Baby Gift Box

A couple of weeks ago i found out that the lady that works for our sister company is pregnant... She told me last week that they're expecting a baby boy...  I want to get them a little baby gift, and i thought it would be super cute to make my own gift box...

A while ago i bought two stamp sets from Inkadinkado, a baby boy and baby girl stamp set - i've been dying to use it for something, and it thought this would be the perfect time to use it...  I love the little laundry line idea, so i decided to stamp that on all 4 sides of the box...  I made the grass using my Martha Stewart Fringe scissors, and i added the "wooden poles", to make the laundry line complete...

This was the first attempt:

I used my white ink, seeing that it always looks so nice to use white ink on Kraft, but for some reason this looked wayyyyyyyy to plain for me, so i decided to "jazz" it up a bit...  I stamped the clothes in different colours on white cardstock, cut them out, and used some foam tape on some of them to make it stand out more...  Oh, and i added a little snail on the grass part - i just thought it would look cute...

So this is what the final product looks like - i think it looks super cute...  Now all i have to do is put the gift inside, maybe add a little tag that says "it's a boy", maybe some ribbon - and it'll be ready to go...

 I'm busy working on a double page scrapbook layout, so watch this space...

Liesl
xxx 

Valentine's Day Treat Bag

In my previous post i mentioned the two competitions that i entered, and i totally forgot to post some pictures of the other item i made...  The theme was "Love & Lace", so i decided to make a little Valentine's goodie bag - i stamped and embossed the white dots onto the little red bag, added a doily, a medallion / rosette and a little stamped banner - and voila!!!  Easy peasy...

 

I love the way this one turned out - i'm sure anybody would be more than happy to get such a cute little goodie bag...

Quilt update:  just in case you thought that i have abandoned my project - NO, i have not, it's just taking wayyyyyyyy longer that i thought...  All the blocks (all 300 of them) are sewn together, and i've layered the back piece, the batting and the front block piece together - i'm still busy pinning this all together to hold it in place so i can start sewing, and then i just need to add the bias binding around the edge...  I will be working on this again tonight - i will be honest, i was very tempted to phone the quilting store today to ask if there would be anybody who would be willing to finish this for me, but i stopped myself from doing that - I started this project, and I will finish this project - even if it takes longer than i anticipated... So watch this space - one of these days i will feature my own handmade quilt...

Liesl

xxx

Cards and Competitions

Since a very young age, i've always LOVED competitions - doesn't matter what it is, i will always enter...  I remember my very first prize that i ever won, it was a doll - don't know what happened to the doll, but that was many moons ago...  I've won a couple of other items as well, but the doll i will never forget...

Anyhoo, two of my favourite stamp companies have competitions every month...  I've been trying so hard to enter, but i always start the project and never finish it...  So today is the day that i'm finally entering both competitions - can you believe, i actually finished my projects...  I feel like i have a gazillion projects that i'm busy with, but i don't finish anything - i was busy working on the two competition projects (which i actually finished - miracle), then i'm still busy with the quilt i'm making for Aiden's room, i'm working on a double page scrapbook lay out, i'm busy with some greeting cards that i want to send up to my sister, i'm trying my hand at applique (so much fun, but a lot harder than what i originally thought), oh, and some valentines projects for Aiden's school has just been added to the list - i'm sure i've left something out, but as you can see - i have MORE than enough to keep my busy for a while...

To my absolute shock and horror, i was just getting ready to submit my Papertrey Ink project, when i realised that the competition closed a couple of hours ago - honestly, i was very close to crying!!  I worked so hard on these cards, trying to come up with the idea, then putting your idea onto paper, etc...  But (luckily for me there is a but), they do have another option - a Colour Inspiration section, and one of my cards should qualify for that, so i'm still entering (even if it is only 1 of the 3 cards), so my heart is not feeling so heavy anymore... 

This is the card that i'm entering for the Colour Inspiration:

The stamps i used for this card is from the "sweet baby" stamp set, and i also used the genuine Papertrey Ink twine...

I might as well share the other two cards that i made - it was a sketch challenge, so they give you 5 different sketches, and you can pick whichever one to use as your inspiration, so you'll see i've used 3 different sketches for the cards i created...

 

 

This last card is so cute - i used the "have a ball" mini stamp set from Papertrey Ink - it was so nice to make a boy card for a change - i normally stick to pink and girly cards, so this was a nice change for me...

Well, i'm going to submit my entry now - so let's keep our fingers crossed...

Liesl
xxx

Update

Helloooooooooooooo... While i was blog hopping today, i came across the cutest video - even though they don't say a word, they get the point across in such a clever way...  This is sooooooo my tipe of video - i just had to share it here on my blog - check it out, it's worth it...  Oh, and i love the gift idea you'll see in this video...

