Baby Doll Cradle Make-Over

For this past Christmas, I decided to make Pretty a big doll, and Santa brought her a little cradle for her doll to sleep in!

I found the cradle at a discount outlet store for a company that does monogrammed things. This store is where all the mistakes go. Poor mom of "Reese", who ordered this and it came back upside down. Oops.

I bought it with the intention of peeling off the vinyl lettering and being done with it. It was only a few days before Christmas when I realized that the letters were engraved about 1/8" down! I wasn't looking forward to sanding it down and painting over it. That's when my awesome husband said, "why don't you just put paper over it?"

Bless him!!

Technically, his idea included normal old copy paper.  But I only used it for the template, and chose a scrapbook paper for the final look.

I smooshed the copy paper into the space, then cut it out so it fit.

Then I used it to trace on the back of the scrapbook paper. I used ModPodge to stick it down and repeated it on the second side.

I also made a mattress for the cradle using some left over 1" foam and spare fabric.

I love it!

 As for the baby, I was hoping this one would replace her favorite toys and be all she played with! Not so much. Maybe when her new baby brother comes in June?

Vogue Pattern 7418

So far the only thing this baby does is sleep. Christmas morning, she opened the cradle first, since it is from Santa. As soon as she opened the "baby" it went in to the cradle and that's where it has stayed for the past 2 months. Not even joking.

Sadly, she doesn't quite fit, unless you squish her legs.

Also, a funny thing. Hero watched me make the doll while Pretty napped. He even handed me pins while cutting out the fabric (and oh my, did that take forever. "Do you want red, or blue, or purple?" with every pin!) Anyway, it wasn't until he pointed it out that I noticed I was using the same purple fabric for this doll's dress as I did for last year's Christmas doll. Hmmmm.

Pretty's birthday is next week (2 years!) and I'm planning on making a blanket and pillow for the bed. Maybe for next Christmas, she'll get another dress for the baby. . . that's not the same purple?

A Good Book Quote Art Tutorial

Part two of the Mod Podge book pages fun was the "A Good Book" quote art. 

A few years ago, when I made some nursery art for my SIL, the canvases were on sale at 2 for 1! So I bought a few extras, of course! And when I had a lot of ripped book pages left, I decided to make the art piece for the shower. This tutorial is a little light on specific pictures, so if there is any confusion, email me!

What you need is an 8 x 8 canvas, an old book, Mod Podge, a foam brush, black craft paint, small paint brush, a small amount of black lace, a button and hot glue.

I started with covering the canvas in book pages the same way I did the serving tray. It's pretty simple; rip pages, then use Mod Podge to stick them on. I searched online and found this quote, "A good book has no ending." by R.D. Cumming. I like the suggestion that a book you love with live on by becoming a part of you.

Now, some day, I might actually own some sort of cutting machine (my dream is a Silhouette!). But for this, I just used black craft paint and a little brush. 

 I like how bold the letters are, and also how there is a little drag from the brush around the edges.

Once the paint is dry, brush on a layer of Mod Podge over the entire surface of the canvas.

To create the flower in the center, I cut out 4 circles from the same book I was using. They can be any size you want, and they don't need to be perfectly round. I free handed mine and they were roughly 3 1/4 in in diameter.

Crumple them up to add some texture.

Smooth them out enough to fold them in half.

Then weave the four folded circles in to one circle.

Use hot glue to secure them together where one folded circle overlaps another.

To help set off the book pages flower from the book pages background, cut two circles from some black lace. The larger circle should be about 5 1/2 inches in diameter, and the smaller circle about 3 1/4 inches in diameter. I know that makes the smaller circle of lace the same size as the paper flower, but we are going to melt it, and that makes it shrink up a bit.

I didn't take any pictures of this next part because I was using both hands to burn stuff, so fire safety took priority over pictures! It's pretty simple, though. Use a lighter or a candle to melt the edges of both lace circles. I also burned the edges of my paper flower. Be VERY CAREFUL during this part. The pages DO CATCH ON FIRE and you need to blow it out so the whole thing doesn't burn away. Again. please be careful!

Now we are to the final assembly! Use hot glue to secure the flower to the center of the canvas. Remember that lace has holes, so put down the glue, then place both the larger lace and the paper flower down over that glob of glue. (Don't try to push down the lace on it's own, like I did... oops.)

