Happy Birthday Little G

Today is my little niece's birthday. She is far away from me - on the other side of the country - but I sent along some presents and a bunch of handmade things that I hope she enjoys.

Back last year before Christmas I'd made my niece an apron to wear when she baked Christmas cookies with her mom (my sister). I think I posted a photo. Regardless, at the time I'd also purchased this cupcake fabric to make her an apron for her birthday. I thought she'd love the cupcakes and it would be fun for her to have another apron made just for her. This time I created one large pocket on the front (the Christmas apron had two pockets.) I used pink ricrac to trim everything and some wide grosgrain ribbon to tie at the neck and around the waist.

And doesn't a girl need matching potholders? Of course she does. (sometimes i get started on these little brainstorms and think midway - "what was I thinking?") And since I can't do anything really simply I decided I'd need to sorta quilt these little numbers and add more ricrac. They came out pretty cute but lets just say they were more involved than the apron. (between the batting, the ricrac and some stuff that i forget what you call it but its got some properties that help keep hands from feeling the heat - made for things like potholders - you sew in a layer of that inside....). They are pretty darned cute though so in my mind - time well spent!






Now I needed a card - i chose that Penny Black set again - so appropos for my niece.

 and some tags for all the different presents - i used the Enclosed flower die from PTI to cut them out and added some die cut leaves also from PTI. I stamped them all with lots of polka dots (to coordinate with this most cute wrapping paper i had)
Oh there was a lot of curling ribbon too. All so it would be nice and pretty for this little girly girl. While I'm typing this i realized I might have a little bit of fabric leftover to make her doll an apron too... hmmmmm.....
Okay - that's all for today!

A few things to share

I know I know - I've been awol on the blog for a little bit. I just checked and it's been a few weeks and for that I apologize. I've been busy doing various and sundry things. Lots of instagramming which is so fun, a little more craftroom purging, cardmaking and sewing, and scrapbooking. I've been trying to finish up my daughter's 1st year album (she's 24.... its about time right?) but there always seem to be distractions and other things requiring my time. I'm sure you can relate. I thought I'd share a few things I've made lately.
I made this birthday shaker card for my nephew's wife using an adorable Penny Black Stamp set. I know it seems a little... juvenile? for a grown woman but I'm tellin you the girl likes some pretty shiny sparkly stuff and I thought she'd enjoy it something to make her feel like a little kid again - and she did. (Note the little blue box bottom left colored up like a box from Tiffany - this inclusion was not lost on her. And what girl doesn't like to receive a little blue box? heck I've even saved the boxes :-))

I made this next card for a grand niece's birthday. I had ordered this adorable stamp set from Simon Says Stamp - Baby Animals. Oh the cuteness! I couldn't wait to use it to make this birthday card. Lots of masking and coloring so a lot of "work" but it was so much fun and I was very happy with the results. And so was the recipient (well her parents loved it... :-))

Finally here's another card using that same Baby Animals stamp set. When I first saw this stamp set I thought the little animals looked like finger puppets - so I figured why not follow that through and make a card. To simplify matters, I cut the hand using my Silhouette Portrait. I fussy cut the animals after coloring them with Copics. And after much deliberation I decided to leave it with no sentiment on the front - the recipient can't read anyway! (another grand niece is having a birthday... we've got babies all over the place in my husband's family!)

I shall be back to show you some more things I'm making! Lots of birthdays mean lots of cards, gifts and tags. Thanks for stopping by!