One baby...so many words...

Another baby in the family, I'm telling you they're everywhere!... ;-)

I just had to use my Cuttlebug embossing folder "swiss dots" for that one since it really screams baby to me... :-) (and I really love polka dots and LOVE embossing!). When I started the card I knew I wanted the swiss dots and some vellum but that was about it in terms of what direction to take...

I played with a few ideas, but the words kept coming back. (They're from another Cuttlebug folder "friend words"and I cut them off the page). When I finally had this configuration I wasn't sure about it, so I walked away and went to pick up my son at school.

It's true what they say, when you're not sure, walk away. When you come back to your project things always seem more clear, whether you like it or not! ;-)

I took the pic partly in the sun, I know that's not something you're supposed to do but I like it, I like how it creates shadows... :-)

ETA: To answer Pam's question I first embossed my cardstock with the swiss dots folder, then ran my inker on it, after it was dry, I then cut the scalloped rectangle with the Nestabilities...

Yet another pink princess...

This is a card I made yesterday for my niece, she's 3 and has officially entered the "princess phase"... :-)

I'm not completely happy with the card, I thought for a long time about what could be bugging me and I think it is the pale colors, it's lacking "punch"... (or the fact that I have a hard time with pink princesses!), I think it needs something behind the scalloped oval to sort of "ground" it, and the frog is the wrong green to me... but my daughter said it was beautiful and that her cousin would like it, so I'll trust her judgment on this one! ;-)

I just bought some Soufflé pens (the 3D opaque pens) and I am really disappointed!!! The paper seem to absorb most of the ink (unless you use it on something like pictures), and the 3D effect really is a joke! :-( I'm having much better results just using my regular gel pens...

Maybe I'm just stupid and not using them the right way but I don't see what I could do differently!... :-S

Celebrate & Cherish

Another late night card with the new Cuttlebug embossing folders and "Jolies Fleurs" from Lizzie Anne. It made sense to me to pair them together since there are Paisleys in the Jolies Fleurs set! ;-)

The flower is stamped on color paper and cut out several times, then mounted on foam tape.I stained the ribbon for the leaves with ink to match my distressed (or dirty? ;-)) edge, and I ran chalky ink over the embossed design.

I made this card for a 12 years old who is having her Bat Mitzvah (ceremony of religious majority in judaism). I wanted something bright and happy, like the occasion, and not too young looking since she will now be considered a "grown-up" when it comes to religion! :-)

I like the result, I think maybe it's missing something in the upper left corner... but I don't feel like adding a sentiment, since the ribbon takes care of that already, and I want to keep the focus on the big flower...I guess it doesn't have to be perfect... ;-) Maybe I'll see it with new eyes tomorrow since it's pretty late now and I am dead tired!...

Stamps: "Jolies Fleurs" Lizzie Anne

Ink: Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy, Versamagic Thatched Straw, Palette Lanscape

Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder "Perfectly Paisley", ribbons Target

Birdie

Birds seem to be everywhere with the desire for spring.... and I received my new Cuttlebug embossing folders with birds and swirls so I had to go with it....

Light blue and brown is a color combo I obviously really like ;-) and I wanted something somewhat monochromatic (or should I say bi-chromatic?)... The flower is a little big for my taste but that's the only way to have the word appear in its heart... The bird is on foam tape and embossed with copper metallic powder.

Stamps: "Carte Postale" Stampin Up

Ink : Versamagic Sea breeze, Versamark, Brilliance Coffee Bean

Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder "Birds and Swirls", Copper embossing powder (Ranger), Prima flower, ribbon Target, gel pens

In the spotlight: Erika, artist, loving mother and autism advocate....

If you visit my blog, chances are you know Erika Martin!

When I met her through Life Journal last spring, I was just starting to have an interest in stamping and scrapbooking... Seeing her work sure inspired me to just go for it, and I bought my first serious stamps through her...

She is a talented artist and a free spirit, and also a loving mother and autism advocate.

This last days she posted scrapbook pages on her blog : http://stampinmama.typepad.com/) that she made about her son Zach, who is 9 years old and autistic.

Those pages are beautiful (and the pics of Zach are stunning!), but they also tell a story.

They are bursting with emotion and love, and made me cry a river because of course I could hear myself in Erika's words. They highlight so well what life with autism is, the hard times and worries of a mother, and the awe we feel for our kids who never cease to amaze us and teach us something new every day!...♥

Go check them out: http://stampinmama.typepad.com/stampin_mama_a_mama_that_/2008/02/post.html

And http://stampinmama.typepad.com/stampin_mama_a_mama_that_/2008/02/my-heroa-scrapb.html

When I see her pages it makes me want to publish a book of scrapbook pages made about autistic children, and sell that book to raise money for autism! Who knows, maybe we could do this one day?....

Out of this world

My son is "out of this world" for so many reasons!!... When I saw that set I had to have it for him...

Because of his autism, he is literally sometimes "out of this world"... and also he is out of this world because he is the most wonderful and cute little boy ever and I love him to pieces!!... :-)

He likes to watch the baby Einstein "baby Galileo" which is all about planets and space...

He barely looked at the card or give me time to read what I had written inside... but I hope that in a few years we can look at it together and have a good laugh...

At least he liked the store bought card that his Dad got him, with a cute little tiger and bright colors... :-)

Anyway I really love this card, and not just because of the special meaning it holds for me. I had a great time making it and I really like the little green man (isn't he too cute!?) coming out of his flying saucer, and the background paper made with the stamps... :-)

It's a happy card, just like my happy little boy!♥ :-)

We're a great team...

This is this year's Valentine for my hubby.

