Baby Thanks - à la Becky Higgins

Here is my version of Becky Higgins' Baby Cards, as seen in the Creating Keepsakes Gallery. Becky designed her precious card collection using her "Sweet Baby Kit of the Month." I loved the simple design and layout of Becky's cards, but decided to use supplies that I already had on hand. I believe that Becky also sewed her cards, while I used faux stitching on mine. Thanks for the inspiration Becky!

Supplies:

• Cardstock: white from The Paper Company & Halcraft
• Patterned Paper: Sky Bias Stripe & Olive Parlor Stripe from Scrapbook Walls collection by Chatter Box
• Accents: Butterbean Baby Boy dimensional sticker from Marcella line by K&Company
• Color Medium: Gel Xtreme - White pen by Y&C
• Fonts: Blackjack from Font Bros
• Tools: rounded corner punch from EK Success; Paper Edgers Deckle edge scissors by Fiskars; Serrated Tracing Wheel by Dritz

Finished Size 4" x 5.5"

Safari Animal Curtain Tie Backs

Here is one of the projects that I recently completed for little Baby Sgro's room. (And just in time, since he is due the end of November!) They are tie backs for the gingham curtains in his room. And they were sooo easy to create! Since DH and I chose a Safari theme for the room, I picked out these cute wooden animals to decorate my tie backs from my local craft supply store.

Here are the quick and easy instructions:
Simply cut your ribbon to the appropriate length. Fold back the ends one inch. Adhere folded piece using fusible bonding web.

Cut pieces of Velcro strips and adhere to the ribbon ends following the manufacturer's instructions. (I cut my pieces to fit behind the wooden animals.) Make sure that you adhere the Velcro so that the ribbon forms a loop once it is closed.

Adhere the wooden animals to the front of the ribbon.

That's it! All done. And my local craft store had so many cute wooden shapes, that you're sure to find some to coordinate with your little bambino's room also!



Supplies:

• Accents: Painted Layered Animal Shapes by Provo Craft
• Fibers: ribbon from Michaels Stores
• Adhesive: Perfect Glue 1 by Liquid Nails; Stitch Witchery fusible bonding web by Dritz
• Tools: iron
• Other: heat activated hook & loop fasteners by Velcro

You're Invited...

Hello Dear Readers! Sorry I've been so MIA lately -- I've been busy preparing for little Baby Sgro's arrival. That includes designing decor for Baby's room (more on that in a later post) and my Baby Shower! Special thanks to Sue & Julie for a Great Event!

Speaking of Baby Showers... here is the invitation that my sister Suzanne and my best friend Julie created for the special occasion. They went with a Jungle Theme. Isn't it too cute?! And on the inside, there's an extra special three-dimensional surprise! Those blocks "pop up" from the card! I believe they use Lasting Impressions for Paper Embossing Templates on the animals.

: : :

And speaking of Invitations... I just found out that TWO of my projects are going to be published in Scrapbook Trends magazine's Invitation Idea Book! Woo hoo! One my loyal readers will recognize... it's the 50th Anniversary card I designed for those two great couples. And the other is a cute Cookie Exchange Invite I created using a surprise element. Shhh... it's a secret for now...

: : :

Edited to Add...

I also wanted to share with you a picture of the "Jungle Cake" that Julie and Sue created for my shower. Those are chocolate covered Oreos (YUM!) and pretzels (YUM x2!) with little plastic jungle creatures nestled among 'em. How creative and colorful!

Baby Says, "Thank You!"

As I have already received several gifts for the future little Baby Sgro, I thought I would take the time to create personalized Thank You cards for each gift-giver. I based my design on a combination of the two Thank You cards that I created for my "Peas in a Pod" themed baby shower earlier this year.

First I settled on a blue and brown color scheme. (That's right! It's a boy!) Like my "Peas in a Pod" version, I chose to cut an A6 Folded Card in half to form my note card. Again like my previous design, I printed the polka dots along the inside of the card and my sentiment on the front -- this time in brown. I also trimmed the front cover with my scalloped decorative edge scissors.

