Baby Shower!

My son and his wife are expecting their second child (our 4th grandchild) in a few days, so my daughter and I recently hosted a baby shower for them.

As you can imagine, I love to decorate, but over the past few years I've learned to make it easy...  I still add my own special touches and make quite a few of the decorations, but I don't mind admitting that I also take advantage of the fun, color coordinated, special occasion decorations available at Party City.   Check out the photos below and I'll share how it all came together:

Window:

The white tissue decorations - honeycomb balls, garland and fans in the window were part of a white multi pack for $9.99. The metallic twirly thingies hanging from the chandelier over the table came in a $4.99 pack which also included the "It's a Baby Boy" signs. I glued one of these to the center of one fan and clipped another to the top of the the 3-tier cupcake stand on the table. The romper embellishment at the center of the other fan was also part of the pack. I punched some stars from silver and blue glitter card stock and glued those to the center of the smaller fans.

  

 

Fireplace:

We purchased a helium tank and a package of white pearl balloons which we inflated about 3 hours before guests were due to arrive. I attached a length of thin, silvery yarn to each balloon then glued raindrop shapes, back to back onto the yarn to make it look like a rain shower - the balloons were the clouds.  I cut the shapes from silver glitter card stock on my Cricut Explore. 

To make the banner I created nine, 4" rosettes from blue card stock.  They're easy to make. Score a 12x12 piece of card stock edge to edge at 1/2" intervals, then cut into 2" wide strips across the folds. Accordion fold each strip, then glue 2 strips together, end to end. Glue the opposite ends together to form a cylinder. Crimp the folds together at the top then push down to form the rosette.  Glue a circle of card stock over the center to hold the folds flat - this will be the back.  I punched a white, scalloped circle for the front, layered a smaller, silver scalloped circle on top, then added letters.  You can either cut your own, or use alphabet stickers. (You can see instructions on how to make a rosette here:  http://juliemcguffee.blogspot.com/2013/06/celebrate-red-white-blue.html if needed.)  I punched a small hole at either side of a top fold, then threaded the rosettes onto thin sparkly yarn to hang.  You can make three, 4" rosettes from one 12x12 sheet.

  

Sofa Table:

 

You can find complete instructions for the lighted "It's a Boy" poster on my blog here: http://juliemcguffee.blogspot.com/search/label/Chibitronics   I also made the diaper cake.  I started by gluing an empty snack container to the center of a silver, cardboard cake round.  The newborn diapers are about  5" wide, so the container should be at least 4" taller than that for a 2-layer cake. The one I used was about 5" in diameter and 9" tall.  Layer the diapers sideways, one on top of the other around the outside of the container. I hold each one of them in place with a small piece of tape.  They can be rolled if you like, but I leave mine flat.  I keep layering until the bottom layer is about 12" across then I add a second layer of diapers. I covered the outside of each layer with holographic white deco mesh and light blue satin ribbon, embellished with decorative washi tape.  I pushed tufts of white tulle into the top of the diapers, and added a bunting at the top using blue and white striped straws with sticker letters strung between using tiny clothespins to hold them in place.  The container was then filled with baby socks, a small hat, pacifiers, etc. then topped with a small, plush bear holding a Babies R Us gift card.

   

 

Table:

A celebration isn't complete unless there's food and drink.  We had blue punch with little yellow ducks floating on the top, plus dips, fruit salad, mini quiche, my DIL's favorite - a Sprinkles cake and mini sprinkle cupcakes on the decorated, 3-tier Deflecto dessert stand, topped with color coordinated, blue wrapped Hershey kisses.  The outer edge of each tier was decorated simply with the same washi tape used on the diaper cake.  I topped the stand with the clip and added a dimensional stork sticker to the front.  

   

My granddaughter completed the decorations with this cute giraffe which we anchored outside the front door. 

