Owen's Baby Bear

I went to a baby shower over the weekend and here is the card I made to go with the baby gift.

The adorable Baby Bear stamp set was an obvious choice. The color combo used is Basic Gray, Smokey Slate and Lemon Lime Twist, and it matched the diaper bag I gave for the gift perfectly! I like to buy a diaper bag and then use that as the "gift bag" to hold the rest of the baby gifts I give. I add lots of fluffy tissue tucked in between the gifts and always attach a cute toy and my card or tag to front of diaper bag to "embellish". I meant to take a photo to share with card, but I forgot.

I used the Layering Squares Framelits to cut both the Whisper White square and the scalloped square. I was able to create a personalized banner using the Labeler Alphabet & Thoughtful Banners stamp sets. The mommy-to-be loved that her babies name was on the card.

The Basic Gray & Black Bakers Twine was from last years Halloween combo pack of twine, so it's no longer available. The button was something I had in my stash and the color is a close match to Lemon Lime Twist so I used that as well.

Baby's 1st Year Album

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We had a lovely few days with family here in Michigan. I've been pretty busy the past few weeks working on Christmas projects and haven't had a chance to share anything here. One of the projects I had been working on is a 6x8 scrapbook to record the highlights of our grand daughters first year. (she's due to arrive very soon!)

I wanted a small leather album (in pink of course!) that will hold up to little hands flipping through the book over and over when she's old enough. (my boys always loved looking at their albums of baby pictures) Unfortunately SU! doesn't offer the album I had in mind so the one I used is from Simple Stories. Here's a look at some of the pages...

I used a combination of SU! products - current and retired mixed with Echo Park Bundle of Joy papers.

I used some photos from her gender reveal party...

as well as from the baby shower.

I used temporary adhesive to hold the embellishments in place until we have photos to add.

I did some paper piecing on the house and trees. I love the way they turned out. I also used the Flower Patch stamp set along with the coordinating Flower Fair Framelits.

Then for each month there is a spot for her monthly photo as well as other cute photos,

and cards to journal those highlights.

I used the Layering Circle Framelits, retired Little Number Framelits and the Labeler Alphabet to create the little badge for each month.

For the 8 month page I used a new Sale-a-Bration set called Delicate Details to create the border along the bottom. Here's a closer look.

The Echo Park Bundle of Joy papers have several colors that are a good match to SU! colors. So I used Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose & Sage Shadow throughout the album. Good thing I still had those retired colors in my  stash!

As you can imagine, we are very much looking forward to the arrival of our first grandchild! I'm sure I will be posting many scrapbook pages featuring her in the future!

Baby Bear Shower

Have you heard about Stampin' Up!'s Stitched From the Heart sale for November? They've release a set of Stitched Shape Dies! Even more great news...Stampin' Up! is also offering some great stamp sets that coordinate well with these dies on sale all this month at 25% off! See them here.

One of the great sets offereed at 25% off is the Baby Bear stamp set. Recently I helped with a baby shower to welcome my soon to be first grandbaby. Here's the card I made to decorate one of her gifts.

Baby Bear is super cute with a flower from the Jar of Love stamp set on here head. But Baby Bear isn't just for baby items...it would also make adorable Christmas cards as well! Here's how the card looked attached to the gift..

I also made some table decorations using Stampin' Up! products. The jars are painted with home made chalk paint and then distressed. (I have instructions for this in a past tutorial) I used 5/8" Burlap Ribbon and Gold Sequin Trim to decorate the jars. They looked really pretty..each one sitting on a doily on the pink tablecloths. Did I tell you it's a GIRL!? ;-)

Some goodies for guests to take home had hand stamped thank you tags.

Here's a closer look at the tags using the retired set called Riveting.

Sweet Little Baby Bear

This past few weeks I've had two different sets of invitations to design and stamp. That has kept me pretty busy! Since they are now complete and have been mailed, I can finally share them here! I used the adorable Baby Bear stamp set to create these baby shower invitations.

Since I had to make 42 of them, and each bear consists of three layers, that means I had to stamp that bear 126 times! It's OK though, because it was a labor of love...these baby shower invitations are for the shower of my first grandchild!

I didn't want to have to hand cut the cute bow that comes with the set, so I opted for a flower that could be stamped and punched instead. I used the retired set Punch Potpourri for the flower stamped in Strawberry Slush. The photo above shows my finished sample card, the stamped bears and the rest of the cut supplies to start assembling the invitations.

I cut the Tea Lace Doilies into pieces to add to the bottom of each stamped bear. I was able to get 3 pieces from each doily. I started off using the new Delicate Doilies, but then I remembered I had a whole pack of the older ones so I decided to use those up.

After adding the doily to the bottom of each bear I adhered it onto the Pink Pirouette embossed panel. I used an Anna Griffin embossing folder that I've had for quite some time. It was perfect because it has tiny little doily shapes on it. The next step was to add some Strawberry Slush Bakers Twine...using up some more retired product!

After adhering the card front to a Thick Whisper White base, baby bear was embellished with the flower and small rhinestone center on her head and a small bow tied with the bakers twine. Above is a shot of the completed set.

Two By Two Mosaics

One of my favorite stamp images from the last catalog was this adorable Two By Two stamp...I'm sad to see this one retiring so soon. Here it is paired up with some new stuff...Modern Mosaic stamp set along with the coordinating Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder and the new In Colors.

