Sesame Street 1st Birthday Party!

Hello! Yes, I’m still here and I’m sorry my posting has been so sporadic lately. Being back to work and figuring out our new family schedule has been tough and the blog has had to take a backseat despite the fact that I’ve got lots of great stuff to share with you. Well I’m hoping to correct that now but introducing a series of posts about my son’s first birthday party. We went with a Sesame Street theme – he loves the characters and I loved working in all the bright primary colours. Over the next week or two (I’m trying not to over commit myself here!) I’ll be posting about everything you see here – and maybe a few more things I couldn’t fit in the collage!

 

I’ll come back here after each post to add a link so it’ll be easy to find everything. Here’s a partial list of the projects I’ll be writing about:

• Sesame Street Invite
• Baby Food Jar Favours
• 12 Month Summary Bristol Board
• Heart Garland
• Sesame Street Pennant Garland
• Mason Jar Decor
• “Framed” Guest Photos
• Tissue Paper Pom Poms
• Balloon Wreath
• Photo Garland
• Table Decor

Hope you’ll come back to see all of the posts!

Crafty Christmas – Treat Containers from Formula Cans

I like to give away baking at Christmas. It’s an affordable way to spread some cheer to neighbours and friends who you wouldn’t normally buy presents for. But it can be tricky determining what to put my homemade sweets in for gifting as pretty containers end up being more expensive than the baking but a Ziploc bag really won’t do.  Yesterday, Chris needed cookies for a charity bake sale at his office. I knew the chances were high that if I sent them in one of my containers I’d never see it again so I had to come up with something quickly that still looked cute. Enter the formula can!

I’ve been saving them since Nathan started on formula 3 months ago so I have a LOT of them – he goes through about a can a week! I just knew they’d come in handy some day. I took a clean, empty formula can, measured a piece of glittery Christmas scrapbook paper to fit and then wrapped it around the can and hot glued it on. Done! Isn’t it pretty? The lid is plain so I don’t think anyone would even know it was a formula can (unless they have a baby of their own at home!). This was a 900g container and it fit two dozen Hot Chocolate Cookies perfectly – great for Christmas gifting! And since the tin is air tight it’ll keep the cookies fresh too :)

If you wanted to get even more creative you could add extra embellishments like ribbon or stickers but I think I like how pretty and simple this one is. I'll definitely be making more of these before December 25th!

DIY Kids Turkey Headband

I admit that I am one of those mothers who likes to dress my kid up in silly outfits for all of his “firsts”. We gave him a bowtie and a leprechaun hat for his first St. Patrick’s Day; I turned him into a paper bunny for Easter; I even made him a podium and a gold medal for his first Olympics opening ceremony. Yep, I’m that mommy! So with Thanksgiving coming up I’ve been searching for something cute I could make for Nathan to wear to commemorate the day. Enter the turkey headband!

Isn’t it cute? It’s inspired by this one I pinned from Pottery Barn Kids (which is no longer available) except, since I can’t sew, mine is made entirely of paper instead of fabric. Slightly less durable but since it’s really only for a couple of photos it doesn’t matter that it probably won’t make it through dinner.

Want to make your own? It’s super easy! Start by cutting a feather template out of cardboard (think cereal box). Depending on the age and head size of your child you can make the template smaller or larger. Then trace your template onto 8 different pieces of scrapbook paper or cardstock. I chose paper patterns that were Thanksgiving-y but you can use any colours or patterns you like – just make sure you choose thick enough paper that your feathers won’t just flop over once they’re attached to the headband. Once your feathers are traced, cut them all out and set them aside.

To make the turkey’s body you’ll need to trace a medium circle and then a smaller one onto brown paper. I used a cappuccino mug and traced the mouth for my medium circle and then flipped it over and traced the smaller bottom. Overlap your traced circles so they look like the picture below and then cut them out as once piece – there’s your turkey head and body!

 

Snip the corner off a piece of orange or yellow cardstock to create your beak. Then add the snood – the dangly red thing over the turkey’s beak – by cutting a kind of wobbly candy cane shape out of red paper. Glue these parts onto the head of the turkey and then add eyes with black marker.

