2 Baby Cards and New Found Austerity

I confess, I envy Melissa Phillips, and her ability to make all things look vintage- all here and there and sparkly and wrinkled and pouffy and quaint and lovely. I buy the same products...and make flat cards. I make un-vintagy cards, all flat and discordant and well, flat.

Today I tried again, lol. I used the R. S. Tapestry's Baby stampset and lots of different inks, a doily picked up at some party or another, along with Basic Grey Capella papers and paper ribbons. Fake silk ribbon- I will say I got a very nice bow!

I ran some pink paper through the sticky paper maker both ways to make both sides sticky. That is Martha Stewart glitter on top, and some random buttons on the bottom right corner.

I have a bunch of pieces of this pink heidi grace designs paper, and need to use some up- our new found austerity (see below) needs to kick in now! That's a SU carriage stamp from Fun and Fast Notes, paper pieced and colored a bit with Copics. Bling came from a dollar bin at a Scrapbooking show. The diecut is with Papertrey's Filigree Border Die.

Stop here if you get squeamish. Squeamish about poverty, or squeamish about mice.

I have decided I don't want to go to work anymore. How's that for an epiphany? We have lived our lives such that we have no debt- none, zero, zilch. I have been developing a new sense of myself over the past year, and knew I wanted to try poverty as a lifestyle. Now, that may sound really odd to some, but let me tell you, I believe if you all think about it, the race for acquisition is not so healthy- for us or mother nature.

The DH thinks this is a wonderful idea (he has been a stay at home dad for as long as he's been a dad). He has already developed habits that will help keep us warm and fed and happy with Very Little Income. I so appreciate all he does to allow me to not have to go off to work anymore.

Ok, so we have mice. We have mousetraps to trap and kill the mice. It is not something I like to do, but well, food is food and mice will ruin it. Imagine my surprise when I came out to the kitchen the other morning to find this-

'What is this all about?' I asked.

'It's to make sure we don't lose the cheese!' he said.

Yes boys and girls, if you run low on money, rubber band that cheese to the mousetrap, so nobody walks away with it. You'll save millions.

Make It Mondays: Color on Color

I have been thinking that the 'Make It Mondays' challenges have been fun, and I like the challenge. It's not just a challenge, though, I have been learning and assimilating lots! Take a look at all of the previous challenges in one card, lol!!

Lol, maybe they aren't all in here, but it must be close!

That's the Guidelines Impression plate inked up with the old Lavender Moon ink, and run through the Sizzix with a nesty oval cut from cardboard- leaving the unembossed space. (Well, ok, some of the embossing came through, but we won't tell!).

Next came a onsie from Bitty Baby Blessings stamped and cut from the Guidelines paper- then colored with a Copic and a Prisma, trying to get depth but not a new color.

Last, some Lavender Moon ribbon tied with some matching organdy, and a Lavender Moon button tied on with crochet cotton! I punched out a wheensy circle, and stamped the word baby from one of the BBB sentiments, and sponged around with Lavender Moon and stuck it on the button with a glue dot.

Then, just for fun, a few teensy flowers for balance. Mounted on a Lavender Moon card.

Enjoy!

So Precious

Lol, this time I was punching out little hearts from the Amuse paper; I managed to get them lined up pretty well, and lol, hated to waste that edge... so here it is!

The image is from Outlines- I love their images and other peoples cards, but have never been very successful layering them myself. SU's Pretty In Pink matches the Amuse gingham checks very well, as does the 1/4 inch Pretty In Pink grosgrain. The So Precious sentiment is from the Hampton Art Oh Baby set. Either it didn't perform too well or I didn't. The smear wasn't bad enough to throw the base layer away, and I am not sure I can even see it in the photo.

So precious!

Girl Denami Card

Here's another card using the same layout, background and main image as a boy card I showed last week- well, maybe that was 2 weeks ago- how time flies! This time it's a card for a baby girl, so I used Pretty In Pink as the central color. Also, instead of using the Technique Tuesday circular border, I used one from SU from a few years ago, Sweet Celebrations. The background dots are Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics I, the background baby images were stamped opver the dots then colored with Prisma markers. Not sure if you can see it, but the bottom scalloped circle is covered with Glitter Glue.

