Striped Polka Dot Baby Card

I really wanted to play along with this week's One-Layer challenge, which was to create a baby card inspired by one of these cakes. I was drawn to the striped diaper bag cake (10th photo down the page) and I have this new Hero Arts set, which happens to have a striped polka dot. How serendipitous! I originally was going for multi-colored dots, but the result was pretty abysmal. Actually, there was nothing pretty about it. I ended up just using the different colors in different dots, although there are a couple striped ones in the mix. I'm still not thrilled with the finished product, but I'd already spent waaaaay too long working on this "simple" card -- and I really need to get it mailed off to our friends who've announced they're expecting another little bundle o' joy! The sentiment is from Verve - love the versatility of this set.

Would anyone care to offer any design insights? Are the dots too close together? Are the pastel colors just too washed out? Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

"Bee" is for Baby

A pregnancy card on Friday and a baby card on Monday... how's that for fast?! Sorry, but my sense of humor can be a bit odd at times :)

Seriously, though, this card is for a different friend who just had a darling baby boy. No traditional baby stuff for her, though - she's not the bootie, bottle, etc. type - so I grabbed this cute bee (TAC) and came up with this little number. I stamped the bee, did a bit of piercing, then wrote the sentiment (inside says, "to say congrats and wish you all the best!"). I used an orange card base, and used 2 large circle punches to do the fun background. I do love how it turned out, and will definitely be using that technique again. After I had it all assembled, I decided it needed just a little something, so I coated the wings with new Rock Candy distress stickles - love the shimmer of this stuff (without obscuring colors or being overly sparkley!)

Have a great Monday, and I'll be back tomorrow to share the latest round from the smART Cookie challenge!

Getting around to another tea party...

As I mentioned in my last post, Donelda is our hostess for this smART Cookie Tea Party, and she challenged us to incorporate a circle in some form or fashion.

My card is quite simple, but I incorporated a circle and I actually used something from my embarrassingly large embellishment stash. Double points! :) I started by stamping the super-cute Mama Teddy (Teddy Gals) and then added color with prismacolor pencils. I trimmed the panel down, and matted it with blue (accented with the fancy corner punch). I stamped screen onto some light blue cardstock, and then layered that onto the gray card base. I tied on the yellow ribbon, and then added the circular charm with the word "adore" (from Making Memories), then mounted the main part with foam dots so it has a bit more dimension.

All the other cookies will be posting their creations throughout the day - click over to Susan, Dina, Giovana & Donelda to see how they got circular.

Two more baby cards

I really hope these are the last "baby girl" cards I need to make for awhile - I'm getting sick of pink! :)

Both these cards were made with the same pad of BasicGrey Euphoria paper that I've been using for the past couple weeks. I love the colors - soft yet bright, and lots of blues and greens to break up the pinks & purples.

This one on the left also uses a felt heart frame (Fancy Pants) along with some acrylic pieces (Michael's). The sentiment was computer generated. For the card on the right, I just grabbed some ribbon from my stash, prima flowers (the bottom one was spritzed with pink taffy glimmer mist to pull the colors together), then stamped the word (SU Noteworthy) onto a scrap, then tied it in with the flowers. The bottom was done with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Very little stamping involved, but it still felt great to play with paper and glue!

Welcome Baby

Well, I just got word that yet another friend has given birth - that's 4 baby girls in the past week! Obviously, another card was called for, and this time I pulled out my Borders & Seals set. I chose to use pale pink & yellow ink to make the design on the base, added a strip of cardstock on the bottom (to cover one of my screw-ups :), then tied on ribbon and the adorable charm. "Welcome" is from the combo sentiments set.





As I was photographing the card, it reminded me that I'd never posted the other cards I made with this set... I used the same technique for this blue card as with my baby version. In fact, wouldn't this be cute for a baby boy? On this one, I accented the panel with a strip of white (accented with a cuttlebug embossing border). I stamped the sentiment (Middie Messages #2) onto a metal accent (Making Memories) with Stazon ink, then tied on a bit of ribbon to soften it.

Well, that's all for now. See you tomorrow for the Tea Party!

Getting pinky with it

I have no idea where that title came from, but that should provide some pretty good insight into my current mood :) Things have been a bit nutso these past couple weeks, but I took some time to create this morning - trust me, I needed the therapy!

I have a couple friends who are expecting, and I know at least 2 of them will be welcoming little girls. I used this week's Mojo sketch as my starting point, pulled out some BasicGrey paper (Euphoria collection) and this card is the final result. I love to use this verse for baby cards, and the font on this stamp (Whipper Snapper) is particularly fun. The final touch was some layered primas, topped with a pink rhinestone.