Next you need to attach the feathers to the turkey’s body. For this step I just fanned my feathers out as evenly as I could, laid them down on the table and then added glue to the body of the turkey and pressed it down on top of the feathers. To reinforce things I cut a piece of cardstock and glued it on the back.

The last step is to attach the turkey to a headband. If you have a girl then you probably already have something on hand you can use. I happened to have some stretchy baby headbands leftover from making diaper cakes so I used one of those and stapled the turkey to the bow on the front. If you don’t have a headband you could always safety pin your turkey to a toque or similar hat that doesn’t have a brim or peak. I tried hot gluing at first but found that when the headband stretched the turkey popped right off. If you’re worried about a staple or safety pin near your child’s head you can hot glue some felt on the back side.

I am so excited by how this turned out. I think it’s so cute and I can’t wait to do our Thanksgiving pictures this weekend. As you can see, Nathan is thrilled too ;)

And as an added bonus: Pinned It – Did It Count: 2

Free Printable! I Love You To the Moon and Back

Just a quick post tonight to share a little digital art I’ve created. My mom likes to say “I love you to the moon and back” to Nathan and we talked about how the phrase would make for some cute framed art in her guest bedroom where he sleeps when we visit. I checked Google and Pinterest and there were options but nothing that I loved that could be printed for free. So I decided to make my own!

 

I love the way it turned out – it’s cute for Nathan but not so cute that it will look strange hanging in a bedroom that adults will sometimes sleep in as well. If you like it too then you can print one of your own! Just click on the image to get the full size version. It’ll print to 8x10 or smaller if you prefer.

And since I liked this blue version so much I decided to make one that is a little more girly. Again, just click the image for the full size, print and frame!

 

If you do use this printable I’d love to hear about it so please leave me a comment. I’ve decided not to include any kind of watermark since I think that makes for a nicer printable but please don’t share this art without a link back here. And because I believe in giving credit where credit is due I have to thank Miss Tiina Fonts for her awesome free Sweet Sky Dings – that’s where the adorable moon came from.

Sweet dreams everyone!

DIY Shadowbox Art from Baby Cards

Before Nathan was born my friends and family spoiled the both of us at an awesome baby shower. There was food, presents and, of course, a lot of cards . Then after Nathan’s birth we were spoiled again with more presents and even more cards. I’m a sentimental girl so I saved all the cards but I knew that it probably wouldn’t be too often that I’d take them out of the box and reread them - there had to be some other way of preserving them. I was so excited when I saw this idea and I used it as a jumping off point to create my very own shadowbox art to display the cards.

 

I started by using my trusty heart punch (seriously that thing gets a lot of use!) to cut hearts out of each of the cards. I tried to mix it up so that I had patterns, pictures and some words too. The size of the punch meant I ended up with only pieces of pictures which lent the whole thing a neat collage feel. The next step was to line all the hearts up and glue them to a piece of scrapbook paper. Because I’m really bad at math I went with paper that had  a lined pattern and that helped me place the hearts without having to do any measurements.

Once I decided to put the whole thing in a shadowbox I knew I needed some elements with dimension. I used some pieces from the Lime Twist collection from My Mind’s Eye like this diecut train and made them stand out by cutting up a Styrofoam cup, gluing together the pieces and then attaching them to the backs of my elements. There’s probably a better way of doing this but I went digging through my craft supplies and came up with a Styrofoam cup! The flag in the train window is just a sticker and a toothpick.

 

In the top corner I used stickers and more Styrofoam cup – I wrote Nathan’s birthday on the “Date” sticker and his name on the “Property Of” one. I also included a cute little cat safety pin that my Mom had attached to one of her gifts for Nathan.

Once it was complete I just popped the whole thing into a shadowbox and it was done. I love the way this turned out – it’s so personal and it reminds me how many people care about us. As Nathan gets older we can talk about how each heart in the frame represents someone who loves him!

 

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway! We’re giving away four 5x7 prints of your choice courtesy of Marianne LoMonaco. You only have a week to enter so do it today!

P.P.S. Linking up with

 

DIY Collage Art for Kids

If you’re a regular reader then you probably already know I’m a scrapbook paper addict. I have way more paper than I’ll probably ever be able to use so when I come across a project that calls for a collection of pretty paper, I’m on it! This elephant collage is based on a template from Martha Stewart (there’s also an owl and a bulldog) and this project could not be easier to make!

