Cakes...yummy cakes!!!

This blog entry is a special shout out to my truly creative, not to mention amazing, SIL Charlene. She made her first ever inspired designer cake for her friend's baby shower and it was nothing less than absolutely gorgeous. Knowing Charlene, I'm sure it tasted divine too. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words!

Couple of months ago, I attempted to make a Minecraft birthday cake for my nephew, Danish. It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it to be plus I was running out of ingredients for the decorations! Nevertheless, Danish love the cake. With the fondant figurines, I tried to copy from pictures and hoping it turns out close enough to resemble minecraft characters. Well I reckon it's good enough within the 4 hours I had to try and make them. One thing for sure, I am not a baker!

Birthday Owl Tri-Shutter Card

I was sooooo excited to make this card since I reckon the end result will look very cute. I wasn't creative when I made this card. Literally I copied the  main design that I saw online although it was a pain in the butt trying to copy and hand drawn some of the pictures. In addition, I didn't have the exact measurement for the card since I didn't have the cardstock size required. Had to play around with mathematical equations to get the right measurement to ensure the card could fold flat. Overall, I was really happy with this tri-shutter card  and it put a smile on gorgeous Antoinette's face =)

Pocket Fold Card

In lieu of Valentine's day, I made few cards for my girlfriends to remind them that someone is always thinking of them. I picked the pocket fold card since it is simple and relatively quick to make if since I had to make a few. It's amazing how effective embossing folders and distress ink can make a card looks. It just gives that extra lift, not to mention I had so much fun experimenting! Guess there are rooms for improvement but hey, I've giving myself a pat in the back for my first try =)

Side-step dresser card

Since the start of this year, my new found hobby is paper crafts. I was extremely inspired over the Christmas holidays when I went through my MIL collection of DIY greeting cards, photo albums, scrapbooks...well basically anything that uses papers! I figured how fun would it be to make cards for families and friends, not to mention having the personal touch to it. The first card that I attempted to make was a side step dresser card for Michelle, congratulating her on the arrival of her bundle of joy. The cupboard knobs have magnets attached to it so the doors close with a clicking noise. Inside the card is a picture of baby Joshua with a message on it. The hanger, I used a soft florist wire and twist it into shape.

Baby shower gift ideas

As Joshua was born early, it meant that Michelle's baby shower was held after the birth of Josh. For her baby shower gift, I made an easy baby blanket and matching rattle with name appliques on both. In addition, I also made a nursing cover and matching burpie cloth with initial M appliques in both. The gifts were presented on a poly foam base with cardboard sailboat on it to hold the blanket and rattle.

Blanket Baby

My good friend, Michelle, gave birth to her adorable son, Joshua, five months after I gave birth to Adam. By this time, I would have browsed enough sewing patterns online to make various baby clothes/toys/accessories etc (I did say browse, not physically make it!). Josh was actually born 10 weeks early hence he had to remain in the hospital for about 6 weeks for intensive care. When we went to visit Josh at the hospital, I decided to make a life size blanket baby. This idea was inspired by my creative SIL and I wanted to make one too. Unfortunately peeps, we don't have a tutorial handy for you try out.

Baby Shower

One of my highlights during my pregnancy was the beautiful baby shower hosted by Adam's beloved godmums, Charlene & Michelle, on 14th July 2012. Given that the baby shower was held at my house, I could not resist to decorate the house. After all, I was on maternity leave and had all the time in the world! I love the look of tissue pom pom and found a great video tutorial on youtube. The color theme was baby blue, white with a dash of red. This was consistent with the owl invites that Charlene did. In addition, my sister bought a really CUTE boob cake specially for the occasion. As a thank you gift to the guests, I gave a chocolate bar wrapped in personalised wrapper complete with QR code which when scanned, will display Adam's full name and expected due date. I was inspired to do this when I was browsing online for baby shower favors and decided to have a go on my GIMP-ing skills. It was such a fun day surrounded by close families and friends. Thank you to everyone who attended and the lovely gifts.

Knitting

Whilst on maternity leave, I decided to expand my skills to include knitting. It is something I've always wanted to try but never get around to it since it look sooooooo hard. Figured that knitting might be a relaxing activity for someone who has been told by the doctor not to move around and just have plenty of rest. Thanks to my mentor a.k.a multi-talented MIL, I managed to pick up knitting and knitted not one but TWO scarves *pat myself on the back* It was actually prefect timing since Melbourne was bloody freezing in August. I've recently bought myself some yarn to knit some more stuffs. Sigh, so many things to do...so little time!

I've also included a picture of two jumpers that my MIL made for Adam. Didn't I mentioned how talented she is?!

Baby stuffs

Did a simple quilt for Adam. I was trying out basic steps to making a quilt. My SIL makes beautiful quilts and unfortunately, I don't think I have the same patience and interest as her to make quilts. I probably might attempt making another one down the road when I can muster enough energy to do one. For now, this is the quilt I've made and my MIL actually taught me how to do it =)

One of my favorite things in life is shoes so I guess I wanted to have a go in making cute little baby shoes for lil' Adam. I have to say that it turned out pretty cute. I made 2 different types of shoe. One was the felt baby shoes which i did in few colours and the other was the reversible baby shoe. I reckon they look adorable and even more adorable on little feet!

I saw this on etsy and wanted to try and make one of this. It's a baby bath apron and no, I didn't purchase the pattern. I figured it will be the same as sewing a normal apron except that I will use different material. I changed the pattern a bit by adding 4 pockets and applique Adam's name on the pocket..

Back to being a lady of leisure ^_^

Oh gosh, it definitely has been a while since I last blog. What has changed since then...hmmm, started a new job, got pregnant, now I have a 6 months son and another way is on the way! Safe to say that I am on maternity leave which means hopefully I have a tad more time again to do some sewing/crafts.

Since I started my maternity leave in July 2012, I have done couple of sewing/knitting/crafts. My new found hobby that I have taken up (motivated by the courtesy of my gorgeous MIL) is doing paper crafts. Guess I have a few entries to post up in the blog of the things I have done thus far. I have also posted the pictures on pininterest.

Stay tune!