How to Create a Memoir of Me personalized children's book

Memoir of Me CEO Michelle LeBow gives a tour of her closet office (no undies exposed!) and explains how easy it is to create your own Personalized Children's Book that you and your child become the main characters. Memoir of Me allows you build your own story book! The magic of the story is all about you.



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Fun Ideas to Create A Unique Baby Gift Basket

There are some gifts that allow us to be as creative as we want, such as gift baskets. So if you are going to a baby shower, you may want to consider making your own baby gift basket for the mom-to-be. There are fun ideas you can think of to make your baby gift basket unique. Below are some that you can choose from.

A unique baby gift basket can be a lot fun to put together, especially when gift items are made personalized. If you know how to embroider manually or if you have an embroidery machine at home, why not consider to personalize a few soft baby blankets or newborn clothes for the baby. All you need to do is to include the baby's embroidered name or initials onto the clothing or even the birth date. There are also local tailors who can do the job for you in case you cannot or don't have a machine to use.

Embroidered gifts would also be great such as baby's first Christmas ornament with his/her engraved name or initials, or you might want also to include engraved baby bottles, sippy cups and other personalized feeding supplies that the mom can be used to feed her precious little one. You can put these personalize gifts in whatever container you want to use and organize them in a way that the personalized details are obvious. You can wrap the entire gift with clear cellophane or you can leave it open, depending on your choice. You can also use a bow or a pastel ribbon to decorate the gift basket.

Sewing or making hand-crafted gift items make a thoughtful gift idea. Instead of using a traditional wicker basket, why not sew a diaper tote bag where gift items will be placed. This is one way to customize a baby shower gift and may also include other hand-crafted ideas such as cloth diapers, baby blankets, baby clothes, burp cloths, bibs, baby booties and the like. These custom presents will round out the customized gift basket you specially made for the mom-to-be and her baby.

You can think of a theme for the gift basket. This adds more fun and can make the present more creative and unique. One of the most popular themes is the color theme. This can be a single color or a combination of multiple colors that is suitable to the gender of the child. If it is a baby boy, the color themes you may want to use can be mint green, blue, light blue, brown, or yellow. But if it is a baby girl, you can use colors like pink, lavender, or orange. To further decorate the basket, you can use fabrics that match the nursery theme or reflect the mom's favorite colors, prints, or characters.

Unique baby gift baskets are just one of the most creative ideas for baby shower gifts that people can choose from. They are also available in many different selections in the market or online that suitable for a variety of baby shower themes that are popular nowadays.

Using Kids Decals to Create Personalized Baby Gifts!

Have you ever wished you could create unique baby gifts for those sweet little people in your life? Personalized or monogrammed gifts are beautiful and memorable but often expensive. If you're like me, I enjoy the challenge of creating my own gifts, that are still beautiful and memorable, but are more friendly to my wallet! However, I realize there are many folks out there who say, "Yeah, that's a nice idea, but I have no artistic talent!" No worries... this particular project requires only a bit of courage, a few hours of time and NO artistic ability.

In this article, I will walk you through the process of how you can create a personalized baby gift for that next little baby who needs a "welcome to the world" gift! What makes this project both simple and professional looking is the proper use of kids decals. These decals give the appearance that you've spent hours tediously hand painting the gift, when if fact, it only took minutes.

In case you are not familiar with kids decals, let me catch you up to speed. Decals are a rising trend in the world of interior design and are nothing short of amazing! They are thin, flexible, but durable, vinyl stickers that are capable of being removed and repositioned multiple times. They leave no sticky residue behind and they won't peel paint. Most people think of using kids decals simply on walls or furniture, but they really offer endless possibilities for decorating children's living space, making art and gifts. Kids decals come in all shapes, sizes and themes.

So, let's get started! First of all, you have to buy your kids decal! Truly there are so many options and themes available. I suggest looking for a grouping or set of smaller decals. For little girls, there are fairies, flowers, butterflies, etc. For boys, you may be interested in a baseball, ship, jungle animals, etc. Also, keep in mind that you can cut decals to fit the size project you're working on. Now for the "Project"!

