What Makes a Very HIPPY Baby!

This project turned out SO CUTE I could scream*!!! Creating it goes quickly and actually has very few steps but I wanted to include LOTS of pics, so if this seems long, it's NOT, please hang in there! :)

Okay, you need:
Just So Hippy stamps
ink suitable for fabric stamping (I used Palette, which is permanent but should be heat set)
scratch paper
cardboard(or something thick to put inside the shirt, I used the back cover from a 12x12 paper pack, cut in half)
ONESIES! (I found a five pack of white Gerbers at Walmart**, regularly 9.96, this week rollback 8.96; I'm pleased with the quality, they're soft, tagless, and have the cute Gerber Baby logo inside)
ribbon(optional)

Slide your board into the onesie to prevent your design from bleeding through. (Be careful to move it around as you work so it's always under the area you are stamping. I had no problems with the image actually going through to the board, so there was no smearing when I moved it, FYI)
I strongly recommend practicing your design on a piece of paper first, even if it's as simple as one animal to the front. Once the ink's on, it's not coming off! *** Below are pieces just QUICKLY cut out in the rough shape of a onesie from printer paper, that I stamped before beginning. The animals all look really cute on the onesies but the giraffe is my fave for this project, (I'm saving the hippo for something else, wait and see...!
In addition to my animals onesies, I wanted to make a couple other onesies to coordinate that were different, and I discovered how perfect the little hearts and flowers worked, and it was so easy! I actually left the sleeves white (lazystamper) but I think it looks cute this way, sort of like a reverse ringer tee. (It can be done though, just cut a smaller piece of board to insert into your sleeve before stamping) While I did not measure it out, it's not completely random. Start by stamping your image in the center, stamp above left and right, then below left and right, and then work your way out. I recommend making a pattern leaving a lot of space to begin, you can always go back and fill in if you want that look, but once you start a really tiny, tight pattern, you;re going to have to see it through, and that takes more time and precision in getting it even, know what I mean? The flowers are the easiest because they look almost identical when stamped right side "up" or down, so you don't have to turn the stamp to create your pattern!
For the pierced hearts, I decided these looked better going in all directions, otherwise I'd need to be more precise in my placement, so I followed the same "formation" as described above, just kept turning the stamp as I went. The balloons I did all right side up, but try your own combinations, or mix and match the hearts and flowers , or add the tiny "hey baby" and "love you" to change it up! Toss them in the dryer to heat set and they're done! One last cute addition, tie a little bow or just a put a knot in a narrow ribbon and attach to the tail or neck. (I reinforced the stitch several times to keep it from coming off) Makes a nice little detail! If I'd had pink thread on hand and more time, a REALLY cute thing (if you have basic sewing skills) would be to embroider a string for the balloon, (a very simple stitch, really, if I can do it(lazysewer) you can!!) :)
Now you need an extra-special way to BEST present this special gift: Put your onesie on a STUFFED ANIMAL! Who wouldn't melt when you arrive to visit the baby with that? (This is a 6-9 months size so that's why it looks a little roomy on this good sized bear from Build-a Bear Workshop, one of the $10 bears (this belongs to one of my boys, which is why the nose looks a bit worn, the head bow I added for this pic) Another fun idea, these little onesies are so inexpensive to make, don't wait until someone is having a baby! Make them for ALL other stuffed animals you are giving as gifts, as those custom stuffed animal clothes can be very expensive!And FINALLY for my FAVORITE PART and what makes using THE HIPPY STAMPS for the project SO PERFECT!!(besides that it just looks so cute on a onesie anyway!) After stamping the front of your onesie, turn it over(this is before you put it on a bear!),and stamp the HIPPO on the BOTTOM! (modelled below! BWAHHHH!) Now that baby will look just as cute coming OR going, and Mom and Dad will have that little hippo staring up at them during tummy time! Isn't that sweet??? (I had to hold myself back from throwing several packs of little PANTIES into my cart when I realized I could do this, but I resisted, don't need to make any for anybody right now, and I can always go back!) What a fun, unique gift! What's more cute than a baby hiney??? A hiney on the hiney! BOTTOMS UP!!

I hope you enjoyed this project! I'm hoping a trend of hippy bottoms will be sweeping the nation! ;)

TOMORROW I will share TWO MORE really unique ways to package and present your gift, so be sure to check back, you won't want to miss it! Oh yeah, and the blog candy drawing PLUS a very special announcement!!! Leave a comment on the post below if you haven't already to enter for the candy!!

* It's ALMOST enough to make me want to have another baby!

** I originally bought an assortment of different shades of pink and a couple pink prints, but I returned them. Although it would have been cut doing pink on pink, I decided it made better sense to keep white on hand only to make them for a boy or a girl, and I discovered I could make my own prints! (As you can see from the top pic I also bought Reflection Blue to make "boy" onesies, but this color turned out to be brighter and more turquoise than it appeared to me on the computer. I was expecting it to be more in the "Brocade or Ballet Blue" range, it's still a pretty color I will use. My own fault for not checking one of the reference guides available online for best color matches first! The Boudoir Blush looks terrific with the Su!'s Rose colored grosgrains :)

***WARNING: I DID mess up my first onesie, so read this before you start and make my mistake: when I was inking up my hippo for the back of the onesie, I wanted to be sure I had the image really well inked so I pressed hard several times into the pad and stamped, without looking at the stamp! BIG MISTAKE! Because there is so much white space around the tail, doing this can get a lot of ink in that area, so when I pressed onto the fabric I didn't have it completely flat with my board inserted and the the snaps underneath, so I got some shadowy spots of ink on both sides of his hiney!! Because I'm not just a lazystamper but also a CHEAPstamper, I tried to save it by making it look intentional! I picked up a little more ink with an old blender pen and blotted it on to at least make it uniform, and it DOES look like maybe I meant to do it, but the next time I was more careful!! The 2nd time went fine by placing the open ink pad on the table and tapping my stamp onto it several times, then checking to make sure all was well before I pressed it onto fabric- came out fine!! :)

Edited to add: I've had a couple people ask about whether to prewash the onesies, thanks for bringing this up! In my experience with stamping on fabric, I've never washed first (except in the cases of deciding to stamp on a garment I'd already owned awhile so it'd been through the wash, although THIS is the FIRST time I've used Palette inks to do so!) So I did a search tonight of several fabric stamping/painting tutorials online to check and while I read again and again that the general consensus is 100% cotton with a tight weave (Gerber onesies are)is the best surface(as blends that are not 100% tend to shrink), and a few who feel that "prewashing yields the best results", I did not find anywhere that it is necessary. But having said that, you might as well! (Just avoid fabric softeners, as this would be adding chemicals and you're trying to take them out!) And, if you are planning on them being worn, I remember our prenatal classes always taught to wash anything the baby would be wearing ahead of time because of his or her sensitive skin. Hope this helps! :)