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

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

SSSC132 Baby Boy

Again, I have not been a very good blogger and despite making cards, I have not been good at posting them!

Here is one I made over a week ago for the SSSC132.

I love this new "I Dig You" stamp set - it's so cute and versatile! The sentiment is from another adorable new baby set called "Little Additions." I stamped the truck several times in each of the colours and cut out the separate parts so that I could layer them up on dimensionals to create added dimension to each part of the truck - unfortunately it's not the easiest to see in the photo. The animals were all coloured using my Stampin' write markers and stamped write on the main panel.

Stamps: SU I Dig you, Little Additions
Ink: SU pear pizzazz, marina mist, basic gray, Versamark
Paper: SU ww, pear pizzazz, marina mist, nursery nest dsp
Brads: SU basic gray
Powder: SU whisper white embossing powder
Misc: SU dimensionals, heat tool, paper snips

SC345 Elebration

When the new catalogue came in July, I was sad to see the stamp set Baby Steps go, until I found my new favourite replacement for it: Elebration. It's not specific to babies, but the image is just so cute! This card was actually created for last weeks sketch challenge, SC345, but I never got around to posting it until now.

I stamped the image once in StazOn on watercolour paper (and used my aquapainter to colour it in) and once on whisper white cardstock. Once it was coloured, I cut out the elephant and adhered them on top of the image on the whisper white cardstock. It's hard to tell in this photo, but I also used my white gel pen to colour the nails really white! I wish that watercolour paper was white like whisper white. Because it isn't, I thought it looked funny since the background colour of the dsp is white, which is why I decided to cut it out and glue it.

Unfortunately, I realized after colouring, cutting all my cardstock and designer paper that I didn't ahve the correct colour of ribbon, so I substituted the colour I wanted, perfect plum, with wisteria wonder. I think it matches well with the papers, I just wished I had realized it when I coloured the balloon so in wisteria wonder too!

The background paper was created using the stamp set Dot Dot Dot and my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the image since it doesn't actually span the width or length of the paper.

Stamps: Elebration, Dot Dot Dot, Petite Pairs
Ink: StazOn jet black, Versamark, SU basic gray, blushing bride, marina mist, so saffron, perfect plum
Paper: SU watercolour, ww, blushing bride, nursery nest dsp
Ribbon: SU wisteria wonder 3/8" ruffled
Punch: SU 1" circle
Powder: SU white embossing powder
Misc: SU dimensionals, aquapainter, stamp-a-ma-jig, uniball signo gel pen

New Simply Soft CASE

I never even got around to finishing up making cards with all of my retiring stamp sets last month - I still had three more. Oh well, on to newer things!

As a demonstrator, we get a sneak peek of the new hostess sets in the new catalogue and are able to purchase a couple if we choose. I know it's another flower set, but I knew I wanted the simply soft set and I've had it in my possession for quite a while now but only just got around to stamping with it.

This is a CASE of this beautiful card by Karen. She always creates the most beautiful scenes like this using various techniques. This one involved what she calls "marker layering." It takes several shades of the same colour and layering them over one another leaving a little of each colour showing at the top. For this card I used pink pirouette, pretty in pink, regal rose and melon mambo. Karen also added a dot of white at the top of her flowers but it didn't look quite as nice without the dark contrast of her flowers so I opted to just leave it out.

Stamps: SU Simply Soft (hostess)
Ink: StazOn jet black, SU pink pirouette, pretty in pink, regal rose, melon mambo, certainly celery, lucky limeade
Paper: SU ww, pretty in pink, melon mambo
Ribbon: SU 5/8" pretty in pink satin
Misc: embossing folder

Goodbye to Everything Nice and Bugs & Kisses

Today, I'm sharing the retiring sets Everything Nice and Bugs & Kisses as well as the retiring dsp nursery suite.

This first card is for a baby girl and inspired by the sketch Mojo194. Finally, I found a great use for some of my buttons!

This card is for a baby boy, I wish I had a little dog set to go with it too!

Supplies

Baby Girl Card

Stamps: SU Everything Nice

Ink: SU chocolate chip, regal rose

Paper: SU ww, chocolate chip, so saffron, regal rose, nursery suite dsp

Button: SU so saffron from subtles designer buttons

Ribbon: SU 3/8" whisper white taffeta

Misc: circle cutter

Baby Boy Card

Stamps: SU Everything Nice, Bugs & Kisses

Ink: SU chocolate chip, baja breeze, pear pizzazz

Paper: SU ww, chocolate chip, baja breeze, pear pizzazz, nursery suite dsp

Misc: SU dimensionals, paper snips

Goodbye Baby Steps

Today I thought I would share cards made with the retiring stamp set Baby Steps. It was definitely my go to baby set this year because those elephants are too cute!

