No Sew Baby Blanket, matching card & our new family member!

I hope your first week of 2012 started off well.  For me, it was nothing to complain about – I am just blessed! 
Today I have a fun safari no-sew fleece baby blanket and matching card to share with you!  I made this to send all the way to Hawaii because a dear friend is there to celebrate the birth of her first grandchild, Jack who was welcomed into the world on Dec 31 at 4:50 pm after 5 grueling days of labor!  He was 9 lb 11 oz and 22 inches!  He is a miracle baby and I am so excited about his arrival (his mommy was told about 7 years ago she was most likely never going to be able to conceive after a medical issue.  Sharisse is someone I watched grow up from a sweet, loving 8 year old girl who affectionately called me Don-Don into a gorgeous, successful Korean linguist who I know will be a wonderful mommy because she was raised by a wonderful mommy herself!  I wish I had pictures of the family but I don’t yet!  Looking forward to seeing Jack!

This blanket was incredibly easy and fun to make!  All you have to do is get 2 coordinating fleece fabrics (these were on sale at a local fabric store for 60% off) and cut them the same size and lay them out wrong sides together.  **Edited to add, I purchased 1 yd of each fabric.  The finished size of this blanket is rectangular 30x52.  I wish I had purchased 1.25 or more yards for this since I would have preferred a square blanket but it was my first so that's o.k.! Live and Learn

Next, I cut strips about 1 inch wide and 4.5 inches long and tied them together all the way around!  Then you can see the back color which is fun!  It is incredibly warm too!   I already got more fabrics to make myself one, as well as my niece Gabby and nephew Joey for Christmas (yes, I am that much a planner – already got 4 Christmas gifts ready to make!) I am going to have a stress-free Christmas in 2012 so I don’t make myself sick with stress like I did in 2011! 
The card I made using Gina K stamps Zoo Animals was perfect to match this blanket!  I also used a few of Tami’s sets (Special Occasion tags and Label Borders) because I used the CPS sketch 249 this week which coordinates so nicely with the sets!  Lastly, the hanging leaves on the top of the card are from Theresa’s Vogue Vases set!  I am also going to upload this card into the StampTV Free for All Friday challenge by Michelle which is All About Baby!  I am not eligible to win any free stamps for that set since I am on the design team, but I still like to play along when I can! 

PERSONAL NEWS!!  As for our newest family member; the week before Christmas, we got another cat!  We went to the Austin Animal Center and adoptions were discounted by $50!  What a deal!  John has been wanting a cat of his own since Elsie is mine and since Elsie doesn’t have her sisters Chica and Shelby anymore, we thought MAYBE she would like a companion!  He so wanted a lap cat like Elsie is with me but *Moka (which is what he decided to name her) is not so much a lap cat yet.  We both hope it changes.  She is a little spastic at times (*which is why we call her Moka Loca a lot) but is slowly calming down.  She is 6 months old and is a tortoiseshell cat who has a lot of personality already.  She doesn’t really like to be grabbed but we will do it just to get close to her at times and she slowly calms down, she likes to play which is so fun to watch and she so wants to be friends with Elsie, who was NOT happy with us the first week we brought Moka home but is slowly coming around! 


I snapped this picture this morning (no sheets on the bed because they’re in the wash), and for them to be this close is a BIG deal!  They like to chase each other around the house  at night and in the mornings!  It’s so great to see although occasionally, there is some hissing from Elsie when she is tired of Moka.  We have already established bed time is treat time.  They both follow me in the room and I throw them treats and they chase after them (Elsie to eat them and Moka to mainly play with them although she decides she will indulge once in a while) otherwise Elsie gets most of the treats! 

We forgot how fun it can be with more than 1 cat in the house since it had been roughly 2 years (to the weekend) we lost our sweet Chica that we brought Moka into our lives.  We look forward to many more fun years of them interacting with one another! 
Sorry this post is so long - Thanks for stopping by today!

Vroom!! Vroom!! Vroom!!

Here is a little gift with matching card I made to give a friend who is having a little boy soon (her 2nd child).  I always love the blue brown & red combo so when I found this adorable little 3- piece outfit at Ross, I had to get it!  I adore the little blue & red star on the behind of the pants!  I knew I could use Melanie’s Wee Tees set to make a perfectly matched card to go with it. 

Here is a close up of the card.  I used the Traffic Jam (fitting) cuttlebug embossing folder on the Little Boy Blue layer.  This card came together within 10 minutes (love the quick ones!) The other cardstock colors I used are pure luxury white, red hot and chocolate brown, all colors I pulled from the outfit.  I used small silver brads to embellish and made the cars appear as if they are zooming across the cards in the circle punches. 

I gifted this to the mom this past week and she loved it!  In fact, she shared some pregnancy photos with me that featured her, her husband and little Jack’s (baby in the tummy) older sister Ella.  They were all precious! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I have to get back to my sewing and stamping projects for the weekend! 

