My Sister is Having a Baby (Part 2) The Shower...Coral, Mint, Gold and Handcrafted With Love

The plan was to keep it simple... but when it comes to things that can be handcrafted, I never have enough time to make all of the things that I want to or am inspired to make. I knew right off the bat that I wanted to make a diaper cake, because I had so much fun making a towel cake for her bridal shower (6 years ago!):

After many hours searching pinterest for inspiration, a plan came together in my head, and this is the diaper cake that I came up with:

I made paper flowers with scrapbook paper, book paper, tissue paper, my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, my Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut cartridge, and a My Favorite Things Rolled Rose die:

I used the handmade flowers for the centerpieces, along the center of the table runner,  on the mini chalkboards to decorate them...

I made paper pinwheels and glittered rubber duckies, and I sewed the covers to the mason jars that I used to hold the centerpieces. Speaking of sewing, I sewed circle garlands which you can see a glimpse of here:

And here:

I used it over top of the tissue paper tassel garland that I made for my mantle:

I also stitched raindrops together that I had cut out with my Cricut (yes, my same trusty old friend that I have had for over 7 years!), and I hung them from the white balloon "clouds" to shower over the gifts table:

I did not make the cake, I had my mom pick one up from a nearby bakery (trust me, I am much better with paper decor!):

It was key lime flavored with cream cheese frosting, and so yummy! There were some pretty vanilla cupcakes for those who didn't like the key lime.

We played a game of late night diapers-and, yes, I made a coral tutu for the basket, and cut the sign shape from black cardstock, my Cricut, and my Storybook cartridge

I had a station set up for the guests to create headbands (the kids had a blast with this!!):

I had a handful of branches that I spray painted gold for them to hang the finished headbands on.
Instead of a guestbook, I had everyone sign in on cardstock onesies that I diecut with the Cricut Sampler cartridge, and clip them up on bakers' twine with mini clothespins:

We had lots of yummy food:

 chicken salad crossiants, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, pinwheel sandwiches:

 fruit in chocolate dipped waffle cones with marshmallow cream cheese dip:

The guests brought books in lieu of cards, perfect for my school teacher sister:

I made a corsage for the mama to be:

A wreath out of diapers for the front door:

And some tissue paper poms for the corner of the dining room:

and, believe it or not, I actually got in one of the pictures, too:

So, this is why I haven't been posting much. My summer has been consumed with work and shower craftiness, but I should be back to "regularly scheduled" scrapbook craftiness soon. I am still recuperating!

I am linking up at the Idea Room link party:

And Home Stories A to Z:

What I've been up to...and, My Baby Sister Is Having a Baby (Part 1)

No, I didn't drop off the planet, but you may never have guessed that, judging by the crickets here...chirp chirp! I have just had an extremely busy month, planning a baby shower for my sister, working full time (and it's our busy season, with senior portrait sessions in full swing), trying to cook actual meals, football starting back up for Evan, and oh, yeah, it's already time to start back to school shopping, can you believe it? It seems like summer just started! Anyway, I am here today to share a maternity session that I did for my "baby" sister last week, a couple of days before the shower.

Isn't she beautiful, all glowy and radiant?

She had a few ideas of shots that she had seen on Pinterest and wanted me to try, so of course we did:

Because, really, what could be sweeter than tiny baby shoes?

We did a few comparison shots to show just how tiny they really were:

I had to get dad in on the picture taking fun, too:

You can truly tell how much they love each other, and I am so happy for my little sis, and this sweet baby that is blessed to have them as parents.

Here's another favorite of my sister:

So, now you are partially up to speed...next time, the shower! And I definitely got crafty with it, so be sure to come back tomorrow night for the second installment!

July 2015 Counterfeit Kit Challenge Kit Reveal

Welcome to our Counterfeit Kit Reveal for July! This month we were given the Scrapabilly March kit to be inspired by:

Since I had a lot of navy and mint green in my June kit, I decided to take my kit in a slightly different direction for July. For some reason I was instantly reminded of Carta Bella's Beautiful Moments collection, which I already have:



So that was the jumping off point for my kit. This is the paper selection that I ended up with:

I think the border strip paper may have been the trigger for me to use this collection, and I basically went for similar patterns, since I had taken the color scheme in a different direction. There are border strip papers in both kits, lace prints (mine is from a vintage Basic Grey collection), woodgrains (although mine is admittedly quite different), brocade prints, black with white polka dots, frame paper, and a couple of the Beautiful Moments papers are floral on the other side (I don't intend to use the floral sides, so I included the sheet of foldies to get my flowers in there). Most of the papers that I selected are from the Carta Bella Beautiful Moments collection, but I also liked the chalk board cut aparts, and the frames from the Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party collection (stay tuned, I have ideas for this paper!),a woodgrain from Maggie Holmes, the black striped paper from the Shimelle collection, and added in a floral embossed specialty paper that is ages old, and a small floral print from a DCWV print, and some Sassafrass Lass "Foldies" for good measure.

Here is a look at my entire kit, including the embellishments:

A closer look at some of my favorite bits and pieces:

I am excited to use this kit-I love the quality of the Carta Bella papers, and I have some fun embellies in there this month too.
Now, get yourself a cup of coffee (or your beverage of choice) and have a look at what the other designers are up to this month-I know I can't wait to see the kits of supplies that everyone will be choosing!

Here is the list of designers making kits this month:

Guest Designer Julie https://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com/

Lisa:  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.ca

Lynnette  http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com

Margie:  http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com *You are here*

Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.com

Susanne:  http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Julene:  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com

Leslie:  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.ca