Then lay the smaller lace down, add the glue and push the button in the center. And you are done!

I love how this piece turned out! A constant reminder that reading is important,

and the things we read stay with us.

And that's just awesome.

Book Pages Tray Tutorial

I'm sure I'm not the first person to Mod Podge old book pages to stuff, but this was a really fun and small way to bring even more themed decor to the Library baby shower. Today I'll share how I made the tray.

The supplies are pretty simple. You will need a tray to cover. I found this plastic "Merry Christmas" one at a thrift store for $0.50! You also need an old book. Try to find one that has yellowed edges from age if you can, it just adds more dimension. You need Mod Podge, a foam brush, and (not pictured) black craft paint, little paint brush, and sealer.

Rip pages out of the book at the spine, then rip the pages at random places.

Use a sponge brush to apply Mod Podge to one side of the page.

(if you follow me on FB, this is why my daughter got the stuff in her hair)

Then stick the page glue side down on the tray at random. I did try to make sure the pages were going at different angles and the text at different directions from the ones immediate to it. Also, don't go from one side the tray to the other, because then all the pages will be on top of each other on the same sides. (does that even make sense?)

I covered over the handle openings completely, then waited for it to mostly dry. Cut a line in the paper covering the hole.

Then use more Mod Podge to wrap the cut pages around the opening.

This is how it will look when you've covered the whole top side. I stopped here, but I think it would be a good idea to cover the sides as well.

The next step is to add an image. This draws attention away from what could be awkward page placement, and just adds a bit of fun.

I used this bird image from picnik.com, printed it out in a 4x6 size, and cut out the bird.

I traced around the bird on to the paper tray with a pencil.

Fill in the outline with black craft paint (or any color you wish).

The last two steps are to finish it off. First, after letting the bird image dry, use your sponge brush to apply Mod Podge over the entire surface of the book pages. This is harden it and add a great finish. Don't do it too thick that the pages wrinkle. Allow it to dry.

 The final step is to apply a sealer. Even after it has dried, Mod Podge can be tacky and if you leave things resting on the surface for very long, they can stick. Sealer will prevent that from happening. And since it is a serving tray, you most likely will have things resting on it!

 And there you have it, an awesome Book Pages Tray.

Then you can add stuff, like these party favors:

And that's just awesome!

The Library Baby Shower

Once upon a time. That's the start of an awesome book, right? Well, it's also the start to an awesome baby shower! 

I have some friends that I have known since we were 8 years old. In 5th grade, I went to a different school, yet somehow, we managed to stay friends all through Jr. High, High School, and into college. Now we are married and having babies!

I jumped the gun (I guess), so Talina is the first of my friends from way-back-when to have a baby, and it's a girl! I co-hosted with our good friend Lena and we decided on a library themed baby shower. The goal of this shower is to give the mom-to-be a good start to her children's library! 

It was a lot of fun to make the invites. I staged the picture, then edited the words right on top using picnik.com. Do you see Hero's addition? He's really into Pokemon right now.

Lena was in charge of location (it being at her house) and the food. Which left the fun decorating to me! (Thanks, Lena, for letting me have free reign on this.) We are not the game-playing type of shower-throwing people, so I put a bit more effort into the decorations to really make it special.

I searched for "book shower" on the internet, and discovered that Martha Stewart had this great book garland idea for a "Once upon a baby shower"! Wow. I'm cool like Martha Stewart, having a book shower... We decided to make it a bit more colorful, rather than the all pink that the original suggested. Lena and I spent a night ripping apart an old book and making these little ones.

I'll post more about the making this later.

I made a few more items, too. It turns out that ripping up books is very satisfying. So I made a wreath, a tray, and a canvas art piece.

I spent an good amount of time hunched over my glue gun (about 4 hours) making this book wreath, using this tutorial. I made a few changes to it, and will post more about that later.

The tray and the art were made with an old book, Mod-Podge and a little black paint. I also made more of my baby food jar party favors, this time adding the round magnets that hold so much better.

I'll show you exactly how I did these two items in later posts as well.

Here is Talina with all her new books! She got so many great books, as well as the usual and useful baby clothes, blankets and burp cloths.

It's amazing to me that we all met 18 years ago, and now we are here. Congratulations, Talina! I can't wait to met your sweet little girl!