Babies, Babies, and More Babies!

What a DAY!  Ugh!  I have literally spent the whole time dealing with researching property taxes so I can appeal ours.  My brain is FRIED!  Time to move on to something a little less numeric, lol...

It seems as though everyone I know is prego these days!  I just made two baby cards last week that I can't wait to show you.  But FIRST, here is the card I sent my Senior Director, Mandy Leahy, after she had her little sweet pea in August.

Mandy's team name is the Damask Divas for a reason--she {hearts} all things damask!  I had to work it in somehow to the perfect card for welcoming her new little Diva and came up with this:

Slam dunk!  I don't have any baby stamps per say, so I had to be creative and completely LOVED how it turned out!  The stamp set I used on the front is the August Stamp of the Month.

This "hello life" circle is from the It's Your Day My Acrylix set.  Now if that doesn't say, "new baby" I don't know what does!

Ok, so on to the cards I made last week!  The first is for my hubby's cousin who had a bouncing baby boy on the 11th of this month.  I loved using the "hello life" stamp from Mandy's card so much that I wanted to use it for more baby cards.  I had tons of fun laying this one out with different textures, especially the new burlap ribbon. 

The pattern paper in this one is from the Victory Paper Packet.  The cardstock I used besides the White Daisy are two retired colors, Dutch Blue and Brown Bag.  These small numbers from a retired Stamp of the Month commemorate his awesomely special birth date. 

Hello, Burlap Ribbon!  Meet my friend, the Pewter Brad.  ;)

An Outdoor Navy Button, twine, and ink on the corrugated star all come together for some great dimension.  I used the stitched side of the burlap ribbon that I had cut off earlier to tie on the tag.

I have to say, I was very happy to have a little girlie card to make next!  Bring on the glitter!  ;)

This card is for a former teacher at my girlies' school.  It is their very first baby, and we are super-excited for them!   I dug out my Lucy Paper Packet in her honor.

I really like adding the date to these type of cards to commemorate the occasion.  Guess what?  The Cotton Candy Cardstock that frames the date is actually a remnant from another cut I made a while back.  Now you see why I keep my scraps! 

Alright, my big moment of inspiration came while making these butterflies.  I had trimmed the bottom of the card with the Cotton Candy bulk ribbon and had scraps left.  One look at them laying on my desk, and I had turned them into bodies and antennae!  The cute little feelers are the bottom edge of the pom pom ribbon that I had trimmed off to glue the body flat to the wings!  Thank you, liquid glass, for making this moment possible.  ;)

The numbers I used are from the Storybook Numbers My Acrylix Set.  I also used the Chevron Butterfly and "hello life" stamps from It's Your Day.   The Pear Ink on this flower from the Hooray Bouquet My Acrylix Set just jumps off the paper.  I love how it looks with the Cotton Candy Ink.  The last thing this card needed was bling.  Shimmer Trim first, then some Sparkles and Glitter Glitz.  Absolutely princess worthy.  :)

There, now I am DE-stressed!  Thanks so much for checking out my latest cards.  Now I have to go unpack some boxes that my Fed Ex man just brought--all the supplies for my Advent Calendar Workshop are here!!!  Woot, woot!  More DE-stressing coming right up! 

Hexagon Play

I love the look of using hexagons in some of the layouts in the current Idea Book.  I decided to give it a go on a card.  I also wanted to give a more manly card a try, so I used the Victory Paper pack.  This is one of the four papers carrying over to the Fall/Winter Idea Book that goes live on August 1st.  The others are Stella (my fave!), Pemberley, and Florentine.  If you had your eye on any of the others in the current book, better get em before the end of July!  The retiring packs will be gone after that.

Here is what I came up with for the card.

The sentiment I used is from the Tag the Occasion My Acrylix set and stamped in Chocolate Ink.  This set will also be gone after July 31st.

Both of the stars were cut from Bamboo cardstock on my cricut with the Art Philosophy Cartridge and stamped with coordinating images from the Typeset Workshop stamp set (retired.)  The round metal embellishment is from the Durables Round Collection.  These are great for a rustic, man look. 

Thanks again for stopping in!  :)

Color Dare #7

Alright!  I am officially back in the swing of things after summer vacation.  I feel so accomplished after surviving the 109 degree heat in Nashville.  ;)

On to this week's Color Dare!  This one is a great color combo--we are to use the secondary colors of orange, green, and purple in any shades we choose.  I chose Sunset, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, and Petal, along with the neutrals Colonial White and Chocolate.

This is seriously another case of hand-hitting-forehead inspiration because it came to me as I was designing card layouts for my next workshop.  I quit the cards and went right to work.  You see, while I was cutting, I ended up with a leftover strip from the Victory Paper Pack that I took one look at and just HAD to make it into a bookmark.  This one will be for my niece's baptism birthday this Saturday, so the timing was phenomenal, and definitely from above!  In fact, most of the pieces I used were in my leftover drawer with cuts that I had not used on other projects--the only ones I did especially for this one were the Petal colored flowers.  Reheated leftovers--yummo!   ;)

Here is the original version:

Now here is the Glitzy version!

I realized while threading the ribbon that the paper would be better with a little more thickness here where it ties in.  I easily reinforced it by making two flower cuts with the AP Cart on our cardstock, punching a hole through the center, and adhering one to each side of the bookmark.  Walla!

Here is the recipe for my reheated leftovers:
Art Philosophy Cartridge
Victory Paper Pack
Colonial White, Sweet Leaf, and Petal Cardstock
Colonial White and Topiary Inks
My Acrylix Rock the Block Stamp Set
My Acrylix Card Word Puzzle Stamp Set
Ribbon and brads from the Sunset Mini Medley Assortment
Glitter Glitz in Stardust