Whipping up a 2nd birthday

My son turned 2 this past Sunday and I was busy the entire week prior whipping up some birthday goodness just for his special day.

I made him a shirt just for the day. I couldn't find any cute train shirts that had a number 2 on them so what's a crafty mama to do? Make one herself of course! lol The train is actually a clipart from Microsoft Word and I just used a font that sorta looked good with it for the 2. The clouds I free-handed and the stitching was hand done. My machine couldn't get into those curves and it was too late at night to even attempt it. lol

I also made the cupcakes and some cute little cupcake flags from train scrapbook paper. I wrote some cute little train phrases along with the typical 'happy birthday' on them with a fine point Sharpie. The cupcakes were healthy, made from a yellow cake mix along with pumpkin puree and organic banana yogurt. The recipe came from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook and it tasted awesome!

But my biggest accomplishment was the present I made Alex. I was working all week on this cute little kitty just for him on his special day. The face was hand embroidered and I embroidered a special message on its collar, "For Alex on your 2nd birthday. Love, Mom". Truly a labor of love and I love that he loves it too! :)

For those interested, the kitty pattern came from this link: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/party-cat-plush
It only gives you the pattern for body and the head, the rest is pretty simple. For the arms and legs I cut out rectangles that were 1.5 inches wide by 4 inches long (2 for each leg) and then shortened them where necessary. The ears are simple triangles except I cut one side longer than the other so it would stand up more like a cat's ear. Also to made the kitty stand up, I simply cut 2 more ovals from the base pattern out of muslin and filled with a bean filler (it's in the stuffing aisle in craft stores). Put that at the bottom and then stuff with Poly-fil on top of it.

If you're interested, I'll scan my pattern pieces for the legs, ears and belly for you to use. And I'll show you exactly how where I inserted the arms and ears (the bottom legs and tail were simply sewn into the seam).

Linking up here:

Laundry Lines Card

Are you a scrapbooker that saves every little piece of paper? Good, this tutorial is for you! I made this thank you card for my mother-in-law who recently took me clothes shopping for my birthday.




I didn't photograph a step-by-step tutorial, but it's really pretty simple. I promise. :) Here's what you need:

Leftovers/scraps of scrapbook paper (if you don't have any just use any paper you want)
Brads in any color you want
Glue dots
Scissors
Pencil/pen/marker

Ok, so here's what I did to create this card:
1. Take the largest scrap of blue paper you have, square off the edges (ie cut off uneven edges) and cut into a rectangle. Fold in half. If you want a particular size card then just double the length to get the rectangle. For example, if you want a 4"x6" card then you need a rectangle that is 8"x6"
2. Find a green scrap of paper and cut to the length of your card, but made it a little wider than you need for the grass. Tear one side of the paper and adhere it to the bottom of your folded blue paper with glue dots, leaving some extra green at the bottom. Fold over the extra green to create a little flap, this will help your card to stand up.
3. Draw clothing shapes (pants, shirts, dresses, etc) onto the back of various colors of paper. Cut out and adhere to card, just above the grass.
4. Using your marker to draw a line across the length of the card, just above the tops of the clothing. If needed, reposition your clothing to "hang" better on the line.
5. Attach a pair of brads above the tops of each article of clothing so that the brad will cover the tips of your clothing and the line.
6. For the interior take a scrap of paper the length of the card and wide enough to cover the brad flappy things (sorry, I don't know the tecnical term). I trimmed mine with pinking shears, but you can use regular scissors or various other edge scissors (like scallop) to get a pretty cut. Write a simple message on it then adhere it to the interior using glue dots.
7. This part is optional, but for the back you can write a simple message saying it was handmade. I simple wrote "Made with love, Ashley"

And there you have it! Write your message and give to whomever! :) Enjoy!