Safari Shower

My cousin is having her first baby in a couple months. A new baby boy to kiss and cuddle and squeeze. I'm so excited. I made these little cards for her to celebrate her Monkeyboy.

The cards are a flat note on linen cardstock. The big image above is just the cover of the gift box I made.

For her baby shower, I made a version of "Helpful Hint" cards I had seen online. Here is where shower guests can give advice to the new mom and dad-to-be.

I also made a little pillow box to keep the advice cards organized.

And lastly, a few sweet bookplates for the little booger.

;)

Invitations Invitations!

A friend of mine asked me to come up with a few designs for a Bridal Luncheon and Bachelorette Party she is hosting for her cousin.

It was a great excuse to make some samples for my book.

(above) A simple and elegant luncheon invite with black scroll detail along the bottom.

(above) This is a fun summer theme for either a bridal luncheon, shower, or bachelorette outing. The lime and tangerine colors really pop on the white cardstock and the green envelope is a nice addition.

(above) Cherry blossoms are a favorite of mine. I found this great graphic of tiny white blossoms in a salmon background. Once I added the clip to the invite it looked a little "bottom-heavy" so I popped on a couple salmon stripes at the top to help balance the card.

(above) In the sample for my friend, this card is a bachelorette invite. Here I've made it a dinner and cocktail event for both bachelor and bachelorette. Duel parties are becoming more and more popular and this would be useful as a rehearsal dinner invite or dinner party as well.

(above) I think this card turned out so fun! I love the pink with the green--and who doesn't appreciate a nice cocktail with a lime wheel garnish? Great for the bachelorette party, a cocktail party, or a 21st birthday celebration.

And last but not least, the invitations I made for my sweet girl who turned 4 this last weekend! The red ladybug is a punch atop a scalloped circle nestability punch.

We gave her a "Bugs in the Garden" backyard birthday bash. If you want to see more details on how that turned out, visit our family blog here.

Pillow Boxed Thank You's

I made these awhile ago and plan to send them as thank-you gifts this week to the friends and family who hosted us when we were in California so I thought I should take a picture to show you!

This is a set of folded notes with ribbon, paper, and fabric flower embellishments. The card base is white linen cardstock and the envelopes are kraft paper. The box is one I bought and decorated to coordinate with the card set.

This is a set I made from recycling my calendar (I've used a few pages to make card sets and pillow boxes. You can see another here at my "family blog"). I punched a circle out of the patterned part of the calendar page and added a white punched-dove to each card. All of the cards are slightly different and they fold on the horizontal.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

... Because she's so pretty!

Here's a box of notes I made for a recent order.

It's a flat note on white linen card stock.

The font for the text was inspired by an old-fashioned typewriter.

The stamp is one I've had and you might recognize a smaller scanned version from our Halloween cards last year.

This time, I embossed the stamp:

I really like the way these cards turned out.

Beautiful Blue

These swirly folded notes turned out so well!

My friend Shaley actually designed them... she just got married (congratulations, again!) and wanted some simple notes to send as thank-you's. 

She described the style and "look" of the cards she had in mind, then I made several "samples" for her to choose from.

Within the scrolled stamp is a crystal glitter embellishment.

The box was sweet too!

Coin Invitations

A few of my girlfriends are expecting their first babies right now. It's always so exciting for me to see my friends go through the amazing experience of making a baby.

Here's an invitation that was inspired by my friend Amy who is expecting twins.

The coins are punched from kraft paper (like a brown paper bag) and affixed to a flat card.

Here's the same idea in a different layout with a green accent color.

And of course, I needed a pink representation.

The punch for this elephant actually as a little raised ear (very sweet).

Embossing--Who Knew?

Who knew how much fun embossing could be?

The thing with embossing, is that you have to work from stamps. Stamps are tricky... if you're a perfectionist like I am. The ink has to be just right; the pressure needs to be "even" for a clean mark; the placement can be off with wood blocks if you're not careful... But aside from all that--it really is fun!

Here is a simple horizontal flat card.

The stem and chick were in the same stamp set that I had purchased recently.

Embossing involves several steps and can be time-consuming; however, I think the result is worth the effort. 

Here's a close-up:

The process results in the pigment becoming glossy and rising from the paper.

Here are a few I did with a stamp that was more "substantial" when pressed.

The card is a vertical fold; kraft paper on heavy white cardstock with a kraft envelope.

Obviously, the stamp and embossing has been done in white.

Here's a close-up to show the texture of the printing when the process is finished.

I liked the white set so much I followed the same format to create a chocolate embossing on "natural" cardstock (vertical fold) with a chocolate envelope and pink embossing on white cardstock (horizontal fold) with a pink envelope.

Oh my... now that I have this new crafty way to spend my free time... I wonder just how high my laundry pile will get?