Baby Shower Stuff

My sister-in-law, Brooke and my baby brother, Andy, are expecting their second child any day now. Another precious little girl! Brooke's baby shower was a couple of weeks ago and Dee and I made several things for the shower and to give them as gifts.

Brooke selected several "cowgirl" themed items on her baby registry at Target and thus a diaper cake was born! Using the handy-dandy Cricut machine and the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge we cut out a cowgirl, a couple of horseshoes, a stick horse, cowgirl hat, cow and horse. We also cut out a baby bottle using the Doodlecharms cartridge. With a little chalk and my favorite markers they turned out so cute!

Here's a close-up of the die cuts.

Dee and I also created the baby shower favors using our Cricut machine. We used the baby bib cut file from Okieladybug's blog (Thanks, Okie!) and cut it in white, then cut out the inner section from some Anna Griffen scrapbook paper in our paper stash. The baby head is from the Doodlecharms cartridge. Chalk and ink "stitching" completed the bib. I typed a little "thank you" and Dee punched them out, matted them and then we attached them to the back of the bib. We then filled a small, clear treat bag with pink and white M & M candies, stapled the bag closed and attached it to the bib. They were a hit!

The diaper cake was part of our gift as well as a couple of "store-bought" outfits. Another part of our gift was "Little Sister" and "Big Sister" shirts for the girls. Brooke had seen some cute t-shirts at a local baby boutique and really wanted them for her girls, but at $30 a pop they stayed at the store. I knew that you could cut fabric with the Cricut machine and had unsuccessfully tried it once before. Undaunted, I scoured the Cricut message board and learned some tricks to make this time work. Heat 'n Bond is the key -- that and a new cutting blade. The baby head is from the Doodlecharms cartridge, the little girl is from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge and the lettering is from the George & Basic Shapes cartridge. Brooke loved them!

OK . . . the last thing we made was a "big sister" card for a gift we purchased for Layla. Layla is 16 months old and is not taking too kindly to sharing her Momma with anyone. So we know that a new baby is really going to put her sharing skills to the test. To help ease her into the whole baby idea we bought her a baby doll stroller and a baby doll that came with a blanket and "snugli"-like carrier. Demi loved picking this gift out for her favorite little cousin.

Dee had seen a "big sister" card similar to this online and wanted to re-create it for Layla. We created the baby using the Paper Doll Dress-Up, the baby's curl, hair bow and the baby bottle are from Doodlecharms, the heart is from George & Basic Shapes, and the duckie is from the Animal Kingdom cartridge (I cut the diaper by hand!).

Whew! A lot of work, but a lot of fun! And, yes, we spoil our nieces (and our nephews, too)!