happy new baby!

Hi there! It's been ages since I posted a card here ... I've lately only been making them for occasions and then generally forget to post (shame on me) but I'm back! This one's to a baby shower a few friends and I are heading to on Saturday so to be on the safe side I'm scheduling this to post then!

Brit's the daughter of a friend of mine at work. She worked in our Payroll department while going to Kettering University and her "Payroll Moms" (kim1 and kim2) adopted her too! Anywho, she's expecting her first born. A couple friends and I went in on a group gift and the inspiration piece for today's card is the super cute bag my buddy Pat picked up to stuff our smaller items into. I couldn't find my stamp set with the cute giraffe so I ended up using the bag and the only stamps used were the sentiments I used on the inside/front/back of the card. I PhotoShop'd the sentiment off that was on the bag, cleaned up some of the extraneous stuff (ribbons and wrinkles), then picked out the new sentiments, and voilà! Easy peasy concept, but it still took me a few hours... sigh... guess it's been longer than I thought since I'd stamped!

The inspiration piece:

stamps: SU's Made with Love, Stampendous' Hand-Stamped Arc (LOVE this stamp and like to use it on the back bottom of my cards... it's a rainbow-shaped arc that reads, "(heart)(heart) Hand stamped for you from my (heart)(heart)"; paper: Neenah solar white, CTMH's pewter ink

and baby makes three ...

My coworker Skye and her DH Josh are expecting their first baby and our work group treated them to lunch on Friday and gave them some baby necessities. I like to pick up a cute baby changing bag and stock it with baby goods - shampoo, lotion, powders, teething items, rubber duckies, etc., and my partner in crime, Katie, picked up some cute hats and a baby rocker seat. We both used our rocker seats lots when our babies were small. We ate at Logan's Roadhouse, where I had the yummiest onion brewski sirloin dinner w a side of broccoli!

Today's card is based on (or a shameless knock-off, depending on your point of view) of this one by the lovely and talented Sandra of Made by Sandra blog fame. If you haven't scoped out her work, run, don't walk, to her blog NOW!

I already put all the stamping supplies back in their respective homes so hardly any deets today; all I see by my PC is the stamps: SU's Baby First, Oh My Word; tools: Cuttlebug w Paper Studio's Poteeka Birds embossing folder (a little birdie told me ... right?!); other than that it's all SU supplies! Catch ya later, and thanx for stopping by!

congrats on your new bundle of joy

Inspired by the lovely and talented Cristina of My Paper Secret blog fame's confetti card, this one was made of all pinks and greens (a fav color combo) to welcome a new baby into the world! You just use whatever punches you have available to cut some tiny pieces, tape some Terrifically Tacky tape across the card, and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak! I then place some sporadically across the card, and left some to add to the inside of the envelope to surprise the recipient! Easy peasy!

stamps: n/a (sentiment's PC-generated); paper: BasicGrey's sugared 6x6" paper pad pieces, white AC Card Stock; ink: PC-generated; tools: assorted hand-held punches - star, two sizes of circles, and one ribbon runner to make straight lines

sweet sunday

I used this week's sweet sunday SSSC148 sketch challenge for a baby card for a friend whose niece is expecting a baby girl soon. The pretty DPs are from SU's Candy Lane collection, a DP package that I've been hoarding ... I LOVE the soft pinks and mauve-browns of this collection. We've done the "tag team" approach to babies' births in the past ... Susan makes a baby bonnet from elegant hankies to go along with the poem I place inside the card. Today's card is a 4.25" square one, so that it'll still fit into a standard A2 sized envelope. And the sentiment's PC-generated: "When a new life joins the world, new love blooms in your heart!"

stamps: JudiKins' Baby's Hands & Feet; paper: SU's Candy Lane DP, vellum and Very Vanilla card stocks; ink: PTI's Sweet Blush; tools: Marvy Uchida's extra jumbo heart punch

welcome baby - a CASE study

This one's for Katie to give to a friend of her's whose baby is due in June, and it's a CASE study from the Clothesline Baby card on p.23 of the Papercrafts Card Creations vol 9 that's on the newsstands until July 25th. Chan Vuong made a portrait layout boy version card, and I was a woman on a mission this past Saturday, on the lookout for K&Company's girl clothesline 3D stickers! I found 'em at my first store - Mike's - and purchased them using a 40% off coupon to boot.

