Non-traditional *sweet baby*

 Emma's dance teacher is having her first Grandbaby so some of the "dance moms" put together a baby shower at the studio.  I couldn't go, but I wanted to take a gift.  The expectant parents aren't super traditional, so I thought I would go non-traditional, but still cute and frilly. It coordinates with all of the baby gifts that you can check out here. The fabric that I used was originally patterns from basic grey's paper line, but they also printed it for fabric. I couldn't find the paper, so I went with some I picked up from Hobby Lobby a year or so ago. They still have it and I really enjoy using it. I never thought I would be using it for a baby card, though.

I rummaged through some of my old SU! stamp sets to find "Buggies and Booties" which worked well with theme.  I have always loved using this set.  I stamped it onto cream cardstock with black ink and then added a little bit of wheat Prismacolor marker to antique it a bit.

I folded doilies  and layered them for a more dramatic effect.  I aged all of the edges using Vintage Photo distress ink by Ranger. It is one of my go-to supplies.  Once I had the medallion done, I added an accordion medallion with a tiny bit of antique linen stickles.  Of course I had to add some rhinestones to keep up with the theme. In the end, it looked a little bridal, but I like it. I like working out of the box sometimes. It really stretches yourself.  I was bummed that I couldn't go to the shower, but I hope she liked everything.

Here are some photographs of the sweet little shoes that I made. I am seriously addicted. They are so fun to make!

Thanks for fluttering by! P.S. My mom and I are putting together a tea party for Emma on Saturday. I will share photos next week. I also need to share photos of Rhys's first birthday party. If you are friends with me on facebook, I am sure you have already seen them.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Hello and welcome! I hope you all had a beautiful weekend! We celebrated my Father-in-law's birthday yesterday so I needed to make a card.  We also missed Father's Day with him since he was out of town, so I kind of combined a Father's day card and a birthday card.  I don't have a lot of masculine sets, so I chose to use this tree set from PTI. I can't think of the name off the top of my head.  I have always liked using it. I chose to use the outline of the tree and the trunk so that I could color in the leaves. I also added some glossy accents to the larger leaves for some texture and dimension.  Everything was distressed using Ranger's Vintage Photo distress ink. I love that stuff!

 I used some of my newer "Authentique" paper that I got from Ellen's store. You can check it out with the link on my sidebar. She always has fun stuff.  For those of you who know me, I like to mix a lot of prints and this card is no exception. I kept all of the embellishments as masculine as possible, from the jute twine to the felt stitched ribbon. No bow in sight!

Now for the exciting part....on Labor Day, my husband, kids and I moved me into my new stamping space. You would die if you could see it, especially compared to what I used to have, but it is functional and it is out of the way. In honor of this blessed event, I will be posting some blog candy in the next few days, so stay tuned! I am so happy! Thanks for fluttering by!

Thinking of You

I needed a thinking of you card so instead of only making one, I decided to make two. It is so easy just to cut enough for two rather than sitting down to make another card entirely.  I am trying to talk my husband into moving all of my stamping stuff today, but we will see. He already told me he doesn't "really" want to do that, but I think we could be quick. Especially since Rhys is taking his morning nap and the older kids can watch Rowan.

  With summer on its way out and fall on its way in, I decided to use some early autumn colors.  I really love light blue and orange paired together.  I used this "Trendy Trees" set from PTI for my focal image. I have only used it once, but I really like using it.  I also used Jen's August SFYTT. Isn't it great? She always does such a good job. One of the things I miss the most is being part of her sketch team. Maybe someday.........

I had a package of cork that was handy and I thought it would work well with the theme of the card. I liked it as the background for the tree. I used a sentiment from the PTI set "Autumn Abundance" which is another one of my favorites.
I have actually been quite busy the last month or so working on some fun sewing projects. They have been for baby showers, but I didn't have enough time to get everything photographed. That is always such a bummer when you work so hard on something but then don't get a chance to get a good picture of it. I didn't really think the mother's to be would be keen on me asking if i could come over and take pictures of their stuff! LOL! Anyway, I had fun and I have been trying to be creative. Thanks for fluttering by!

Baby's First Year mini album

 I have always wanted to make a "Baby's First Year" mini-album and I finally did! I am so proud of myself!  I posted the card I made for the shower I went to in my previous post and now you can see where all of the inspiration came from.If you want to see all of the other baby things I made you can check them out here Once I picked out my papers it all came together nicely.  I have been making these little albums for years and they are so much fun.