Once I had downloaded the template and knew how many pieces I’d need I chose a collection of matching papers from Suzy Ultman’s Lion Sleeps collection (sadly, I don’t think they make this anymore but I still see the pads in the clearance aisle at Walmart so you could try there if you like the patterns pictured). Then I cut out each of the template pieces, traced them onto my patterned paper and cut out all my final shapes.

I changed up Martha’s project a bit. Instead of mod podging my elephant on an 8x8 wooden art board, I glued mine on to an 8x10 piece of paper so I could frame it. The only alteration to the template required is extending the two ground pieces so that each one is 5 inches long.

This project literally came together in about half an hour so, when I was finished with this pink version, I made a blue one for Nathan. It’s already in its frame.

 

I love how this simple little project will have big impact hanging on the wall in a child’s room and I think these collages would make great gifts!

 

P.S. Linking up with Someday Crafts, Clean & Scentsible and Free Pretty Things For You.

My Baby’s Room – Part II

A long, long time ago (ok it was only 4 months ago but it seems like forever since I was still pregnant at the time!) I promised a Part II to the My Baby’s Room post showcasing some of the decor that hadn’t been put up when I wrote the first post. Well better late than never! Here’s the second part of the nursery tour.

I was so excited when I found this set of 4 forest animal prints on Etsy – they are just so cute! I bought them along with the alphabet print from Mateo & Tobias. Cathy was super nice over email and I got the prints really quickly. Her prices were really reasonable and I put the prints in frames I got at Michaels with coupons.

We knew Nathan would need a toy box since he had tons of things to play with before he was even born. Instead of a traditional toy box we bought this wicker chest at Home Outfitters. It’s in his room now but, once he’s older and actively playing with a lot of toys, we can bring this to the living room and it will blend in with the rest of grown up decor.

To round out the art in Nathan’s room I bought a set of 5 bird decals from Six Under a Tree Studio on Etsy. I knew I wanted vinyl but I also knew I couldn’t spend the small fortune that a lot of companies were charging. Six Under a Tree has a pretty great selection for really reasonable prices. My set was only $10! I placed the Daddy, Mommy and Baby birds so they’d look like they are perched on the side of the crib. The other two birds found a home sitting on the door frame. This picture also shows a door hanger I received at my shower and a set of Beatrix Potter books that were mine as a kid. We got them from a gas station promotion which sounds crazy now. Do any other Canadians remember the awesome things you used to get from gas stations when we were kids?

There are other things hanging that you’ve already seen like my Name Wall Art, Paint Chip Garland, and Initial Canvas. I’m so happy with how the room turned out. It’s cozy and inviting and its little inhabitant seems to really like it in there!

 

1…2…3…4…Monthly Baby Pictures!

My little guy is 4 months old! I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed and how much he’s grown. Remember back when I posted about taking his One Month pictures? Well I’ve kept up with the monthly photos and I just finished creating two pages for his scrapbook that show just how he’s changed over the last four months.

 

I am loving digital scrapbooking. Once again, I was able to complete both these pages using elements and papers found entirely for free. These pages started with a template from Shabby Princess that I just rotated for the second page and were completed with more papers and elements from Everyday Mom Ideas (love her kits!) and Design House Digital (please note that while the kit I used is no longer free, they still have tons of free stuff to offer). You can even get a free 30 day trial of Photoshop from Adobe to get you started!

I have only 8 pages left to complete Nathan’s 40 page album. My Photobook voucher expires on June 25 so you can bet I’ll be busy scrapping until then! Please let me know in the comments if you’re interested in seeing more of my work so I know whether to put additional pages in future posts!

 

Digital Scrapbooking for Baby

A while back, when I still pregnant, a purchased a Groupon deal for a photobook from Photobook Canada. It was a great value and I knew that we’d be taking tons of pictures once Nathan was born. The Groupon expires next month so I went to the website, downloaded the program and was disappointed to discover that none of the background papers or embellishments were my style at all! Not wanting the money I spent to go to waste I did a little thinking and realized that I could create complete digital scrapbook layouts and just add them to the photobook as full page photos – problem solved! It’s taking a lot more time than I had anticipated but I’m really excited for how the book will turn out.

Here’s one of the pages I’ve created so far.