A handmade gift for Baby Anna

I'm excited to be going to CA to visit my family on Thursday; I will be taking a break from blogging during that time so I can give all my attention to my niece, nephew & the rest of my family & friends.  I do have a few posts scheduled while I'm away but I sure will have my Google Reader build up on me (like it is right now since I'm preparing for my trip).  One person I am excited to meet for the first time is Baby Anna who I made this gift for - she was born at the end of August I believe (time has gotten away from me so I can't remember the date) but I'm sure she's precious!  When Gabby went to see her for the first time, my sister said she kept saying, 'look how cute, she's so tiny' - I think she was a few weeks before her due date and my sister said mommy Ann was barely showing with the pregnancy! I can't wait to see her & give her this gift. I stamped flight of the butterfly with pretty in pink & regal rose craft inks & heat set on the onesies.    

Then I stamped a coffee bag to put all the goodies in - here is a close-up of a set I picked up at Hobby Lobby last month for - get this - $1.05!!  It is by My Sentiments Exactly and has a ton of baby images & sentiments and full price was $27.99!!  I could hardly believe my eyes!!  I love this quote - it's so true.  
Here is a picture of the decorated bag - I will have pics from my trip to share when I return.  

Blessed Baby

I made this card using My Favorite Things Congrats All Around to send to Jessie's sister Mary who gave birth to a baby boy she named Jared last Thursday. He is a miracle baby since Mary was told she would not conceive and found out she was pregnant when she was like 6 months along! What a blessing - and he is precious!

Faux Onesie, Real Onesies and MORE for Baby Joseph

Here is my Labor Love for my nephew due in May. We will be going out for a visit and I can hardly wait!! I worked on these projects all last weekend & finished the last touches on Tuesday evening.


I had to make one of Lauren's Baby Onesie cards - here is her tutorial. It was super easy to make and I used Basic Grey's Oh Baby Boy Brighton for my patterned paper (for his other projects below too. It as perfect, using Green, Blue, Orange to make it BOY. I used Melanie's Just so Hoppy for the froggy announcing Joseph. He is going to be named after our Mom Josephine who died in 1996 and his paternal grandfather who also died in the 90's (Anthony). Joseph Anthony Gonzales. I can't wait to see his little face!!! The little bottle is from a Fiskars clear stamp baby set.

I love stamping real onesies too - I made some for Gabriella (Joseph's Big Sister) before she was born too. I think these came out better because I have more ROCKIN' stamps now!! Used Kim Hughes U R A Hoot for Cornish Heritage Farms on the Owl - Who Loves you? See the versatility in this set?? And Stampin' Up!'s retired Favorite Teddy for Wanna Snuggle? Isn't this cute!?? Who doesn't wanna snuggle with a sweet smelling baby?!

Some of my favorite all-time sets by Stampin' Up! are the Crayon sets - alphas (got both) Crayon Kids, Accessories, the first Ronald McDonald Heart & Home set. They are just the most charming for kids stuff! Sure wish they would come back with more!!! It looks cute with the froggy huh? It was my DMIL's idea to put Hoppy Baby...genius! Then of course since we live in Texas and they live in CA - I have to make a Someone in Texas Loves Me! But how perfect is it that I now have a Texas Shape!!? When I made my niece's I had to spell it out...this just takes the cake! Lastly the All in the Family set looks super delightful to have the whole family on the baby and to convey the message they are 'BLESSED' is appropriate.

Here is the Memory Tin I made to keep in his room. I got inspiration from semichocolate who got her inspiration from Beate Below is a picture of the contents of the tin. The tabs are for Joseph's Firsts of the Year my sister can jot importatnt stuff on & then transfer to a scrapbook if she wishes (and I hope she does). I really had a lot of fun making all of this. Melanie let me borrow her Tiny Treasures stamp from her What's in Your Tin 1 so I could complete the front of the tin.

Lastly (and thanks for sticking with me this long) is everything that fits in the tin (with the exception of the little frog). I made a set of wooden blocks covered with the patterned paper - tutorial by Emily at Stamping & Stuff (couldn't find the exact one, but if you do a search you can find it). It's real easy; just cut your paper to the block size & adhere with a coat of mod podge on the block and over the paper. Then sand the edges. I used SU!'s lots of chipboard letters (dipped them in VersaMagic Chalk Ink Spanish Olive). I also covered a small notebook with the paper & wrote on it 'Joseph said (did) the cutest thing today'. This is a notebook she can jot neat stuff in. I made one for my niece too but we ended up using it just to write notes to her because some day when they can read (and understand) they will know by the words we wrote how much we love & cherish them. There's something priceless about having hand written notes from your loved ones.

I have to share a picture of Gabriella - taken on Easter Sunday. This is one of her favorite books, preparing her to be a Big Sister, she already knows what she's going to do with Joseph when he gets here: feed the baby, hug the baby, etc. It's so cute when she says it all!

