Baby Boy Brag Book

Only 2 weeks left until my due date! Of course, I wouldn't mind if the little one decided to make an appearance a little early - I'm ready any day! Well, I'm not sure if you're ever really "ready", but you know what I mean.

Anyway, when the baby is born, my mom is coming to stay with us for about a week or so to help out. This won't be the first grandchild for my parents, but it's been quite awhile since the last one was born. Needless to say, they are very excited too. I know my mom will take lots of pictures while she's here, so I thought I'd make a little brag book for her to put a few in. I didn't think I'd be up to it that first week while she's here, so I figured I'd just make a boy one and a girl one, give her the appropriate one, and keep the other for a gift.

I started with the boy book first because I have just loved working with the Delicate Dots DSP that was available through SAB this year. I sometimes have trouble putting various DSP patterns together, but these just seem to go together so easily. If I do have a boy, I'm sure I'll wish I would have gotten more than one package! Anyway, I used the sketch that I used for these cards (here and here) and my beloved Nursery Necessities set.

If you haven't made one before, they are very easy. SCS has a good tutorial to follow. I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory.

Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for the girl version!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White
DSP: Delicate Dots
Ink: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, Buttons (Wal-Mart)
Tools: Star Punch, 1" Circle Punch (waves under boat), Crop-a-dile

Thoughts & Prayers Birthday Card

This card uses the same sketch as my previous post (sketch challenge 206 on SCS). For this one, I used the Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP and Thoughts and Prayers again.

I stamped the flower image on a piece of Whisper White and then punched three 1 1/4" circles from the image. I didn't necessarily punch them out right next to each other, but I like how it looks like somewhat of a continuous flow after they were adhered to the card. The sentiment is from Papertrey's Mixed Messages set.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Mixed Messages (Papertrey)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
DSP: Parisian Breeze Specialty
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta
Tools: 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" Circle Punches

Jersey Shore Birthday

Even though I used it quite a bit when I first got it, I still have some Jersey Shore DSP left. So - I decided to pull it out for this birthday card. I haven't made anything this bright for awhile, but I like the way it turned out. The cupcakes in the Darling Dots hostess set were perfect for this sketch (Sketch Challenge 206 on SCS).

All 3 of the patterned papers are from Jersey Shore. The polka dot and Brilliant Blue dot patterns are both matted on Brilliant Blue cardstock, and the Pumpkin Pie pattern is matted on Pumpkin Pie cardstock. The cupcakes were punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and matted on 1 3/8" circles of Old Olive. Both the Pumpkin Pie layer and cupcake circles are adhered with dimensionals.

The small sentiment tags on the left are from the retired So Many Sayings hostess set. They are tied to the Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon with Linen Thread.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Darling Dots, So Many Sayings
Cardstock: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
DSP: Jersey Shore
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Striped Ribbon, Linen Thread
Tools: 1 1/4 & 1 3/8" Circle Punches

Thinking of You

This is the last of the Thoughts & Prayers cards (for now anyway). This one is pretty straightforward. The tree image is matted on 3 strips of Parisian Breeze specialty DSP and then matted on Chocolate Chip cardstock.

The tree was stamped with Baja Breeze ink, and then I went over the trunk and limbs with a Chocolate Chip marker. It would have been easier to do it all with markers, but since we don't have in-color markers, this was my back up plan. Once that was done, I "thumped" my Chocolate Chip marker onto the leaves to give it some additional variation.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
DSP: Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta

Wild About Baby Cards

I needed a thank you card, so I decided to use the Sketch for You to Try that I used on this card. I really liked the sketch, and it came together really easily.

The So Saffron background was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder, and the striped DSP is from the Delicate Dots DSP package available through Sale-A-Bration. The small buttons are from a variety package I picked up in the sewing section of Wal-Mart.

While I had all of my supplies out, I decided to make a couple of baby cards with the same design. I know a few ladies that are still expecting also, so it will be nice to have them on hand.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Wild About You, Nursery Necessities, Much Appreciated
Cardstock: Whisper White, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue
DSP: Delicate Dots, Berry Bliss
Ink: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Buttons (Wal-Mart)
Tools: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Praying for You

For this card, I cut a 1 1/8 x 3 3/8 strip of Whisper White and stamped my image before cutting it into 1 1/8" squares. The squares were then matted on 1 1/4" squares of Chocolate Chip.

The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip and then punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch. I wanted to make this a SU! only card, so I resisted the temptation to add a 1 1/2" layer of Baja Breeze before adhering to my scallop circle. (Just as a side note, I think it's interesting that SU! came out with a 1 3/4" circle punch before a 1 1/2". I have a 1 1/2" circle punch from my pre-SU! days and find that I use it quite a bit for layering when sentiments or images don't quite fit on the 1 1/4" and really need the 1 3/8". Anyway, just my thought for the day.)

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
DSP: Parisian Breeze Specialty
Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Marker
Tools: 1 3/8" & Scallop Circle Punches

Thoughts & Prayers

The next few cards I have to share also use the Thoughts and Prayers set. This one uses Jen del Muro's Sketch for you to Try from last week. I took some inspiration from a couple of different cards that also used her sketch - this one and this one.

This card also uses the Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze. I love that color combo!

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
DSP: Parisian Breeze Specialty
Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Marker
Accessories: Vintage Brads