Next I perused and picked up a few of studio g's latest line, called ditto, of both their cling mounted rubber stamp sets and of one wood mounted rubber stamp. They probably had about 15 small sets of 4-5 stamps per set and, while priced normally at $2.99/set , they were reduced to 2/$5. And, as some days I'm just as bad as when my boys were small, while standing in line at the checkout, I HAD to pick up a bubble wand; not just any bubble wand, this one will blow giant 12" bubbles. Summer's right around the corner, remember!

stamps: Kaiser Craft's Baby; paper: SU's Pale Plum, Staples bright white card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: K&Company's Girl Clothesline 3D stickers, Prima's felt alphabet

welcome baby, hybrid-style

I love the digi images from Pink Petticoat! When I spotted their recently introduced baby boy version to match last summer's baby girl buggy, I was right there, figuring it was only a matter of time before someone needed a baby boy card! LOVE their stuff! And ... I've gotta admit, I felt the need to break away from Valentine's cards! It felt good to make a non-V-Day card today!

I paper-pieced the baby buggy using some beautiful Crystal Wilkerson (of Creativity by Crystal) digi-DP from the August 2009 Collection at Jessica Sprague's online shop. I printed some 4x6" and wallet-size pictures of the DP, so it'd have a smaller pattern on the buggy than what was used for the background piece. And the best part of going the digi-BK route?! How about eight (count 'em ... 8!) different patterns in nine (yep, 9!) different colors, all for $1 ... and I can use and reuse 'em any time I like!

The baby's watercolored. I was going to curve the vellum sentiment to pop it up a bit, but I'm not sure whether the receiver of this card (Hi Susan!) will be mailing or handing the card to the future Mom at a baby shower ... so I tucked that under the scallops of the background. Each layer's popped up using dimensionals and I've had really good luck using Tombow's Mono Vellum adhesive to attach vellum paper and card stock to cards. Nichole's Make-It-Monday #2 challenge was to use a vellum strip for your sentiment; I didn't use any PTI product for today's card but that inspired the vellum portion! And the scallops? Check out this week's SCS CAS106 challenge!

edited to add: woot! woot! this card was posted as a hybrid gallery standout on mesoscrappy's blog!

stamps: Pink Petticoat Baby Boy Buggy; paper: Creativity by Crystal's Fresh Florals DP, Staples' white and SU's Sahara Sand card stocks, The Paper Co's vellum card stock; ink: PC-generated sentiments, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Pink Hedgehog's sky blue brads (w inside sentiment); tools: my latest and greatest Spellbinders Nestabilities Big Scalloped Rectangles LG (they were on sale this week at my local Hobby Lobby - 40% off! - and I controlled myself and only purchased this one set!)

welcome baby Lillian!

My boss called upon me to make another baby hankie card for her. We partner in crime occasionally, and she makes these STINKIN' CUTE baby bonnets from fancy hankies to accompany a poem that I then insert into the card that I make for the happy occasion. I'd picked up this used SU stamp set thinking I'd use it the next time my services were requested.

You can't tell from the picture as I used a pastel to ink the baby buggy, but it repeats the word "baby" thruout, and Rusty Pickle's "baby" definition is the background on the base of the card. The poem's printed in a soft brown on vellum card stock, and mounted with brads onto a Blush Blossom card stock for the inside sentiment. See below the deets for the poem, as I realize I've never posted it!

stamps: Rusty Pickle's Girl Definition Stamp, SU's Full of Life (another used find), Oh, My Word; paper: SU's Candy Lane DP, SU's Blush Blossom and Staples' white card stocks; ink: VersaMark, SU's Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa; tools: Cuttlebug w Spellbinders' Labels 8 Nestie die, Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts' taffy brads


The baby hankie bonnet poem follows (sweet, eh?!):

I'm just a little hankie, as square as square can be,
But with a stitch or two someone made a bonnet out of me.
To be worn home from the hospital or on the christening day,
Then carefully pressed and neatly tucked away.

Then on the wedding day, so we have all been told,
Every well-dressed bride must have something that is old.
And what would be more fitting than to find little old me,
A few stitches snipped and a wedding hankie I'll be.

And if per chance it is a boy, and someday he will wed,
To his bride he can present the hankie once worn on his head.

welcome, sweet one!

My buddies Kathleen, Kim, Pat, Eileen, and I are headed to our buddy Donna's daughter Sheila's baby shower tomorrow. We picked up a hamper and stuffed it with a receiving blanket, blanket, couple sheets, multiuse pads, and the cutest little winky white lamb toy ... not to mention wipes, shampoo, lotions, etc. I kept one of the sheets to scan to use for the accompanying onesie card. It's SO matchy-matchy, eh?! Kim took the rest of the booty home with her, and she and HER daughter Danielle will wrap it cutesy-like, and we'll add the sheet set tomorrow when meeting up at the restaurant where the shower will be held! SUCH teamwork! After the exhaustive shopping trip, we met at Ruggero's - where Kim and I split the BEST lasagna in town, IMHO!

