We were invited to a "Meet and Greet" over the Thanksgiving holiday. This was a chance for the Maryland relatives to meet our newest family member from Chicago. With all of the holiday preparations, I had forgotten to buy a gift for the new baby. No problem, I will just pick it up while I'm out shopping. I went to the store and was told that the item is only available on line. Panic quickly set in. It's 2 p.m. on Friday; there's no way that I can place an order an receive the gift by Sunday. I need a gift idea quickly. I had been up most of the night shopping, I was tired, the stores were crowded, so the last thing that I wanted to do was shop for a last minute gift. I walked around the mall hoping that the muse would hit me over the head with an idea. I had given up and decided to give a monetary gift. I headed into American Greetings to buy a money holder card and discovered some stuffed animals for $1.99 on a Black Friday sale. Then the muse hit me over the head. I could make a card and decorative envelope and use the stuffed animal as part of the presentation. I was so proud of myself. I not only have a last minute gift that doesn't look last minute, but now I can finally go home.
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| Decorated envelope. |
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| Card attached to leopard. |
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| Side view of leopard holding card. |
Directions for Meet and Greet Gift:
Stuffed animal large enough to hold an invitation sized envelope
Dark aqua satin ribbon- 1/2 inch wide
Aqua print ribbon- enough to tie a small bow
Martha Stewart Bangle Chain craft punch
Light blue, medium blue, white, green,light brown, brown and tan card stock
Yellow dotted card stock
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder and embossing machine
P-touch label machine and white label tape
Piece of light brown hemp
Colored pencils and Copic markers- tan, light pink, brown, white
Stickers-photo corners
Small wiggly eyes
Cricut Baby Steps cartridge
Mineral Spirits and tortillion
Foam dots
1. Use the Cricut Baby Steps cartridge to cut Toddler 1 at 3 inches. Cut the base out of brown, the top layer out of light tan, the outfit out of light blue and the bib out of white and medium blue. Cut the nose, cheeks and hair out of light brown.
2. Draw a small circle on light blue card stock and cut it out. This will be the balloon. Place the light blue outfit and the balloon in the Swiss Dots embossing folder and run the folder through the embossing machine.
3. Assemble the toddler, do not glue the cheeks to the toddler's face. Color the cheeks with a light pink colored pencil. Color the face and hands with flesh colored markers and colored pencils. Burnish the entire face with the white colored pencil until the face has a slightly glossy look. Color the hair with brown markers and pencils. Dip the end of a paper tortillion in the mineral spirits and go over the face to blend the markers and the colored pencils. Work in a well ventilated room.
4. Glue the wiggly eyes over the eye cut outs on the face.
5. Cut a piece of yellow dotted card stock 1/4 inch smaller on all sides than the front of the envelope. Glue to the envelope leaving a 1/4 border, on all sides.
6. Use the bangle chain craft punch and the light blue card stock to make a border long enough to fit along the edge of the envelope. Glue the border to the left edge of the envelope.
7. Tie a small bow out of the aqua dotted ribbon and glue to the center of the bangle chain border.
8. Attach foam dots to the back of the toddler and center the toddler on the envelope and press in place.
9. Cut a piece of hemp long enough to make a string for the balloon. Glue on end under the edge of the balloon and the other end to toddler's hand.
10. Apply decorative photo corner to the right edges of the envelope. You can also cut small corners from decorative card stock.
11. Use the P-touch label maker to make a name label for the balloon. Microsoft Word can also be used to generate a name tag for the balloon. Cut the label close to the name and attach to the balloon.
12. Tie a piece of aqua satin ribbon long enough to fit around the leopard's neck and tie in a bow.
13. Make two small holes at the top of the envelope and thread the hemp through the holes. Thread the hemp so that the end is on the underside of the envelope and make a knot. Bring the hemp around the back of the leopard's neck and thread the other end through the envelope and knot it so that the knot is on the underside of the envelope.
