Baby love

Earlier in the week I shared a mini baby album that I created as a shower gift. Today I'm sharing the card that went along with the album.

Putting this together was pretty straightforward - lots of fussy-cutting and layering but all-in-all a simple card to make.

Supplies:

• Prima flower
• Paper elements (cut from Simple Stories "Baby Steps" patterned paper)
• Embossed paper
• Spellbinders "Creative Book Pages I" die cut (used to make the card base)
• Spellbinders Grand Calibur machine
• Doodlebug twine
• Kraft cardstock

Challenges:

• Card Crafters Circle - gentle colours
• Catered Crop - kraft paper
• Craft Your Passion - die cuts & punches
• Just Keep on Creating - anything goes
• Lexi's Creations - die cuts & punches
• More Than Favors - baby
• Oozak - anything goes
• Paper Sundaes - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - anything goes

Baby album using Simple Stories - part 2

Last weekend's baby shower went well - the mom-to-be looked fabulous with her basketball baby bump and my gift of a handmade baby album was well-received. I'm always nervous giving a handmade gift to someone so it was quite a relief to hand it over and see smiles.

Earlier this week I shared the first 2 pages of the album and now I'll share the remainder. 

The album cover is cut using Creative Book Pages 1 on my Grand Calibur. The paper is Simple Stories that has been distressed lightly around the edges. The tree & owls are fussy-cut from a larger piece of paper and although you can't tell in the photo, the owls and some of the leaves are popped up. The banner was also cut from a larger piece of paper and then hung on orange Doodlebug doodle twine. For extra texture, I also added some flourishes (along the left side) that started out as white die cuts but with some Tim Holtz distress ink ended up being the perfect shade.



These 2 inner pages are perhaps my favourite. Both pages have pockets where baby cards and other keepsakes can be kept. The baby's stats (name, date of birth, weight, etc) can be written on the "welcome baby" card placed on the left pocket front. The right side page has a sweet little journaling card.

This page is actually a little album within the album. Untying the ribbon on the left causes the cover to open up allowing access to a collection of photo pockets which can be used to display a bunch of pictures (for the mom who can't choose just a couple!).

Before I sign off, I have to give credit where it's due. Thank you, Kim; your project on the Simple Stories blog site provided me with a lot of inspiration! 

Supplies:

• Simple Stories "Baby Steps" papers and stickers
• Prima chipboards
• Spellbinders "Creative Book Pages 1" die cut
• Tim Holtz distress ink
• Kraft cardstock
• Bind-it-all

 Challenges:

• Catered Crop - kraft
• Challenge Up Your Life - owls
• Craft Your Passion - die cuts & punches
• Lexi's Creations - die cuts & punches
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - anything goes

Baby album using Simple Stories

I'm attending a baby shower on the weekend and have been busily creating a mini album to act as my gift. Since the baby hasn't been born yet and the sex is a secret, I chose to use Simple Stories "Baby Steps" papers and embellishments as my starting point. These papers are a wonderful mix of pink, blue, green, yellow and orange, all on a base of kraft - perfect for a gender-neutral project.

Rather than share my entire project in one long post, I decided that I would share a couple of pages at a time. So here are the first 2 pages of this super sweet (if I do say so myself - lol) baby album.

To start, I cut all of my album pages from chipboard using my Grand Calibur and the Creative Book Pages 1 die. I used kraft cardstock as my base. For the page on the left, I used a sketch from Sketchy Colors Challenge (see the sketch at the bottom of this post). All of the papers are Simple Stories and have been distressed lightly around the edges.

Next, I wanted to have a spot in the album for multiple pictures so I decided to include some photo sleeves. To make this, I bought a cheap album at the dollar store and cut out 5 of the photo sleeves. I added a strip of pretty paper along the top and then stitched across using some baker's twine to hold it all together. This is the first time I've used the twine and although you can't see it well in the photo, I really like how the stitching finished off the little flip book. I cut out 2 of the Simple Stories 4x6" blocks for decoration. On the first one I added a sticker and chipboard piece. On the last page I added an adorable little chickadee that I created using a brand-new die from Dee's Distinctively Dies. I'm thrilled to be using this die since the creator is one of the owners of a nearby scrapbook store.

Supplies:
Simple Stories "Baby Steps" papers and stickers
Prima chipboards
Dee's Distinctively Dies "Chickadee" die cut
Spellbinders "Creative Book Pages 1" die cut



Challenges:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - ribbon/twine
Crafting When We Can - things with wings
Creative Mondays - anything but a card
Critter Sketch - critters
Gingerloft - anything but a card
One Stop Craft - pastel & die cut
Paper Sundaes - use at least 2: kraft, lace, die cuts, charms
Pile it on - all about "S" (Simple Stories, sweet)
Sketchy Colors - sketch