Sweet Baby Shaker Card

Our challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges this week is to be inspired by Rubber Ducky day! Who knew there was even such a thing? I’ve heard of some weird ‘holidays’ but really?? LOL!! Anyway, if you don’t have a ducky to use for your project, feel free to use another kind of fowl or bird.

I had planned to make a baby card using a ducky stamp but when I pulled out a paper pad to use, I saw these lovely geese by Carta Bella! How perfect! I bought these Square Shaker dies from PTI a while a go but hadn’t used them yet. The scalloped frame is perfectly sweet! The goose paper was so cute I didn’t want to hide it so the shaker sits right on the patterned paper. It’s a little harder to build a shaker this way but I was careful to keep the shaker bits in the middle while I added the top.

I added sequins and beads from several packets by Lucy’s Little Things. I do like to mix and match! I layered on some die cut words from Echo Park. After this, I looked back and decided I didn’t need anything else. Normally I’d add ribbon, Nuvo drops or some other small embellies. But with the busy design on the patterned paper, it looked fine as is.

If you are looking for a challenge to join, pull out your bird stamps and get colouring! If you love to colour, be sure to also link up to Kathy Rascoosin’s 30 Day Colouring Challenge!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Finally!

It’s been an amazing 6 months but sadly my term at SplitcoastStampers is over. Fun doesn’t even come close to describe my time with the Dirty Girls. The themes were so creative and allowed us so much free rein to come up with truly awesome creations! Now that my term is up, I am free to blog my cards!

This box was absolutely one of my favourite creations. It seems anytime that I work with Maggie Holmes products from Crate Paper, I make something I REALLY love! The box was plain so I covered it with some 12x12 paper from the Bloom collection. Everything else except the ribbon, buttons, sequins and sentiment are from one Maggie H collection or another. Layering all of these beautiful embellies made me so happy! I can’t wait until a friend or family member has a baby so I can give a sweet little gift in there.

I will be coming back later in the week with some more cards and a book review (or two!). I have boys and they really aren’t into the crafts I do. But I’ve been contacted by a publisher and given some books to review for free. While I was given the books, I was not required to review them favourably or otherwise, and everything I write is my unbiased opinion.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Baby Girl Carriage Card

Since I made a couple boy baby cards last week, I had to balance my stash out with a girl card!

I started with some baby paper but I couldn’t find a pink ink to match so I started looking through some other papers. Wow do I have a lot, LOT of paper! Stuff I’d totally forgotten about. It was like shopping without paying anything! This paper isn’t baby at all but so soft and pretty.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered In: As You See It Sketch, Simon Says Stamp Monday and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday-Use Felt, Craft Rocket Challenge-Use Flowers

Baby Cards

I was playing along with a couple of challenges and I ended up with two baby cards. The themes and my baby supplies just worked so well together!

This card is for two challenges, first to use a wild animal for and second to use a die to make a stencil for Make It Monday. Of course, this isn’t such a wild looking wild animal is it?? LOL! The hearts in the background were die cut from masking paper and the negative was used as a stencil for sponging the aqua mist and harvest gold inks. I hand cut the same piece of masking paper to sponge in some spring moss for the ground.

For this card, I was inspired by the latest Fusion challenge which combines a sketch and a lovely nautical bedroom image. And Inspired by… which has an inspiration photo which you can see below. I followed the sketch pretty closely for once using some cardstock and October Afternoon Seaside papers to piece this little sailboat. I should have removed the fish die from the rest using snips before I die cut the sail but I didn’t so I pieced in the fishy too then dubbed this boat the ‘Fishy Cracker’! I had a PTI baby set out from the previous card’s sentiment then saw this one which was so perfect for this card! Funny when things like that happen!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered In: Giraffe Card-Make it Monday #248 Ink Blending Through Die Cut Masks, Paper Players 295 ‘Wild Thing’

Nautical Card-Fusion {Port O' Call Polaroid}

Belated Shabby Tea Room Card

Hi to all my readers! I apologize for posting this so late but I’ve been sick and so has my entire family! But good news, there is still time to work on our challenge!

I didn’t see a tree in the inspiration photo, I saw a cake! These babies are so cute right? Thank you to Bugaboo Stamps for the image I used. It’s very hard to tell but the rain drops (baby shower, get it??) on the background are texture paste sprinkles with very fine glitter.