To truly make this a personalized Thank You, I took close up photographs of each gift and adhered a cropped shot to the card with foam tape. Finally I accented the card with a piece of knotted ribbon. So easy!

Tip #1: Make a bunch of these Thank You cards ahead of time, and just add the photos as you receive the gifts!

Tip #2: Some heavier ribbon can create a knot large enough to add additional postage for thickness. To avoid this extra cost when mailing your cards, switch to a lighter weight, sheer ribbon.

Finished size approximately 4.5" x 3".

Happy Grandparents Day!!!

I'm a teensy bit early -- the holiday is actually not until Sunday, September 7th this year. But here is the card that I made for my MIL from Baby Sgro...

When trying to come up with a design for this card, I found inspiration in Nichole Heady's Daisy card. Like Nichole's card, the front of my card is a piece of transparency sheet. The base of my card is a 5" x 5" piece of glittered, patterned cardstock. I added a strip of green gingham patterned paper along the bottom. I then cut the piece of transparency to 5" x 5.5" and folded down the top 1/2". I glued that top part to the back of my patterned cardstock to form a top-folded card. Then I adhered two pieces of ribbon on the front of the transparency, layering the smaller teal ribbon on top of the gold ribbon. Finally I designed my sentiment in Photoshop, printed it out, punched out the scalloped oval, and attached it to the front of my card. So quick and easy!

Supplies:

• Cardstock: Nana's Nursery - Baby Boy by DCWV
  
• Patterned Paper: Bitty Scrap Pads - Ginghams & Stripes Backgrounds by Provo Craft
• Transparency Sheet: write-on by 3M
• Fibers: ribbon from Jo-Ann Stores
• Fonts: Beautiful, Minion Pro
• Tools: Mega Scalloped Oval by Marvy Uchida, sticker maker by Xyron

Tip: These square cards cost an additional 20¢ in postage!

Finished Size 5" x 5".
Additional photos in my online Portfolio.

Lions, Giraffes, Elephants ... and Butterflies! Oh My!

It's a zoo over here! My house is swarming with wild animals! Animal-themed cards, that is!

I recently designed a trio of safari animal themed cards for Paper Crafts magazine's article "Baby Animals for Baby." And guess what! They have ALL been accepted for PC's March/April 2009 issue! Woo hoo! I'm really proud of this project -- they turned out sooo cute! (If I do say so myself...)

And a first for me and Paper Crafts magazine... Not one, but TWO of my projects will appear in PC's March/April issue! They also accepted a super quick-and-easy Butterfly themed card that I designed using double-sided patterned cardstock and a piece of acetate.

I will post a sneak peek of the card(s) here in January, before the issue hits the newsstands. Perhaps, along with some related projects exclusively for you, my readers! Stay tuned!

MY BIGGEST PROJECT EVER!

Hi everyone!

I know I have been a very, VERY, VERY bad blogger lately. But I have a good reason! My latest, and most important project ever has been taking up all of my energy. But I am now ready to show you a sneak peak...


That's right! I'm PREGNANT! Little Baby Sgro is due in late November. It'll be DH's and my first child. We're so excited! As I just entered my second trimester, I thought it was safe to tell the world! So far, everything has been going very well. Although Junior has been demanding oodles of my energy! And unfortunately, I've been napping more than I've been crafting. Sad, but true...

I will continue posting my paper crafts projects as Junior allows. And I predict more baby projects in the future...

~ Angela

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 5)

Prizes and Favors, Oh My!


These are the pails that used as my prizes for my best friend Julie's baby shower. I created over 30 of these little pails -- I wanted to have enough for one for each of my guests, just in case. And it was a good thing that I did, as I only had a couple left by the end of the shower! (I gave away a lot of prizes during Baby Gift Bingo...)

Luckily they were super-easy to create. I purchased the pails from Target's wedding favor section (on clearance - Yay!). I printed out my sentiments on yellow cardstock and used two different size punches to create my circles. Then it was simply a matter of punching a hole through each tin with my handy-dandy Crop-A-Dile (so easy -- just watch out for flying metal pieces!) and attaching my circles with a piece of ribbon.

