Monday, January 23, 2012

DIY Wedding RSVP Card Keepsake Book Tutorial

Doing the birthday card keepsake book for Gabby inspired me to see what else I could bind into a book. I dug through our box of wedding stuff and found stacks of wedding cards. We had over 200 guests and tons of out of town guests who sent cards. I think I'll save that project for another time.

I found our RSVP cards that I have been saving for the day I figure out what to do with them. We had asked guests to write some wishes or words of wisdom on the back of the cards. We received quite a few creative and funny ones. Some people drew pictures, glued on photos or wrote quotes. One even attached a saying from a fortune cookie. I'm really happy we still have these mementos from our wedding.

The difference between this book and the birthday card book is that this one has a hard cover and I didn't need to sew the spine together.

Pictures of the materials used and more details on the process can be found under this post.

Materials Needed: 


All the RSVP Cards:





Cards Ready to be Glued: I made a mistake and forgot to add one or two blank protector pages at the beginning and end of the book. These pages will be glued directly to the hard cover of the book and help secure the book to the cover.




Glued and Waiting to Dry:




Close-up of the Glued Spine: Again, make sure you have blank pages at the beginning and end. I had to add it after the fact and is not as secure.




Inside the Book:



























Supplies for the Book Cover:


Cut the Bookboard with an Exacto Knife: My cutting skills need work.

























I cut and glued a decorative paper sheet to each board, leaving a small gap for the book tape. I accidentally cut the pink book tape a little short so patched it. I used a thin strip of cardboard from a notepad I had to use as the spine. Leave a quarter inch gap between the spine cardboard piece and front/back cover so that you can close the book.


Putting Together the Cover:
























The Inside Cover: 
























The Front Cover:
























Take your book and spread glue on the front page, back page and spine. Lay the text block straight onto the spine of the cover and close the book. This will bind the book right to the cover.

The Finished Wedding RSVP Card Keepsake Book:


























Thursday, January 19, 2012

DIY Superhero Cape Tutorial

I'm always on the lookout for fun things to take Gabby to during the week. It breaks up the day and she gets a chance to play with other kids. Our city hosted a one hour Superhero party for kids ages 2 to 5 so I thought it would be something fun Gabby would enjoy. For $10, the kids drew, painted, danced, played a few games, went on a parade and had a snack.


There aren't too many Superhero costumes for girls so I put together one for Gabby. It ended up being more cost effective than if I just bought costume from the store. I was lucky and found a Superhero t-shirt on clearance at Old Navy to pair up with Gabby's tutu from her Halloween costume. All she needed was a superhero cape, which was fairly fast and inexpensive to make. 

DIY Toddler Girl's Superhero Cape and Costume Tutorial:

Old Navy Tshirt (about $4-5 on clearance)
Tutu (recycled from Gabby's Halloween costume)
* One half yard of yellow felt (about $1.50 - It was $3/yard after 50% off coupon from Joann's)
* One inch square piece of stick on velcro
* Optional: One 9.5 sheet of purple felt (on sale for $0.20/sheet)
* Optional: One 9.5 sheet of purple felt (on sale for $0.20/sheet)
* Optional: Purple floss or thread
* Newspaper to use as a template pattern


Step 1: Using a sheet of newspaper folded in half, loosely draw an outline of the top of the cape. I just eyeballed how big I thought Gabby was. Once cut, I used the newspaper to put it around Gabby's shoulders and adjusted the size as needed.



Step 2: Use the newspaper as a template to cut the yellow piece of felt. Adjust the length as needed. I made Gabby's a little on the longer side so she can use in dress up play as she gets older.

Step 3 (Optional Superhero Badge): There is an "S" on Gabby's t-shirt so I went with that for the badge on her cape. Find an image of an "S" online, print it out about 7" long and carefully cut out an outline. Using the backside of the felt piece, flip the image over and trace an outline of the "S" directly on the felt piece. This way, when you cut out the felt piece, you don't have to worry about the pen marks since it is on the back.




Step 4 (Optional Superhero Badge): Once the "S" is cut, sew it on a yellow piece of felt the same shape. I suppose you could iron it on as well but I am not familiar with using iron ons and figure I would mess it up. Besides, I thought the thread gives the badge a nice embossed look. I added another layer of dark purple felt underneath to make the badge stand out on the bright yellow.




Step 5: Add an one inch square piece of velcro to the straps of the cape and you're good to go. It's super simple and you have an instant Superhero.


Super Gabby:  Whenever Gabby is in a new environment, it takes her a little while to soak everything in and warm up. With a squirmy toddler, it's hard to get a smiling picture but she had fun!


Super G Playing Games with the other Superheros: She's the smallest one out of the bunch.









 Super G Painting with Mama K:






Overall, Gabby and I had a great time. It is so bittersweet seeing her grow up and participate in big girl events. She is definitely not a baby anymore. Once she goes off to school, I know I will be crying more than she will.