Babycakes Operation Smile Donation

Another Convention recap....my favorite project I've ever made....it's four ideas in ONE..

• A Shower Gift
• A Keepsake Box 
• A Baby Toy
• A Pocket Baby Album

So how does an idea like this come together?  Well....I must admit, by accident.  Month's before being selected by CTMH to present at Convention I had found this cute white box at Hobby Lobby on clearance for a whopping $2 and it sat on a shelf in my craft room just waiting for the right project.  Then....a box of supplies arrived from corporate.  As soon as I saw the new My Creations Kraft Pocket Album, Babycakes paper packet, Babycakes Complements Canvas Shapes, and Babycakes Assortments.....I knew I wanted to make a baby album!  So I put the supplies aside and started thinking...now, I like to altered stuff so it couldn't just be any baby album...it had to be spectacular.....since I was  donating my project to CTMH for the Operation Smile Auction that is held each year at Convention.

And out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of the box I had picked up months earlier.  Now, the album is the cherry on the cupcake, if you ask me.  So...I thought why not make a stand for the album.  Babycakes has this fun zoo theme, so why not make the whole project that way.  First, I covered the box with the B&T striped paper, then adding the baby zipstrip to the sides of the box.  The top is covered with the B&T poka-dot paper and inside the box and the lid are covered with the B&T alphabet paper.  The part of the box behind the fence piece is covered with chocolate cardstock.  The white picket fence piece was found at Hobby Lobby in the dollhouse section.  Next we needed some bling so I added a few of the new Babycakes Assortments (they are so cute).

Then the fun really began..I made this cute cube with the Circuit Artiste Cartridge (you know...the one I couldn't remember the name of on stage) WOW major blonde moment! Then I added coordinating cardstock, cutting the letters out with the Art Philosophy Cartridge.  Utilizing an old thread spool, I covered it with the buttercup B&T cardstock and a zipstrip.  A few days earlier while at JoAnn's I had found these really cute photo holders in the baby section...$2 each! So I picked up a monkey and a lion, along with a packet of mini baby rattles.  I glued the lion on top of the thread spool with E6000.

Every zoo I've ever been to has signs, so this project needed them too!  Using the Artiste Cartridge I made them in no time.

Now...how to put those signs together.....I used a wine cork for the base, covered it with B&T striped paper and buttercup cardstock, then I glued a lollypop stick into the base before gluing the signs to the stick. For a final touch I added a piece of the new slate twist ties as a flag.  For the swag around the box....stamp the vine image from the new "Wild Wonders" stamp set.  Curving the stamp while placing it on the block.  Then stamp and stamp and stamp....and cute and cut and cut (10 of them to be exact).  Adhere the vines to fence material with liquid glass.  

For the bows I used the new slate twist ties, gluing them to the vines with liquid glass.  If you haven't figured it out by now....the only adhesive I use is liquid glass, unless I need to bring in the big guns E6000 and fabric-tack for ribbon.    

The giraffe I found on ebay.
This was just the right piece needed to finish the keepsake box. 

Now....It was time to glue all the pieces down.  I even glued the rattle to the block so it wouldn't fall off.

The cover came together in minutes...

adding the Babycakes Canvas Complements, Lagoon washi tape to the edge of the binding, a zipstrip to the side of the album. 

Then I started on the pages...very easy design...alternating paper designs for each page.

I got about 4 pages in and I was out of paper! Yikes....I had emailed Jill a few days earlier and asked for more paper...more paper....so I had to put it away for a few days :(

Corporate was so generous and quickly shipped out my request. 

This project took almost 2 paper packets.

I added more canvas complements throughout the album.

Since I decided to donate this project...I made it pretty simple on the inside and left it ready for it's new owner to finish and enjoy.  Thanks for stopping by and THANK YOU for bidding on this project of love....$450.00 was raised for Operation Smile!  That's almost 2 smiles....So Amazing!!!!!

Stay inky my friends :)