I like that the Modern Mosaic stamp set can create fun cards all on it's own, but also like the fact that it can be used to create fun backgrounds as well. The soft color pallet of the new In Colors is perfect for a baby card, don't you think? I used Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe & Coastal Cabana card stocks, and then all five colors, including Baked Brown Sugar to water color the image with my Aqua Painter. Here's a closer look at this darling image.

This stamp will only be available through June 3rd and after that will retire for good. So if you want to add it to your collection don't forget to add it to your next order. Here's the list of other retiring sets you won't want to miss out on. 

Two By Two For Wyatt

This past weekend my niece gave birth to her first child...a boy! He is healthy and just beautiful! Of course I had to make a card for the occasion, so it was the perfect excuse to play with some of my new goodies from the new catalog!

I think Two By Two is one of the cutest stamps in the new catalog, and since I knew my niece was due with a baby boy very soon, I had to get it, right!? I also used a couple other new favorites here...the Apothecary Accents Framelits, Chevron Embossing Folder and the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack. I love to add detail to my creations with paper piercing, so I was super excited to get my hands on these new templates...and the new larger Stampin' Pierce Mat as well. Check it out...

See how easy it is to add some piercing around the edge of the Apothecary Accent Label? This larger size also enables you to easily go across the card front without having to move the template as you go. This is my favorite new tool!

Stamps: Two By Two & Tiny Tags
Card stock: Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple & Whisper White
Ink: Black Stazon, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple & various other Classic Ink to watercolor
Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, Apothecary Accent Framelits, Chevron Embossing Folder and the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Stampin' Pierce Mat, Aqua Painter, Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin Ribbon, Jewelry Tag Punch & More Mustard Brads

What are your favorite new items from the new catalog?

Edited to add: I've had lots of questions regarding the narrow mat behind the stamped image on this card and others. Here is how I do it: Using the same framelit that I cut the white, stamped layer, I traced around the outside of it with a pencil onto Baja Breeze cardstock and then cut it out by hand. Since the framelits cut on the inside edge, tracing around the outside edge will give you a mat that is approx 1/4" all the way around. After cutting, if it's not perfect in some spots adding a little distressing helps. ;-)

Saying Goodbye to Fox & Friends

Another one of my favorite sets that is retiring is Fox & Friends. It's such a darling little set to create cards for babies & kids. I went to a baby shower for my niece over the weekend and the theme for her baby's room is monkeys, so it was the perfect opportunity to play with this set. The monkey just happens to be my favorite image in this set too.

Since they already announced the baby's name, I was able to make her a name frame for his room.

The Serif Essential Letters are also on the retiring list, which makes me sad. I have gotten a lot of use out of this set of dies...they are great because you can cut through all sorts of materials. Here, I cut the letters out of chip board for extra dimension. Here's a closer look...

I cut out the little monkey heads and mounted in place with a dimensional to look 3D. The little felt leaves are a retired item from a couple years ago called Sweet Pea Stitched Felt. The brads are the In Color Designer Printed Brads.

The DSP I used is also retired...the Pool Party & Chocolate prints are from the Spice Cake papers, the Kiwi Kiss print is from A Walk in the Park and the Pumpkin Pie print is from the Haiku pack.

Part of the gift was a canvas tote with a monkey printed on it. The name frame fit perfectly inside along with some other little things. I made a tag to hang from the gift basket using the Scallop Circle Die.

Here's a look at the completed gift basket.

For the big gift I made another card using the Scallop Square Die.

I bought the gift wrap and then used Stampin' Up! colors to match. I used retired DSP for this one as well. These prints are from the Delicate Dots pack...it was one of the free selections during SAB in 2009, as was the So Saffron Grosgrain Ribbon. Here it is on the wrapped package.

My niece received some beautiful gifts at her shower, and she really loved the name frame. Baby Wyatt is already a lucky little guy...I cannot wait to meet him! She is due on my birthday...wouldn't that be a wonderful gift!?

Baby Carriage & Card

Are you looking for a unique baby shower gift or baby shower favor? Make this super cute baby carriage shaped gift box and you have the perfect gift card box or goodie box to use as darling favors! Use the cute matching card as baby shower invitations, announcements, welcome baby cards, or thank you cards! After the celebrating is over, the lucky mom-to-be will want to hold onto the baby carriage and use it as a little keepsake box. 

That baby carriage box is just so sweet! This darling project comes to you designed by Monika. You can get the complete tutorial for this set when you join Craft Project Central for the month of April.

UPDATE ON MY STUDIO MAKEOVER

I'm still moving along on my room re-do. I'm at the point of moving things back into the room. Trying to keep it functional, yet still pretty and don't want it too cluttered, (which is difficult because I have so many things!)

Fox & Friends For Baby

Here is a fun little card/gift tag I made for a baby shower that I went to this past weekend.

The Real Red scalloped base was cut using the Scalloped Square Bigz die. I layered squares of Daffodil Delight & Bashful Blue. The Bashful Blue layer is the actual card which opened at the top. I used some fun prints from the Brights Collection of Patterned Prints in Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight. In addition to the adorable animal images from Fox and Friends, I also used the Teeny Tiny Wishes and Best Yet stamp sets.

My inspiration came from this cute wrapping paper I found at Target. The mother-to-be loved the card and even passed it around for her guests to see. That made me feel that the extra time I took to make her a handmade card was definitely worth it.

Have a great day!