Celebrating A Baby

My office mate was attending a baby shower last week and asked me to whip up a card for her to give with their group gift. We did a little espionage and looked at her registry for inspiration. The mom-to-be is having a girl and all the bedding was pretty neutral with light blue and brown and had a bit of an jungle animal theme to it. The moment I saw pictures of it, I knew exactly what set to use.

To make a subtle background, I used most of the animals in the Fox & Friends set and stamped them onto the Close to Cocoa card base in Close to Cocoa classic ink after stamping off once to mute the intensity. I then used the turtle from the same set on Whisper White cardstock with Old Olive ink and carefully cut it out. A wide strip of Bashful Blue textured cardstock made up the majority of the card and I used the Scallop Edge punch to bring in a touch of femininity.


To celebrate the baby girl, I added a strip of Pretty in Pink cardstock at the top and made a pink present out of Pretty in Pink Cardstock and a Chocolate Chip marker. I attached the turtle and present with dimensionals and tied some twine around both for the turtle to make the delivery. I also stamped the balloon from the Owl Together Now set in Chocolate chip ink onto a scrap of So Saffron cardstock and cut out the top portion only. After adhering with a dimensional, I used the Chocolate Chip marker to make the string. For the sentiment, I individually stamped the letters from the Rough Edges Alphabets set. I didn't worry about lining the letters up perfectly, letting the slight slants add some whimsy to the card.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!® unless noted:
Stamps: Fox & Friends, Owl Together Now, Rough Edges Alphabets (retired)
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue Textured, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, So Saffron cardstock
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip class ink
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Stampin' Marker, 1/4" Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Edge punch, Paper Piercing tool, Dimensionals, Twine (Papertrey)

Happy Mother's Day!

It's day's like this that make it hard to live half way across the country from your family. Yes, gifts of appreciation and cards were sent and phone calls made, but it's not the same...it doesn't help that I haven't been home since Christmas 2008 (I can't believe it's been that long). Luckily, I will be going home later this summer to celebrate a vow renewal and new baby in the family.

Crafting has been put aside these past two weeks, as we were gearing up for the community yard sale, participating and then recovering. It was quite successful and we made $250! All of the remaining items were sorted and donated. It's extremely satisfying seeing all the extra room we have now. We used my craft room tables for the setup, which shut down the craft room. It's slowly getting pieced back together but I was able to whip up these cards for my mom and mother-in-law.

I made similar cards to these in preparation for the craft fair and they were the first to sell. I loved the look so much, I wanted to make them again for the mom's in my life. This first card was made for my mom. In my effort to use more designer series paper, I pulled out the large Sweet Pea stack from the last occasions mini catalog and picked out the polka dot and striped patterns for the cards. Expanding the color scheme based on the designer paper, I pulled in So Saffron, Sahara Sand and Old Olive cardstock. I particularly like the pop of Old Olive that comes from the designer paper as the edges are rolled.


I used the faux suede method to make the flowers again and secured them with Pretty in Pink Sending Love epoxy brads. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these brads and have a pretty substantial stash that I plan to horde and admire. I pulled out the Big Shot machine to die cut the leaves. I layered the Old Olive leaves with Certainly Celery cardstock to bring a bit more brightness to the card and embossed veins into the leaves with my bone folder.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!® unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White cardstock and Sweet Pea Designer Paper (retired)
Ink: Pretty in Pink Classic Ink
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Extra-Large Fancy Flower punch, Scalloped Circle punch, Big Shot Die-cut machine, Little Leaves Sizzlits Die, Paper piercer, gel pen, bone folder, Pretty in Pink Sending Love Epoxy Brads (retired)

This second card was sent to my mother-in-law. With both cards, I used the paper piercing tool to pierce a border on the designer paper and used a gel pen to connect the dots to replicate stitching. I had wanted to actually use my sewing machine to really stitch the paper, but it was packed up in a box for storage and I didn't have the energy to dig through everything to get to it.

I centered the flower on this card with a white vintage button and some twine. The card was completed with the Teeny Tiny Wishes sentiment punched out with the Modern Label punch.


All supplies by Stampin' Up!® unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Sweet Pea Designer Paper
Ink: Rose Red Classic Ink
Accessories: Modern Label punch, Extra-Large Fancy Flower punch, Scalloped Circle punch, Big Shot Die-cut machine, Little Leaves Sizzlits Die, Paper piercer, gel pen, bone folder, Vintage Buttons (Papertrey), Twine (Papertrey)

I want wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day!