It might be a little unconventional but I wasn't really into hearts and stuff... ;-) I don't know why but I really wanted to have those little astronauts together... and since I made a card for Noah (see next post) with a little alien, this team card makes more sense... together they tell a story...

I think we are a great team on the planet parenthood!....

You can't really see on the pic but I gave myself little gold earrings and wedding band, and I made my eyes green and my hubby's blue... I love having fun with details... ;-) The stars and accents on the suits are also colored with glitter pens.

I kept being unhappy with the card but couldn't figure out why...I think it is the coloring that bugs me - ah, if only I had copic markers! *sigh* LOL ;-) - or maybe the no-ribbon?....

Anyway, the recipient loved it, and that's all that matters!... :-)

Bouquet of Valentines

Those are Naomi's valentines this year.

I had bought some pencils for the kids in the class, I think they get way too many candies anyway, LOL!

A while back I saw some pencils threaded through paper to look like worms in a catalog and put this idea in a corner of my brain... I decided to twist it to make flower stems instead and have the eraser poke through my flower center...

I stamped Lizzie Anne's "Jolies Fleurs" and had Naomi color them (she complained quite a bit because we had to make 22 of those, so the coloring isn't exactly her best but I think it makes it more "6 years old"! ;-)...) then I cut them out and finished assembling them after having Naomi write the kids' names on leaves... There wasn't enough time to put glitter on the petals like Naomi wanted...

It was slightly time consuming as it is, but I love how they came out.

I brought them to the classroom today and put them in a flower pot that I found there, it looks so pretty as a bunch! :-)

Valentine's day mailbox

This is the mailbox for Naomi, I will put some chocolate inside I think... since my card isn't gonna fit!...

I had some trouble with the flag, finally managed to remove it but not put it back, it was tearing the paper when I was moving it up and down. :-(... so I glued it and removed the initial nail to put a cute big brad instead... :-)

I love that paper, it is so bright and cheery. (it's double-sided gift wrap from Borders, it is thick as cardstock!)

Those cool letters are made with my Cuttlebug using the box of Puffs! :-)

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, check here : http://dare2beecreative.blogspot.com/2007/10/best-recycling-ever.html)

Baby giraffe card to match memory box

Melanie has a contest going on on her blog, which requires to use her set "Just so hippy".

There wasn't much time to play with it this week but I tried anyway because I like her upbeat personality on her blog, and I love this little giraffe... (This was just for the fun because if you've seen Lauren's entry you know I don't stand a chance, LOL!)

I made a matching card for the baby memory box (from a few entries back) using the scraps of paper. I finally put little onesies in the box and one has a little giraffe embroidered on it so I thought using the giraffe would be a cute little touch...

I colored the spots on the giraffe to match my paper (sort of, LOL)...

Believe it or not, it is grey and raining non stop today *gasp* so I had to use the flash on one of the pics and the colors are a little off...

Sketch Challenge 33 : Froggy

Here's my take on this week-end's sketch challenge # 33 (from Lauren's blog: http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/02/03/simple-sketch-mfteaser/).

It's a fun sketch to work with because it is so clean and simple that you can have the paper steal the show or really accent your medallion...

Can you tell I love this little toad?... ;-)

Stamps: "Once Upon a time" Lizzie Anne Designs

Ink: Versamagic Pink Petunia

Ribbon: Michaels

Baby Memory Box

My sister-in-law is expecting her 1st baby and due in the spring. She doesn't want to know the sex of the baby and doesn't want to use baby colors in the nursery before the baby is born... There is no time this time around to sew hooded towels or baby blankets like I did for my other sisters-in-law years ago...

So I think I will make her a baby book afterwards with pics of the baby and little spots for journaling so she can record whatever she wants in there. But I wanted to send her a little something before the baby is born too.

I decided to make a little memory box where she can keep things like the sonogram pics and the baby bracelet from the hospital, the first little baby booties or such...

I used one of those beautiful heart shaped boxes from Papertrey Ink and found beautiful coordinating papers that don't scream boy or girl. I love those colors! And yes, I think it is perfectly fine to put 1 or 2 pink buttons even if it is for a little boy! It's to match the paper! ;-)

Now I just need to figure out what to send in it, maybe a little hat and socks or onesies (funny that in french we call them "body"!) or little bibs. I thought about mini lotion, baby powder, nail clipper and such, but don't want to take a chance of leaks on my paper... ;-)... so we'll see what I come up with... Maybe it will just be a cute and soft little teddy?...

In the spotlight: Scrap your trip

I discovered this site today called Scrap your trip ( http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/index.html ).

This site lists all kind of countries or destinations or themes (from Disneyworld or snorkeling/diving!!) and you can find papers and embellishments related to that theme!
How cool is that! :-)

Of course I checked the french section...ah... Paris, Je t'aime!....♥

3 fold b-day gift-card holder

Next week or so is the birthday of one of Noah's teachers, all the parents (there's only 8 kids in class) participate in a gift card, and I offered to make the b-day card.

I made a simple tri-fold card and glued a little pocket in the middle (embossed with a cuttlebug folder) to hold the gift card (with a little slit to hold it in place). I also glued some white paper inside so we can all sign the card. It's hard to see on the pic, but the pink sign on the card also is embossed with happy birthday, I debated for a long time whether to put it or not but it looked empty without it.... I didn't have tiny magnets so I closed it with velcro! :-) Of course there are Stickles on the cupcake.. ;-)

Obviously the colors of the pic (inside) are off, that's because I took it at night...

I really love the colors of this paper and the brown together but I kept doing things wrong with this card, I glued the paper upside down in the back of the card, didn't cut straight here and there etc... It was one of those simple projects that end up taking more time than they should ;-)

But I love it and it is for a special person so it was worth the time.