I know there isn’t much time for crafting over the holidays but this one is worth it! I hope you will visit The Shabby Tea Room and play our challenge!We love to get comments on the blog so be sure to leave some love!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Whimsical Baby Card

The Friday Mashup for the next two weeks is a combination challenge. You have to choose two old challenges and use one or two elements from each. I chose #4 which is Make a Baby Project and Use Punches. And #7 to make a Feminine Project with Ribbons/Pearls. And just for kicks, I added the sketch from #21.

I used the punch to cut the scalloped edge at the top of the dotted panel. I used a pearl pen to ‘colour in’ the doodled lace on the onesie. I think the other elements are pretty obvious. I layered the heart and the word. The ‘baby’ die cut has all pink layers underneath. It looks so cute from the side. Same with the heart. I used a micron pen to doodle.

Thanks for so many great challenges Friday Mashup! Click on the photo to go to the challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Paper: Echo Park New Baby Additions and Dots n Stripes, aqua mist CS
Accessories: baby, heart and onesie die-Echo Park, epoxy hearts-MME, ribbon-unknown, EK Success Scalloped punch,

Balloon Tag and Package

A matching tag and packaging was another PTI challenge. I had just made the tag in the post previous to this one with a set I neglect and thought about stamp sets I don’t use often enough for this tag.

I bought Everyday Button Bits a while ago second-hand and I’ve only used it once. So I decided to use it and use up some of those enormous buttons I don’t use much. I don’t use Vintage Labels a lot either so it made for a good match. I think this would make a good baby gift package.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: as above
Ink: archival black-Ranger, Hawaiian shores-PTI
Paper: white, aqua mist CS-PTI
Accessories: chartreuse, wisteria, spring rain buttons-PTI, labels 1 dies-Spellbinders, cloud dies-PTI, washi tape-stash, baker’s twine-Divine twine

Baby Thank You Card Folder for Unscripted Sketches #253 and Giveaway Winner

I love using the sketch for something other than basic cards. This week I was making cards for a friend who just had a baby and the sketch worked beautifully a folder to hold the cards.

I used some Webster’s Pages papers to make this. The yellow ribbon looks so pretty. I love that shade of yellow and the chevrons are awesome.

This is the inside of the folder. I designed it myself so if you like it and want the dimensions, let me know.

Here’s a closeup of the embellishments. The arrows are made from Craft-a-board then covered with white cardstock and washi tape.

This is the card I designed. Sorry that it’s hard to read the tag; it says ‘thanks’. I made the card narrower than the usual 4.25”. It is only 4” which helped because I wanted to get the most from a scrap of 12” wide paper and of course, 4” fits across 3 times but 4.25 only fits twice. That also allowed me to hang the trunk off the edge and still fit into a regular envelope.

I hope you will join us at Unscripted Sketches this week. Be sure to check this week’s post to see if you won one of our prizes! I look forward to making the jewelry I am giving away. My winner is Monika Reeck so please email me in the next 48 hours to claim your prize.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages, Bitty Baby Blessings-PTI
Ink: Harvest gold-PTI
Paper: lemon tart CS-PTI, Baja Breeze CS-SU!
Accessories: foam dots- The Sticky Stuff Store, Copic BG72, seam binding ribbon-Masterstroke Ribbon

Shabby Baby Boy Card for Unscripted Sketches #245

I made a baby girl card last week so this week I had to balance it out and make a boy card! I wanted to play with The Shabby Tea Room challenge this week too so I merged the challenges.

The papers are from Webster’s Pages, I deepened the aqua and blue paper with some blue ink because I wanted more contrast. I started with a yellow card base and inked both the base and yellow paper with Harvest Gold ink but the look was brighter than I wanted. So I saved that base and paper for another card and started again with an ivory base and inked both the paper and base with Frayed burlap ink. Ahh, much better.

For the Baby die cut, I layered and adhered 4 cardstock die cuts before adding the final patterned paper layer. It’s about 3/16” thick (between 1/8 and 1/4”) so about the same as if it was chipboard. I made the ribbon rosette by putting red line tape on a circle of scrap cardstock but it still overlapped in enough places that it didn’t want to stick everywhere. So I added a few staples between the layers just where it wouldn’t stick and one at the end  right under where the blocks ended up. I knew I was going to place something in the middle that would cover.

