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Ah, Baby Showers, it seems to be the topic of the year. Ice storms or contaiminated water, something is going on because it seems everyone is having a baby. To all of you who are expecting a little one, Congrats!!

In honor of this occasion, I made something beautiful for precious little ones to … well, to burp on. I fell in love with this Noah’s Ark fabric from Hancock Fabrics and was looking for an excuse to buy it (thank you Ladies!).

These are so simple. I cut two equal pieces of plain flannel fabric, 12 inches by 6 inches, give or take.

Sew right sides together with the zig-zag stitch (these will be washed several times). With plain flannel, I can’t tell what the wrong side is, any suggestions? Hint, I always sew around ALL four corners, so all corners are crisp and created equal.

Turn right side out and IRON!

Then fold in the last side, IRON, and sew with a straight stitch.

Now for the fun part, cut the fun fabric slightly wider that the burp cloth, fold under on all sides and IRON.

With a straight stitch, sew around the perimeter of the fun fabric.

Add additional stitching for decoration, if you so choose.

Feed, burp, wash, and repeat!

I have been wanting to try quilling for a long time. I went to Hobby Lobby several times with all intentions of buying the starter kit and I always went home empty handed… well, without the starter kit. Really… who leaves a craft store empty handed? But all that changed when I was surfing the web and found Yulia Brodskaya’s website. Be sure to check it out, beautiful work!! Now I have the starter kit and here is what I have learned so far.

1. The school glue is much too thick, Mod Podge works much better!

2. Mod Podge dries really fast, work as you go!

3. Gloss Mod Podge shows up on matte paper. This is a “duh”, but it is something you don’t think about when your kids are napping, the hubby is entertained, and you have 46 minutes to craft!

4. Rinse brush OFTEN. When applying Mod Podge, the glue will dry in the brush and it will be useless quickly! Also, the color from the quilling paper will transfer to the brush… to your white paper background. Nice.

This is a really fun craft! I am already in love with it! AND Quilled Creations has colored paper, metallic paper, graduating paper… need I say more? This is the beginning of many more blogs on this section!

P.S. My first creation… The Four Seasons… Coming Soon!

As I shop the Martha Stewart aisle in Michael’s, as I often do, I stroll the aisle looking for a new product to try.  I had already purchased the glitter pack by Martha Stewart and had fallen in love, but that is another blog!  So I thought I would give the beads a try when I saw them.

You can get a whole set of colors (12 to be exact) from Michael’s, which is important when doing any craft, you must have a variety of colors!  Another must is a high quality, liquid glue.  Without it, the beads will not stick.

My first project, I quickly learned these beads have a mind of their own, but not nearly as bad as the flocking!!  The beads will go everywhere while you are sprinkling them on your masterpiece, and you will sprinkle significantly more than you would with glitter, but you can always reuse your excess, which I highly recommend.

I highly recommend a box top (which is what I resorted to after I began sprinkling the beads) or an excess glitter retriever, which you can purchase from Hobby Lobby or Michael’s for $3-$10.

These beads give a nice elegant look to a project and they are a fun alternative to glitter!