Tiny Treasure Delivery

I thought How Sweet It Is (stork baby delivery) went well with Melanie's sentiment in What's in Your Tin 1 (Tiny Treasures) and What's in Your Tin 2 is the double border around the image. Since it's only one baby I left off the s and replaced it with bling to keep the centering right. The card is simple (subtle coloring) and paper piecing with my Basic Grey Blush paper for the sling & bottom border. Colors are Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa & Sage Shadow. Used my 50 cent vanilla satin ribbon bargain find from Hobby Lobby (20 yards) which lays flat nicely on the card.

Baby Shower Invitation Ideas - Final!!!

I'm so excited I have a final idea from CknODaC on SCS who got her inspiration from several others. Thank God, because I was really beginning to struggle with coming up with something 'perfect' and I think this is it!!! Thanks everyone for the input!

These are the rejects:

Here's the second idea I had (thanks to Melanie for the cb bg idea). I had to scrap the first because it was too 'girly' with my glitter bg paper (you can see it in my SCS gallery though). I used my Occasions mini 'In the Stars' set in Barely Banana on the bg. I like this card but not totally loving it.

Then I changed a few things here. I like the more colorful umbrella and the circle with 'baby shower' from PTI's Borders & Corners set (added an eyelet and now it sorta looks like a bib, huh?) I changed my yellow to So Saffron because I think Barely Banana is just too light for my taste. Because my focal image is so large, I didn't put a blue mat behind it so as not to cover up the stars on the bg piece. It says 'baby' twinkle twinkle little star do you know how loved you are? I also 'fixed' my hop mark thanks to Melanie too - I was doing it all wrong. After all, the artist should know *wink* oh I realize I have some of the rain drops wonky. I'd fix that once I start production.

So here's where you come in - have any ideas for improvement? Which one do YOU like??! I need to get started on these right away and come up with matching favors, thank you cards & announcements. I just am not feeling any other ideas and need to know if one of these would pass. Ugh...I think the past 2 days I didn't stamp because I wanted/needed a break made me lose my mojo!

Edited to add: card with Shannan's suggestions (basic gray matting on focal image & ribbon instead of the blue strip) - I like it!!!

Thanks!

For Baby Aruna

Aruna Elizabeth Kalyani Ramcharan was born several weeks ago in Holland to my friend's daughter April & husband Toshi - she has an older sister Indra. Here is the definition of the baby's name - it's so pretty: Aruna (Ah-roo-nah) means morning sun rising, which they used as a variation of April’s middle name—Dawn. Kalyani (kah-lee-ah-nee) means blissful and/or fortunate. I found this purple stuffed hippo at Target $ spot the other day...cute, huh? Knew I could make a cute matching card using my Just so Hippy set--then, Anna Wight Sweet Miss Daisy of Sassy & Sweet Notes posted a cute card sketch challenge that was PERFECT for my idea. I used a Baby set from Wordsworth or the square background pieces stamped with a onesie, baby shoes, hooray it's a girl and safety pins. The sentiment in the sign is SU! Fancy Flexible Phrases.

if you haven't checked out Melanie's Hippy Contest - you have until this Friday to win a set of stamped from her next release.

Teddy Bear Calendar

I made this calendar for a co-worker (male) whose wife recently had their 1st baby boy (they already had 2 girls ages 6 & 9) I didn't figure he'd keep this so I told him it was o.k. for him to pass on to his wife. Luckily before I gave it to him, I realized I had 2007 calendar instead of 2008 so I went on SCS real quickly & printed up the right one & put it together right. phew! I was inspired by Lisa Sommerville (Splendiferous Creations) post for this great little gift! Btw - he was very grateful for the gift and thought it was real nice.

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge - Just So Hippy Debut!

How many of you were in the Gina K Designs forum last night for the new stamps release party? At one time there were 216 gals (guys too?) in there! I stayed around an hour. There were 1,971 replies! It was fast & furious (they all are) but I wanted to support my friend Melanie Muenchinger of Hands, Head & Heart whose first stamp set was one of the releases called Just so Hippy just $17.95 for 18 images! And let me tell you, they are F-U-N to play with! Melanie and I hung out on Friday afternoon (I LOVE my 1/2 day Fridays schedule so I can do fun stuff like this!). She's a SAHM and the boys went across the street for a little while for us to chat & I could help her on her blog a little. Well, she let me bring her set home so I could play with it & of course I will be buying my own set because it is awesome!! btw, the welcome baby sentiment is not in the set, I typed & printed it up to go with the polyshrink baby hippo.

This card was made for Beate's weekly sketch challenge (week 29) I can hardly believe this is the first one I'm actually participating in; I have wanted to play for weeks now, but was just too busy with all the holiday stuff & other commitments. So here I am starting a new tradition to play.