Corpse Bride Birthday Card For Josi

Happy Tuesday, all!  I hope you're beating the heat.

Josi turned 11 years old on July 18th.  She loves Tim Burton movies and even dressed up as the Corpse Bride a couple of Halloweens ago.  So naturally I thought of her when I saw the Tim Burton line from Simply Betty Stamps.  I've been holding on to this stamp for a very long time just waiting for Miss Josi's birthday.  I don't believe the stamp is available in rubber form anymore but the digi stamp, along with a whole bunch of other cool Burton stamps, are available at the above link.  I used Copic markers to color in.  As you can probably tell, I need to get more blue pens.  I don't do so hot coloring white people skin and I can't say I'm too impressed with my ability to do corpse skin either.  Practice, practice, practice...

The purple paper with the dark purple swirlies is from My Mind's Eye/"29th Street Market"/Carefree Adorable.  It is a double sided 12x12.  I used my Creative Memories oval cutter to cut the other side of the paper which is the light lavender paper under the stamp. I then centered the lavender paper and stamp over an iridescent eggplant colored card stock from Recollections.  

I found the "oh happy day" stamp at Michael's (in the dollar bin, always!).  I thought it was funny and was perfect for this card because it doesn't really fit.  I distressed it with 4 different Distress inks.  They are Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutters, Spiced Marmalade and Dusty Concord.  I put it in the corner of the card and slapped some cutesie bling on the side.  

I have a rubber stamp pack that I bought at Michael's by Autumn Leaves Clear Stamps by Rhonna Farrer called "Flowers".  I used black ink and stamped them on all four corners of the card, overlapping all the layers of paper.  I then went over the stamps in Stickles "Cotton Candy".  

Yay, she got it in the mail and she liked it!

Happy Birthday, Josi!  And I meant what I said in your card.  I totally want to do a Tim Burton marathon with you.  Popcorn, candy, Mountain Dew and all!

Nice effin' model (honk honk), 

Jules

P.S.  The soundtrack to making this card.

  

Baby Boy Diaper Cake and Baby Shower Card

Happy Monday, everybody!  

My friends Matt & Candice are having a baby boy very soon!  They had their baby shower over the weekend.  I was excited because I've known for months that I would be making a diaper cake.  It's my go to baby shower gift.  They are surprisingly easy to make, you can spend as much money on them as you like and be as creative with them as you like.  

The "Boy Sock Monkey" diaper cake

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• 50 diapers (preferably size 1, as the baby may not stay in Newborn for too long)
• a base.  I used a cardboard circle cake base but you can use any base you like.
• a bottle of champagne or sparkling white grape juice
• at least 3 receiving blankets
• tape
• twine
• 3 safety pins (which I didn't use but wish I did)
• 1 roll of decorative ribbon
• a toy to put on top
• cellophane 

The cardboard circle cake base.  You can get these at most places where you can buy cake decorating supplies.  

Roll each diaper.  The best way to do this is to keep the diaper closed (like it came out of the bag) and roll from the crotch up.  You can tape it shut.  Or you can use rubber bands, ribbon, twine, etc.  If you choose not to use the receiving blankets for the "frosting", you want to make sure you're rolling them with the white on the outside so the "characters" are not showing.  

The receiving blankets I bought came in a 4 pack so I decided to cover the cardboard base with one of them.  You take your bottle and place it in the center of the base.  

What I did was cut some twine not quite as wide as the base.  Then I tied the twine into a circle.  Once you start lining the diapers around the cake, the circle of twine will help you hold your diapers in place.  For the first tier, you'll need approximately 34 diapers.  You'll line them around the bottle.  The 34 diapers will go around the bottle approximately 2 and a half times.  The part that doesn't have 3 full rows will be the back of the cake.  

I folded the yellow receiving blanket and wrapped it around the first tier, letting it overlap the top of the tier.  Fasten the back of the receiving blanket with a safety pin.

Next move on to the second tier.  This will take approximately 11 diapers.  Do the same thing as the first tier and other receiving blanket.  I tied the twine around the receiving blanket because I didn't use safety pins in the back.  

And use the remaining 5 diapers for the top tier.  

The last receiving blanket on top.

Put the decorative ribbon around each tier, securing with tape.  And for the top of the cake, a nice stuffed animal will do.  Teddy bears are great.  I picked the sock monkey because Matt is a fan.  And I liked this one because it had the little blanket attached to it.  

Here's another diaper cake I did a couple of years ago to show you how it looks without the receiving blankets.  I rolled some wash cloths in the place of a few diapers.  

You can wrap these in cellophane, or netting.  Or you don't have to wrap it up at all.  For traveling purposes, I usually prefer to wrap it.  

I love diaper cakes!

And here's the card I made for Matt & Candice.  

This was my first time doing skin with Copics markers!  I think it went well.  I got the digi stamp from Melonheadz.  

The lime green star paper and the trucks come on the same doubled sided 12x12 paper from the company Bella Blvd/Baby Boy/"On the Go".   The stripes are also from a double sided 12x12 by Bella Blvd/Baby Boy/"Wild About You".  The other side was a giraffe print, hence the "Wild".  

It may not be noticeable in the picture but I used Distress Ink in "Shabby Shutters" around the edge of the digi stamp before placing on top of a blue card stock.  

It was fun to do a boy themed diaper cake and card!  I love shopping for babies and only wished I wasn't on such a tight budget.  

Biological clock still not ticking,

Jules

 (the "J" is pronounced as an "H" (Hules) but for this blog post only  ;-D )