There was also a link to another blog, where they have a tutorial for creating a stunning Blog Banner - so watch this space, there might be some changes soon (if i can figure out how to do it myself)...

Liesl
xxx

Baby Shower - Scrapbook Page

I was going thru all my crafting pictures and i came across this lay out, so i thought i would share this post quickly...  This year i'm definitely going to do more scrapbooking - that's how i got into the paper crafting hobby to begin with...  I've got a huge stack of scrapbooking papers that i need to use (maybe one day), but one can never have enough...

A while back my friend Olivia asked me to make a double page lay out that she can use as a gift for a baby shower that she was hosting...  Her idea was to have something that's got enough space for everybody to write a little something on the page, i.e. advise, suggestions, etc...

This is what we came up with:

I've been a busy little bee again - i'm busy making a quilt for Aidens room...  My mom & dad gave me a sewing machine for Xmas - sooooooo excited about that (thanks mom & dad xxx), and i've decided that my first project is going to the quilt... Yikes - no pressure!!!  I'll be honest, i didn't realise how much work actually goes into making a quilt, but i've started it, so now i WILL finish it...

I've been taking pictures of all the steps, so i can document the whole process right here on my blog - watch this space, hopefully the quilt will be done soon...

Liesl
xxx

Monster Alien Birthday Party

Ok, so first things first - Happy New Year everybody!!!  It's been way too long since i've posted (i feel like i always say that), but here's an update... 

We've had the most wonderful holiday - only one thing was missing - my family!!!  This year we're definitely going to make sure that we're all together on Christmas again - it just isn't the same without them...

I can't believe how quickly the holiday has flown by - three more days for me, and then it's back to reality...  We've been enjoying the sunshine, lazing by the pool...  We've been to the beach - Aiden is such a little surfer dude, with his awesome tan - he just loves the beach!!!  Here's a picture of him and Erin playing at the beach...  It was very windy yesterday, so not too many people at the beach...

I've been promising for a while to post Aiden's birthday pictures - and the time has come to do it!!!  We had such a lovely time, Aiden loved every minute of it...  I still can't believe that my baby boy is 5 already...

The party decor is obviously the part that i love - thanks to the very talented Lauren Mckinsey (click on this link - it will take you to her "think cute" website) who helped me with all the cute printables that i used for this party...  We're talking Talent with a capital T...  All her printables are just too cute - i even used them for our Xmas tags - look, isn't this just to die for!!!

Anyhoo, back to the Monster Alien Party - here are some pics of all the party goodies - it just screams awesomeness!!!

And the birthday cake and cupcakes were made by my friend Olivia - Cream Little Events...  If you want the party of all parties, please contact Olivia - she'll go above and beyond to make every party the best party ever...

The kids (and the adults) loved the cake - Red Velvet, or in this case "blue" velvet cake...  Yummy!!!

So that's about it for the party pictures, i've still got a gazillion more party pictures, but let's not overload the system - i think i've shared enough for now...  Phew, this was a big one...

I'm off to bed, sleep tight everybody!!

Liesl
xxx

Baby Shower - Scrapbook Page

The past couple of weeks have flown by way too quickly - i can't believe that in two days time it's Christmas...  This year Christmas is going to be bitter sweet - i will not be spending Christmas with my family - it's just going to be the 3 of us this Christmas...  But i'm going to be thankful, and try not to complain too much!!

I wanted to share a scrapbook page that i've made recently...  My sister asked me to make a scrapbook double page lay out for her sister in law...  It was her sister in law's baby shower - and this is what i came up with:
 

 

The paper i used is from the Country Drive collection by Echo Park...  I love all the colours - it just makes you want to smile...

 I love the little banners everywhere - it adds the "party / celebration" feeling...

 I added some dimensional stickers to make the banner stand out more - to create the 3D effect...

 The baby rattle and the tiny baby bottles on the two pictures below, were some of the decorations from the actual baby shower...  I asked my husband to cut off the back part of the baby rattle, so i could stick it onto the page - it think it looks super cute...

 

I really enjoyed doing this lay out - i must really try and do more scrapbooking again - i have a gazillion pictures that i can use, and a huge stash of scrapbook paper - so i have no excuse!!! 

My aim for the new year is to try and use up some of my "stock"...  Problem is that i just cannot stop myself from buying more and more scrapbooking stuff - i know, i know - i need to learn to control myself, but it's just so damn hard...

Next i'll be sharing some pictures from Aiden's birthday party - it was a huge success, so watch this space - i'll be back with some super cute Monster Alien pictures shortly...

Liesl
xxx