I filled each pail with a combination of kiwi and green apple jelly beans or light and dark green M&M's, to give my guests a choice of candies. I also used food-safe plastic bags to hold my candy, as I could not be sure that the pails themselves were food-grade quality.


These were the "Two Peas in a Pod" favors that I gave to each of my guests. Sorry for the glare -- I probably should have taken at least one of them out of its bag... The "peas" are actually Lindt truffles wrapped in green foil. I created the "pea pods" using light and dark green crepe paper and green twist-ties. I got this wonderful idea from Amy's "good to be girl" blog. Thanks Amy!

For my bag toppers, I used the same graphics and fonts that I used on my game cards. For added interest, I had the "stem" of my "pea pod" extend beyond the fold. I simply trimmed that small section with my craft knife before scoring and folding my cardstock. I then inserted my "pea pod" into a candy bag, stapled my bag topper (back only) to the bag, and used some adhesive to hold down the front of the bag topper to the bag. I did this to avoid seeing the staples on the front.

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 4)

Games, Games and More Games!


Here are the game cards that I designed for my best friend Julie's baby shower. I planned a few activities for the event. The first one was a jelly bean count. I filled two inexpensive baby bottles with jelly beans and allowed my guests to fill out their entries throughout the shower. I then gave away the bottles of jelly beans as the prizes. For the cards themselves, I again used the same graphic that I used for my shower invitations, however I decided to make it more three-dimensional with some shading that I added in Photoshop.


I got the idea for my second game from Scrapbook Trends Magazine's Babies publication. In this game, I instructed my guests to rank 10 activities based on how they thought the mom-to-be would rank them. I then gave a prize to the person with the most matches. For consistency, I used the same graphics and fonts on all three of my games cards.


My final activity was Baby Gift Bingo. Each guest received a game card and a pen. Then, as Julie opened each gift, the guests crossed off squares if the gift matched. In order to win, a guest would have to mark off five squares across, down or diagonal. (Tip: If you plan on hosting a similar game at your shower, have plenty of small prizes as I had many winners with this activity!)

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 3)

Young Girl's Invitation and Charm Holder


Here is the invitation that I sent out to the younger guests of my best friend Julie's baby shower. I used the same design that I had created for my "Charmed Birthday" invitations, as seen in the December/January 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine. I just modified the colors, fonts and choice of patterned paper to coordinate with the adult invitations for the shower. Each of the invites includes one child-sized charm bracelet with a "It's a Girl" heart charm and a bejeweled initial charm, matching the first letter of the girl's first name.

Instead of creating individual charm holders to use as prizes (as I did with my "Charmed Birthday" set), I decided to give each of the girls all of their charms at once, so that they could create their bracelet as a craft activity. To that end, I decided to design one large charm holder for each set of charms. I based the size of the my holder on the card that came with the original packaging. I designed the holder to coordinate with my invitation, and used the packaged card as my template to punch small holes for the charms. Then I simply reused the wires that held the charms to their original packaging to attach them to my holder. I also repurposed the acetate envelope to protect my charms.

Invitation Finished Size 4" x 4.25".
Charm Holder Finished Size 2.75" x 4.25".

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 2)

Two Thank You Cards...


This is the Thank You note card that I designed to coordinate with my "Peas in a Pod" baby shower invitations (see earlier post). I used the same pea pod graphic that I had designed for the invitation. I created a few different variations before settling on my final choice... (1) Adding small buttons (too much bulk); (2) Adding paper buttons on foam tape; (3) Printing the entire pea pod (including buttons) separately on white CS, cutting it out, and attaching it with foam tape; and (4) simply printing the entire graphic directly on to my yellow CS. My runner up choice was #3 - printing the pea pod separately - because it gave me my truest colors. However, after an informal poll (my DH), I decided that all the added embellishments were too much for such a small, simple note card. So I went with #4 - printing directly on the CS. Which also happened to be the easiest and quickest choice - Yay!