Pink Animal Stories

This is a SU only card- well, there is a bit of pink organdy ribbon (retired) under the pink gingham, so it doesn't qualify as 'current SU only', I guess, lol! The DD made this one with Animal Stories and Pretty In Pink...and I don't know what DP, lol! Hmm, now that I look at it, it's probably retired DP, too- well, she'll pop in and tell us, I'm sure!

But I confess... it's hot and muggy here, the paper feels different to me as I work...and all I can think about is orange and black and skeletons! I need to wait for Papertrey's August 15 release, lol, and also order Halloween and Christmas things from SU.

More importantly...

Did you see the baby bunnies sleeping on the moon coming out from MFT????? Oh, be still my heart!

Goodbye, Pink Pirouette

Pink Pirouette has got to be one of the best pink's ever- why oh why does it have to go away? Not only is it a perfect pink, Papertrey's Sweet Blush ribbons match it perfectly!

My task tomorrow is to get an order in for as much as I can afford~ then I will stash it with all of the Soft Sky papers I bought before that perfect blue disappeared...

The stamp is by repeat Impressions of Freeport, Maine. I colored the horse with SU's Pretty In Pink watercolor crayone, then went over the saddle and bridle with Pink Pirouette on a blender pen. PP is actually lighter than PIP, but becasue the PIP was an underlayer, the PP made those spots look darker. Brads are by unknoen, and the DSP is PP of course!

Another Sweet Pea!

Another Baby girl card suing the Baby Safari paper from Precious Scraps. You can find her blog/store over on the left, and send her off an email to buy what you want! She has photos of new items on today's blog post!

The green of the plaid matches SU's old In Color, Wild Wasabi. How clever of me to have some of the double stitched ribbon left! the little pink crocheted button was in a sale bin at Michael's one day, probably a week before crocheted flowers became hot, lol! The stamp is from the dollar bin, by Studio G. There are a lot of Sweet Pea stamps out there at the moment, just about any would work here! Card base is Papertrey's Lemon Tart, and the buttons are just some random lime green ones I had. Love to use them up!

Image is colored with Prisma Limepeel, then highlighted with a bit of Wild Wasabi from the ink pad put on with a blender pen.

It's a lovely day out there today, and I have been inside working on another 8 hour lecture... battling the scanner and Power Point and CD's and DVD's and a flash drive... I have a headache!

Papertrey CMWC 50

I've been on a roll the past 2 days, and have almost 10 baby cards done for the coming week! Yay! It helped that there weren't as many babies born this week, lol, that always helps me get ahead!

It also helps to use the Casual MidWeek Challenges on the Papertrey forum to get me started. It also helped this week to have the Sharon Ann Baby Safari paper from Precious Scraps to work with. I love this plaid, and am almost out- I need to see if it comes in a 12 x 12 size. I have the 8 x 8 pad which comes with lots of little tags, etc, but the 8 x 8 size paper only allows for 2 A-2 layers per sheet, and well, I need more!!

I used the sketch from the CMWC # 50. I altered a bit to accommodate the sticker from K & Co. The green base is SU's retired Wild Wasabi, it matched the Baby Safari plaid perfectly. The ribbon piece is a bit of their Wild Wasabi double stitched. The pink and green papers are from the Baby Safari pad, and I punched the scallops with the Fiskars Threading Water punch. Some narrow pink organdy wrapped 3 times finishes off the challenge~ I'll stamp 'Welcome to your sweet new arrival' inside.

It's a beautiful day outside, a great day for planting flowers or weeding the flower beds. But I can't stop thinking about the AC Moore and Michael's coupons that are sitting in my inbox, lol!

A Stenciled Bunny

I found this stencil when I was getting ready for the stamping yard sale; rather than stick it in the pile I decided to try and make a card with it. I have oil crayons, so I rubbed the crayons on a plastic paint tray, and picked up color with a stiff brush I have. I will say two things: mix enough color to work the entire image, and stencil brushes are made for stenciling. If I decide to do this some more, I will buy a brush make for stenciling!

I punched it out with a nesty, then let it sit for like 2 weeks because I was so bummed I cut off part of the ear (and you can't see it, but part of her foot is missing, too). But of course, in a baby card making frenzy, I'll try making a presentable card from even the worst of mistakes~ and this one turned out fairly well!