 Of course you all know how obsessed I am with banners, so I made a little one for the cover. I also added some die-cut letters to spell baby.  I picked up the tiny tiles that I used throughout the book (you can see it in the left hand corner) at Hobby Lobby and they are the perfect addition and some of them had sweet little baby quotes on them.  I love it when I find the perfect embellishment.  I uses doilies and an accordion medallion for the focal piece.  The "sweet pea" image is just a sticker and I added some glossy accents to all of the little hearts for some added interest.

 For the "meat" of the album, I let my computer do the work. I simply printed out all of the little tabs that indicate which month is being highlighted, the monthly milestone pieces as well as the the "sweet things I do..." pieces.  The album wasn't the only gift I was making so I felt pressed for time.  I figured that the new mommy would have lots of fun little things to add to each page to make it her own, anyway.

 I kept all of the pages similar in design. Each has a little bit of change whether it be in tiny details or layout, but for continuity reasons, everything is pretty much the same.  Well....my little ones are up from their naps, so I better go, but thanks for fluttering by!

Sweet Baby

 I was busy last week making lots of fun stuff for a baby shower I went to on Thursday! I almost didn't have time to make a card, but I quickly whipped this one up with scraps of things I used to make the gift. I will share all of those goodies with you next time.  

 Like I mentioned in my last post....there are a ton of babies being born in the neighborhood. It is so much fun! It is the year of the girls, too.  I had so much fun making lots of fun, girly baby things that I haven't been able to do for myself in a while.  I quickly made a little fabric rosette and some little felt leaves.  I placed the whole focal piece onto a little doily.

I will share the rest of the things that I made soon. I really had a lot of fun! Thanks for fluttering by!

A new little someone

There are a ton of babies due around here, so I went and got stocked up on baby gifts. Of course that means that I need some cards, too.  I made 3 girl cards and one boy card. I couldn't get the boy one to photograph nicely, so I only am showing you the girl ones.  I used Jen's June SFYTT. I always check it out when I am short on time, but need to get a lot done. It really does minimize the guess work and I get on with the fun part....stamping and embellishing!

   I went to my "go-to" baby set and got to work.  I always love to paper piece the cupcake liner. I am sure those with mad coloring skills would prefer to color it, but not me. I think it makes it look like a cute patterned liner.  My favorite part of the whole card is the little die-cut letters to spell baby. You can't tell in the photo, but they are all glossy. I die cut each one out of pattern paper and then also out of cardstock.  Once they were glued together, I mounted them onto the card using cut up foam squares.  I am having way too much fun with that glossy accent stuff. I think you can tell a little bit better in my previous post. I used the same letters and stuff.  The flowers are made from one of my Martha Stewart punches, layered.  I used a dimensional in between each layer to really give it some depth.  The center is just a circle punch out of pattern paper and then some glossy accent...surprise, surprise!
It really is straightforward. I don't have many tricks up my sleeve lately, but I had fun. I was literally going "stir (craft) crazy" if you know what I mean.  I am really, really, really, really (there aren't enough really's to explain) how much I miss my craft space. Creating is part of who I am and I don't feel like me lately! Making these cards was helpful, but not enough.  Anyway, thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. Emma is going to see the new Disney Pixar film "Brave" tonight with her Grandma and Grandpa. It is the Utah premier and she is so excited.  We went to the Utah Highland Games and Scottish Festival on Saturday, so she probably still has bagpipe music ringing in her ears! LOL!  Rowan was helping his Grandpa hold the flag! Such a good helper. He is currently obsessed with flags and balloons.

Be Prepared

My darling little nephew just turned 8 and has started Cub Scouts.  One of my son's friends makes these great survival bracelets out of rope, so I thought I would give him one for his birthday. I asked my son's friend to make it yellow and gold, since those are the two cub scout colors.  Once I had the bracelet, I thought that I would make some "scout" type packaging. I decided to use the PTI set "Father know best". It has a compass and it worked well with the theme. I also used some PTI alphabet dies.

  I couldn't fit the word "prepared" onto the box if I used the die cut letters, so I just created a computer generated strip and printed it out.  I added some glossy glaze onto the letters and the center of the compass. I am really loving that stuff and I like how it dries. I have used "Crystal Effects" from SU! for years, but this stuff is way better. It really makes the letters look like store bought alphabet stickers rather than quick and easy die-cuts. I added a strip of cork for some extra texture. I simply stapled it into place on either side of the box.

I stamped the outside of the box with the compass image to carry out the theme and to dress it up a bit. Not that 8 year old boys really care about "dressed up" boxes!   I hope he enjoys wearing his manly survival bracelet and that he never has to really use it to survive!  Thanks for fluttering by!