Here's the baby boy version

And the baby girl version

I really wanted the attention to be on the image so I didn't even use any designer paper. For the same reason, I kept the embellishments to a minimum. I still had to stick to quite a few layers though! I substituted the bow for a button in the second because I just couldn't get the 5/8" satin ribbon to make a bow that was both small enough for the space and pretty!

Baby Boy Card

Stamp: SU Baby Steps

Ink: SU baja breeze

Paper: SU ww, baja breeze

Ribbon: SU 1/2" baja breeze seam binding

Brad: SU whisper white

Misc: swiss dots embossing folder (similar to perfect polka dots)

Baby Girl Card
Stamp: SU Baby Steps
Ink: SU pretty in pink
Paper: SU ww, pretty in pink
Ribbon: SU 5/8" pretty in pink satin
Button: SU pretty in pink from subtles collection
Misc: swiss dots embossing folder (similar to perfect polka dots)

SC321 Baby Animal Squares

As soon as I saw the sketch SC321 last week, I knew I wanted to make a baby card using the retired Wild About You set using the squares like in this card by Miss Boo.

I love the way this card turned out. It will definitely have to be a card that I only give to someone in person as there is way too much dimension to it for mailing. The squares themselves, the elephant ear, lion's mane and lion's face are all raised up on dimensionals (the animal parts were cut using my paper snips - the best scissors ever for detailed cutting).

The "one" looks crooked in the photo for some reason but it doesn't in real life - I made sure by using my stamp-a-ma-jig to keep the words straight! This is one of my favourite "word" type sets in the catalogue because it's so versatile since you can make it say whatever you want!

I'll probably end up recreating this card using other paper and maybe other animal stamps (like fox & friends or animal stories) because I still need a few more baby cards over the next couple months!

Stamps: SU Wild About You (retired), Fabulous Phrases

Ink: SU bashful blue, pacific point

Paper: SU ww, pacific point, celebrations dp

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

Punches: SU 1 1/4" square, 1 3/8" square

Misc: SU dimensionals

Twins!

It's been a while since I posted a ton of baby cards that I had to make for several co-workers but now I'm in it again. This time, one of my coworkers recently had twin boys.

I stamped the Baby Steps image once in baja breeze, then coloured only the baby elephant with my markers and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up and stamp it just behind the previously stamped baby elephant. Such an easy way to make a stamp set more versatile and great for twins! I also stamped scrap versions of the elephants so I could cut out the ears and adhere them with dimensionals.

When I stamped the images, I didn't colour in the congratulations sentiment on the stamp so that it wouldn't appear directly below them. I later coloured the sentiment in with my chocolate chip marker and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the sentiment with the bottom center of the card.

As you can tell, I love to use my stamp-a-ma-jig! It is definitely a product I would recommend to any stamper. I use it on almost every card I make!

Stamps: SU Baby Steps

Ink: SU baja breeze, chocolate chip

Paper: SU baja breeze, ww, chocolate chip, baja breeze dp (retired), nursery suite specialty dp

Ribbon: SU 1/4" chocolate chip grosgrain (retired)
Misc: SU dimensionals

And another...

Apparently I miscounted when I thought I was done with baby cards and I actually had one more to do! Here it is! I based it of this week's mojo monday sketch 148 and designed it to match along with this box that I made some time ago and will use to package up the gift in - I'm glad I finally found a good use for it! I love all the white space on this card.

Stamps: SU pun fun, congrats (retired)
Ink: Stazon jet black, basic gray, pretty in pink, so saffron
Paper: SU ww, pretty in pink, spring fling (retired)
Ribbon: SU 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain
Misc: aquapainter, dimensionals, CB swiss dots embossing folder

Note: The only non SU item is the CB swiss dots embossing folder however, Stampin' Up! carries the perfect polka-dots embossing folder which is very similar and easily substituted.

Hopefully this will be the last...

...baby card that I have to make for several months. I'm getting pretty bored of them. This one is for another of Grant's coworkers that is due with a baby boy during summer vacation. The snail image was coloured with my markers, cut out with paper snips and adhered with dimensionals to stand out!