The best part about about digital scrapbooking is that there are a ton of freebies to be had if you’re willing to spend the time looking for them. For example, I made the page above with the free Deer and Darling Kit from Everyday Mom Ideas. It comes with all the papers and embellishments you need to create a ton of unique layouts. Julia has create a bunch of other free kits as well, all with great quality pieces!

Google and Pinterest searches will yield of a lot of other great free supplies. And, if you can’t find what you need for free, the stuff you have to pay for really isn’t that expensive and you can use the pieces over and over.

For any scrappers reading, do you scrap digitally or the traditional paper way? Any freebie websites you’d like to share?

 

Baby Name Wall Art

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve been here to post a craft – I hope there are some people still reading! Today I’m sharing some simple name wall art that I made for my baby’s room. This project was very easy to put together and I made it over the course of two naptimes.

To make your own you’ll need chipboard letters, paint, scrapbook paper, a length of ribbon, chipboard stickers/embellishments, scissors and glue.

I started by painting my chipboard letters blue. Once they were dry I cut out circles of scrapbook paper (you could do all one pattern but each of my letters is different) and glued them to the backs of my chipboard. The circles don’t need to be perfect since no one will ever see them up against a wall. Next I added some chipboard stickers to the fronts of my letters. You could use regular stickers but I liked having my embellishments overhang a bit.

Then I took my length of ribbon, folded over the top and glued it down to make a loop. You’ll need this for hanging. I took a large chipboard sticker and attached it to the ribbon, overtop of the loop I made. I thought this “Something to crow about” sticker was really cute but anything goes! Then I just hot glued my letters down the length of the ribbon, spacing them evenly. And that’s it!

To hang your ribbon just tie a little piece of curling ribbon through the larger ribbon’s loop and hang it on a finishing nail. This is a cute project to hang on a skinny bit of wall that won’t accommodate much else –  I’ll be hanging this next to Nathan’s closet.

Nathan is really starting to take more regular naps these days so I’m hoping that means I’ll have more projects to share soon!

 

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. My little guy is obviously too young for egg hunts and chocolate but we found another way to have some Easter fun :)

 

Easy Paint Chip Garland

I collected a ton of paint chips while we were selecting a colour for Nathan’s room so I was super excited when I saw a photo tutorial from grace & light for a simple paint chip garland. I grabbed my heart punch, a needle and some embroidery floss and turned my paint chips into something adorable for the baby’s room.

 

The concept is so simple – punch hearts out of paint chips and then string them together. We knew we were using blue in Nathan’s room so my garland is all shades of one colour but this garland idea is really cute in multi-coloured strands as well.

You don’t have to use hearts either. I’ve seen this same idea in egg shapes for Easter. I might have to make a trip to the hardware store!

 

P.S. I strung my garland on the side of the crib for these photos because we haven’t decided where in the room to hang it. It was removed before Nathan’s next nap so no need to worry!

DIY Month by Month Baby Pictures

My baby is growing faster than I could have believed. Every day he changes and learns and amazes me. The time is going so quickly and I don’t want to forget how Nathan looked and acted at any given stage so I decided to take monthly pictures that I could put together in an album at the end of his first year. I know lots of people go to professional photographers for these kinds of pictures but, if you’re like me, that option is a bit too expensive. The good news is that there are a couple of easy ways to make these pictures memorable yourself. Here’s my 1 month collage for Nathan.

First, I love the idea of including a number in the photo for how many months old your baby is. Parties by Hardie created monthly stickers/iron-ons that you can download for free or you can download cute monthly signs from Mom & Wife to hang in the background of your photos. We don’t have a colour printer so I went even simpler and just cut my number one out of scrapbook paper.

 

Second, it’s a great idea to choose a stuffed animal or other object and photograph your baby next to it each month. It’ll provide a sense of perspective so you can truly see how baby has grown. Alternately, you can photograph them on the same piece of furniture each month. Or you can do both like the adorable series over at Bunny and Dolly.

Last, I think it’s a nice idea to do a bit of journaling along with your photos marking some of your baby’s milestones, likes and dislikes. As you can see above, I did mine electronically but you can also print your photos and add some writing to them like in a scrapbooking layout

At the end of a year you’ll have a collection of photos and memories of your child to cherish for years to come!