The second I received an invite to a friend's daughter's baby shower I knew I wanted to create something personal. When my own little one was born, I was so grateful for the baby clothes, blankets, and all the necessities a newborn baby calls for but the gifts that meant the most were the personalized ones. They're the ones sitting on her shelf or on the wall and not packed away for the next lucky recipient.
I found out from her mom that she's really excited about putting together her little guy's room and oh how I remember those days where I would just go sit in there and adjust this little burp cloth just so to make everything p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Of course, then she came home and reality set in, lol... rookie mistake!
Anyhow her guy is getting a jungle theme Lambs & Ivy- Cocoa room. A really fun idea hit me... Closet Dividers. If I know my girlfriend (the baby's grandma) this kid is going to have clothes! They'll need some way to keep them organized. The dividers go between hangers to tell you what sizes you have. I can't tell you how many times I found an outfit in Miss Monkey's closet that still had tags but she had outgrown because I forgot it was there. It's a shame to waste a cute outfit!
I've always wanted to try cutting chip board with the Cricut. I did a little research and realized cereal boxes work really well. So, using Sure Cuts A Lot's basic shapes I created a rounded rectangle 3.5" x 9.125" with a 2.75" circle and a slit to fit over the bar. The cereal box was easy to cut (just did a double cut- blade at 6 and max pressure/speed). Then cut a cute green plaid paper using layout. I didn't want to leave the back unfinished so I found a cute animal pattern in the same stack.
I used a thin layer of Modge Podge to adhere the paper on one side to the cereal box and let it dry, then I did the other side. (don't forget to flip your template if you plan to cut paper to fit the back side). I found stacking heavy books on top helped to keep them from curling/warping as they dried.
Paper Used: Animal Crackers Stack by DCWV, and random scraps for the animals.
Cricut Cartridge: Create a Critter
Font for numbers: Palatino
Animal sizes
Lion- 2.25"
Monkey- 2.75"
Giraffe- 4"
Zebra- 2.5"
Elephant- 2"
Small grass- 1.25"
Large grass- 1.5"
I got to use my new Sizzix Texture Boutique to add a little embossing to the lion's mane. I just received the Create a Critter cartridge in the mail (Yay Sarah! She's the actual owner of the Cricut that I use so now "we" own this super cute cartridge) and couldn't wait to start cutting. I've only really used SCAL2 so I was a little afraid to figure out the cartridge buttons and sizes but using a piece of white card stock was super helpful to figure out my cuts before using the more expensive card stock.
I did make one extra (a total of 6) but didn't label it or add an animal yet.. what do you think 18 months and an alligator? Leave me a comment if you have a cute idea.
I hope they love the special gift I made for her little guy! The shower isn't until September so now I can relax a little and get back to my daughter's birthday party plans.