Wow, I finally made a card without changing the sketch much at all! I think the only think that is different is I rearranged the layers a bit. But that’s the awesome thing about Unscripted Sketches! You can do with it whatever you like! Follow it to the letter, change it, rotate it or flip it! It’s up to you! And remember, it’s not a card challenge blog, make whatever you like! I hope to see you there!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Ink: frayed burlap distress, night of navy, bashful blue-SU!
Paper: yellow, light blue DP-Webster's Pages, navy DP-American Crafts, ivory base, white scraps CS-PTI
Accessories: metal accent-Making Memories??, ribbon-May Arts, twine, tag die-PTI, baby die-Marianne, heart die-SSS, trim-vintage stash

Blingy Baby Love for Unscripted Sketches #244

This has to be one of the cards I’ve made that I’m most proud of lately. It suits my signature style of simple shabby (shabby without too many layers or embellies) and my favourite category of cards – baby!

No special techniques here to explain. I kinda enlarged one of the circles on the sketch and omitted one but I think you can still see the inspiration! I enlarged an angled view of the sentiment. I drives me nuts when I use lovely gold EP and it photographs really dark, even black!

I hope you enjoy playing with this sketch like I did! It’s really fun when you realize that you don’t have to use each element as you see it. Change the shapes, sizes, proportions, flip; rotate, mirror, whatever you like!

We’d love to have more people play our sketch so be sure to come by Unscripted Sketches this week!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Graphic 45
Paper: Graphic 45
Ink: Versamark, Vintage photo distress
Accessories: pearls-Recollections, oval die-Spellbinders, ribbon (chevron and silk to thread buttons)-May Arts, buttons-ebay, lace-stash, focal stickers-G45, foam dots-Jody Morrow, gold EP-SU!

Shabby Baby Card for Unscripted Sketches

This sketch was a lot of fun! Some of them kinda stump me at first but this one flowed easily!

The ‘Baby’ die is by Marianne I think and the baby things are by Memory Box. They are really quite teensy, for comparison, this is a 5x7 card. The bottle and rattle are about a bit less than an inch high and the soother is only about 3/8” high!

I coloured them with Copics and oh, so gently sponged them with Distress ink. I also had to be very careful with the word to get ink sponged on the inside areas of the die. I used a Fantastik for the tiny areas. It’s like a sponge tipped pen you can dip in ink. Also good for fixing missed areas of solid stamping.

The papers are from Little Darlings and G45’s patterns and solids pack. The baby face flower is a chipboard piece. The greyish buttons are Mother of Pearl and look so much nicer IRL!

I have a couple girlfriends who are pregnant right now so hopefully one of them has a little girl! I have several boy cards already in my stash.

I do hope to see you over at Unscripted Sketches later this week! We’d love to have you join us! Even if you can’t play. be sure to check out the DT’s awesome projects; they are a talented bunch!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Ink: Frayed burlap Distress ink
Paper: G45, Ivory CS-PTI
Accessories: EK Success mini scalloped punch, PTI buttons, MOP buttons-Ebay, G45 chipboard, Marianne Baby die, baby things die-Memory Box, Copic Markers, Flowers-Wild Orchid Crafts, Lace-stash, ivory iridescent sequins-Ellen Hutson

Woodland Animals Baby Cards for Unscripted Sketches

I haven’t played an Unscripted Sketches in way too long. They are one of my favourite challenges. I also wanted to use some of my new SSS monthly kit so – ta da!

I immediately thought of a baby when I saw the tiny deer, foxes and blue birds. The pumpkins and trees with turning leaves aren’t so babyish but as long as the card isn’t being given in spring i think it’s ok!

And since I had the supplies out, why not make two? I haven’t made a card for multiples in a while, never know when you’ll need one! Maybe I’ll put these in an online store. I’ve applied to a new juried online store; I’ll see if I get in. I like that you only pay 50c per item for a year with no monthly or commission fees. Awesome!

Click on the sketch to visit the challenge blog page.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: BB: Hearts, Baby-PTI
Ink: VersaMagic white, HA cup o Joe
Paper: DP-Lawn Fawn, kraft, white CS-PTI
Accessories: EK Success mini scallop punch

For Baby Card

So, I had to give this 10 minute thing another shot. Let’s just say I failed miserably (but I did get quite a bit closer, more like 14 minutes). Even though I prepped the heart embellie in advance… that’s not cheating right? :) I can’t do anything quickly apparently. Sponging even takes me a long time! I think there’s a reason why you don’t see shabby chic cards among the 10 minute craft dash team cards or in the linky creations!

