More of Ben's Thank Yous

This is the other card that I made several of to use as thank yous for all of the wonderful gifts that Benjamin received from friends and family.

I love this baby prints set and finally got the chance to use it! The handprint panel is raised up on dimensionals too.

Stamps: SU Baby Prints, Thank You Kindly (retired)
Ink: SU bashful blue, not quite navy
Paper: SU ww, not quite navy, maine blueberry dsp (retired)
Brads: SU 3/16" night of navy
Misc: SU dimensionals

Benjamin's Animal Thank Yous

Benjamin has been quite the spoiled little guy! We have SO many thank yous to write. Here are some of the thank you cards that I made.

I used the retired stamp set Fox & Friends because it is one of my favourite Stampin' Up! sets for baby cards because the animal images are so cute!

The designer paper I used is the long since retired Maine Blueberry because the colours really say baby to me and I haven't liked any paper for baby cards as much since! It's hard to tell in the photo but the animals are raised up on dimensionals - I think dimensionals are one of my favourite things to add to a card!

I'll post a set of pink baby thank you cards that I made like these cards in the next week or so. I made them for a friend of ours who was due 2 weeks after us and after seeing how many thank yous we have needed I thought it would be a great part of our gift!

Supplies

Stamps: SU Fox & Friends (retired), Fabulous Phrases

Ink: Versamark

Paper: SU ww, certainly celery, bashful blue, maine blueberry dsp (retired)

Ribbon: SU 1/4" bashful blue grosgrain (retired)

Misc: SU white embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals

Benjamin's Mobile

Benjamin is still in the NICU so I've been working on getting his room ready for him so it is all set when he is finally able to come home. One of the projects I made for his room is this mobile. I got inspired from some ideas on pinterest using yarn balls.

I took a bit of the fabric from his bedding set to the store and matched it to the colours of yarn available in the store and lucked out with some perfect matches. I made this recipe for paper mache paste, dipped the yarn in it and wrapped it around a balloon (I used punch-balloons instead of regular balloons so my yarn balls would be more round). Let me tell you that this is not as simple as it sounds, well up until this step is easy, but it's the drying process that is not. I hung my balloons from the shower curtain rod but as they dried many of the balloons shrunk in size before the yarn dried so the yarn balls turned into a yarn mess instead. As a result, I only had success with about 1/3 of the yarn balls looking right. Originally, I had wanted a few more balls on there but it was just too much work for so few to turn out. I still love the way it looks though!

I bought a dowel from the hardware store and stained it with some leftover stain that we had from when our house was built. I used some Stampin Up! ribbon that matched the light blue and used it and hot glue to hold the dowels together. The ribbon at the ends of the dowels were to hold the clear line in place that hangs the whole mobile from the ceiling.

Introducing Baby Benjamin!

Meet Benjamin, the newest addition to our family. He was born three months early on April 28 at only 1 pound 11 ounces (small for his gestational age) and 13 inches long.

This was the first picture ever taken of Benjamin after he was taken to the NICU and a lot of medical things done to him (including the cpap to help him breathe that is on his face).

This is him as of yesterday. He is just over 3 1/2 pounds and is 15.5 inches long.

He is doing quite well considering he was so early. We still have a ways to go but we're getting there! We were transferred prior to his birth to a larger hospital a couple hours away from home so it'll be some time before I post new projects or take the time to update my blog - hopefully you will all stick around! I've been taking tons of pictures so there will be a baby scrapbook on its way!

Hostess Gift

I was originally going to share one of the two cards we made at a recent workshop but apparently I didn't photograph them, I'll have to get on that. So instead, this is the gift set that I made for the hostess.

I knew that this hostess loves this years' "in colours" so I decided to make her a set of cards using them as well as preview for the guests some of the items we would be using in the workshop - beautiful wings embosslits, pearls and berry blossoms dsp. I'll have to show you one by one rather than the full set because I can never get a good picture when I try to get that many cards in one shot.

It's difficult to tell in the photos but there is a bit of dimension to the butterflies. I placed a glue dot in the center of the butterfly so that I could bend the wings up so it looked as though it just landed on the paper.

I love the way this set turned out and I think I'll have to make a set for myself to use! These in colours are definitely my favourite since I became a demo over four years ago. I'm so glad they stick around for two years now.