Stamps: SU everything nice, bugs & kisses
Ink: SU not quite navy, old olive, bashful blue
Paper: SU ww, bashful blue, not quite navy, maine blueberry dp (retired)
Misc: SU dimensionals

Neutral Baby Card

Grant reminded me Thursday night that I needed to make a neutral baby card for him to take for a coworker on Friday so this is what I came up with. It feels like I'm always making baby cards these days - between Grants and my coworkers there are 9 expected or already delivered babies! This card actually came together pretty quick. Once Grant picked which sentiment he wanted on it, I had an idea in mind for the design and just had to make it come together. It's difficult to tell from the photo but the sentiment panel is raised up on dimensionals, then the elephant is raised up even further. Sorry the photos not great but I took it late at night!

The only non SU part of this card is the little white bow fed through the button - it is leftover embroidery thread from the family Christmas stockings that I made.

Stamps: SU animal stories, Full of life
Ink: SU so saffron, certainly celery
Paper: SU ww, so saffron, certainly celery, spring fling dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 5/8" so saffron grosgrain
Button: SU certainly celery (from sherbert package)
Misc: Embroidery thread, dimensionals

Baby Boy: Snips and Snails

On Monday night I had a combined baby shower to attend for 4 of the girls from work who had recently had babies. Half an hour before I had to leave I realized that I still needed one more card and came up with this (just because I make them doesn't mean I don't procrastinate writing in them). Despite all the layers it was very quick because the image/sentiment are a rubon from the SU rubons "so cool." The main panel is raised up on dimensionals - which I generally do on all of my cards. It's not the most "baby" looking card but I like the way it turned out and so did my co-worker who received it!

Rubon: SU So cool
Paper: SU ww, certainly celery, basic gray, spring fling dp (retired)
Misc: SU dimensionals

Baby Boy Gift Set

Now that I am starting to feel a bit like myself again following surgery, I decided to give a MTME template a try for a baby shower next week. I had previously created a 3D house here for a housewarming gift and it was so easy so I thought I would try out the baby carriage template. This template was so easy and I love the way it turned out! Here are a couple of other views: This template is quite large as is too. Inside of there I have 3 onsies and 3 pairs of grippy socks! A bit more fun than wrapping the gift or putting it in a gift bag!

Paper: SU ww, bashful blue, delicate dots dp (retired)
Punches: SU scallop edge, 1", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle, scallop circle
Button: SU bashful blue (from sherbert designer buttons pack)
Misc: MTME bouncing baby buggy template, SU sticky strip

Sweet Scoops Celebration

When I first saw the new Summer Mini catalogue I knew I had to have the sweet scoops stamp set! It's just too cute and so versatile! There were a few things I did to make this card just right!

To line up the ice cream cones and have them spaced well, I drew a faint straight line in pencil and made a small mark at the center of the card and 1.5" to either side. I then used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the top of the cones with the three marks. Once they were all stamped and the ink dry I erased the line! This way there is no guess work at where to put them and they look great!

To give the ice cream some dimension, I covered them with crystal effects and sprinkled some dazzling diamond glitter in it before it dried! I love the shine it gives and how the sparkle brings out the sparkle on the designer paper!

Stamps: SU sweet scoops
Ink: SU close to cocoa, pretty in pink, chocolate chip
Paper: SU ww, pretty in pink, sending love specialty dp (unavailable), berry bliss dp (retired)
Glitter: SU dazzling diamonds
Ribbon: SU 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain
Misc: SU crystal effects

Dragonfly baby

I've been busy trying to make a bunch of baby cards as there are so many people we know who just had a baby or will be in the near future. I haven't been very successful as I'm just not in the mood to make baby cards but here is one that I made!This isn't the most traditional looking baby card but I think it turned out ok - it's another one of those cards that didn't photograph well either. I made it for a coworker of mine who had a baby boy and has decorated the room in a dragonfly theme.

Stamps: SU Bugs & kisses, A to Z
Ink: SU bashful blue, versamark
Paper: SU ww, bashful blue
Misc: SU white embossing powder, circle punch, dimensionals

Diaper Cake and Card

I have been wanting to make a diaper cake for a long time now and finally had the perfect opportunity to for my girlfriend at work. I'll probably be heading over there to give it to her this week and can't wait to see how her little baby has changed. I saw her the day after she was born and now she'll be a couple weeks old!

Here is the front view of the cake (You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view): Here's a view of the cake from the sides where you can see a little bit of where I decided to place all the items that are included in the cake. The seams in cardstock appear more noticeable in the photos than in real life. What's included in this diaper cake:
-72 diapers
-1 blanket
-4 onesies
-1 temperature sensitive rubber duckie
-1 Johnson's essentials pack (that includes baby wash, lotion, shampoo, baby powder, penaten cream and nursing pads)

These diaper cakes can be as cheap or expensive as you want depending on how much you wanted to include. Seeing as I am quite good friends with her outside of work, I wanted to do more than just the diapers and top decoration!