This time I used this week’s deconstructed sketch 117. The basics of it anyway; I didn’t follow it to the letter. I now see I put the rounded edges at the top and I didn’t layer the two main panels the same way but I hope it’s close enough. When I set about to colouring the image, I realized I hadn’t used chocolate anywhere yet so the blanket ended up dark brown. And I added a chocolate button too. It’s a bit hard to see under the twine but it’s there.

I die cut the heart out of corrugated cardboard then added a soft yellow/ivory paint to the edges. While it was still wet I added some micro fine white glitter. Then I added glue to the very edges and gold opaque glitter. The button threaded with twine tied in a bow was the finishing touch.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Crafty Secrets: baby boy postcard set, background stamp-Hero Arts?
Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle, frayed burlap Distress
Paper: kraft, ivory-PTI, yellow stripe DP-MME lavender, blue DP-Simple Stories
Accessories: heart die, button, twine-PTI, paint-buttermilk Americana, warm white glitter-Glitter Ritz, gold glitter-Art Institute, ribbon-May Arts, foam dots-Jody Morrow, corner rounder-WRMK, lace-not sure, maybe WMS?

Baby Boy Bundle of Joy Card

I am NOT a quick card maker. I could be but I just don’t like to be. I always want to add one more thing or colour something instead of just solid stamp. So when I tried to make it under 10 minutes for the latest Craft Dash challenge… well, they don’t call it a challenge for nothing!

I used the latest Mojo Monday sketch for the basic bones of the card. And I rushed, or tried to. I’d never used this solid stamp before and did I remember to try it out first or condition it? Of course not. So when the Memento ink I’d set out didn’t seem to give good coverage, I pulled out my brown Archival ink and inked up the stamp, d’uh, I wiped it off because I planned to Copic colour it. More wasted time.

So I finally chose my new, never tried but much touted (by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner) Hero Arts Shadow ink in Cup o Joe. It still didn’t stamp cleanly! Ugh! I will give the ink another chance with a better conditioned stamp. I wasted like 4 minutes on that fiasco though and fixing the bad stamping with a marker. Overall, took me at least 25 minutes to make this card. I’ll still link it up because the rules say you can anyways and I loved the colour combo. You’ll see in my next post, I tried again and got closer but still didn’t make it. UGH!

My other challenge was the placement of the little mobile hanging things. I thought the stamp was designed so that you could stamp them in one shot. But when I went to stamp them, they just didn’t look right. So I test stamped them. This was well after the I shut the timer off in frustration. I realized I’d have to cut them apart to stamp them and match the hanging strings exactly. Sure look cute though don’t they? :)

Click on either photo to visit the challenges.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Taylored Expressions: crib, sentiment-PTI
Ink: cup o joe (crib)-HA, blueberry sky-PTI
Paper: saffron, natural white CS-SU!, simple stories DP
Accessories: baby outfit button-Jesse James buttons, ribbon-May Arts, foam dots-Jody Morrow, labels 1 Nesties, Copics

SAF Mixing Mists to Match–Baby Bee Tag

I have to admit, I only have one PTI reinker so I’m afraid there was no mixing going on here, just misting. And it turned out lighter than I would have liked but it’s still pretty darn cute IMHO!

I copied Melissa and used the Hex cover plate as a mask. I tried to be frugal and cut it from kraft and misted on the back side so I can reuse it. It warped so I dried it under my cutting mat and I think it will be good to go! Yeah! I also saved the pieces for another project. Then I stamped the flowers and centers inside each hexagon. It made for a very cute pattern! The rest is pretty obvious. :)

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE: lemon tart reinker, harvest moon, summer sunrise ink, white, lemon cardstock, bee stamps, heart die, tag die-PTI, twine-Divine Twine, ribbon-Hero Arts, patterned paper-MME

Teddy’s First Scrapbook Pages!

I’ve been so overwhelmed with taking care of my autistic son and getting him the help that he needs that I’ve not done a single scrapbook page of my baby until National Scrapbooking Day! Then I finally managed to get a two page spread done which entered me in a few Studio Calico challenges to boot!