I wanted to make another card, and I was dying to use these beautiful Christine Adolph papers. They're 12x12, but most have strips or panels so can be easily cut down to card size. The background paper is foiled, so is absolutely stunning IRL. I accented it with a small strip of ledger type paper (wiped down with old paper distress ink), then tied on some organdy ribobn for the finishing touch. The inside reads "May your day be steeped in joy and warmed by love." (smARTworks) Very simple, but I love the elegant result.

Well, therapy time is over - have a wonderful weekend!!

Birth Announcements

I did stamp a bit this weekend, but only to finish up these 100 birth announcements. And no, they're not for me!!

I don't enjoy mass production, but I just kept plugging away at these. Although they're quite simple there were a lot of steps. I computer generated the inside info, and stamped a baby hand over the birth info. I then sponged the outside, then layered on the blue gingham paper, photo, and sentiment (that was stamped, punched, and then accented with the ribbon). It felt so good to finally finish them!

Welcome, Josiah!

sentiment from SU

Sweet Pea

Some friends of ours just had a baby girl; I'm taking them a meal tomorrow, and made this card to accompany it. I wanted to make something cute without being overly girly, and this green polka dot paper (7Gypsies) was just perfect. I added some rick rack, layered on the pea (complete with wire accent), then stamped the sentiment. Simply adorable!

(all stamps from Wordsworth)

Bella Baby

We have another baby event to attend today, so I made this Bella Baby card. The expectant mom is absolutely darling, and this is perfect for her.

I stamped her, then masked off her feet and grounded her with the oval (smARTworks). Colored with Prismacolor pencils. I really like how I turned out, but I need to play around with blending colors. I layered the image with BasicGrey Blush papers, mesh ribbon (AMM), and tied on a little baby block charm that I had in my stash.

Now I just need to wrap the gift!

Yeah, Baby!!

Some dear friends just had their second child, so I wanted to make a card. Baby girl, but I wasn't in the mood for pink or even purple. Started digging in my ribbon stash, and pulled out this fun design I'd picked up at Michael's. Loved it, but hadn't found the right project for it. Love the results!

I started with the brown base layer, and computer generated the sentiment (MA Sexy font). The pale blue layer is Bazzill Bling, embossed with the Ellison Daisies plate. Baby (Stampsmith) is stamped with Versamagic ink (pink grapefruit). Accented with two primas and some pearl brads, and we're good to go!

Oh Baby!

I can't even tell you how many pregnant people I know right now. I started working on some long-overdue congratulatory cards last week, and even managed to cut into some new BasicGrey paper (gasp!) I had some credit with an online store and was not-so-patiently waiting for them to get the new collections in, and now have them in my possession. OK, so now on to the card details. The pregnant lady and the sentiment are both from the $1 bin at Michael's - can't beat that price! I stamped the lady on Sahara Sand cardstock, then colored with markers and carefully cut her out. The card base is Almost Amethyst, and it's topped with Celery grosgrain. The paper is from the BG Phoebe collection, and I accented the sentiment with a little heart brad from Making Memories. Rather simple card, but quite fun!

Candy Wrapper Card

OK, I actually was able to finish up that card that I hinted at yesterday. This month, I was responsible for the challenge at Eureka, and I thought it would be fun to see what we could make using candy wrappers, packaging, etc. Here's my spin on it, using the silver foil from a king size Hershey bar (the standard ones don't have the foil anymore, so the kids and I suffered through the extra chocolate). First, I smoothed the foil out and then glued it down to some plain, lightweight copy paper using Tombow's Mono Multi glue (my adhesive of choice for nearly everything). I then trimmed it down and ran it through my Big Shot with the Cuttlebug embossing folder. Next, I went over it with white acrylic paint, but then buffed most of it off before it actually dried. I really like the effect, sort of like an old fashioned tin tile. I needed to make a baby card for a friend, so I finished it off with some rick rack and a vellum tag (stamped with SU Big Pieces, and then the words are spelled out with an alphabet from Technique Tuesday - I was really ticked that I managed to smear the words just a bit with the side of my hand, but unfortunately I don't have any more of these large tags, so although imperfect, it stays). I may just have to watch for a good sale on candy bars so I can play around with this some more!

I played around with my scraps and a few Stazon pads - I think I like the debossed version with the Timber Brown pad the best, but unfortunately that's my smallest piece!