Welcome Baby

Hrm. More cards and no sewing. Our friends seems to be having first, second, and third babies right and left these few months. So we needed some cards that could go safely through the mail. SU! So Saffron, Very Vanilla, and (old) Bermuda Bay. Ribbon from my stash. Stamp is part of Bouncy Blue from Unity Stamp Co.

Toddler Art

It's been a while. Besides just having a toddler in the house, my job went from part time to full time a couple months ago, plus I've been trying to study for and pass a major professional exam. So not much time for playing lately. But we needed New Year's cards for kiddo's daycare teachers!

Her daycare has been doing crafts with her as early as two months old. So it's already been piling up. We've been trying to figure out how to cull out the important pieces, what and how much to save, etc. Then I decided, hey, let's use some of it to make truly unique for her teachers.

Using layouts that have been making the rounds on pinterest (Joans Daily Stampede and Nice People STAMP!), I dared to cut into her precious artwork, found a neutral that worked with the artwork I found (Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip), and created what you see here. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! And we still have plenty of artwork to sort through and make decisions about.

It's All the Buzz...

This card has been floating around in my head for months now. It's fun to actually make it up finally. :) There are some changes from what I had envisioned. First, I hadn't originally planned to have the hexagons over quite so much space on the front, but I think I like it this way. Also, I was going to write "It's All the Buzz..." on the front, and even practiced my handwriting for it, but decided it just wouldn't look quite right. Finally, I had intended to do it in Basic Black and Daffodil Delight. But, it was such a fit for the current Paper Players Challenge #115, that I decided to do it in Basic Gray and So Saffron. (I also realized I have So Saffron ribbon and no Daffodil Delight ribbon.) The inside is a light gray cardstock left over from crafts several years ago. It's hard to see in the scans, but the wings on the bee have a slight shimmer from white color Smooch. I think I like the subtler colors; the brighter might be too austere. (Though I might have to try it in those colors just to find out.) It could also work with yellow and a dark brown, I think.

It sort of meets the Paper Players challenge: gray and yellow, includes ribbon as a finishing touch even though it doesn't especially feature it, and one of the two will be used to welcome a new baby to the world (and if that's not birthday, I don't know what is).

Random Fall-colors Birthday Card with variations

There's another card that's been floating around in my head and I hope to make in the next few days. But in the meantime, I was intrigued by the current colourQ challenge. And bonus: I actually have all of the colors this time! Among other things, I was hoping to use down my overabundant supply of Dusty Durango cardstock that I seem to have such a hard time using up. But, no. Turns out it didn't work that way. The only Dusty Durango I managed to fit in was the ink. I used the layout from the current Your Next Stamp Challenge. On one variation, I tried to play up the "worn" look of the Razzleberry Lemonade in the rest of the card, including an attempt at distressing the brads. The other has a more polished look. This was a variation in my first attempt. I didn't like what I had laid out as the straightforward cross in the backdrop, but when I played around with the same pieces, I liked this look.

Balancing Act

I had really hoped to get back into sewing this summer. I theoretically had June and July off of work, but they were filled with traveling (both for work and pleasure) and lots of studying for an upcoming professional exam (*eek*). As a beginner, I've found that stamping projects have had a much more immediate gratification, as I can finish one in the time it takes me just to prep either the pattern or the fabric (but not both) for sewing. Thus, the blog here is a little stamping-heavy. I hope to change that soon!

Golden Thanks

Today's card was a variation on yesterday's layout. I was excited that the current LIM challenge is GOLD in part because I recently got a package of brushed gold cardstock that I hadn't had a good opportunity to bust into yet! Also I really like making shiny cards!

I went for a variation and made gold the base color instead of the accent to see how that would turn out. I initially envisioned black and gold. With the browns, less black, and more gold showing, it's a different feel than I had initially thought I would go for. But  like it in its own right. I might try something again with the black and gold. We'll see.

The materials are again from SU. The layout is again a variation on the current Retrosketches. The color inspiration was from the current Less is More Challenge.

Bold-n-Sassy Birthday

A birthday card inspired in part by the scraps I found among my cardstock.

The gift bag is SU! Tall Tales DSP which I'm not sure I'll ever use up. The twine is actually SU! lucky limeade baker's twine, but don't tell anyone. The edgings were done by carefully using the SU! postage stamp punch as an edge punch. Colors came from the Dynamic Duos Challenge #10 (Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive). Layout from the Retrosketches Challenge #19.

Hm... Looking at the picture... wouldn't it be cute to slightly modify it so that the buttons looked like they're spilling out of the bag!