Hello Baby Boy...

Hey,

I recently fell in love with the Loveable Laundry set by Newton's Nook, so I bought it whilst I was on vacay.

Then I got back to the news that a friend had her baby and it felt like kismet!

I stamped and watercoloured all of the fun onesies/babygrows using distress inks. I die-cut them out using the matching die, after I had coloured them.

I created a background for the onesies/babygrows using a Clearly Besotted stencil and Broken China Distress Oxide ink.

The sentiment uses a Technique Tuesday 'hello' die that I have had forever and the 'baby boy' is from the same set as the onesies/babygrows.

Cute, fun card to make, now it really needs to go in the post with the real-life onesies/babygrows that I bought him.

Cx

Tic Tac Toe challenge..

Hey,

I really wanted to use one of my many new Bugaboo stamps this week, they are retiring some items and so they were a bargain!

JT has already used some of the ones that we bought :)

I also needed to make a New Baby card, so The Paper Players challenge this week was perfect -

I went with Any shade of yellow, Sequins and Polka dots.

I used Recollections yellow polka dot paper, my new Lawn Fawn stitched square dies, a Fiskars stamp and the Raccoon by Bugaboo.

I added some ribbon and inked the edges of my stitched square in Squeezed Lemonade distress ink.

For a bit of fun, I printed the Raccoon's tail onto a grey polka dot Pink Petticoat paper and paper pieced him onto the printed Raccoon - love this, it adds a little bit of dimension and fun.

Final touch to complete the Tic-Tac-Toe was to add sequins from my stash, I keep these to a minimum.

I'm visiting my friend at the weekend to meet her new Daughter, so I'll be giving her the card and it's matching Raccoon babygrow (onesie) that I made :)

Cx

Pinterest comes in handy..

I love Pinterest. It is so handy for inspiration and for lusting after new tools :)

I saw this idea -

And thought that it would be a great way to use all the wonderful Pink Petticoat Papers that I have.

So I searched for a free babygrow digital stamp (or a onesie as the American's call them) and I found one here.

I pasted it into Publisher and then created little boxes of patterned papers and overlayed the babygrow onto the boxes like so -

Example babygrow + paper

As you can see my main photo is one of the finished cards - I changed the layout, not just because I don't want to steal someone's idea, but because it's nice to have your own twist on something.

I am very pleased with the end result and as you saw on WOYWW yesterday I am in the process of making more of them.

Here is a yellow version -

New Baby - Yellow babygrows

All the patterns are papers by Pink Petticoat - I love their papers and I think this is a great way to use them - the ones I used are -
- Mr Moustache
- Marshmallow (the elephants and zebra stripe)
- Little Check
- Chevrons
- Lots of really big dots
- Really big dots

I did have to recolour some of these, as I have Chevrons, really big dots and lots of really big dots in the new colour collection colours only!! Really must purchase the complete Chevrons pack...

Cx

Gifts For Babies. A Tutorial.

I like making gifts for babies and one of my favourite things to make are babygrows.

Well it's a bit of a cheat really, as I don't actually make the babygrow, but I buy good quality ones in packs.

I have found that the parents love receiving personalised gifts, so I use the Slice (there are lots of fun tutorials on the Slice site) to cut the initial of the baby - as shown here in today's pic - B for Beatrice.

It's really easy to do -

1. Choose your fabric (needs to be lightweight if you are using the Slice to cut)
2. Iron on some fusible web (Making Memories do their own, but a decent lightweight fusible web will do), but leave the backing sheet on
3. Choose your initial / shape and either draw onto the fabric and cut out, or use your Slice to do this
4. Remove your initial / shape from the fabric and peel off the backing and iron onto the babygrow
5. Then using a decorative stitch on your machine, sew around the shape
6. Give the babygrow one last iron, iron on your nametab and the babygrow is complete.

Really easy to do - a good tip is to wash the babygrow and the fabric, so they don't shrink later. Also you can always embellish the design further - especially if you use a shape, I often sew a button or a ribbon bow, but becareful to make sure that these are affixed really well, we don't want babies pulling them off and swallowing them!

Have a good day.

Cx

Yay! New Craft Table

Yes I am most excited  by my new craft table. On Saturday I went to the opening of the new HobbyCraft and there is was, the table of my dreams.

Hubby and I have been cracking up at the fact that it is called a Creation Station - it's a tad obvious.

Today's pic is of my updated craft space - complete with creation station. It tilts, it came with a stall and it has 6 drawers which are now full with my stamps, inks and pens. On the table you will see my Slice, a little stack of stuff for the Christening we went to and some brooches that were drying. It's a great space now and it's so much better for sewing.

It's absolutely joy and I am at a much better height now and Hubby put a new blind up for me, so if I keep facing forward I can ignore the fact that the rest of the room is full of wardrobes, shoes and laundry!!

Tonight will be my last night at home before the craft market on Saturday. I will be checking I haven't forgotten anything and trying not to be too nervous.

Cx

I'm so proud!

As you may have gathered it's all been a little bit busy in my world, but I am back (for now) I really need to find more hours in the day!

Anyway, I am totally made up right now, as I pinned the Union Jack quilt together and it looks amazing - today's pics are the ones I took before it was sewn together - I just need to add the bias tape and then voila! it is complete. I'll show you more pics when it is finished later in the week.

The apron's went down well at the Christening on Sunday and I was really pleased with how they came out - however my photos are pretty rubbish (boo!) and I'll have to wait for my friends to send me a pic to show you. I do however have pics of the babygrow that I made for Beatrice who was being Christened (tomorrow!).

It's now only 3 days to the craft market and I am packed and ready, can't stop making things though and so the craft table is full of extra bits and bobs that I considering taking - I wonder if I have too much stuff, but I think more is better than not enough!

So I'll see you tomorrow - enjoy the quilt - I've written out the steps and will scan it all in tomorrow, ready for posting with the final pic, so that you can make your own quilt.

Cx

Not enough hours in the day!

Hello!

Sorry for the absence, last week was properly mental - what with Hubby's birthday (= drunken affair), work and craft fair activities - I really didn't know if I was coming or going.

Anyway, I am a tad sad today, as I only had one entry to my competition - RHR you win the pincushion, please email me your colour choice! No matter - it's all a learning curve and I will just have to figure out how to promote myself better!

So I had a nice busy crafting weekend - I made one of the aprons ready for Sunday's Christening BBQ. I am so pleased with it, I got the pattern from Taly's Creations - she kindly let me mention her here. I hope you can make use of her really straightforward tutorial and make your own apron. I will take a pic and show you my ones - but need to take the pic during the day, they come out much better that way!

Union Jack quilt has hit a pause - due to the flannel I ordered being incorrect! I am feeling very calm about the craft market, scarves are nearly finished, cards are finished, brooches are finished, make-up bags will be complete, once the replacement zipper foot arrives (I left it out and the cats swiped it), starting baby-grows tonight, so it's all going well!

I usually get a bit excited about craft fairs and next weekend is no exception to this! I think it is going to be a good opportunity for me and my little business, I hope it works out well and that my friends are happy for me to keep crashing with them, so I can become a regular at the market.

It's my sister-in-law's birthday tomorrow and my Ma's on Sunday, so I have been making little treats for them over the last week or so and now have a little pile of pretty things to wrap, which is nice.

I need to update my craft picture stash - so I was a bit stumped about what I should have as today's pic, then I realised I could show you the pattern for the Union Jack - so that is what today's pic is!

Enjoy!

Cx