Baby Thank Yous! - Gotta Love the Clothesline!

Hi There,

The week-end has finally arrived. I had good intentions of getting this posted yesterday but my life is just soooo busy. lol I like to think it is anyway.
I was out of the house by 7:00 a.m. - Kevin was dropping the car off for a check-up and I was driving him into work. Stopped and had coffee at Second Cup before dropping off the car in Dartmouth. He got to the office around 8:30 and I headed to the Cutting Garden to work. I ended up being at work till 3:30 which was longer than usual but managed to get a couple of layouts created. Friends called and invited us out to Lantz for supper so basically I just had enough time to get home and then get ready to head out again. Our friends from Antigonish were also there so we had a nice evening visiting.

Moving forward - I decided to make two different cards for Thank You notes. The bottom card with the boat on it was the first one and the cute little clothesline the second which turned out to be my favorite and my DD's too.

A little about the card. The image on the card is made from a Stampin' Around wheel. They are a wheel that you put in a handle and the handle also holds an ink cartridge - all you have to do is press down and roll or wheel the image across your paper and it is continuous until you stop. These wheels are also fun to make gift bags, wrapping paper. I colored the images in with my markers, added stickles to the butterfly and the flowers. Adds just a little sparkle. On each card I decided on two pieces of clothing that I would color and cut out a second time to raise up with dimensions for more effect. You can see on the second image how I raised them up.
I knew the card was going to need a little layering so I went to my trusty Cuttlebug and used one of the border folders I just had to have almost a year ago. The button image was just perfect. To finish off the card I heat embossed the thank you with white embossing powder. Oh... and on the back I stamped "Hand Stamped by " Nana. Cute eh?




This card definitely says baby. Again I used Stampin' UP stamps. The boat is from a discontinued boy set called "Toy Box". The pattern paper at the bottom was from a series of papers SU first put out. They were very lightweight. Stampin' Up's paper has improved greatly. But the paper worked well with this card. Kept everything simple and Cuttlebugged the top with Swiss Dots. Add a little ribbon and layering and you'll have yourself a nice card.

On a side note I really do find the Cuttlebug can dress up a plain card...did you know that Sizzix is coming out with embossing folders now too. Word is that they will be releasing a new one monthly.

We are off to PEI this morning. I'll be sure to let you know how the Grandson is doing. I'll need to get lots of cuddletime this week-end as I know I won't see him again until at least mid May as I'm going to Toronto May 7th to see my daughter. That will be fun too. She'll go craft shopping with me and just generally hanging out.

Enjoy the sun this week-end, we will as we are taking the convertible.

Yvonne

Baby Announcement & Altering Buttons

Good Morning To All,

I haven't posted in a few days but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I have been busy creating. I have 36 baby announcement cards done and 29 thank you cards. I'll share the announcement card today and tomorrow the thank you cards. I did two different designs for the thank you cards. lol
Also on Tuesday I worked at The Cutting Garden and designed some cards while I was there. I'll re-create some of those to post on here. We were working with transparencies or also called window sheets.

So onto today's card. Originally Adam & Steph were going to go with the Onesie card but once they knew the baby was a boy they decided on the overall card. I personally think it was a good choice. Just looks a little more boyish. I had to go out and find a puppy stamp for the front. I had everything else but a puppy stamp. Good thing I had a 40% coupon for Michaels. The pattern paper is from the "Safari Kids" line. The blue cardstock is Bazzill. All of the ribbon is held in place with glue dots. What did I do before I knew about glue dots? Trust me, if you have never used them run out and get some now. lol They hold everything and anything in place. Lastly I need to find a lot of red buttons. Hmmm...I head to Wally World thinking I should be able to get some reasonably priced. WOW! I didn't know buttons could be so pricey. For 3 buttons it was $1.25. I thought, "Okay, these cards are increasing in price rapidly." Must be another solution. I tried the shrink plastic. That turned out just okay and was going to be very time consuming. Dollar store...I'll go look there. Yep, they have lots of buttons. 200 hundred as a matter of fact all for a $1.00 but there are only 5 red ones in each package. There is over a 100 clear/white ones though that are just the right size. Now I'm thinking...(I know scarey)... how can I alter these. Could emboss them...a little time consuming but doable. Just need to get red embossing powder. It's late so no stores will be open...think...got it! I'll color them in with my markers. Good idea but my regular markers won't dry on the button. I'm now thinking Stazon ink, it's alcohol based but the red I have actually looks more pinky when I get it on. No good. Copic markers are alcohol based but I don't have any of those either. Time to dig through my crafting drawers...oh look...a new pack of permanent bic markers (I bought to use on tumbled tiles...that's a whole another post). I have a red, color the button, dries almost instantly and is the perfect red. Problem solved.
So the moral of the story - buy buttons at the dollar store and alter them with BIC permanent markers.

I rambled on today so if you read the whole post, "Thanks".

See you tomorrow with the Thank You cards.

