BABY News!!! :-D

He's here!!! :-D

The latest member of the clan made his apparition Thursday January 22nd 2009 at 8:00 am via a planned C-section.
Nathan Eli Samuel was 22 inches long and tipped the scale at 9 lbs 14 ounces (he is actually the lightest of our babies at birth! thanks to the gluten free casein free diet I followed during pregnancy...).
He is, of course, the most beautiful baby ever, with his plump little round face, his soft little fuzzy head, his curious eyes and perfect little hands and feet...
We are ecstatic and so grateful to have been blessed with this new little miracle in our life. <3

Baby Lamb frame (PTI Guest Designer Submission)

When I came across this paper with the hills and the little sheeps I instantly thought about the card Nichole made when "Punny Valentine" stamps set came out last year and she made this little felt sheep....

So I just HAD to make this little frame for my (to-be-here-in-8-days) baby boy. I just wish I could have made a little lamb with his Mommy, I might have to try that afterwards.... (if baby takes long naps! LOL ;-))
I had to tweak the frame since I couldn't find the shadow box I wanted, but in the end it worked. I made 2 hills layers and added some nice clouded paper, all separated by pop-dots, and cut my little felt lamb with nestabilities. I cut some fringes in the paper to look a little more like grassy hills and inked the edges.

The outside is framed with a large green grosgrain ribbon and then another layer of PTI blue rain Gingham ribbon. (it's hard to see on the pics!).

As you can guess this is a hard to photograph project because of the reflections...

It was not intentional, but I think it is a pretty good match to my baby keepsake box made with the PTI heart box! :-D

I didn't make it for the guest designer submission but decided afterwards to submit it anyway...

Tall birthday

My cousin is turning 40 in a week and I made her this card to accompany the new year's greetings... Since it's going to France I refrained from using brads or anything that would be a problem with the post office. The background is stamped with versamark and the medallion is embossed with copper powder. I love how simple it is and the color combo, even though ideally, I would have loved to add some brads and maybe some cream ivory ribbon with a bow somewhere... :-)

Simple blooms

This is what I call a "flashcard". As I was putting away the ribbon, I had this flash in my head with this very simple card! It took no time to put together and looks exactly as I envisioned it. I'll send it to my grandmother.

Blue giraffe Thank-You

Unless she is playing the prolongations, today is the last day of Melanie's 1 week blogaversary celebration... So I made a last little card using her sets "So hippy" "So hoppy" and "Hip-hop accessories".

I am really bad at preparing things in advance, I tend to do everything last minute. Believe me, I have tried and am still trying to improve on that point!! My bag for the maternity isn't even ready yet... But I thought I would make the thank-you card for the hospital staff now! My husband can always come back home afterwards to grab my toothbrush if I deliver in an emergency but I doubt he will sit at my desk and make a card for the staff... ;-) ...

For this card I decided to go a little bit out of my comfort zone, by making a somewhat monochromatic card which is something I very rarely do. Since we're having a boy I decided to go all blue, I hope they won't be put off by a white and blue giraffe... ;-) Cutting the hair on the neck of the giraffe image was too time consuming so I made him a little "custom fringe" of my own instead with blue cardstock...

Melanie's blog-hop : my closet dividers

As I mentioned the other day, our dear Melanie is having a blog-hop to celebrate her blogaversary! :-) She nicely decided to feature the people that have been her guest-designers or have won one of her contests that past year! I was lucky to win (it was a tie with Donna) one of her contests so here I am! :-)

My project is closet dividers that you use to separate your baby's clothes by size. You might have seen those in baby stores, I used to think it was useless, but it is frustrating to put baby clothes aside because they are too big at the time, only to find them again when they are actually too small! ;-)

It's a simple project done using my Nestabilities, and Melanie's "Just so hippy", "Just so hoppy" and "Hip-hop accessories". I colored the images with Prismacolor markers (I didn't want to use OMS while pregnant), I made 2 of each so that they look the same on both sides, and I laminated them afterwards for durability and ease of use. You could certainly add little ribbons or other blings after laminating them, but I kept those simple since they are for my little one who should join us in less than 3 weeks now! :-)

{ETA: Not sure where my step by step pics disappeared over the years?... o.O But it's simple:

1- Cut ovals (I recommend layering 2 for durability or adding another layer like I did with the scallops.)
2- Punch out a circle at the top.
3- Color/decorate (keep it FLAT). Write the sizes.
4- Laminate.
5- Repunch the circle, then cut a simple thin slit (like 1/8 inch) on one side of the circle hole to be able to slide those on the hanging rod.
6- Decorate mote if you like, add ribbons etc...}

Melanie also asked us to answer a few questions so below are my answers:

Favorite technique: Paper dry embossing (I'm in love with my Cuttlebug folders ;-)) and I also love embossing with powder and my heatgun.
Favorite colors/color combo: I'm a rainbow kind of girl! The only color I don't like and use very rarely or in small touches is yellow. My favorite color is blue and I love pairing it with all kind of colors. Most of the time when I make a card or project it is with someone in mind so I get my color inspiration from the person or from the paper I feel like using that day, or the ribbon...
Favorite type of project to make that’s not a card: Anything with my kids in mind, and maybe giftcards holders. Oh and those mini albums I have been making lately...:-)
Favorite Gina K set by Melanie: It's hard to say, but I would go with "Have a cookie" and "Hand-in-hand" even though I have neither of them (yet! ;-))...
Favorite Gina K sets (from any illustrator): Same as above! :-)
Craft supplies I can’t live without: Well the basics: paper & cardstock, ribbons, stamps, coloring pencils and markers... for the "extras" I would say my Cuttlebug and the embossing folders and my Nestabilities... Of course Prima flowers and brads and... ;-)
I've been stamping for ...a little less than 1 1/2 year.
I get my inspiration from ...anything! But I am certainly influenced by all the crafty blogs I visit!.. ;-)
The most important things I’ve learned about stamping/cardmaking/scrapbooking are ...that's it's all about you! LOL! It's not about following rules or doing a perfect job or something that everyone will rave about, it's about having fun and expressing yourself! If in the process it makes someone else feel loved or appreciated then it's even better! :-D I started papercrafting to have something just for me that I enjoy and that relaxes me. It is definitely liberating and rewarding. I had no clue I would "meet" (over the net ;-)) so many wonderful people in the process! ♥...
Some of my stamping/crafting goals are: Make my kids' photo albums (much catching up to do in that area, years!!!..). Scrapbook more. Make a recipe book for my daughter with traditional french recipes from my grandmother. Maybe one day (years from now!) design my own stamps? Who knows?...
Some of my stamping/crafting accomplishments are: I still see myself as kind of a newbie in that field so my accomplishments are still ahead of me!... ;-)

There you have it, don't forget to visit Melanie's blog and check the talented ladies I was lucky to be featured with. Plus there are tons of fun stuff to win.... Now that's a celebration!!

Happy blogaversary Melanie! You sure deserve your success! :-)

Melanie's blogaversary.

Please go help Melanie Muenchinger celebrate a year of blogging and stamp designing over at her blog “Hands, Head and Heart”.
Melanie and her guest designers will be sharing cards and projects from all her sets released through Gina K Designs this past year and prizes will be up for grabs every day!
Sponsors include, Gina K Designs, My Favorite Things, Scor-pal, Paper Temptress, and Melanie herself, who is donating, among other goodies, a brand new box of Copic Ciaos! There will also be challenges, contests, and a Who’s Who “Where are they now?” on several of her past contest winners and guest designers!
Come join in the fun and help spread the word, see you there!

http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/

(I will post my "Melanie project" later this week... ;-)...)