A first for ....

.... me - those of you living in the US will, no doubt, have attended lots and lots of baby showers.  Here in Ireland, until quite recently, they would have been completely unheard of, and nowadays they are still uncommon. 

So when I was told of a surprise shower for a lovely girl who runs scrapbooking classes that I and lots of my crafty mates attend, I thought "eeek, what will I make/buy/do?!".  I bought a cute baby girl outfit and I really wanted to present it nicely.  While I was thinking about it and diligently doing my PaperPlay DT duties and commenting on entries, I came upon a brilliant tutorial for a baby bottle gift box, posted by the talented Kathrin.  Serendipity - I love it.  So I rattled (haha, bad pun!) this out:

The top of the bottle is genius - get the domed lid of a plastic container (the type used for smoothies, or coffee or sometimes vegetables like cherry tomatoes) and stick a silicone bottle teat through the hole in the top and and glue into place.  I amended the instructions a bit and also trimmed off the top rim of the cup and glued it into the top of the tube so the lid would click securely on and not come loose.  Ought to have photographed that bit, but I forgot, so here's a closer look at the top of the gift box:

Everyone really enjoyed the shower, the mum-to-be was suitably surprised and loved everything, the grandmas-to-be had decorated the room beautifully and provided an amazing spread of goodies to eat.  My crafty buddies made such lovely gifts - there were tiny knitted clothes, a fab patchwork nappy bag, nappy cakes, blankets - and everything was presented beautifully (phew, so glad I found the tutorial - thanks, Kathrin!).

Thanks for looking!

Knew I meant ....

.... to do something, but I forgot.  We were away over the Easter holidays, in Iceland, and I had intended to post pics before I did my next "usual" post, but too late - as it's PaperPlay time again, I'm posting a card instead:

Our challenge this week is "Animal Antics" - we're asking participants to use their critter stamps.  I made a wedding card for my friend's daughter.  The wedding isn't until August (amazing, I know - I actually made something ahead of time!), but I've had ideas for it floating around in my head for a while so decided to get them "down on paper"!!  Here's what I made:

I'm entering this into the following challenges: Craft your Passion and 7 Kids Challenge ("Die cuts and punches"), Papertake Weekly ("A stitch in time"), Charisma Cards ("Shabby Chic") and Crafts and Me ("Vintage").

I hope you can see all the sparkle on the heart and letters - I've used different textures and colours of glitter - here's a close-up:

Thanks for looking - and I promise to sort through those holiday pics and post some!

Funny old ....

.... weather we're having at the moment.  Last week, most unseasonal temperatures - up to 20C and a week of blazing sunshine.  This week, by contrast - there have been showers of sleet and hail, and a corresponding drop in temps!  I don't mind, I'm an indoorsy kinda girl - I like to look out at sunshine, but if it's raining, as long as I'm indoors, it's fine with me!!!

It's Thursday morning and time for another PaperPlay challenge.  Our challenge is "Shaped Cards", we're sponsored by Simon Says Stamp, and by some miracle, I've actually got two cards!!!

The first is for that friend's 50th I was telling you about on my last post - here's what I did:

And the second is from my son's birthday, I thought I had posted it already but I hadn't.  He's still into Lego in a big way, but since I've done a Lego card for him before (8th birthday, if I remember correctly), I decided to go with something else - he loves the Simpsons, so I went with Homer - and since it's a birthday with a "0" in it, really there was nothing else I could use but a doughnut!!!  So here it is:

Thanks for looking!

So much for ....

.... March - tut tut - one post in one month is completely pathetic, isn't it?!!  March has been busy at school and also at home - we've had visitors, events and all sorts.  Went to a Mini friend's 50th birthday party at the weekend - great fun - some of our Swedish, German and English Mini friends had travelled over for the event and it was so lovely to see them again.  Also last week, I went to see "The Hunger Games" in the cinema with my book club.  I had devoured the books and wasn't sure what to expect of the movie.  General consensus was that it was good, but nowhere near as good as our imaginations!

Now it's April - and what's more, it's the Easter holidays, oh joy!  Two whole weeks off, and I've already made a few cards.  The first is my dear friend's birthday card - here's what I made for her:

Very bright, isn't it?!!  My friend's favourite colour is orange, not one I use often, but I went out on a limb especially!!  I used the sketch from last week's Papertake Weekly, but alas, I'm too late to enter that challenge - thankfully they're having an "Anything Goes" this week, so I can put it in there!

I'm also entering the following challenges: Lili of the Valley, Simon Says Stamp, Stampin for the Weekend and Joyful Stamper's Inspire Me Fridays all have"Anything Goes", Bunny Zoes Crafts ("Shabby Chic/Vintage"), and Creative Card Crew ("Spring").

I've used this cute "Lili of the Valley" image, coloured with distress inks.  I've been experimenting with them, trying for deeper colour contrast, and blending less smoothly - I'm happy with the clothes and skin on this girl, but am still struggling with hair.  Here's a closer look at the image:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Picadilly"

Stamp: Lili of the Valley "Milly Just for You"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Punch: MS "Arch Lattice"

Other: BG Mellow buttons, seam binding, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!