Hello, Baby!

I put together yet another baby gift this weekend - and while I can't share what's inside this bag (which is a simple drawstring bag I sewed myself with some wide ribbon as a closure) since its recipient may very well be reading, I can tell you about the tag I made for it.

In fact, I liked the tag so much that I used the entire Animal Stories stamp set to create a set of tags to stash away for the next baby gift.  Because you know there's lots more to come!

Gift tags are such a useful thing to have a stash of, don't you think?

The ink colors I used for the images were More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pacific Point.  I inked the sentiment and edges of the circles in Early Espresso, and used the 1 3/4 inch circle punch and the XL scallop circle punch with some hemp twine to create the tags.  The "hello baby" sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  Purchase all of these products and more on my Stampin' Up! website.

I should've named this week "Baby Week"!! - Weg Bag Tutorial by Arwen

New Momma, and real life/blog friend Arwen (check out her blog HERE) has been making these adorable wet bags lately for baby gifts - and since baby gifts have been on my mind I thought I'd have her do a guest tutorial for us.  So without further ado, here's Arwen!

If you're like me, you know about a gazillion people who are pregnant, or who just had a baby. Having had a baby 11 months ago, I was getting a little bored with the traditional baby gifts. Inspired by using cloth diapers and some cute wetbags I saw for sale, I decided to try and make some to give as gifts.

Here is what you will need for this project: -1/2 yard of printed fabric -1/2 yard of PUL fabric -1, 14" zipper in the color of you choice -1 spool of matching thread -a walking foot for your sewing machine.

Let's get started!

First, you will need to cut your printed fabric so it is 34" long by 16 1/2" wide. Then, cut the PUL fabric so it is 36" long by 17"wide. Once you have done that, put the 2 pieces of fabric together. You want the wrong side of the printed fabric to be touching the non-shiny side of the PUL fabric. It should look something like this:

Pick one side at the top, fold down the 2 layers of fabric to form a nice crease, and line your zipper up so that there is approximately 1/2" of printed fabric showing on either side. Pin one side of your zipper to this and sew straight across. I find it easier to first pin my seam, and then go through and add the zipper to the pinned seam.

 

 

Once you have sewed the first side, unzip the zipper, and repeat the same steps with the other side. After the zipper is sewed on, set the bag aside, it is time to work on the handle! For the handle, you can make it however big or small you would like. I chose these dimensions because of the print that I wanted to show, but I normally prefer to have a much smaller handle on the bag. I cut, from the printed fabric, a strip that was 19" long by 4.5" wide. Fold in half so the right sides are facing in. Pin along the outer edge and sew. Just sew the seam, do not sew the ends shut.

 

Once it is sewn, turn the handle right-side out. Now, take your bag and turn it inside out, so the printed fabric sides are touching, and the shiny PUL fabric is on the outside. Pull back one side of the bag, and lay the handle down so the handle is facing towards the other side of the bag and pin in place:

 

This may get confusing, so bear with me, I'm not an expert sewer, so I apologize. You want to sew the handle into the bag, but only sew down to the end of the handle and then stop. PUL fabric is stretchy, and when you sew the PUL fabric with the shiny sides out, it tends to bunch. This is not a problem, except if you try to sew the PUL fabric, with the printed fabric together to finish the seams and the bag, your material will also bunch. Since the PUL fabric is going to be on the inside, we need to close the printed fabric and PUL seams individually. This way, the printed fabric will not bunch, and when the PUL does, no one will be able to see it. If you're still with me, here's how I did it. Pull back your PUL fabric, to expose only the printed fabric. Do you see the red thread on the PUL where I sewed the handle? Match up that seam with where you will start and sew the printed fabric only.

 

Then go ahead and sew the PUL fabric on that side. Go to the other side and repeat. It should look something like this:

 

and here is an example of the bunching that will always happen, but no one looks inside because that's where the dirty diapers go :)

 

Turn the bag inside out, or right side out, et voila! You have just made a wetbag!!

Brown Paper Packages

"Brown paper packages, tied up with string... these are a few of my favorite things!"