Baby and wedding showers, birthday parties and more are occasions just waiting to be decorated - a great way to showcase your creativity.  And remember, you don't have to do it all.  Take advantage of inexpensive decorations and add your own personal touches.  You'll save time, stress and $$$$$$$... how fun is that!  Enjoy!  Y'all come back now..........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Deflecto Blog Hop and Giveaway

Designer Crafts Connection members were challenged for a second time this month to create with a cube organizer and a frame from deflecto.  Each of us received the following:

I love doodling with markers, so I spent time on the frame.  I'm loving all the adult coloring books in the stores and thought I could do something similar that would be easy to share with everyone.  Since the frame has a black border, I came up with a "mock" chalkboard.  Here it is....

I created the 5" x 7" artwork in a Word doc then printed it out.  (You can find a copy of what I used in the "Images for Personal Use" tab here on my blog, but you can use any image, or design.) To center the wording inside the frame, I placed the frame, front side down on top of the paper, drew around the outside of the frame, then cut it out.

The next step is to place the artwork in the frame then trace over the design with a white marker.

Since the frame is acrylic and you'll be drawing on the front of the frame, you'll need to use markers that will work on the slick surface.  ZIG® Painty, Elmer's Painter® or Sharpie® markers are an excellent choice, but for this project I used Bistro Chalk Marker™s from Marvy Uchida.  They work well and if I mess up I can start over - always a good thing.  Painty and Sharpie are oil based and can be removed from glass or ceramic with something like nail polish remover, but not acrylic; at least in my experience.

Step 1 is to trace over the letters and the design with white then use colors to create doodly type designs inside the letters.  They were simply dots, lines, swirls and zig zag.  You can find lots of ideas for chalk style lettering on Pinterest if you get stuck.

Step 2 is to remove your design sheet and replace it with a 6" x 8" piece of black cardstock. Now your design is really going to stand out.  I added some dots on the corners, then free handed some white curly q's around the black border.

Did you notice how the markers fit perfectly inside the cube storage!  I didn't decorate the cube this time.... I like to see what's inside the drawers and I plan to purchase more to stack together.  I have so many things spread all over my craft room that I can use them for!

Don't forget to enter our giveaway!  You can win your own organizer and frame.  All you have to do is comment on as many designer blogs as you like, "like" the deflecto Facebook page then enter using the Rafflecopter widget that is on the DCC blog @ www.designercraftsconnection.blogspot.com.  It's part of the DCC webring, so if you "hop forward" (using the blue logo in my sidebar) to see what everyone else has created, you'll easily find it.  That's it for now... enjoy!  Y'all come back now..........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Connie Crystal - Designer Crafts Connection Challenge

As with most little girls, my granddaughter loves bling.  Me, not so much.  I've never been a "blingy" type person, but I DO love to challenge my creativity with products I wouldn't normally use on a regular basis.  That being said, I was really looking forward to receiving the samples from Connie Crystal.  They have these mesh sheets of crystal rhinestones, so they can be cut apart into a variety of sizes of squares, rectangles and strips.  I received two,  12" x 1.5" (this is not the size of a full sheet) samples of crystals, one on white mesh and one on black, and went to town.

 

I had already purchased a marquee letter "J" for my granddaughter's "boudoir" and was ready to decorate it.  I covered the outside with gold Duck tape and the inside with holographic silver card stock.  It goes without saying that it really sparkled when lit, but it needed a little something extra to make it sparkle during the day - strips of crystals of course!
 

 

Now it looks flashy all the time....!  I still had lots to play with so I added single strips to the outside of a Deflecto acrylic frame; just the bling it needed for said granddaughter's boudoir.  The rhinestones can be glued, or stitched to just about any surface.  I used 1/8" wide tacky tape for these projects.

 

Using tacky tape, I also glued a border of the black mesh rhinestones around the inside edge of a wood laser frame I'd painted black and used to make a clock.

Last, but not least, I had to make a piece of jewelry; after all, these are rhinestones.  I measured my wrist then cut a piece of the black mesh about 1/2" shorter.  I attached a bar fastener to each end then added a closure with a jump ring. It took me less than 20 mins to make and most of that time was spent looking for the jewelry findings I needed....

 

This is such a great product for adding a little fun and sparkle to your life! Hop thru the DCC Webring (using the blue logo in each sidebar) to see what crafty goodness the other designers are rocking out.  Enjoy!  Y'all come back now.........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!