Yvonne

Xavier's First Scrapbook Page

Hello,

I've been busy since I got home on Thursday. I had four other scrapbook pages to complete before I could start working on this one of Xavier's. I will post those over the next couple of days.

Saturday morning saw me heading to the scrapbook stores to pick up cardstock and some pattern paper. Boy stuff, you know! The Cutting Garden has a great line called "Safari Kids" Beautiful, vibrant colors all with a animal theme. The papers have sparkles and or glossy finishes on them too. Most of them have a more boyish color scheme to them but there were also some pink ones. I left those alone. There are lots of die cuts as well to match the paper...I also left those alone. Wasn't I good. Okay, not that good...I stopped at Michael's and they have Cricut cartridges on sale...$49.99. I bought the "Cars" one. You can also ask for a rain check for the new cartridges that have just been released...Beaches and Lyrical Lettering. We won't go into how I know you can get rain checks for these.

Once I secured my paper I headed home to create. This will be the first page in Xavier's album. I used my cricut for the lettering and the moon. Isn't the hat cute? I had some fuzzy cardstock/paper from years ago that made the perfect hat. The little stars are from a punch and then glittered. The layout sketch was from 52 Sketches 52 Weeks. I changed the direction of everything but used the basic idea. if you've never tried one of these before it is fun and besides that there is a give away every week. All you have to do is upload a scrapbook page using their sketch and then they do a random draw.
Xavier was only about 36 hours old in the picture. We're thinking about heading back to PEI this week-end to get some more cuddle time in.

I'm trying to get some housework done today so I can have more uninterrupted scrapping time tomorrow.

Good Night
Yvonne

So Sweet!

Hi There,

I am so happy...Xavier is the perfect little baby. I think I forgot how small they really are. I know he won't stay that way for long.

Yesterday morning while I was at work "Grampa" skipped out of work early and raced for the mall. Who says a man can't shop. He picked out the cutest little outfits for the new Grandson. I think it will be my turn to shop today. lol I want to get at least one newborn outfit. Yeah, I know he won't fit in it for long but "Hey, that's what Grammas are for."

We arrived in PEI yesterday just before 6:00. Not much speeding was involved in the trip. It really was so awesome to see the new Mom, Dad & Baby. Many of our family and friends told us how great being Grandparents is...it's one of those things...until you're really there you don't understand what an experience it is and will continue to be.

The first pic is of course our son with Xavier just a few minutes old. He's a natural with his son. Great to see.


Mom is doing well and looks great. Will be at least a couple more days before they let the two of them go home.

Grampa is giving me the prod to wrap it up as we have places to be and a baby to see.

Thanks to all you sent Congratulations to us and the new parents. We've passed your well wishes along.

I can't wait to start scrapbooking this little guy!

BABY IS HERE!!!!!!

I'm now officially a Gramma!!!!!

Adam & Stephanie had a BABY BOY! 6 lbs 8 oz - April 14

Baby's name Xavier Lloyd Marcus Balmer.

Be prepared for pictures as soon as I'm able to get to PEI to see the new bundle of joy. I'm heading over there tomorrow afternoon and will be taking camera and lap top.

I can't wait to hold him.

Life is GOOD!

Yvonne

vellum & your cuttlebug

Morning All,

No phone calls yet....still waiting. Maybe today will be baby day, after all it is Stephanie's birthday - Happy Birthday Steph!

Quick post today. I know I used that Manhatten Die AGAIN. This will be it for a few days. I used vellum with the embossing folder and it turned out great. Once again it creates a fast, elegant card when you just don't have a lot of time for fussing. The ribbon is also from Stampin' Up and it is gorgeous. The little pearls beads with the hat pin... you guessed it Stampin' UP. I've had the "Pretties Kit" for forever and haven't used any of those hatpins. I had to search other peoples sample to decide what to do with it. The sentiment "Best Wishes" is part of the set Oval All from the Spring Mini Catty and so is the Scallop oval punch. I've been playing with all these new things as I was designing samples for somebody else but I'm sad to say I had to send all the new toys back to their owner so I will now be digging out some of my older stamps. As they say, "All good things must come to an end." I did order in my very own embossing folder though. It might even be here today. hee hee

Don't forget to click on the photo to get a closer look.

I'm still in scrapbook mode so I better head off to my craft room as it takes me much longer to do scrapbooking than cards.

Unless I get a call today I will be working at the Cutting Garden tomorrow morning. Drop by and see me. I still have my diaper cake on display at the store too.

Bye

Yvonne

Manhatten Die

Happy Easter

Hope the Easter Bunny brought you something good.

We're still waiting here for the pitter patter of little feet. lol Everytime the phone rings I'm expecting it to be Adam telling me they are heading to the hospital. I don't think I was this excited when I was having my own kids...might have had something to do with the part I was going to be delivering them. lol

I used the Manhatten Embossing folder again on this card. Boy does this card do up quickly and packs a punch too. Cuttlebugged black cardstock, cut around the image and then on the debossed side used my 2-way glue pen and traced all of the grooves. It goes quickly. Waited for the glue to become clear in color and then poured glitter all over the card, burnished and removed the excess. Heat embossed the sentiment with versamark and black detail embossing powder. Ta Da...all done.