The cardstock that I chose was originally an A6 Folded Card. I sized my note card to fit two-up so that I could get two per card. The cardstock was also yellow on the outside and white on the inside. I decided to take advantage of this fact by trimming the front cover of my note card with decorative edge scissors and allowing the white interior to show through. I added the polka dots and along with my sentiment and Voilà! completed Thank You card!


This is the Thank You card that I designed for the woman I hired to bake the mini cupcakes that I served at the baby shower. I used the same A6 Folded Cardstock as above to create this card, however this time I held the fold at the top of the card. I also trimmed the bottom of the cover in an arc. I used a photo of the cupcakes that I had taken at the shower and mounted it to the front of the card with foam tape.

For the inside of the card, I decided that I wanted to create a pocket in which to hold my payment check. I simply folded my CS up and adhered it on the sides to form a pocket. Then, to add contrast with the front of my card, I adhered some green gingham patterned paper to the pocket. This was a simple design that could also work to hold a gift card.

Finished size of both cards approx. 4.5" x 3".

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 1)

First and foremost, Congrats to Julie and Ken on the birth of their two bea-U-ti-ful baby girls earlier this month! Yay!


As promised, here is the first look at the projects that I created for my best friend Julie's baby shower. The complete party ensemble included invitations for the adults, invitations for the younger girls, charm holders (also for the younger guests), thank-you note cards, favors with hand-cut bag toppers, three different game cards, and decorated prize pails. I also designed a thank you card (which could also double as a gift card holder) for the woman who baked the mini cupcakes that I served instead of cake.


When I began planning for this shower, I knew the proud parents-to-be were going to have twin girls. So I began my search for a theme at that source of all knowledge... the Internet. I wanted to go with a twins theme, and after much (much, MUCH!) research, I finally narrowed it down to "Noah's Ark" or "Peas in a Pod." I really liked the "Noah's Ark" idea... (you know... "Two by Two") and I thought I could easily find decorations and prizes (animal-shaped balloons, beanie babies, etc...). But then I thought about creating 30+ ark-shaped invites... and my DH (Dear Hubby) pointed out that the "Two by Two" is the mom and dad, not the babies... So I did a mock-up design of a "Two Peas in a Pod" invitation, decided it was uber-cute, and went with my new theme.

The inspiration for the cover of my invite came from a "Two Peas" baby photo album that I came across online. It used buttons as the "peas" and I loved that idea for its added dimension. So I designed my own peapod in which to nestle my little shell buttons. My original design was entirely monochromatic in green and white. It wasn't until after I completed all the invitations and started working on the coordinating items that I introduced yellow as an accent color.

For the invite itself, I knew I had a lot of information that I wanted to include - the event data, directions to the location with a map, and registry info. So I took a cue from formal wedding invitations and decided to split the information up onto separate cards. For visual interest, I chose to stagger the heights of the cards, and based the size of the cards on the amount of information each needed to contain. The directions card is actually the longest card -- it unfolds to reveal a map and text. Finally, I created a pocket in which I could tuck my cards.

Assembly was actually rather simple. I designed the outer card so that I could get two cards from a single 12" square piece of cardstock. Once printed, I simply folded it up once to create a pocket and then in half to form my card. Creating the inner cards was simply a matter of printing, trimming, folding and collating. As you can imagine, the cover was the most time-consuming. I printed multiple designs on white cardstock, trimmed them to size, cut a slot for my "peas" using a craft knife, attached my buttons using glue dots, and finally adhered it to my cardstock with foam tape.

Finished Size 6" x 4.5" (closed).
Check back soon for additional "Peas in a Pod" projects...

Baby Shower Bib Favor/Prize

This was a special request that I received from Joanne, asking for ideas to wrap up baby shower prizes. She had purchased six 1½-inch boxes of Hershey's Kisses to give away and wanted something "cute and memorable that everyone will ewww and ahhh over." The inspiration for my idea came from a card by Meera D'Souza which appeared in the Dec/Jan 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine. I didn't have any 1½-inch boxes handy, so I attached my finished embellishment to a Martha Stewart gift box. Joanne, I hope this helps!

