits, particularly if the baby is a 10 pounder like my son was).  I think that is what led me to fall in love with diaper cakes.  It's a great combination of a practical gift (diapers) and craftiness.

The baby shower we were invited to requested a book for Emma Grace's library instead of a card.  (Don't you love that name.  I think I'll have to call her Emma Grace all the time.)  I love this idea, being a lover of books myself.  So, I decided to have the book be the focal point of the cake.  Here's what I ended up with...

I know that there are tons of tutorials on the internet for diaper cakes, so I won't go into a lot of detail here.  However, let me just say that this was put together pretty last minute.  It is much easier than you think, if you haven't tried one before.

I've made several over the years, and I am coming down to the fact that I like the simpler look.  So I don't add a lot of embellishment.  It's just my personal taste.

That book on top is "Are you my Mother?"  I was surprised to learn that it isn't technically a Dr. Seuss book.  But I loved reading it as a child, and it is one of those nice hard-board versions that my daughter really enjoyed when she was younger.  I just made a cover for it out of scrapbook paper so it would match and then added the stickers for "Baby Girl".  Our names are also on it so it can serve as the card.

This cake consists of 70 rolled size 1 diapers (held with hair ties) and is built around a baby shampoo bottle at the center.  I had the pink ribbon at home as well.  The letters are from a pack of pink $0.99 stickers in Target's Scrapbooking aisle.  The butterflies were punched out of the leftover pale pink paper from the book cover.  Add the pink tissue paper, and that is all there is to it.

I was rather happy with the finished product.

Here's a boy version from a year ago.  I loved the monkey stuffed animal on top and the very simple blue and brown color combo.  This one is only two tiers.

Now to come up with some other baby gift ideas.  Anyone know of any good sibling gifts?  There are some big sisters that I want to include as well.

This project is linked with:

Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show Off Your Stuff

Treasures for Tots: Thursday's Treasures

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Wearing of the Green

Now you know that I couldn't let St. Patrick's Day pass without making another set of barrettes.  After all, she needs barrettes to match her Celtic shirt.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.

The basics are the same as for the original felt barrette tutorial I posted.  I used two shades of green felt.  The darker is the base of the barrette as well as the middle flower.  The lighter green was used for the two outside flowers.  I used two white buttons for the outside flowers and then used a lighter green button for the center flower.

This post is linked with:

Today's Creative Blog: Get Your Craft On
Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show Off Your Stuff
Treasures for Tots: Thursday's Treasures

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Dia Libh...

I am in love with freezer paper stenciling.  I may be getting a little obsessive.  My husband is afraid that I am going to stencil every article of clothing in the house.  Well, maybe it isn't that bad.  But I am having fun with it.  I can't wait to show you some of the spring creations I made for my little girl.  However, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, let me start with the Irish shirts I made for the kids.

I already had a green shirt lying around for my son.  Since it was a little boring, I thought I'd have some fun and dress it up.  We really enjoy going to Celtic festivals (much harder these days than during our pre-kid days), so I thought I would go more Irish-themed so they could wear them beyond St. Patrick's Day.

If you want to try this yourself, Dana from Made has a great tutorial on Freezer Paper Stenciling.

I chose the Irish Gaelic phrase "Dia Libh" meaning "God with You."  The font for the green shirt is Livingstone (downloaded from dafont.com).  I used Sherwood (also downloaded from dafont.com) for the white shirt.  I printed out the two phrases and then traced them onto the freezer paper.  After cutting the design out with an exacto knife, I ironed the design onto the shirt and painted it using Tulip's Glacier White Matte soft fabric paint.  I think I did 2-3 coats.

I did the same thing on the white shirt but used Tulip's Holiday Green Matte.  I made my daughter's shirt gender neutral so that her brother can wear it in a couple of years.  The girly shirts will be coming soon. 

Until then... dia libh.

This project is linked with:

The Persimmon Perch: Made it Mondays

Keeping It Simple: Motivate Me Monday
The Girl Creative:  Just Something I Whipped Up
Sumo's Sweet Stuff: Market Yourself Monday
Making the World Cuter Monday
Today's Creative Blog: Get Your Craft On
Somewhat Simple: Strut Your Stuff Thursday
Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show Off Your Stuff
Treasures for Tots: Thursday's Treasures

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Seuss Extravaganza: Cat in the Hat Pin

I had originally planned on yesterday being the last Seuss post.  However, I couldn't resist making a little Cat in the Hat pin for my daughter.  Her daycare has been celebrating Dr Seuss this week as well, so I wanted her to have something special to wear.

The pin was really simple to make.  I whipped it up while watching an episode of BBC's Robin Hood (current obsession) with my husband once the kids were in bed.  There is something so relaxing about sewing in the evening.  It is such a nice relief to let go of all the day's stress and just create with your hands.  Pair that with british accents, a hot cup of tea, and my loving husband, and it is a perfect end to the day.

Making the pin was simple.  All I did was cut a hat shape out of the white felt.  I then cut out a piece of blue felt slightly larger than the white one.  I stitched a safety pin to the blue felt.  Then I stitched the white hat form to the blue felt using white embroidery floss.  I cut out three stripes from the red felt and stitched those on top.  And with that, it was done.

I hope you enjoy!

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Seuss Extravaganza: Red Fish Blue Fish

Despite the title, today is actually inspired by Green Eggs and Ham... by the idea of trying something new.  I love looking at decorated sugar cookies.  They are beautiful.  But I have never tried the pipe and flood method.  So, I have tried something new.  They aren't perfect.  But I'll share the results anyways as my confession for trying new things.

The plan was to make Red Fish and Blue Fish.  But, they came out more as pink fish, blue fish.  My daughter still likes them though.  Isn't it great that our children love what we make even when they don't meet our own standards.

I definitely need to keep practicing.  My poor family.  What will they do with all those practice cookies?

There's my confession.  Here's to trying new things... whatever the outcome.

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Seuss Extravaganza: Green Eggs and Ham

I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

Excerpt from "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr Seuss

I'm actually planning on giving these to my daughter for St. Patrick's Day, but I couldn't let this Seuss celebration pass without posting here.  After all, "Green Eggs and Ham" is a classic.

This is really simple if you want to make your own.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the process.  The steps are pretty easy though.  This could be a great gift for a child to accompany a copy of the book.  Hmm... future birthday party gifts.
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Seuss Extravaganza: Painting Stars

Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches

Had bellies with stars.

The Plain-Belly Sneetches

Had none upon thars.

Excerpt from "the sneetches" by Dr. Seuss

We are still in our celebration of Seuss.  My daughter loves the "Belly Stars" story, otherwise known as "the sneetches."  So, I couldn't pass up incorporating stars into our celebration.  When I saw this post on Ohdeedoh, it seemed like the perfect project.

I cut stars out of bread slices using a star cookie cutter.  Then I made "paint" by coloring milk red, green, and blue.  Add some basting brushes, and that's all you need for a fun morning with a 2 1/2 year old.  My daughter loved it.  We toasted them up in the oven after we were done painting and they became her favorite snack for the day.

Have a lovely day, whether or not you have stars upon yars.

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