After making the diaper cake, I didn't want to use the original card (you can see it in this post) I had made for her and wanted to make something that would match the cake. I was inspired by Jen's SFYTT for this card. Here's a better pic of it close up. I hope she loves this gift! I was a bit concerned that there is so much blue, but I don't think she'll mind. I really just took inspiration from the onesies!

You can see a tutorial on how to make your own diaper cake here. I personally had to modify it a fair bit in order to include all of the gifts but it's a great foundation to start with!

Stamping Related Supplies for Cake
Paper: SU Delicate Dots dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 5/8" so saffron grosgrain

Card Supplies

Stamp: PTI bitty baby blessings
Ink: SU so saffron, versamark, pumpkin pie
Paper: SU ww, bashful blue, so saffron, delicate dots dp (retired)
Button: SU bashful blue
Misc: SU white embossing powder, circle cutter, dimensionals

SFYTT Catch-Up

These last couple weeks have been really busy, so I'm catching up on Jen's sketches for the last two weeks! I've been working a lot and then my Grandma had a fall and broke her C2 vertebrae, or in lay-terms, she broke her neck! As the nurse in the family, I've felt it quite important to go and be with her in the hospital especially sine three of her daughers are away on vacation. She is doing well, but has a long recovery process ahead of her. So, I created this card for this Saturdays SFYTT as I don't have any get well cards on hand. I love the way this card turned out. My inspiration was purely the colours - I love barely banana but haven't been using it much as most of the designer papers that incorporate yellow use so saffron instead. I love the way it combined with soft suede for a nice change from my usual choice of chocolate chip. This picture shows a close-up of the image panel (click on the image to zoon in even further). I didn't want to add another layer to create the white circle outline so I sponged barely banana ink in the center by using another circle as a guideline. Looks so fabulous!

I again used more barely banana and created this baby card (based on last weeks SFYTT) for my girlfriend who just delivered a baby girl this morning! This is the same friend who I created these thank you cards for. Unfortunately, I don't have any Stampin' Up! baby sets so I had to use the Bitty Baby Blessings set by PTI! I've had the SU set "nursery necessities" on my wish list for some time now but never actually end up getting it. I think I'll have to now since so many people I know are having babies!

Supplies:

Get Well Wishes Card
Stamps: SU Kind & Caring Thoughts (hostess), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: SU soft suede, barely banana
Paper: SU ww, soft suede, barely banana, thuroughly modern dp
Punches: SU tag punch
Ribbon: SU soft suede 1/2" polka dot grosgrain
Brad: SU barely banana (retired)
Misc: SU paper piercer and mat, circle cutter, sponge dauber, dimensionals

Baby Makes Three Card
Stamps: PTI Bitty Baby Blessings
Ink: SU basic gray
Paper: SU pretty in pink, barely banana, spring fling dp (retired)
Punches: SU scallop edge punch, corner rounder
Ribbon: SU 5/8" pretty in pink satin
Misc: SU dimensionals

Baby Thank You Set

One of the girls at work is having her first baby and so as a little be-lated Christmas gift (because I haven't seen her yet) I am going to give her this little baby thank you card set. I had to keep the colours gender neutral as she is keeping the gender a surprise! This set features two of the new stamp sets available in the new occasions mini catalogue that starts today (see the post below for more details) - "Fox & Friends" as well as "A to Z." It seems no matter how many animal sets I own, I always want more because they are too cute and fox and friends was no exception!

This little monkey is what drew me to the set! Check out how cute this little turtle is too! This is the third giraffe stamp I own, they are all so different! I love the little heart coming out in the spray of the whale - such a cute little detail! Finally, here is the lion (my second lion stamp)! There is also a fox and owl in this set but I opted for the above five as they are my favourites! If you like these images a lot, they are also available as part of the Definitely Decorative line of vinyl images that can be applied to walls, blocks, etc. - great for a child's bedroom or playroom!

To create the background using the A to Z stamp, I inked the image in old olive and stamped it on certainly celery paper. According to the SU Colour coach these two colours are a "dynamic duo" meaning they pair together to create the most coordinated monochromatic look. The colour coach is a valuable resource that also contains great information on colour combinations.

As you can see from the photos, I also created coordinating envelopes for each card, stamping the animal in either certainly celery or so saffron.

Stamps: SU Fox & Friends, A to Z, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: SU Versamark, certainly celery, old olive, so saffron
Paper: SU ww, certainly celery, delicate dots dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 5/8" so saffron grosgrain
Misc: SU white ep
Punch: SU 1 1/4" square