I used my latest toy - MFT's Die-namics grosgrain texture embossing board - on the cuffs and bottom area which is meant to look like the reinforced area where I added eyelets for snaps. The grosgrain didn't show up all that great on these pics and is actually pretty subtle IRL ... maybe I'll have to add a shim next time. I added a bit of faux stitching around the solid card stock. I used 110# card stock - it's nice and firm, and a pretty good deal at Staples - 250 sheets for $15, compared to $37.50+ for a similar amount purchase at many papercraft stores. So far, I'm pleased with it, and I'd much rather spend my hard-earned cash on stamps!

... and speaking of stamps

stamps: SU's So Many Scallops; paper: Staples white card stock; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Close to Cocoa marker, PC-generated DP and solid card stock; accessories: eyelets from a share purchased many moons ago

when it rains, it pours

Yep, another baby card ... the count's at 2 boys, 1 girl this past week. This card's on its way to the first grandbaby of a prior coworker, compliments of my boss Susan and I. She made the awesome baby bonnet keepsake (out of a hankie - here's an example of one), and I made the card and used the poem from that same post for the inside sentiment. We work in conjunction on baby gifts lately!

I love the multiple rows of scallops at the bottom of the card AND the awesome crocheted rose that matched my digi DP to a "T;" don't you agree?! I picked up a 6-pk of them from an Etsy shop last spring. I couldn't find the gal's name who made them. I've gotta teach myself to crochet ...

stamps: Pink Petticoat's baby buggy; paper: Jessica Sprague's CrystalW Sept09 PaperCollection digi collection, SU's Whisper White card stock; ink: Pebbles' chalks; accessories: unknown Etsy shop crocheted rose, unknown silk ribbon; tools: Die-namic's large scallop

variation on a theme ...

I had some left-over DP-printed card stock from yesterday's card and then was asked to make another boy baby card for Monday, so decided to make a variation of yesterday's card, this time putting the sentiment on in portrait orientation. The couple people I'd shown the last card to both tried to turn it sideways ... sigh ... so, which do you prefer? Two down, one to go - this one for a girl baby!

stamps: SU's Picture This; ink: ColorBox dark brown, Ranger antique linen distress ink; paper: A1 Neenah Classic Natural White card stock, Jessica Sprague's CrystalW Sept09 digi collection (all printed on nat'l white card stock)

a star is born

A hybrid card today, this cutie patootie uses one of the used stamp sets I purchased last week and some digi DP that I purchased online recently from Jessica Sprague. It's based on one of the cards in Kristina Werner's July 2010 segment of her A Year in Cards class from Two Peas in a Bucket. It's for a new boy baby. Isn't the DP sweet?! Both DP sections and the stars were popped up using dimensionals. Easy peasy!

stamps: SU's Congrats (inside sentiment), Picture This; ink: Ranger black soot distress ink; paper: A1 Neenah Classic Natural White card stock, Jessica Sprague's CrystalW Sept09 digi collection (all printed on nat'l white card stock); accessories: Westrim Crafts 1mm hemp cording

congrats to Jenny and Justin

Jenny & Justin just had a sweet baby boy, and this card matches the baby scrapbook I made for them. I'd already matted the white on green card stocks when I first stamped the "congrats" sentiment ... crooked! Sigh ... Don't you hate when you have the confidence to assemble first, and then have to take the thing apart 'cuz you've stamped something crooked? That happened to me, so I redid that portion of the card this evening. I'm just waiting for the arrival of a "I'm the big brother" tee I'd ordered online for baby Mason's big brother Nick, and we're ready!

stamps: SU's Congrats; paper: K&Co's sweet pea green gingham DP, unknown white and green card stocks; ink: Ranger black soot distress ink

just arrived

This card's for my niece, who recently had a baby boy. I'm hoping to scoot down to see baby Mason soon - cute name, eh?! My card was inspired by one I'd seen while blog trolling, and I hope to be able to edit this to give credit (if any of you know of it, lemme know; for now, I've misplaced the info). I used SU's big polka dot embossing plate on the light blue card stock ... dunno whether you can tell by the photo! I'd picked up this train stamp a few weeks ago at Karen's, intending to use it for Crossroads Village scrapbook pages, but it's sure come in handy lately (think "loco for you" for Valentine's Day?!).