Materials:

• Cardstock: colored, textured Mat Stack by DCWV, white by DMD
• Digital: flowers from Rhonna Farrer's April 2006 Kit from Two Peas in a Bucket
• Fibers: pink narrow ribbon from Michaels stores
• Adhesive: mini adhesive dots by Glue Dots and Tape Runner XL by Therm O Web
  
• Fonts: Lauren Script
• Tools: Mega Scalloped Circle & Super 2" Circle punches from Marvy Uchida; 1" circle punch from EK Success
  
• Other: Photoshop

Step 1:

Print or stamp your design on your white cardstock.

I used the flowers from Rhonna Farrer's April 2006 Kit and the font Lauren Script for my text. To make this into a prize instead of a favor, change the text to "Winner!" or "Congrats!"





Step 2:

Turn your 2" circle punch upside down so that you can see and center your design. Punch your circle.










Step 3:

Trim approximately 1/4" from the top.













Step 4:

Attach 2 lengths of narrow ribbon to your white cardstock using mini glue dots.

Note: stay close to the edge of the circle, as you will be trimming out the center.








Step 5:

Adhere your white cardstock circle to your pink cardstock. Line up the straight edges, and be sure to leave at least a 1/2" of pink around the curve of the circle.








Step 6:

Turn your Mega Scalloped Circle punch over. Insert your layered cardstock and center the white circle. Be sure your ribbon is clear before you punch your scallop.









Step 7:

Turn your 1" circle punch over and partially insert and center your layered cardstock. Again, be sure to keep your ribbon clear of the punch.

Note: If you have trouble punching through the double thickness of the cardstock, you may have to trace a 1" circle on your cardstock and cut it out with scissors or a craft knife.



Step 8:

Tie your ribbon into a bow and trim the ends.

Attach to your box with glue dots.







Final Step:

Be prepared for all those "oooo's and ahhhh's" ...

It's in the (Diaper) Bag!

Howdy folks! Just wanted to get a quick post up to show you the card that I designed for my best friend's baby shower.


I had an overflowing designer diaper bag in mind when I created this card. I'm not sure if I achieved the effect that I wanted... It may be mistaken for an overflowing tote bag instead. Oh well!

I picked my cardstock and ribbon to coordinate with my Foof-a-La patterned paper from Autumn Leaves and added pink ribbon with a bow to hide the seam. I attached my handles with brads and looped a couple of plastic pacifiers on ribbon to the front. I adhered another strip of patterned paper on the inside. I cut the paper longer than the card to suggest baby bottle holders on the sides. I also only added adhesive to the sides and bottom to create a pocket in which I stuffed die-cuts of toys and other baby paraphernalia. (Could also hold a gift card...)

The finished size is approximately 6" x 7.5".
Additional photos in my online portfolio.

My Bad...

Hello Everyone!

So sorry that I have been so absent recently. For the past month or so, I've been working on my best friend Julie's baby shower. I was busy designing the invites, game cards, favors, prizes, thank you notes, etc. for the big day. (Well, not THE Big Day. I'll leave that one to Julie...)

So to make it up to you, my next post will be the final installment in my "Birthday Bubbles" card series. And I hope to be showing you at least some of the designs that I created for Julie's shower in the coming weeks.

Thanks for your patience!
~ Angela

New Math for New Parents

Just in time for school, here is a quick lesson in New Math for Prospective Parents...

I made this card a few years ago for my best friend's baby shower. It was a very quick card to assemble. The most challenging aspect was finding the perfect clipart of a chalkboard. Luckily I was able to find one that was a vector image. The great thing about vector images, is that you can scale them up or down without losing image quality. So I was able to scale the chalkboard image to the perfect size for my 6"x6" card.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, a vector image is an illustration composed of lines and curves to form an image, like a WMF or EPS file. This is opposed to a raster image which is made up of pixels, like a JPG file. All photographs are raster images.

Then it was simply a matter of adding the text in Illustrator using an appropriate font (I chose Marker Felt) and printing it out on white cardstock. I then attached the chalkboards to my card base along with some adorable animal stickers and Voilà! My card is complete!

I wonder if my Sister the Math Teacher will object to my skills at addition???

Click to enlarge.