I like to keep a roll of brown craft paper on hand to create my own gift wrap.  I'm sending out some of the baby bibs to a friend who just had a little boy, and I used my Stampin' Around Jumbo Handle with the Baby Tees Wheel to stamp the images onto the paper.  I finished it off with some white satin ribbon.

Stampin' Around Wheels are fun to play with - here's a little video I came across on You Tube that shows how to use them (no idea who this gal is but she's very cute and I love her "wheel" puns!)  

Note that if you're using a wheel for wrapping paper you'll need to use a cartridge and not an ink pad (she demonstrates both).  Also note that the ink cartridges come un-inked, and you need to use an ink-refill (I used chocolate chip) to color them.  If you're interested in picking up some wheels for the first time, drop me a line so I can make sure you have all the stuff you need!  You can order everything you need right on my demonstrator website.

Oh, and I'm thinking I'd like to start trying to flim some short video tutorials - what do you think?  A video tutorial would work great for projects like this wrapping paper - it wouldn't be very clear in step-by-step pictures...

Happy Tuesday!

Baby, baby, BABY!

I'm not sure if it's something in the water, the time of year, or just the time of life most folks my age are entering into but boy are there a lot of babies on their way into the world right now!  Several of my close friends are expecting baby number 2, and many other folks I know are getting ready to welcome their first.  I think between November and April I know of almost ten impending arrivals.  So exciting and so crazy!

I realized this weekend that I needed to step up the baby gift making in order to keep up with all of these folks!  I'm working on a stock of (mostly) gender-neutral congratulations cards (some for now - congrats on being pregnant, and some for later - congrats on the birth) since most friends are not finding out the gender of their babies, and sewing up baby bibs like it's my job!

(I used Stampin' Up!'s "Baby Bundle" stamp set with Chocolate Chip cardstock and accent colored cardstock in Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Pretty in Pink, and Bashful Blue.  I inked around the edge of my white circles in Chocolate Chip ink to add a little texture)

(Baby bibs galore!  A couple of my current faves below - I love the soft green flannel backing with the little animal images!)

I also saw this post over at UCreate, by the amazingly talented Anneliese of Aesthetic Nest.  If you haven't been over to her recently made public blog yet, you MUST!  She makes beautiful things.  Anyhoo, her guest post is a tutorial for the "Luxe Lovey" and it is so lovely.  It just so happens that JoAnn's has a big sale this weekend - and you can bet that I'll be over there stocking up on fabric to try my hand and making some of these.  What a great idea!

What are your favorite gifts to make for baby?  Or if you're a mom yourself, what do you love to receive?

Works in Progress

It's one of those weeks where I have a whole host of projects in the pipeline and not a ton to share.  One of the things I'm diligently working on (had hoped to get them finished yesterday - oops!) is a set of thank you cards for my friend Meg who just had a baby.  Although I knew the colors I wanted to work with, it took me ages to come up with a design I liked (perfectionist, much?) but I'm finally there.

I've used the new "Baby Bundle" set in clear mount from Stampin' Up!  I knew I had to buy this set as soon as it comes out because I'm inundated with babies in my life right now - lots of blessings for family and friends!

I had a lot of fun stamping the background of these cards.  I combined several of the small images on one clear block and stamped them in Chocolate Chip ink onto the Pretty in Pink cardstock.  The background it my favorite part of the card!

I'm also getting everything in order for a wedding project.  165 wedding favors!  The bride has asked for the triangle boxes (remember I made these for a workshop recently?) in SU's "Blueberry Crisp" designer series paper (below right)

I'm going to use Very Vanilla ribbon, a shade of blue cardstock for the scallop circle, and find a cute "love" sentiment to stamp on for the greeting.  I'm very excited to put these together - can't wait to show you!

I'm also working on a "Back to School Crafts" piece for Babble.com, and a guest post project for the darling Caroline over at Salsa Pie, so those are keeping me busy as well!

I've been absolutely terrible about stopping over to people's blogs lately - who knew summertime could be so busy?  I promise I'll make time to head over and see what you've all be up to in the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading Ready, Set, Craft!

xoxo
Joanne