stamps: CTMH's Fabric Finishes and Simple Stitches stamp sets, Karen's (untitled train), SU's Congrats (inside sentiment); paper: Paper Reflections' black, SU's bashful blue and whisper white card stocks; ink: Ranger's distress ink's black soot, SU's bashful blue; tools: SU's backgrounds 1 texturz plate

this one's for Kate

My Boss' daughter called me mid-week to ask if I could bring in a baby card by next Tuesday. Yep, I can do better than that - I can bring it in on Monday! Her Mom and I have become quite the "tag team" in that I make the baby cards and she makes these SWEET baby bonnets out of pretty cloth napkins. There's a poem we got from another co-worker that we use for the card's inside sentiment. If you're so inclined, you can check it out among my other "onesie" card posts. The panel and onesie are both popped up using dimensionals.

stamps: SU's Full of Life; paper: K&Company's Pink Gingham Flat DP, unknown Prism and SU's Whisper White card stocks; ink: Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Imaginisce's dark pink blossom brads, unknown grosgrain ribbons

beautiful bouncing baby boy

I'm planning ahead ... so please discount all those stories you may have heard about me being a procrastinator. One of my nieces is expecting a baby this winter and I'm going to be ready. I took a mini baby album class over the last two weekends with a few scrappin' buddies at one of my LSS, Karen's Creative Stamping, and here's the (almost) finished product ... AND I have a kit to make a "girl" version at my leisure. So, I tell ya, I'm READY! Bring that baby ON!

welcome, Baby Chloe!

Here's another "welcome baby" card for my boss Susan to give to a prior babysitter who recently had her first child. Susan forwarded me a picture of baby Chloe, who was born a few weeks premature this past week, so I switched from my original plan of using yellows and greens to yellows and pinks. I had a "eureka" moment and printed the baby's picture in 50% opacity for the inside of the card, then printed the baby poem on vellum cardstock and mounted it over the picture, tieing them together with a matching ribbon to that used on the front of the card. Then I used the palest of pinks for the base of the card - it's a plain pink digi I made in PhotoShop - and used SU's So Saffron for the little inchie panels.

Want a tip? I wanted two shades of yellow but didn't have another that went with the So Saffron ... so I dragged an opaque white stamp pad across 3 of the squares and voila! a whiter shade of pale (tee hee ... ref to Procol Harum ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbWULu5_nXI) ... yellow, that is!

The layout's based on CP sketch#14 and inspired by the lovely and talented Tracy Schultz.

stamps: n/a; paper: BasicGrey's Porcelain DP, SU's So Saffron, Vellum and unknown white cardstocks; ink: VersaMagic's Cloud White, PC-generated sentiments; accessories: unknown dotted swiss pink ribbon, a few baby outfit pop-ups from a prior baby shower invite pkg; tool: MS lace doily border punch

story time, baby?

Isn't this the cutest designer paper?! I ALMOST don't want to cut into some DPs, but broke down and made a onesie from this Karen Foster DP for my boss this past week. She'd been out of town on business and had recently shared that her niece is pregnant again, and I thought it'd be a nice welcome back gesture to have the card with her mail on her return. Well, she makes the CUTEST bonnets from hankies, and another coworker provided a cute poem to accompany the hankies (see this post), so it makes for a SWEET presentation.

The onesie card's based on one at Lauren M's blog - thanx again, Lauren!

stamps: n/a; paper: American Traditional Designs' Wel Baby VM Stripes vellum, Karen Foster's Story Time Collage and Rhonna Farrer DPs, ColorMates' medium outdoor olive and SU's Whisper White cardstocks; ink: PC-generated inside sentiment; tools: circle and scalloped circle punches

it's baby time

This is one of those times where the DP made the statement - absolutely no stamps were used in the making of this card! Go figure!

I made this card for my boss ... or rather, her daughter, to give to one of her teachers who's pregnant, based on Lauren Meader's onesie tutorial. I LOVED the paper and originally thought to make another for my next-door neighbor's daughter, whose baby's due on the 22nd. That gal's sister had a nice idea for a shower I recently attended w another neighbor gal - she'd asked everyone to pick up baby books in place of greeting cards. Well, I'd already MADE a card, don't 'cha know, so I ended up giving her a couple sound books from my boys. I've since picked up some beautiful pink paper for that baby card and hope to make another onesie card for when the baby actually arrives later this week. I was going to add a beautiful Prima flower on some pretty ribbon that pulled out the greens of the stripes but it just seemed to be "too much," y'know?! So, OK, on to the deets!

stamps: none; paper: Karen Foster's Story Time Collage DP, American Traditional Design's Welcome Baby (striped) vellum, ColorMates' Light Outdoorsy Olive cardstock, SU's Whisper White cardstock (behind vellum), The Paper Company's clear vellum (inside sentiment); ink: PC printed sentiment