Helpful Hints: Wrapping Baby Shower Gift

To "wrap" the shower gifts for my granddaughter, I sorted them into 4 canvas baskets I found at a discount store and labeled them by seasons: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring.  Into each basket I put appropriately sized outfits for that season as well as toys, safety items, personalized baby books and night light, bibs, diapers, first birthday party suggestions, baby Minnie Mouse, thermometer, baby book, rattles, hair accessories, extra hangers etc. 

 And in the 5th basket I put the multicolored knitted sweater set and the pink sweater set I made for her along with a crocheted teddy bear.  

The baskets can later be used for storage in her closet or for toys etc. 
To see more baby shower related posts go here. 
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Needlework: Pink Sweaters, Blanket and Booties

This is the second set I made for my daughter in law's recent baby shower. You can view the first set here.
It is my favorite knitted sweater once again - in pink this time - along with bootees and a stuffed elephant toy as well as an adorable baby blanket.  
The sweater pattern is called "Jack Frost" from the Columbia Minerva Beautiful Baby Book.  Both the blanket and sweater patterns are available in this book on amazon.com.  
The elephant is crocheted and  the bootees, No. 3005, can be found in "Lovable Hand Knits, Infant to 4 Years" vol. 30 also available on amazon.com.
I also made the sweater in a size small so my future granddaughter won't have to wait so long to wear it!  
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Needlework: Multicolor Baby Sweater Set with Teddy

This is part of the shower gift I made for my granddaughter who will be arriving in 3 short weeks - if she chooses to arrive on her due date, that is...  

   The hooded sweater "Jack Frost/Number 766-27" can be found in Columbia Minerva Book 766 "Beautiful Baby Book, Infants to Four Years" on amazon.com.  

The tie sweater can be found in the same book, "Queen Anne's Lace/Number 766-7".  The beret is from a pamphlet I picked up years ago but it is still available on amazon.com.

And the bootees, No. 3005, can be found in "Lovable Hand Knits, Infant to 4 Years" vol. 30 also available on amazon.com.

The baby blanket is simply knitted in a repeating cable pattern with garter stitch around the edges. 

The teddy bear is crocheted and the bunny is knitted in one piece.
To view the other set I made, go here.


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Recipe: Baby Shower Cookies

It's going to be a GIRL!

Thank you to Bake at 350' for her delicious sugar cookie recipe and her most helpful tips on how to manage Royal Icing.  Although I have been decorating cakes for years, I had never attempted Royal Icing and it is, indeed, impressive on a cookie.  I look forward to trying it again in the future and eventually mastering the art the way Bridget does !   Check out her blog for recipes and fabulous tips.

I was able to bake and decorate the cookies ahead and freeze them in their individual bags (available at craft stores) with no issues.  It is a time consuming process so being able to do it ahead is a huge bonus.  Bridget recommended defrosting in the bags and it worked perfectly with no condensation.  Thank you again, Bridget!
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Recipe: Baby Shower Cake

My daughter-in-law's baby shower took place recently and I made this cake for her in the colors of the future baby girl's nursery.  To personalize it I printed out a baby photo and taped it to a wooden skewer to insert into the cake.

 Click here for the chocolate cake recipe.

It is a Wilton Pan called Baby Buggy and I used a Wilton pastry bag and a #16 or 17 tip to form the individual stars to cover the cake.  They recommend slicing enough off the top of the cake while it is in the pan so that it will sit flat on your serving platter. I did put a skim coat of white frosting (delicious!) on the cake first.  Then using a large Wilton pastry bag and a star tip, I began the process of covering the cake with the appropriate colored stars.  

I also make chocolate cupcakes and yellow cupcakes.  Unfortunately, the cute baby design on the cupcake wrappers pretty much disappeared during the baking process so I set them in a fresh paper before serving.  The cupcake stand is also from Wilton and many of their products are sold at ACMoore and Michael's.  Don't forget your 40% off coupon!
The basket holds the favors, baby buggy sugar cookies, frosted with Royal Icing.  And the frame contains a collage of early photos of the 
future Mom and Dad.

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Crafts: Personalized Baby Books

Rather than give a book with just random characters on the cover, I printed out photos of the grandmothers and grandfathers and mod podged them to the cover of the book, thus personalizing them for the baby.

For a book about Soccer, I mod podged a childhood photo of the expectant parents from their soccer playing days.

And in this counting book, I mod podged several photos of the family pet so that he appears as one of the "counts" on each page. 

So cute!
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