This is the left side of the spread. Please click on it to enlarge it. The colour of the ‘precious’ is off, it’s a transparency over a piece of PTI melon berry cardstock but it looks icky brown here, eww. and the lace isn’t crooked. The page was leaning up against my backdrop and bowed a bit which made it look a bit warped in the center. Sorry! I promise it is my usual meticulously straight. Well, unless something is deliberately NOT meticulously straight! Ha! Like the patterned papers peeking out from under the photo. Thanks to Maggie Holmes’ video showing her process for the inspiration. I’ve always admired her designs and it was awesome to see her work!

I’ve since added our hospital bracelets to the pocket on the page. In this photo it only holds the tape measure they used to measure him right after he was born. The nurse makes a tiny tear in it at the head circumference and the length, writes on the weight and gives it to the mom to keep. Ours is now all safe in this cute little pocket! This page was entered in ‘Use something transparent’, ‘Use a pocket’, ‘Use 5 or more patterned papers’, Mixed Media’ challenges.

In this one, you might notice that my older son is in the delivery room! Yep, he was there for both of his brothers being born at 6 and almost 11 years old. He did really well and I was so glad we decided to do it that way; incredible experiences he will never forget. This one was entered in ‘Use buttons’, ‘Use transparencies’, ‘Use ribbon’ and ‘Mixed Media’ challenges.

I’m really proud of these so I hope you enjoyed them!

Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: CTMH
Paper: melon berry CS-PTI, DP-Webster’s Pages New Beginnings, DP-American Crafts, vintage music paper, shipping tag-stash
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Antique Linen (blended)
Accessories: crocheted flower-handmade by me!, pocket-Webster’s Pages, lace, silk flower, mother of pearl buttons, doily-stash, Tiny Attacher-Ranger, transparencies- , quote- , Boss lady mist, wood veneer-Studio Calico, twine-PTI, hug snug seam binding, metal embellishments-Making Memories, pearl brad-Recollections, foam tape-Jody Morrow, heart chipboard-Maya Road, Liquid Pearls, sepia pen-Micron

Sweetly Pink Baby Girl Card

Could a baby girl card be more girly? It looks much nicer IRL; it was very hard to photograph and edit.

The swirly baby die cut is from Joan’s Gardens. To be honest, I forget which company makes it right now. My guess would be Marianne. The diaper pin comes with it. I don’t emboss my die cuts a lot but this one definitely benefits from the detail embossing adds. Again, much more obvious IRL. The triple layered flower is from my girlfriend, thanks Bec!

I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp ‘anything goes’ challenge.

I wanted to layer the die cut over the pink paper but they were too similar and the word didn’t show up. So I tried layering pink vellum, one was too bright and one was the wrong shade. UGH. The white let too much of the pink show through. So I used two layers. I was careful to only use adhesive under the die cut and pearls to prevent the adhesive showing through.

Here’s an example of how bad my memory is. I made this card mid month for SFYTT. I just realised it now, Dec 1st! I internally gasped as I thought I had missed entering a card for November. I just checked and realized that I made another card for SFYTT for November! So not only did I forget I made this card and make another for the challenge, but I linked up that card and then forgot that just now as I am typing this! Seriously???? At least I still have a chance to finish out the year! But it ends early so if you are playing, be sure to get your card linked up by midnight Dec 24. So sad it will be the last SFYTT ever.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Paper: white CS-TE, DP-Kaisercraft, vellum-stash
Accessories: baby dies-Marianne (?), scallop die-PTI, pearls-Dollarama, circle die-Nestabilities, heart button-stash

PTI Stamp-a-Faire Challenge–Mini Book

Here’s my mini book aka Memory Preservation Badge.

This is one of my first projects specifically for my baby Teddy. I am going to add photos of him. I followed the video fairly closely except for the covers. I wanted to leave room for some dimensional embellishments so I made my cover 3/4” at the spine and used only one sheet. The only adhesive holds the envelopes in place. I will adhere the cover in place after I am sure I’m finished embellishing it which definitely isn’t yet.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: CTMH
Paper: envelopes-Clear Bags of Canada, DP-PTI, ivory CS-SU!, kraft CS-PTI
Ink: chocolate-SU!
Accessories: Copics, sticker letters-Basic Grey, Creative Memories, tab die-PTI