Stampin fabric :)

About a month ago I received a sweet package in the mail from a friend I worked with when I first joined the military. Crystal has handmade a gift for all three of our boys so I knew the package would contain something adorable and made with love.  Crystal is quite the crafty gal (just couldn't get her into stampin).  In fact, she just cleaned out her craftroom and sent me 3 unmounted stamp sets from a few years back.  Crystal, you already know how awesome I think you are - so thank you!!

Here's what she sent - a crocheted blanket, hat and bibs. (And hello to my photo bombing cat!)

So here I am thinking, those bibs look super fun to make, but my sewing maching hadn't been plugged in in over a year... Good thing my former seamstress mom was coming to visit! She helped me dust the sewing machine off and make my first few bibs.  A baby can never have too many bibs.

So over the course of two days I made 8 bibs! Easy and fun!  I even made 3 for my new nephew Isaac.  He was born 6 weeks after Sam.

Then I read something late at night on Shelli's blog about a creative challenge.  (she is the CEO of Stampin' Up!) The first thing that came to mind were the bibs.  I could stamp the images and make my own material!  

Then days turned into weeks, and the next thing you know the weeks have passed and the contest ends today.  But I'm not letting the fact of being busy with 3 kids under the age of 4 stop me :) heck, even if I don't win, I have yet another bib... And like I said, you can never have too many. Haha!

So I bought some plain white fabric, picked out my ink and stamp sets and got to work.  I originally planned on using fabric paint, but we will see how this works first.  I used coastal cabana, pistachio pudding, baked brown sugar and crumb cake.  The stamp sets are Hello Love, Life's adventure, Dotty Angles and Work of Art. (Decided against the chevron...)

These have all been used a lot by me and many stampers lately.  Next I simply stamped the fabric in strips and sections.  

Next I pieced the strips together and once I had the size I needed, I backed it with a feltlike material and sewed those two pieces together. Turned it right side out, did the top stitch and added a fastener. This honestly took about 1.5 hours, but I'm sure if you don't have toddlers and you're well rested, this will be quicker for you! 

Here is this finished project:

Well maybe it's "finished"... Who knows? Maybe I'll add SAMUEL tomorrow when my new alphabet stamp set comes in the mail!  :) thanks for stopping by! Hope I inspired you to be creative with stamps! There's more to it that just cardstock and ink :) 

-Holly