Fun DIY Stubby Holders!

I was inspired my my hubby for this one lol ;) he was going away for a boys weekend and wanted a stubby holder with where's Scanners on them because they made the weekend around him and he still could not make it. 

The next week I was helping a friend put together bags for her hens night and almost begged her to let me do them! 

What you will need:-

Neoprene fabric (it's like wet suit material can be found at spotlight in aust.)

Tshirt Iron on transfer paper

And Printer!

Cut neoprene into rectangle shape 21 x 10.5 cms 

I used puff paint to write on the hubby's holders however I planned something a little classier for the friends Hens!!! 

To see if it worked I copied a pic onto tshirt transfere paper and then practiced on the off cuts. From this I learned that you only need to hold the iron on the transfere for a few seconds or less, too long and the fabrics on the neoprene would melt also. If you can see in the pic below one side was to hot and the other was just right. I used backing paper to iron it on which meant nothing was sticking to the iron.

Once I got it right I was ready to go! My friend had designed some amazing logo for her Hens! All I had to do was iron it onto the neoprene!!!

(I virtually used the tip of the iron and tried not to go off the transfere for fear of melting). 

Ok now for the tricky/fun part, sewing!!! This had to be done in 2 parts as it would be impossible to sew straight through. 

I set my machine on a zigzag stitch close together but very long so it would reach both sides and hold them together. 

Not so hard really, and looks impressive, I do wonder if a better sewing machine would make that easier?!! 

The finished product, don't they look amazing. It cost approx $2 per stubby holder plus tshirt iron on transfer paper. 

We also made lip balms, which are so easy once you know how, magnet buttons and a bag! 

A perfect pack for a brilliant night at Dracula's!!! 

Baby Shower for a Boy

The Baby Shower!

I had fun helping with a friends baby shower, I made the cake, and set up the photo booth, made the thank you gift! I helped out with a few games but I generally like to stay behind the scenes where I am comfortable.  Here is the cake I made, its all in the prep work and gnash is the perfect base!

The next thing I did was make moisturiser for the Thank You Gift.  These are made with all natural house hold products:- 

Almond Oil, Beeswax, Water, Vitamin E (capsules cut and squeezed) and Doterra Essential oils. I will do a full tutorial on these soon with some of the other skin products I use.

I brought the large lipbalm containers from a shop called Lotus Oils and used photo sticker paper for the labels.  I sometimes use Vinyl Paper which is amazing for labeling.  

The table was set up with baby clothing, it was hard in a function room not being able to attach anything to walls etc but the girls did a lovely job.  I even found blue drink for the table - below is a pic of what was left of Mr Duck but to make blue lemonade I added a bottle of blue Gatorade and it worked a treat!...  Looked good with the little bottles and straws.  

The Photo Booth.

Wish I had taken better pics of the set up however the camera was on the tripod... what can you do?  I know you are thinking phones are good these days but when you are running the booth, that didnt cross my mind and I didnt think I would be uploading them onto my blog... silly I know!

I found most the props at the local spotlight or reject shop however I did make the photo board out of card from a craft store.  Cut the center out with a Stanley knife, and paint with black board chalk paint.  Everyone was photographed with their messages on the board.  I did use the center as a welcome board.  All props were set up on a little table with a bucket to keep them neat.  Thats chalk in my mouth...  I only had 2 days to prepare for this baby shower however since then I have made a makeshift portable back drop out of conduit pipes (originally used to make a cubby for the kids) wish I had time for this but I was not aware that there would be no plain wall as a back drop. 

There was more I did for this shower however I am lacking with photos and progress reports but I hope this is of some help.

Games

Games were fun, I did not have much to do with them and they can be found on Pinterest or the internet.  Games included guessing what was in the nappies, how many days till she pops in the baby bottle with bubble gum, a bag full of items was taken around the room and everyone had to guess what baby items were in it.  And of course everyone was given 2 pegs and no body was allowed to say the word Baby or they lost a peg - wish we had time to get those mini dummies!

The games were easy, using pinterest there are a lot of choices.  One thing I find is that you have to allow the correct amount of time for a game ie: if game is going to take 3 mins per person you are going to have to find a way to do it without it eating all the time.

Unique Baby Announcement Photo Idea.

I love pinterest and due to a friend recently having a baby I have been searching through baby pictures ideas etc and came across a unique announcement idea using a clock, ruler, weights and name blocks. Now to find the Baby lol :)

I have spend a couple of days searching for items, given that my favorite eBay would not have had time to deliver and have hence found that the shops you think would have things dont...  I found that Kmart is the best place to buy weights ($8 for 2 kgs and its blue for a boy), the clock was $9.95 at a cheap spoils shop and I searched high and low in this town, the ruler is from Office works at $5.50 and the blocks are from a $9.45 peice of wood and I will show you how to make them!  

Making the Blocks

The blocks were the most fund to make!

I started by buying a square length of wood from the local hardware store, I did get them to cut the wood into squares for me however they were a cm over in length so I had to cut them all myself anyway.  I simply used another block to get my measurements.  

I brought blocks of sandpaper but found the best to be the flat sandpaper on the ground, I could hold the wood perfectly square and just run the edges along the paper to smooth them out see pics.

Once I had my smooth blocks sorted I had to work out how to decorate them, my friend wanted the plain wood color (which made my job simple) however I am not a painter and had no idea how to put the lettering on... After a attempts with some pretty dodgy looking spare blocks I realised that I would have to print my lettering in order to make them look neat!  I found a font similar to the look I was after in google images and printed them on clear sticky paper.  It was no fun cutting them out but they looked great!  

To finish off the blocks I used Rub Ons to put some nice boyish pictures on the sides and back of the blocks.  You cant see them as clearly in this pic as I would have liked but they are very easy to do once you know how.

My next job was to print out a calendar, it took a few tries of printing to find an image that had clear resolution. I once again used google images and found a calendar for Sept 2014 and printed it at half a page to get it clear enough.

It was all starting to come together!  I decided to mount the calendar and weight details on a board so that it sits very flat.  

When I finally found all the items I was looking for...  see below! Yay!  I have asked my friend to have a few props ready ie: booties, dummy, toy and fav blanket for the pic...

Now where is that baby???

Found the Baby.

Pic is not as clear as I would have wished, I am not good with flash lighting but have no trouble with natural lighting.  I may have done a few things differently but I love the concept just the same!