A slap your forehead moment.....

In our Prayer Shawl group, my friend makes Baptism Blankets for the the babies and toddlers that are baptized at our church.  She adapted the prayer shawl pattern to make a baby blanket.  She uses a filigree technique to crochet open hearts in each of the four corners.  Bright white baby yarn for the body of the blanket and edging is a pastel variegated yarn....  Yes, they are BEAUTIFUL!  

Oh, and did I mention that she is my mentor for all things crochet!  She has taught me everything I know and let me tell you - she has sooooo much patience.  She even went so far as to re-write patterns for me so I could understand them.  She is a true friend - a saint actually....  We attend and work many retreats together.... and we always stay up late talking, crocheting and talking...  I just love her.....  

Okay, where was I....    

Until recently, we had plain white paper bags - you know the kind that look like a gift bag - for the blankets.  We ran out and I could not find them and I looked everywhere!  Honestly, I think this was a blessing in design... (did you like the little play on words?)  You see, I had been mulling over the idea of adding a card... our prayer shawls have this meaningful card which explains the the prayer shawls, the prayers, the blessings, etc....  So not having a white bag and not being able to find them, pushed me to come up with another way to present the blankets.....  

Ribbon and tags....  

So once the idea was in place - needed to come up with a design that would go well with baptisms and the blankets.  I incorporated the backing paper technique I used here but instead of song lyrics, I used a bible verse - 1 Corinthians 12:13 - and created the background paper.  

Picked out some colorful papers and my handy dandy pre-cut tags.  

So many times in the past when I needed to add paper to the pre-cut tags - I would proceed to draw around them on the paper, cut them out and tape or glue them to the tags.  This took F O R E V E R!!!!! 

Then there was a moment of clarity.... You know, when it sounds like angels are singing "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" in your head.  

(I seriously hope I am not the only one who hears sound effects.)

I began to realize there was a simple way to do this and I mean super simple.  Put the paper right side down, tape the pre-cuts to the back side.  Then just cut them out.  Do it again to put the paper on the other side of the tag........

Yes, I actually slapped my forehead!  

I have many choices for stamps, but decided on the heart.... I actually LOVE LOVE this stamp.  

A little cutting and matting and the tags are done - easy peasy....  

A little ribbon and there you have it......  

A BEAUTIFUL baptism blanket with a nice little tag.  

I am going to put some ice on my forehead now....