Stamps: SU fabulous phrases
Ink: SU early espresso
Paper: SU early espresso, ww, pool party, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, island indigo, lucky limeade, berry blossoms dsp
Ribbon: SU 3/8" ruffled ribbon in pool party, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, island indigo, lucky limeade
Punch: SU scallop edge border
Die cut: SU Beautiful Wings embosslits die
Misc: SU basic pearls

Last of the Valentine's

Here is the last few Valentine's I had made. These were inspired by this card by Ilina, and changed only slightly. These would be a lot better to look at had I got a photo of all 5 cards together - oh well!

 

As you can see from the above cards, I turned her card into a 5 piece set, changing the ordering of the colours of candy hearts and changing the sentiment to the same colour as the center heart. I also changed the colours to be a bit more pastel-like so they would look closer to the real candies. All of the candies were cut out with my paper snips and adhered with dimensionals.

Stamps: SU Candy Conversations
Ink: SU pear pizzazz, blushing bride, wisteria wonder, pool party, peach parfait
Paper: SU ww
Punch: SU corner rounder
Misc: SU paper snips, score tool, dimensionals

Be Mine CASE

Here's another Valentine's card that I made - this is the one I actually made to give to Grant. Unfortunately, I was not in the head space to write anything clever so he never got it yet! He did see it and knows I made it for him and he'll get it at some point!

This was a CASE of this card by Leigha. The photo does not do it justice at all. No matter how I adjusted the lights or fiddled with editing it, it just didn't look right in the photo. The "Be Mine" is from the a la carte set "Candy Conversations" and I used my black Stampin' write marker to colour in just the be mine portion.

To line up all the little punched hearts, I drew a very faint pencil line down the center of the card and glued the center column of hearts first (then erased the line) and just eyeballed the remainder to either side.

Stamps: SU Candy Conversations
Ink: SU basic black
Paper: SU ww, real red
Punch: SU small heart

Just My Type Valentine

I'll post the Valentine's I made before anything else since Valentine's has long since passed. This card is a CASE of one by Ann that you can see on her blog here.

I did change the original design up a bit to suit my tastes a bit more and utilize the supplies I had on hand. The only dry embossing I kept was the Adorning Accents textured impressions embossing folders. I changed the sentiment only because I love this one! Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting my baker's twine bow to look pretty so after fiddling with it for a while, I figured it looked good enough!

Stamps: SU You're My Type
Ink: SU basic black, cherry cobbler
Paper: SU ww, basic black, cherry cobbler
Ribbon: SU cherry cobbler bakers twine
Punch: SU Heart to Heart punch
Embossing Folder: SU Adorning Accents textured impressions
Misc: Paper snips, dimensionals

Baby on the Way

It's been a long time since I last posted any cards, but it has been with a good excuse. Grant and I are expecting a little boy in July! We could not be more excited. Unfortunately, this pregnancy hasn't been easy on me at all, but it'll be worth it! I have just started getting around to photographing the few cards that I have made so I'll start sharing them even though several are no longer relevant (eg. Valentine's cards).

Since I'm sharing the news of our upcoming baby, I thought I would also start posting again with a baby card, although this one is for a girl. We know lots of friends and co-workers having babies but it seems as though we are the only ones having a boy!

This card didn't quite turn out like I pictured, but I still like it. I originally wanted to use yellow instead of green but it just didn't look right to me. When Grant saw it, he thought I should have used yellow instead of the pink!

Stamps: SU Little Additions, Delightful Dozen
Ink: SU basic gray, pink pirouette, certainly celery
Paper: SU ww, basic gray, pink pirouette, certainly celery
Ribbon: SU 3/8" pink pirouette tafetta
Punch: SU scallop trim, heart to heart

Sale-A-Bration is Here!

It's finally here! Now through March 31, 2012 earn free Sale-a-Bration items for every $60 you spend on Stampin' Up! products. Spend $200 or more and receive Sale-a-Bration items and hostess benefits!

Click here to view the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.

Want the best deal? Join the Stampin' Up! family during Sale-A-Bration for $65 off the regular price (now only $150)! It includes up to $425 of product and ships for free! You can choose and customize either the standard starter kit or the digital starter kit.

PLUS, just for joining during Sale-A-Bration, you get one free designer paper pack (you pay shipping) or a free digital download (no shipping) every month you are active for the rest of the year!

Hobby stampers! Test out the demonstrator benefits and discounts from now through June 30, 2012 with no obligation to purchase anything or host workshops. There is no penalty to drop if you want to take advantage of all the starter kit has to offer! Contact me to discuss all the benefits and discounts Stampin' Up! has to offer.