Baby Shower Cupcakes

This is my newest nephew, Mason.  

He was born in mid-June and I attended a baby shower in his honour at my sister's house last week.  When I saw these rainbow-coloured facecloths on my sister's registry, I knew exactly what I wanted to gift him...

...onesie/washcloth cupcakes!

Want to see how to make them?  (They're way easier than actual cupcakes, I promise!)

These cupcakes are not a completely original idea.  It's based on something I found on Pinterest.  If you need a fussier tutorial, look it up on Youtube.  You'll find tons of videos on how to make them...some involving glue, pins, etc.  These are way easier...I promise...but the other methods are worth googling.

Today's tutorial will be presided over by Mr. Monk...the cookie jar that sits in our kitchen (and is never full of cookies, but usually full of dark chocolate).

Hey there, Mr. Monk.

 First, you fold the washcloth.

Fold in the sides to meet the middle...

...and then fold it up like a hotdog.  This hides the washcloth seams.

Then just roll the hotdog on up to get the swirly "icing" part that looks something like this.

 Next, you fold the onesie.  I used Carter's brand size 6-month onesies.  They came in 3-packs at Target and were the boldest and most wide-ranging colours I could find.  (Why are most little boy things blue and green?  Other colours are fun too, you know!)

Tuck the sleeves in, then fold both sides of the onesie in to meet in the middle.

 I missed a picture of the next step, but it's similar to the washcloth.  Just fold it one more time like a hotdog.

Then you're ready to start rolling the "cupcake" around the "icing."  Make sure the icing is sticking out the top a little bit.  It makes the top a bit rounded and the bottom a bit narrow, which is how you get that cupcake-y shape.

These little dishes worked way better than the cupcake papers / mini coffee filters I tried.  I bought them at Dollarama.  They're BPA-free so they're usable as baby dishes or bath toys afterwards.  They come in sets of 4 (blue, pink, yellow, green) with 4 matching little spoons.

Plunk the washcloth and onesie into the cup.  Fluff it or play with it a bit if you need to.  They don't always look great on the first try.

Et voila.  You've got yourself a nifty gift.

Worth noting: the wrapping materials cost about $4.00 ($1.00 for the tray; $2.50 for 2 sets of ice-cream bowls; 50 cents for 1/2 roll of cellophane).  It's really no more than the cost of a cutesy gift bag or some paper and a bow...and they're reusable!

'Tis the season...for wrapping gifts

I can't believe I found the time this week, but I'm glad I did!  I wrapped with paper, tissue, tape, string, ribbon, bows, and gift bags.  After about 5 hours, my lower back started to hurt, but I kept on going for just a little bit longer.  It's not that I had a ton of things to wrap, it's just that I had a lot of crafty fun with the process.

Here are a few peeks:

1.  Plain brown dollar store gift bags + simple black stamping = cute, unique, thrifty gift wrap.

The dollar store bags come in packs of 2 or three for a dollar.  The stamps are from Michael's for about $1.50 each.

2.  I've used the same ornament for about 4 or 5 weddings now, but I still love it.  The mirrored decoration is from the home decor aisle of the dollar store.  I wrinkled up and re-flattened tissue paper for the innermost layer, wrapped that in polka-dotted cellophane and wrapped that all up with a 2m x 40cm piece of silvery tulle.

Full Disclosure: Not everything got wrapped, I must admit.  In an act of true classiness, I handed two of my colleagues their gifts "wrapped" in the brown paper bags they came in from the LCBO. :)  They didn't seem to mind one bit!  Wrap some, leave some: it's all about balance, I guess. ;)

Go Your Own Way Easter Art

I work well with deadlines: the fact that Easter weekend is almost here was excellent motivation to complete a little craft project after school today.  These ten little woodcut bunnies were a dollar store find and I've been holding on to them since February.  Full directions are included below.

1.  Gather your materials: a picture frame, some scrapbooking paper, bunny cut-outs, glue tape, and a paper trimmer.  (Oh, and some ribbon, but that was an afterthought, so it didn't make the pre-craft photo!)

2.  Play around with colour combinations.  (I did like the purple bunnies on orange, but I wanted some kind of funky print.)

Crafting by lamplight.  It was dark by the time I got around to taking a photo!

3.  Trim a sheet of scrapbooking paper to 8x10 and place it in the frame.  (In true notMartha style,  I managed to break a nail and cut a finger while pulling apart the picture frame.  I learned that hubby's diabetic test strips make great little tools for folding back those pesky tabs on the back of picture frames without any damage to my finger!)  Use glue tape (or double-sided tape, or glue gun) to stick the bunnies right to the glass of the picture frame.  The geometric print paper made it very easy to line the bunnies up.

4.  I had to add a little non-conformist bunny in the corner...and give him a bright yellow bow to help him express his individuality.

How Much Did It Cost?

$2.00 for the frame

$1.00 for the bunnies

$0.00 for the glue tape, ribbon and scrapbooking paper from my stash

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$3.00 (A Happy Easter, indeed.)

Shared on Someday Crafts, Our Delightful Home, Somewhat Simple, These Peas Taste Funny, A Diamond In The Stuff and Not Just A Housewife.