Sweet Baby Boy

My best friend just had her third baby - a boy. She has a boy the same age as Justin, a 2-year old daughter, and now a newborn boy. He is the cutest little thing and sadly I missed seeing him when I went home before Christmas because I was sick and didn't want to share my germs.

I did finally mail this card and some goodies for him, though, so I can post it here. This image was a RAK, and I don't even know what the name is. If you recognize it, give me a shout in the comments because it is just too darling!

The round panel is actually a coaster that I covered with the star dp. The curve of the moon was perfect for the circle, and the image is popped up a bit. The sentiment and rick rack die are from MFT. The little pearls are from Queen & Co.

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year celebration. We actually hired a babysitter and are headed out to a neighborhood party. Thanks for looking!

Flower Favors

My mom and I were in charge of making favors for a baby shower last month. She came to visit in April and we put these together. We used up lots of older papers I had, in pretty pastel colors. They were cut using the Nesties Blossoms dies and the centers are SU! treat cups filled with Easter m&ms. I still have a huge bag of the candies, and don't know when I'll use them. Anyone need a 42oz bag of pastel m&ms??

The rectangle tins were from Target's dollar spot and the ribbons are from the shower favors we did last year. Easy and economical favors, and everyone loved them!

Thanks for looking!

Baby Love

Since we are done having children, I will never have a baby girl, but I do so love the pink stuff! Luckily, our friends have girls and I can get the girly part of me out on them...

This card came together very quickly the other day, with some pink gingham that was on my desk along with the pink and white polka dots. I added a scallop edge punch, heart punch and sentiment from MFT (who also made the onesie stamp).

There you go. Done. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Can you believe it's almost the last week of April already? Yikes!! Thanks for looking!

Baby Boy Card

It's too early to come up with a catchy blog post!! Here is a card I made using the digi stamp from Pink Cat Studio. Proceeds from this stamp went to the Anderson family who lost their son - such a sad story. The reason I made this card was a happy one, though. It went to my DH's cousin who just had her third baby.

I used the Crate Paper dp that I picked up at my LSS and stamped the sentiments from MFT under the image and also on the twill. The image is colored with my Bic Mark Its. Still love those markers, and can't bring myself to spend the dollars on Copics. The balloon is topped with glaze.

Last night I went to a grand re-opening for my lss, which just moved to a bigger new location. It is great! I got some papers for Justin's birthday invites (which have to be made and mailed TODAY!), a new CB folder and a few Spica pens. Oh, and a new color of Stickles. They have so many fun pretty things there, I had to pace myself so I can visit again soon :)

DH is off to New Zealand today for a few days on business, so after bringing Justin to gymnastics, I'm hoping to lock myself in my craft room for a few hours. I hope you all get some time for yourselves today, too :) Thanks for looking!

Mom, Cindy, Brenda, Kristin, Michelle - DON'T LOOK!

These thank you cards are in the mail to all the kind folks who sent us baby presents. It took forever to get them made between naps and nursing, but I do like how they ended up. I used Flopsey and paper pieced her with Delicate Dots dp from SU! The flowers are also paper pieced and the centers are sparkled up with Stickles. It's the same paper pack I used for the baby announcements and I have almost finished the whole pack!! One pack of paper down, many many more to go...

The sketch is actually from CPS last Sunday. It's a miracle that I actually finished a project with a sketch the same week it was posted. It's the little things that are making me happy now. I seem to have this irrational need to *get things done* during the day, which just doesn't happen with a new baby. But I can't let it go and it's making me crazy! It shouldn't take three days of planning to actually get the bills paid and mailed! Oh, well, the little Chunk o' Love is growing and is up to 10lbs 5oz at his 6-week checkup yesterday. He was 6lbs 9oz at birth! And I got my first real smile yesterday :)

I hope you all have a wonderful World Card Making Day. If the stars are aligned, I will get to create a bit later. At least to make a birthday card for a party this afternoon! Thanks for looking!

Baby Baby

In August, DH's cousin's wife had their fourth child, a sweet little boy. The funny thing is that their oldest and our oldest are 3 weeks apart in age, and now our youngest are 2 weeks apart in age. Never mind thtat they have two in between! They live in the midwest and we are hoping to get all these cousins together next summer! Luckily, I was able to complete this card and mail their baby gift before going through all the baby drama of our own.

The image was a RAK and I just think he is adorable. The B stamp is paper pieced and the image is colored with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended. The dp is also from a RAK and I've been waiting for a little boy to be born to use it. There have been lots of girl babies, but few boys.

My little boy is just over 2 weeks old now, and is happily sleeping for the moment. He is a voracious eater and wants to feed about every 2 hours, even at night. He also seems to have a fussy period every evening. I wouldn't call him colicky, just hard to settle and hungry from late afternoon till around 10 or so. So although I'm tired, we are settling into a schedule, I think. Of course, now he'll change it up and throw us a curveball!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by today!