The image was done on a piece of unknown cardstock, then layered on a pretty pink floral paper also unknown since I cut the edges off eons ago. Base card is Papertrey's Sweet blush. Welcome sentiment is from Papertrey's second anniversary set, Everyday Basics. It's stamped on a die cut ribbon slider. Buttons are from the stash (wish now I'd used some twine to tie them!), and the ribbon is Martha Stewart. The ribbon is beautiful in the hand, but very hard to work with- my hands need stiffer ribbons to stay in one place while I tie, this ribbon flops and moves all over. So, my bow is a little funky, but the finished product is pretty!

Casual Midweek Challenge # 45

This weeks challenge on the Papertrey Ink forum was to make a spring card using the New Colors New Leaf and Melon Berry. You can get these colors here! Now, I must confess a few things: 1. These colors are not going to be my favorites, lol, they are not 'baby' enough! 2. They are great together, but not stupendous together as baby cards. 3. I can't do spring this week, it snowed a foot again on Monday. 4. I am under my mandatory production for baby cards this week, lol, so baby it is!!

I have been very aware this week that I am out of space, and own tons of things I never use. I have also gained 30 pounds over the past 2 years, but that's another story. I am hoping to slim down my possessions, as a way to avoid slimming down my waist, I guess. I decided to look around at what hasn't ever been used, and this Boss Cuts die popped out of a box. This card turned out so cute I think I will keep the die! It doesn't take up much room, anyway!

The background is Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics stamped with SU's Craft Whisper White. The duck is cut from Lemon Tart, and the 'string' is black. The sentiment is one of my favorites, from Penny Black. Some of those wonderful Papertrey Perfect Match buttons fill in the tires!

You really should enlarge this card to see it better, it came out the better of the two, but I'm not sure you get that in the photo. Uses Papertrey's Quilter's Sampler Additions, I'm so glad I got that set! I used SU's Green Galore marker and Prisma Salmon Pink #122 for the quilt squares. The carriage is from Bitty Baby Blessings and is stamped in Vintage Cream, then paper pieced with more Melon Berry cs. It's mounted on Melon Berry as well.

Well, I think that is the end of my non-spring New Leaf and Melon Berry cards. I am next going to try and get 4 boy cards done, so I think I will put the Melon Berry away for now!!

Little Feet

Ok! The Team loved the going away card, but not it is back to baby cards! I have only 3 for the week, so I need 7 more by Sunday night, lol!

This is the first time I have used only Pink Pirouette without any other color~ it is a superb color! I will need to stock up in late summer, I think, because I believe I like it just a bit better than Pretty In Pink; it's a wee bit less intense, which is good for a baby card!

The card base is Pink Pirouette texture, the layer is one of the PP prints. Baby feet are by Inkadinkado, stamped in PP on Papertrey's Stampers Select. The Pitter Patter sentiment is from Savvy Stamps and is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. It's cut out with a Nestability ribbon slider, the ribbon is Papertrey's Sweet blush ribbon.

Sweet and simple!

Baby Challenge Card

Here's my Casual Midweek Challenge #40 entry over on the Papertrey forum. If I can just get one more challenge card made before Wednesday, I will be officially caught up! No lie, I have been behind since July, lol! If I can make 7 more baby cards before Wednesday, I can be even more caught upper. I guess I am so tired I can't even think, speak, or talk straight!

The images and sentiment are from Bitty Baby Blessings. The carriage was colored with Prisma pencils and blended with baby oil- how appropriate! The carriage was punched out with a Marvy blue punch, but I think the Berry Sorbet circle was a Nestability. I stamped the little images in SU's craft white ink using an image from their All Scallops set- then punched it out with SU's scallop border punch. Not easy to get those little suckers in the right spot, lol! Printed papers are both from Papertrey-the flowers are from the Pink Patterns 6 x 6 pad, the bottom paper is from their Polka Dot Basics 8 x 8 pad. Ribbons are Sweet blush Double Stitched and Spring Moss Twill. 3 little buttons finish it off. Say, rumor has it that Papertrey will be offering buttons to match their colors this month. While it may not be true, I sure am hoping it is!!