Baby Shower Invite for my college friend

A good friend of mine from college (and my sorority big sister) asked me to help her design a baby shower invitation for her sister. They know that her sister is having a little boy, but Lainey was interested in having the invitation be more of a tea party theme than overwhelming "baby" theme. Since she lives about 2 hours away from me, I sent her some images from the current catalog as some basic formatting ideas. We ended up settling on using the card on pg. 81 of the current catalog as our basic layout (and some of the color palette too). She came to visit me last Saturday and we had a blast making the invitations. I've included photos of both the original layout I had ready for her when she arrived and then the final layout we ended up going with for the invitation. The original card was made using the Parisian Breeze Specialty Designer Series Paper (which we both loved) but I wanted to come up with a way to use a similar design but not have to buy a bunch of packs of the Designer Series Paper for just one design. So, what I ended up doing was using the Bella Toile background stamp, and stamping it in Whisper White Craft ink on textured Baja Breeze card stock. The effect is pretty darn close to the one pattern in the Parisian Breeze paper (if I do say so myself) - and I think it turned out perfectly. As you can see in the original, I had planned on also using the Bella Toile stamp in Blush Blossom as a background on the main image, but we thought that was a little too busy - so Lainey suggested making the main image smaller and just having the bunny on the Whisper White card stock. (Yes, I accidentally messed up the stamped image on my example - I promise that double stamp was not anywhere on the final versions though!) We had a great time stamping all day (with a break for a great lunch) and it was a wonderful reason to get together and catch up on all that was going on in our lives.

Card Supplies (for the final version - the card on the right):
Bella Toile and Cute & Cuddly stamp sets
Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White card stock
Baja Breeze textured card stock
Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad
Baja Breeze 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

In Celebration of the Retired Stamp List...

In honor of the retiring stamp list being announced (see link to the left) I thought I'd show you this card I made as a mock-up for some good friends of ours. They had an adorable baby boy at the beginning of September and asked me to make their baby announcements. I used the scrapbook page that is on page 68 of the 2008 Spring/Summer catalog as inspiration. This set uses the Bundled in Joy set that will retire on January 18, 2009. By the way, the picture I used in this mock up is my own little boy who will be TWO next month! Time flies!!

Supplies:
Bundled in Joy stamp set
Whisper White and Bashful Blue card stock
Barely Banana textured card stock
Certainly Celery Prints DSP
Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana and Basic Black Stampin' Write Markers
Dotted Lines Stampin' Around jumbo wheel
Tag and 3/16" Corner Rounder punches
Bashful Blue Stampin' Around jumbo cartridge
Metallic Eyelets
Light Blue Gingham Ribbon
Linen Thread
Crop-a-dial
Paper Snips
Paper Piercer
Stampin' Dimensionals

Welcome Baby Card

OK, I do have to admit that I use some retired paper, colors, and ribbon in this card. But I was so happy with it I still wanted to share!

It seems that this is the time of year for new babies! I have friends, family, and co-workers who are having new little ones join the world almost every other week. This is a card that I made for some friends of ours who just had an adorable little boy (who we will finally get to meet in two weeks). I had also made their baby announcements for them using the Bundled in Joy stamp set so I decided to keep that theme in their Welcome Baby card. I got the general template (it is a gift card holder) from one of my upline's monthly shoebox swaps. Hope you enjoy!

Supplies:
Bundled in Joy stamp set
Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, and Wild Wasabi card stock (all retired) Whisper White card stock
Basic Gray Classic Ink
Aqua Painters
Scallop Circle Punch
1/2" Circle Punch
Scallop Edge Punch
Blue Bayou DSP Prints (retired)
Build-a-Brad Antique Brass
A Perfect Day Rub-ons
Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon (retired)