I have a scrapbook page to complete today. I like the sketch from 52Sketches52Weeks for this weeks challenge.

See you tomorrow.

Yvonne

Diaper Cake

Hi There,

I've uploaded pictures today of the diaper cake. No they didn't have the baby yet but their computer isn't working so I don't have to worry about them seeing it.
This was lots of fun to make. But firstly...did you know there are so many different diapers out there??? And to make matters worse you can't see through the packaging. So here's how the story goes...I ask the prospective parents what brand they are going to use. Might as well make it with the right ones, not. Apparently all diapers have designs or colors on them now. I had seen diaper cakes on the internet and they had white ones. Back out I go to the store (right, I have 84 little diapers that I'll just give to them (I don't like the color). I go to a pharmacy and enlist the help of the staff for information. I didn't go to the young male cashier...I went straight to the pharmacy there were four of them back there. So I ask if there are any diapers that are plain white (I get a look like I have two heads as if color makes a different). I explain it's a craft project - the look didn't get any better. Oh yes, three of them are women one is a guy...they confer with the male, he's the most recent one that has had a child. lol He looks the package over and tells me, "See that "Disney" symbol, probably has a picture on it. Okay, I head back home to do my research via the internet. I e-mail somebody from the internet that had one of these diaper cakes posted on Split Coast and inquire as to what diapers I need to purchase. So for anybody wanting to try this it is Pampers Swaddlers Newborn or size 1. They still have a little design at the waistband but when they are rolled you can hide it. lol
The inside of the cake has two bottles on top of each other. I filled the bottles with chocolate eggs. I bought too many eggs and I ended up eating them. Not good.
The cake takes about 66 diapers. If you go to U-tube there are some video's on how to make them.


I did up just one cake but made extra accessories depending on the sex of the baby. Aren't the little shoes cute? I got the pattern from Creative Diversions. Thanks Kim.
The giraffe, baby bottle, duck and "It's A Boy/Girl" we all done using my cricut. I cut out the letters and then put them through my xyron to sticky them so my glitter would stick. I wanted a little glitz to the project.


I like the little puppy on the top. They have a golden lab that is about 9 months old so I thought that was very fitting for the top of the cake.

If you have any questions about making one drop me an e-mail, just make sure you leave your e-mail address so I can respond directly to you.

If you're still reading thanks for sharing in my little story.
See you tomorrow.

Yvonne

Hippity, Hoppity, Easters On Its Way!

Good Monday Morning,

This is going to be a busy week. I spent the week-end working on that diaper cake I've been talking about. OMG - I think it is soooo cute. Now I can't post pics just yet. I don't want to spoil the surprise for my DIL & DS, speaking of which one week from today is their due date. Having the baby perhaps Thursday would be good...we could go to PEI on the week-end. Just a thought Steph if you're reading this.

Well speaking of Easter I thought I should make at least one Easter card. I've been busy doing other things so didn't really get into the Easter card spirit. This is a new set also from Stampin' Up. The bunny was watercolored and I used markers on the eggs with crystal effects over top to glaze and round out the shape of the egg. I like the fan flower in the corner and a rhinestone brad in the middle. Some designer paper for the background. The wording on the side says "Hoppy Easter".

I do have a scrapbook page to share tomorrow and hopefully I'll get the co-ordinating page done today. I also need to make my baby card very soon. I'll probably be making two - one boy, one girl - just so I'm prepared. I always was a good Girl Guide! That's also where I learning my bow tying skills.

Have a good day...bring out that umbrella...I even like the sound of that, sure beating bring out the shovel.

Yvonne

Funny Manly Cards

Good Morning,

I missed getting these posted yesterday. Better late than never!
Well if you're wanting to see all the new stamps sets Stampin' Up has for sale in their new Occasions Mini Catalogue click here.
This stamp set is from the mini and called "And Many Mower". It's a cutsie set.
I did the grey background using a SU texture plate and then cut the paper into four pieces and layered over the dark grey. The mower was stamped on white cardstock and then colored in with the watercolor crayons. It needed something to jazz it up a bit so I cut squares and turned them into diamonds. Sort of like the Shreddie commercial. lol Little brads in the centre and raised up with dimensionals.

This card too is stamped and colored in. I needed something for the background but didn't want to use an embossing folder and I didn't have any pattern paper to match. I know, hard to believe! So I took two different sizes of circles, offset them and glued them on. I made a point of having only some half circles to make it look like the paper came that way. Punched small holes with my crop-a-dile in the small green piece of cardstock and then layered a smaller yellow piece in behind. Most cards I would have slipped a piece of ribbon in there but it is supposed to be a manly card.


I'm working on making a "Diaper Cake". Who knew how costly and how much research would go into one....have you heard of them. Stay tuned and when I get it finished I'll post a pick.

Yvonne