Step 1: Gather your supplies and make your plans. You'll need a wooden plaque. These can be purchased at your local craft store. I suggest a size bigger than 8 x 10, otherwise, you'll start running out of room till you get to your decal. The rest of the supplies you need are primer, acrylic paints, brushes, pencil, chalk and a paper plate. Pick your paint colors to coordinate with the colors of your decal. I suggest only using 1-3 different colors to avoid it becoming too busy.

Step 2: Primer your plaque. If the colors you plan to paint your plaque are light, then go with a white primer. If the colors are darker, you'll save yourself time by using a gray primer because you won't need as many coats to get a true color.

Step 3: Paint your plaque with the background color of your choice. I suggest 2-3 thinner coats of paint or until you get a true color and you can't see the primer through the paint anymore. Let the paint dry!

Step 4: I like to create a boarder on the plaque, either with stripes or a scallop edge. Stripes are pretty straight forward to create. Just make sure you use a ruler to keep them straight. For a scalloped edge (looks beautiful on a girl plaque), sketch in your scallops using a round object. Trace the top half of the circle around the outside edge of your plaque. A few tips; roughly measure out your circles, so that you don't run out of room at the end of the plaque. Try different round objects around your house until you find one that works. I used the bottom of the paint bottles and they worked perfectly.

Step 5: Paint your scalloped edge and the center of your plaque - that is if you're using a scalloped edge. Again, I suggest 2-3 thinner coats of paint or until you get a true color and you can't see the primer through the paint anymore. Now, let the paint dry!

Step 6: Create the monogram or name. First, print out the letters and date from your computer. Pick a font that you like and print it out in the size you want. In order to copy it onto your plaque, rub chalk on the back of the printed paper. Place the chalked letters onto your plaque. Now with a ball-point pen, trace over the printed letters and date. When you're done, you'll have a chalk outline of the letters and dates to paint over. The great thing about this is, if you don't get your letters or date centered the first try, you can just wipe the chalk off and go for try #2.

Step 7: Paint in your letters and date with a coordinating color. Use a fine point brush for the lettering! Don't worry, if you mess up, keep some background color handy and you can fix up your mistakes with a little of that paint.

Step 8: Add the kids decals. Simply peel them off the backing they came on, stick them to the dry plaque and press down the edges! Because these childrens wall stickers are removable, you don't have to worry about getting it right the first time. If it's off center, just peel it up and reapply it!

Let it all dry and cure for a few days, wrap it up and deliver with love!

I hope this article was helpful and inspired you to create a baby gift that is affordable, beautiful and timeless! As you can see, by reading through this process, you don't have to be an artist to create special, one of a kind gifts. Really, the options are limitless and I hope you use this article as a springboard for many other projects using kids decals!

Create a Personalized Baby Pillow Case For a Unique and Memorable Gift

Giving a new mother a hand made personalized gift is always a cherished gesture. It can be hard if you are not crafty to make a personalized gift, but it doesn't have to be. There are many ways you can personalize a baby pillow case.

First you might be surprised at the amount of fabrics baby pillow cases come in. You can find them in any material you can imagine from satin to chenille. Since for the baby's safety the pillow will not be in the crib with them your gift will most likely be a decorative gift, at least until the baby gets older, so take that into consideration while you are making a decision about fabric.

Now you can personalize this baby pillowcase in any number of ways including using appliqué or embroidery. You can find patterns to do this in any design online or you can buy a book of patterns at your local fabric store.

If doing it yourself is not really feeling comfortable you can always search for someone else to create your personalized gift by hand. You can search online for people who will custom make your pillowcase. There are even specialized websites, like etsy.com, where you can find artisans who do these type of crafts.

You can also buy an embroidery kit, with a design you like that is appropriate for a baby. Instead of using the fabric included in the kit you can choose a nice baby pillow case to put your embroidered design on.

There are many options you can choose when trying to make a personalized baby pillow case. You can do it yourself, hire someone to do it for you, or find one that is already made. No matter which way you decide to create your personalized baby pillow case remember it's the gift that counts and a personalized homemade gift will always be much appreciated.