Baby boy

This baby card is so sparkly!I used American Crafts Glitter Cardstock in blue and silver - I adhered them with Beacon Adhesives Zip Dry. Zip Dry is a MIRACLE liquid glue because it doesn't warp or wrinkle your photos or papers. Not only is it good for lightweight paper, it's also very handy for this heavy glittered cardstock.  Zip Dry works because it dries VERY quickly - I'm serious, it dries almost instantly. Because of that, the applicator tip tends to get gunky and clogged; however, I've figured out something that is an easy fix. If you stick a straight pin (the sewing pins that have a little pearl at the top work the best) into your tip, you can actually store it like that. The pin keeps the tip clear and the pearl at the top fits into the cap and keeps the air out! Here's a photo of what it looks like when you take the cap off.

When you want to put the cap back on, just stick the pin into the applicator tip and it's ready until next time. Pretty simple, huh?

Anyway, back to the card! I used American Crafts Thickers to spell "Baby" on the top and I used a bit of Zip Dry on the back of them as well. Even though Thickers are adhesive backed, it doesn't stick very well to rough surfaces like glitter.

The decorative edge was punched with a Martha Stewart Crafts Deco Shell edge punch and adhered with Zip Dry. The stars were heat embossed with glittery silver powder - the stamps are by Unity Stamp Co.

 

On the inside, I stamped in light blue ink with some more of the Unity Stamp Co set and used a sticker sentiment from SRM Stickers.  

That's all for today - thanks for taking a peek!

More babies...

Babies, babies everywhere!
If you're not into the circus themed baby cards I shared yesterday, perhaps this is more your style.

I used some lightly embossed cream cardstock, matted with the same shimmery pearl pink paper that the doily is cut from. The doily die is by Papertrey Ink and I use it ALL THE TIME...as you can probably tell if you're a regular follower. ;)
The sentiment is a rub-on by Melissa Frances. The delicate lacy ribbon and the pink flower are from May Arts - I simply adore May Arts. I adhered them with Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac; that's my go-to glue for ribbons, trims and other fabrics.

Below is the inside of the card. It's a pretty bad photo, but I am far to lazy to retake it. The "Baby" is a stamp from Papertrey Ink's "Mega Mixed Messages" set and the second part is Melissa Frances rub-on. The damask is from Papertrey Ink's "Damask Designs" set.

More baby cards to come, each a different style and color palette!

Let's go to the circus!

I picked up these circus themed stamps a while back at HL; I think I paid $3 for them out of the clearance section. They're pretty cutesy, so I figured they would be good for baby cards. I whipped up a girl and boy card and took them over to Annie Kay & Co yesterday along with a few others. There must be a lot of babies being born, because I was all out of baby cards!
Thanks for taking a peek! :)

Double Embossing

 

On this card, I did some double embossing - first I embossed the pattern with a Cuttlebug folder and then I heat embossed over the pattern. To make this stand out even more, I used a blue pigment ink (pigment ink stays wet long enough to emboss with) that was a few shades darker than the blue cardstock. Then, I used a sparkly white embossing powder to heat emboss. I brushed a bit of the powder off to make it look distressed. What resulted was a 3 color pattern - the light blue cardstock, the darker blue ink where some of the powder came off, and the sparkly white embossed portions. 

As for the dress, I used a Basically Bare chipboard dress form and wrapped it with ribbons and lace. They are fastened on the back with Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac. 

Thanks for taking a peek!

Stamping Challenge

I'm hosting a challenge at www.scrapbook.com right now through the end of August and I want you all to join in! Here is the CHALLENGE THREAD with the rules and everything. :)

It's a challenge for scrapbookers to use their stamps to create paper that mimics their favorite new papers or paper collections. For example, I chose to lift some papers from the new MME "The Sweetest Thing" collection. So far I've done two patterns and I want to finish one more to complete my layout for the challenge. These are the two patterns I've chosen to use as my inspiration...

...and here is what I ended up with.

 This is the finished layout, using the two papers I stamped. I used some stamps and black ink to further embellish the papers after I constructed the layout.

So come on over and join in the challenge! I can't wait to see the different papers that everyone comes up with!

Dollhouse Beds

My daughter has a giant dollhouse.
A few years ago, my dad custom made it and it pretty much takes up most of her room. Alexis didn't start out with much in the way of furnishings, but over the years, we've remedied that with a few birthday/Christmas gifts and some craftiness. We found out that the store made doll beds don't tend to last long and we've glued one back together at least five times. Instead, we decided to make our own and we loved them so much that Alexis now has more beds than dolls!

First of all, we started out with half of a check box (the boxes that bank checks come in). Most of the beds we've made are just stand alone check boxes, but on this one, I had the perfect "headboard" - a chipboard piece that was shaped like a house. I glued the "headboard" to the box with Beacon Adhesives Fabri-tac.

After the glue had set, I picked out a May Arts ribbon for my "dust ruffle" and glued it around the bottom of the bed. The pleats really make it look like a dust ruffle!

Next, I took another piece of trim and adhered it on the top of the bed sides. I also added a rub-on to the headboard.

After I had the bed made, I went piddling around my craft drawers looking for something to make a pillow and comforter out of. I happened upon a square of deep aqua felt, an old pink kid's sock and some flowery and lacy trims.

For the pillow, I cut the sock in half (until it was as long as I needed to match the bed) and filled it with some extra fabric. I glued the end shut with Fabri-tac and then adhered the pink floral ribbon around it. That floral ribbon is AMAZING and it's from May Arts.

For the blanket, I cut pieces of lacy trim to match three sides and adhered them with my trusty Fabri-Tac.

Then I cut out one of the flowers from the flower ribbon and adhered it to the center.

And here's the finished bed & bedding!

So inexpensive, easy and a lot of fun. There are so many possibilities with these - we've used pom pom trim, elegant lace, embossed paper - you name it. Here's the bed inside one of the dollhouse rooms we've decorated.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Weddings, continued

Apparently I need to get busy making more wedding cards - they were pretty depleted when I checked in at Annie Kay & Co. yesterday. Until I get some new ones made up, I have a bold wedding card I made last week for a wedding we attended. I lean more towards pretty and delicate, but the invites to this wedding were bold, graphic and modern - they were also done on the exact same grey metallic cardstock I used on the center of this card.

 The silver strips are stickers - super easy borders. I adhered the bow (with Beacon's Fabri-Tac) at an angle to give it a different look.

 The sentiment is an old rub-on I've had for years. I embellished it with some stick-on gems and this card was finished! Here's a peek at the inside.

Pretty simple, but it matches the style of the invites and that's what I was going for. Thanks for taking a peek!