I'm Not MIA...

...but I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week! We are in baby-preparation mode around here and most of my time has been taken up by laundry. I think it was easier with the first one and everything was brand new. Things still needed to be washed, but there were no stains to soak out! Things are under control, though, and a day or two each week for the next few should take care of the rest.



I did have a bit of time to craft yesterday morning while DS was at camp (sadly next week is the last week!). I made this card for our family friend who just had her baby girl. I am also going to send her this frame which I actually already had decorated - I just added the baby's name in polka dot chipboard letters. The small Bella images are from their Christmas special and are the perfect size! I popped up the belly in the center image and did some paper piecing for the outfits. The dp is SU! and the border was punched with the Fiskars Upper Crest border punch. Sentiment is A Muse, ribbon is American Crafts, ovals were cut with Nestabilities in the Cuttlebug. The base card is Pink Pirouette.

The papers on the frame (from Ikea) are from the DCWV Spring Stack. I swear, that is the neverending paper pad - I don't think I'll ever use it up! Chipboard letters are from Target.

Well, I have a few hours of quiet this afternoon since DH took DS for a long errand. I am beginning working on decorations for the nursery, but might give in and take a nap. Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in more craft time this weekend. I got my work area cleaned up this morning as I was poking around, so it's ready to go!

I hope you all have a good weekend! I'll at least be back to post some great happy mail I have received in the last couple of weeks. And I think there's a blogoversary to be celebrated here in the next couple of days. So look out for some candy :)

Thanks for looking!

Baby Girl Apron Card

This week, my mom's neighbor's daughter had a baby girl. It is her first, and the first grandchild, so everyone is very excited to welcome Alyssa to the world. I used MJ's Techno Stamper Monday Lunchtime Challenge, which was to make an apron card, to make this card for the new grandparents. The template is from Sweet and Sassy Notes and you can find it HERE. I used some Pink Pirouette cs as a base, and added some CTMH dp. The pocket is made from a scrap of brown, and I added some Prima flowers to it. The ribbon is from American Crafts and and says "baby girl" in brown and pink. The little tag in the pocket is sponged with Pink Pirouette and the "congrats" is from MFT, stamped in Close to Cocoa. The ribbon on the tag is also American Crafts.

Hopefully this week I'll have more stamping mojo, as I have lots of cards to make between upcoming babies, birthdays, anniversaries and my own Christmas cards to make. Wishing you all a great week ahead! Thanks for looking!

Another Baby Card

There are lots of babies coming in the next few months among people we know, so here is another baby card to go in the stash. I used the MFT Baby First set, and paper pieced the body of the buggy. The rhinestones and bit of ribbon were from my stash and the hearts are made with the Cuttlebug die. I used some MM chipboard stickers for the frame and also for the sentiment. It was a quick and easy card to put together.

Let me say I am feeling huge these days. I still have a few months to go - not due till September, but I don't think I was this big when I delivered last time! Seriously, I am looking forward to spending most of the next two months in the pool with DS so I don't feel so heavy. Tomorrow is his Kindergarten graduation, and I am an emotional mess this week. Today is my last day to stamp in peace, so I'm going to get to it. Thanks for listening, and thanks for looking!

Baby Shower Favors

This past weekend, I traveled to NH to attend a baby shower. Do you remember when my mom came to visit in May and we worked on the secret project? That project was the party favors, but I didn't want to post in case the guest of honor read my blog! Here they are, inspired originally by these onesies created by kimzeich on Splitcoast.





I decided that since the baby is a girl, we needed to modify the onesie into a dress. It was really quite simple, just took us alot of time. They began as 4 1/4 inch square cards. The dp was cut the same size, but trimmed with the scalloped edge punch along the bottom, then adhered to the card base. Next, we cut the neckline and sides for the dress shape. The card was opened and the sleeves were scalloped. DP is from DCWV, Nana's Nursery Baby Girl pad. The patterns in the 4x6 pad were the perfect scale for these little dresses. Inside, we attached small bags of pastel chocolates. They were a huge hit at the party!!

Now, I am trying to get back into the swing of things. DH and I are tag-team parents lately, between his business trips and my traveling for pleasure before baby comes in September. We will be headed back to NH next week for a high school graduation, then I have a girls' weekend planned in July. Summer is already booking up quickly! I hope you all have a good week and thanks for looking!

LSC222 for Twins

Finally, I made a card for my neighbors, who recently brought home their twin baby girls. They were born almost 2 months premature and are doing very well. We have been waiting for them to get settled in before going over to meet the new little ones. The exciting part is that they will be the same age as my new addition, coming in September. It's nice to have kids on the block who can play together.

Today's LSC222 at Splitcoast was to use only plain paper for a base and the rest of the card had to be from patterned papers. Embellishments were also to be limited. A great challenge to use up all those scraps of dp we all have laying around! The papers are from Nana's Nursery Baby Girl by DCWV. I just love these papers and the glittered and embossed details on them. And of course the gorgeous girly patterns!!

