Happy Birthday Jeff 08/11

First off, I need to state, I have a hard time picturing and creating a masculine card, this is definitely a weak spot of mine.  However, I rose to the challenge and created this really basic card for my friend Jeff. (Quick note. On HIS birthday, he was hosting a surprise baby shower/arrival for his wife and mother of his 4 boys. It was also her birthday just 2 days before, hence the "Jesyl's card here on my blog and the "New arrival" card too.)

White cardstock cut at 4.25" x11" and folded in half. I then trimmed off the bottom inch of the front and added the Happy Birthday stamp from studio g. Then, I added Kraft cardstock (4.25"x 4") to the front. On top of that, I added decorative paper from DCWV's "The Pets Stack" just a tiny bit smaller than the kraft paper.  Using Martha Stewart's writing pen in "Sepia" I added faux stitching tothe front. Using a blending pen and Stampin Ups Creamy Caramel ink pad, I colored in the sentiment.  Since I like to bling things up a bit, I added Copper Stickles to the darker brown/orange stripe on the decorative paper.

That's it! Nice & simple.

Happy crafting.

Birthday wishes/Jesyl's card 08/11

My dear friend Jesyl celebrates her birthday on August 23.  Just less than a week before, she gave birth to her 4th son. On the day she was released from the hospital, she celebrated her 3rd son's 5th birthday. And, 2 days later celebrated her hubby's (Jeff) birthday and her suprise baby shower Jeff organized.  Talk about a busy week for her.  (I didn't make it to the baby shower to give her this card, my 5 year old came home from kinder just the day before with a fever & vomitting, we didn't want to spread it.)

The card size is 4"x6.5". The brown decorative paper from DCWV's "Glitter Matstack" is cut at 3"x6". Using the EK Success "bubbles" border punch, I punched across white cardstock and then cut it at 2"x6", then I used Stampin Ups Mauve Mist ink pad and inked up the border.  Using some random ribbon I had on hand from Michael's I attached it where the two papers met up at.  Using white gel pen I wrote "Birthday Wishes".

Thanks for reading.

Welcome Home New Nephew 08/11

As I mentioned in my "Birthday Wishes" post, Jesyl had her 4th boy just a few days ago. Her hubby, Jeff threw her a surprise baby shower on HIS birthday, very sweet.  Here is the very simple card I made for my new nephew. 

White card stock base measures 4.25"x5.5".  Using some random light blue card stock I had on hand (possibly Stampin Up), cut at 3x5.5" was attached to the bottom portion of the card front. Using DCWV's "Glitter Matstack", I cut out the decorative paper at 2.5x5.5" and attached it to the upper portion of the card front.  I had purchased some time ago a random bunch of embellishments in a preselected package. The "welcome home" was one of the pieces included in this little kit.  The "welcome home" had a sticky back (sticker, yay!) so I just plopped it onto the card front.  Using white gel pen from GellyRoll, I created faux stitching along the border od the blue paper and the sticker.

Easy peasy.

Thanks for reading.

Handmade baby sling for my new nephew

Note: Sorry about the photo quality, my 9 y/o son took the pic for me.  My 3 1/2 year old son helped demonstrate the sturdiness of this baby sling.  I always like to test them before giving to the recipient.  (He looks miserable, doesn't he?) LOL!

I started making these baby slings back when I started shopping around and discovered that stores were charging $50+ for one.  Ridiculous! So, I visually dissected the baby sling and made my own.  I made my first one back in 2008, just before my 2nd son was born.  It was a real fun an vibrant yellow rainbow striping.  This one here is for my girlfriend who just had her 4th boy last week.  I had made her a sling for boy #3, but she had since gave it to her sister's sister in law, thinking that she was done having kids.  Ooops!  Luckily, this fabric is the left over of the sling I made her last time.  The slings usually measure about 4.5-5.0 feet long to accomodate for mama and baby and are adjustable.  Enjoy.