Well I have been without cable and internet for awhile now. We had some bad thunderstorms come through last Sunday night and we have been without cable since…not that I am complaining since a lot of our neighbors have been without power that whole time as well! Still adjusting to our new family dynamics and figuring out what works for us…but overall, everything is going well and Eli is doing a great job at being a Big Brother. Granted thanks to family, I have really yet been with both kids for very long on my own. I am very grateful for all of their support and help…makes figuring out the breastfeeding rhythm for Adilane and I a little easier when I don’t have to worry about what Elijah is doing. But I think I am ready to start doing things on my own and getting into our own routine...although I will probably regret saying that! :)
Since Adilane came 3 weeks early, I had to cancel a Stamp Nite Out that I had planned for May, but I was able to reschedule it for a week ago. It went great and I think all of the ladies had fun. I figured I would show off the projects that I had them do.
I wanted to showcase the Flower Fusion flowers, so I copied and altered an idea I saw on
Stampin' Gal Val's blog for a card that really shows them off. It utilizes very little stamping, which obviously draws attention to the flowers. Not knowing which color flowers they would choose to use, I kept the base of the card black and white so that the color was coming from the flowers. Add a little faux stitching and some ribbon and I think we have a beautiful card!
The Engineering DetailsStamps - Paint Prints (retired); Paper - Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink - Old Olive, Rose Red marker; Accessories - Flower Fusion Flowers, Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, Black Brad, Slot Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Dimensionals, Sponge
I loved this
Onesie card idea when I saw it on
Lauren Meader’s blog while back (wow is that girl amazing!) and I knew that I wanted to share it with my customers. It is a very easy card to make (assuming you have the two punches you need), but it is so adorable! I made it yellow so that it would not be sex specific. I utilized some shimmery white cardstock for around the neckline, leg openings, and sleeves and then added 3 silver brads at the base to act like the snaps at the bottom of a onesie.
The Engineering DetailsStamps - Wild About You, Everyday Flexible Phrases; Paper - Barely Banana, Shimmery White; Ink - Craft White, So Saffron; Accessories - White embossing powder, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Silver Brads, Cutter with scoring blade, scissors, ruler, pencil, heat gun
Alright, so have I told you how much I love Lauren Meader’s ideas (seriously, you need to check out her
blog)…well I took another idea from her for Father’s Day…which by the way, totally snuck up on me somehow! Anyway, I loved the little
toolbox she made so I took her instructions and made a card to match. I loved the woodgrain look that I got just by dragging Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Creamy Caramel across some Kraft cardstock. If there is any interest out there, I could put together a tutorial on how to do this…I didn’t create the idea myself, but I have no idea where I saw it at. Then I added some awesome measuring tape ribbon from Michael’s and the perfect “Man” set was created. Who would of thunk that the set A Beautiful Thing could be used for a guy card?!
The Engineering DetailsStamps - A Beautiful Thing, All Year Cheer II (retired); Paper - Ballet Blue, Kraft, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; Ink - Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Ballet Blue, Basic Black; Accessories - Tag Corner Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Pewter Brads, Measuring Tape Ribbon (Michael's), Scissors, Wood Pencil, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Cutter with Scoring Blade
Ever since I saw the Flip-Flop (swing) card, I had it in my head to do baby announcements with it. So I finally did! I took the instructions from SCS (found here) and then altered the sizes to fit my photo and such. 
I don't have a whole lot of truly baby stamps, so I borrowed a retired set called Welcome, Little One from a friend. All of the lettering was done on the computer and carefully cut to place everything where I wanted it. 
I stamped the flowers in Rose Red and added a dot of White in the centers with the White Gel Pen. The white centers just gave it a complete look...something that was totally lacking prior. 
So this was my daughter's birth announcements. Probably a little more time consuming than I thought considering I made 60 (pretty typical with me), but I was very pleased with how they turned out. They took a month to get out...what is the etiquette on the timing of sending out birth announcements anyway? Oh well, better now than never!