DS and I have a busy weekend ahead of us. He has soccer tomorrow morning, then we hit the library and Sunday I think we are going to head to the zoo. DH is gone for another week and we are all getting tired of this trip! I hope you all have a nice weekend and spend some time for yourselves! Thanks for looking.

Clean and Simple Monday

This week's Clean and Simple challenge at SCS was to copy a sketch. Why is it so hard to make a truly clean and simple card? I feel like this is missing something. The base is Kraft and the cirlces are punched with scraps and are popped up for dimension. The stamps are from Little Layers Plus, New Beginnings and Announcements, stamped in Close to Cocoa.

So clean and simple there's not much else to say. This week is Teacher Appreciation week at DS's school, so I have to make some cards for his teachers. I forgot all about it.

I hope you all had a good weekend. Despite the rain, we had fun. Saturday morning we took DS to a children's theater show of If You Give a Pig a Pancake and other stories. They performed mini-musicals of 6 children's books and he loved it! Yesterday, we had friends over for dinner and I'm exhausted! Today is rainy again, so it's a great day to stay in and stamp (and maybe get all the ironing done!). Thanks for looking!

Baby Girl Gifts

Today I continued on the girly-girl path and made a monogram frame to match the card I made yesterday for our friends' new daughter.  Also today I want to show the onesies, because I want to get them in the mail this week.

I had this dollar frame in my stash of alterables for quite a while, and today it jumped out at me.  I got this great outline alphabet from Mandarin Pixie before they closed last year, and it's just the right size.  The papers are DCWV and Bazzil.  I used craft store acrylic paint to paint the frame, and the ribbon is American Crafts.  I did stamp the flourishes in Close to Cocoa, but since I don't have craft inks, it faded to a gray.  The flowers are Primas and the centers are Queen and Co Mini Sprinkles brads.

Below are the onesies. I used the directions from Taylor, but went one step easier and bought the cute patterned iron-on patches instead of using fabric with Heat N Bond.  It helped me because the patches were all coordinated!  I think I should have set the ink in the dryer before washing the onesies, because it did fade.  Any comments on this process for me?  I didn't have Palette Hybrid ink, so used Staz-On.  The diaper on the baby is paper pieced.  The butterflies are from Verve, the hearts are from Kim Hughes for CHF.

Welcome, Baby Girl!

Not in my house, LOL!  We are all boy here, but our best friends just had a baby girl the week before Christmas and I was finally able to make a card and some onesies for her today.  (K- hope you aren't reading this!)  They will be calling her Rory, and she is just too precious for words!  

I have seen this Inkadinkado stamp used all over blogland and finally found it for myself at Joann a few weeks ago.  I never go into the local store, just shop online, so I didn't realize they had these stamps.  The best part - they were only 50 cents on clearance!  For the card, I paper pieced the diaper and colored the baby with Prismacolor pencils, blended with OMS.  The dp is from DCWV Spring Stack and I added "welcome" to the bottom panel.  Velvet rick rack is from American Crafts, and flowers are Primas.  I used the tiny Sprinkles brads from Queen and Co along the top and as a flower center.  

The layout is courtesy of Mary Jo at Techno Stamper.  This is the first time in several weeks that I have gotten to complete her sketch challenge on time.  Now that the holiday madness is over, I have time to get to all the "other" things on my to-do list :)  Challenges are near the top of that list, after exercising!

I will share the onesies tomorrow.  It is late and I am ready to head to bed with a book.  I hope the New Year is treating you all well so far.  Thanks for looking!

Baby, Baby!

Friends of ours, who already had 3 kids, decided to have another. They ended up with twin boys, so now are the proud parents of 5! Yikes! I don't know how they do it...

The boys were born in May, and I am sad to say that I am just now getting around to sending them a gift. At least it won't be lost in the shuffle of new baby gifts, right? There has to be a bright side to such procrastination!

These papers were out on my desk from the birthday card I made the other night, so that's what I used. I had this Bella image that was RAKed to me a while ago, and decided it was perfect. Though if you look that fabulous with twins and 3 other kids, I want to know the secret!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thanks for looking!

Sweet Boy

Today was my last appointment with my hairdresser before she goes on maternity leave. I have a backup hairdresser while she is away, but she will be missed! She knows she is having a little boy, and it's been fun to see her belly grow...

I made this simple frame for her, painting a plain wood frame with light blue acrylic paint and stamping the images with Saddle Brown and Azure Staz-On ink. Did you know that you can color with Prismacolor pencils on the acrylic paint and blend with OMS with no smudging??? Yeah, Ok, you probably did. But this was a fantastic discovery for me and I had fun coloring the images, from SU! Toybox. The letters are SU! Brushstroke Alphabet...

Thanks for looking!