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.

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!

Presents!

Who doesn't love giving or receiving a gift?  I've been so lucky in the past few days to receive a couple.  This unexpected, lovely, package arrived on my doorstep from my dear friend over at Steinway Street...

You may remember that she won my blogiversary giveaway back in January?  Well she put together a little thank you gift using her "winnings" - isn't that sweet?

I love the butterflies stamped on the brown wrapping paper.  So pretty.

She made me a birthday book - and it's so completely clever and unique!

Inside there are tabs and pages for all of my friends and family - each person gets a page.  As I think about birthday gift or project ideas for a specific person, I write them down on their page.  So clever!

There's even a little pocket in which to keep receipts!

Thank you so much, Abs!  What a darling gift and so creative!  I love it!

Now, my other gift may make me a bit of a dork.  But I have seriously wanted one of these for FOREVER...

Yup, I'm awesome.  Stop laughing and hear me out!!!

I am the slowest coffee drinker of all time - seriously.  I am constantly having to suffer through lukewarm coffee or run downstairs to reheat - to only forget about it in the microwave.  It's such a pain!  I've been casually dropping hints to my family and friends about how much better life would be with a mug warmer for some time now - and hubs finally caved in and made it happen!

As I sit here typing my mug warmer is next to me with a perfectly warm cup of coffee sitting atop it.  I'm one happy girl.

Have you given/received any sweet gifts lately?

Meg's Baby Shower

This weekend I had the pleasure and honor of helping to throw a baby shower for my dear friend Meg.  You'll remember the baby bibs I was working on last week?  I made a set of four of them as part of her gift...

As for the shower itself, I was in charge of cupcakes - of course!  12 dozen minis, in carrot, lemon, chocolate and vanilla - all topped with vanilla frosting and a fondant flower...

Here's a shot of a couple of the tables...

I picked out a variety of gerber potted daisies (Meg's favorite flower) in different shades of pink, and hand wrapped them with pink craft paper, tying them with brown satin ribbon.

For the favors, Meg's aunt had picked up some little garden-themed sticky note pads, so I made a flower pen to go with each on (45 in all!) and tied the two together with pink and brown satin ribbon, finished with a flower tag punched from cardstock.

It was a lovely shower, with many beautiful and generous gifts for Meg and baby girl.  Here's a shot of me with my Mum and Meg - the mom to be!

And one of Meg and I...

Thanks so much to Meg and her wonderful family for allowing me to help make Meg's shower extra special!

It's a Wrap! Creative Valentines Gift-Wrap...

Now don't get me wrong... I LOVE gift wrap.  I love all the fancy paper stores with beautifully designed paper, luxurious bows and colorful sprinkles and tags.  What I DON'T love, however, is the price of these things.

I mean let's be realistic... if you plan on buying gift wrap or bags plus tissue and ribbon from even a major chain store, you've got to add another $10-$15 onto your original budget for the gift you're buying and wrapping.  That's $10-$15 more you could be spending on... whoever!

I'm not suggesting that I don't succumb to all of those beautiful store-bought gift wrap options sometimes, because I most certainly do.  This Valentines day however, I tried to get a little more creative... and sustainable, too!

I've sewn several of these bags from 1/4 yards of fabric to make gift bags.  I used satin ribbon as the draw string pull.  Cute, no?  They are mostly going to be given to little girls... so I am hoping they can re-use them for something?

And here's how I wrapped hubby's Valentines.  I simply stamped some newspaper and pulled out some red ribbon from my stash for the bows.  Since hubby in particular cares very little for wrapping, I figured that this was especially cost effective and appropriate!  Not to mention I think it looks quite pretty!

I don't have photos yet because I'm still finishing things up... but I'll also be using these to wrap some gifts for little boys.  Plain red paper, nothing too fancy or girly.  Keepin' Valentines as macho as possible, you know what I'm sayin'!?


Thanks for stopping by Ready, Set, Craft!  Have a beautiful day!