Baby Shower Gifts

Hi friends. Sorry its been a while.  I have done a bunch of projects but didn't get the pictures on my computer until right before the holiday.  Then I was with Boyfriend's family in rural Missouri and my laptop wasn't connected to the Internet.  I've got finals coming up, but I took some time to type up some posts to get them off my to do list.  The first is baby shower gifts for Boyfriend's cousin.  I normally wait to post presents until after they have been given so that I don't risk ruining the surprise, but I don't think that that will be a problem.  Boyfriend's cousin is having a baby boy in February and is having a shower next weekend in Kansas City.  I had seen Kentucky Girl's idea for doing a frame's with the baby's name and thought it would be a great gift.  The frames are from the Dollar Tree and Boyfriend helped me paint them blue.  The ribbon, stickers and wooden dinosaur came from JoAnn's and I used paper I already had.  The dinosaur originally had some purple on it, but I went over it with blue to make it more boyish.  I cut the words out on my Cricut and googled baby name meanings until I found one I liked for Gabriel.

I  also painted some onesies--one with a tie and two with the Kansas City Royals logo.  The onesies were plain white ones that I found on clearance to use for gifts.  Hopefully they really like them.

Photobook Part III

The last set of pages from my photobook.

That's the last of them, I promise.  I cannot wait to get the book.  I hope it turns out great!

Photobook Part II

Here are some more pages from the photobook I made.

Photobook

Boyfriend and I had a friend of mine from college take our pictures a while back and I am pretty much in love with them.  She got a bunch that look great!  I decided to take this opportunity to try my hand at digital scrapbooking.  I have been scrapbooking for a while now, but I had never before done anything in the digital realm.  My dad let me up his copy of Adobe Photoshop on my computer and I downloaded a bunch of free digital kits and papers.  Some of my favorite sites are Summertime Designs, The Blog Train Blog, and Shabby Princess, but I also used random other things I found, usually though Google.  Best part is that I didn't pay anything until I ordered the book.  I ordered from Arts Cow, which is where I order all of my photo gifts because they give you so many free credits.  The whole book cost me less than $10 (including shipping).  I'm very into black and white right now, so each page is black, white and one color with a quote about love.  Here are some of the pages:

Front cover--the back cover is the same without the words

Title page--it is the lyrics to our song--Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliet.

 

His and Her Pillows

A long time ago, we went and got a couple of pillows for our couch at a thrift store plus a sheet to make covers for them.  And then I got busy and they sat in a bag in my parents house waiting for me to find time to use the sewing machine.  I finally got around to it this week, and I'm pretty happy with them.

I also decided to learn how to ruffle.  I was going to put ruffle flowers on both but my boyfriend seemed less than enthusiastic so I decided to his and hers and make mine very ruffly and his not.  I used this tutorial for the pillow covers and just kind of winged the flowers.  I love how the edges of the flowers are a little frayed--it add some character.  I know they may not last forever, but if they fray too much, it just means its time to make new pillow covers.

Give Thanks Banner

This was supposed to go where my Trick or Treat banner was, but I glued the letters on backwards on one side, so that was a no go.  Instead it is hanging in our bathroom so first thing every morning and last thing every night was can remember to give things for the many many blessings in our lives.

I used a Thanksgiving themed pack of scrapbook paper at Target.  I cut out the triangles by hand and used my Cricut for the circles and letters. 

Life's Great Questions

I know that most of you don't read this blog for my wit (I'll post a new project soon, I promise), but there is something I have been thinking about that I wanted to discuss.  I don't like watching football, but I'm dating a boy who loves football, so I've been watching a lot of it lately.  There are a lot of reasons I don't like football, none of which are really important.  Back on 10/10/10, KU was offering $10 football tickets to a few games.  Despite the fact that I don't like football, and my boyfriend doesn't like KU, I got us a pair, figuring it would be a cheap few hours of entertainment.  We went to the game yesterday, and it ended up being AWESOME, but I started thinking about one of the penalties.  In football, you are not allowed to do what is called "pass interference."  I have watched approximately one million hours of football recently, and I'm still not sure what that means.  I mean, if you are on the defense, aren't you supposed to interfere with the pass?  Isn't that your job?  What confuses me even more is how you can have offensive pass interference.   How exactly do you interfere with a pass that is thrown to you?  I'm sure if you really like football, these calls make perfect sense.  But me, I don't like football, so it's all Greek to me... 

Rings & Things

I don't wear a whole lot of jewelry on my hands and wrists--sometimes I will when I am going out, but they usually end up in my purse long before the night is over.  Actually other than necklaces, I'm not a big jewelry girl.  However, I recently got myself a ring that I do wear on a regular basis, when I know where it is, that is.  See I'm not very good at wearings rings--on any given day, I wear in on two or three different fingers on my left hand and I don't like to wear it when I'm washing my hands or preparing food.  This meant that it got left on the kitchen counter or ledge above the sink a whole lot, which really isn't a very safe place for it.  I decided that it needed a home in the kitchen, so I made it this:

(please ignore the ghetto bottle next to it--it is a work in progress).  A little overkill?  Maybe.  But I LOVE it.  All I did was take a little glass round dish from the Dollar Tree (it was with the candles and such) and glued it to a candle stick.  Then I used scrapbook stickers around to edge to spell out "Rings & Things, plus I put another & after things to make it a circle.  I used etching cream to make the letters stand out.  All in all it only cost me $2 (I had the stickers, glue and etching cream) and now my ring is safe and sound.  Its kind of big, but I also like to put my cell phone in it while I'm making dinner so I have it near but it is safe from food and water.

Shutterfly Photo Cards

Shutterfly is offering a great deal for bloggers--you can get 50 free photo cards!  Ever since boyfriend and I took our not-engagement pictures, I have been thinking about making us some photo Christmas cards.  Since December is super busy between finals and the holidays, I try to get as much done as I can ahead of time.  Shutterfly has some super cute designs, for Christmas and otherwise.

I love almost all of their Christmas cards.  Here are some of my absolute favorites.  I'm going to have to have boyfriend help me pick one for sure:

I love the black and white with just a hint of color.  This reminds me of a photo book I am making.

This one is a lot of fun!  I love the swirls.

I love that this one is blue and red--KU colors!  Note sure boyfriend will go for it though, unless we can get some black and gold in there too.

I was also thinking that instead of doing Christmas cards, I would do thank you cards.  I'm one of those people who sends thank you notes for everything, so I thought these would be a fun, cute way to mix it up.

I like how the photo is really featured in this one.

I like how this one is kind of Christmas-y but also could be used after Christmas.

If you are looking to get a jump on Christmas cards, I'd definitely recommend you check out Shutterfly!   Shutterfly is offering 20% off all holiday cards.

Bloggers, click here to see how you can get 50 free cards!