I was busy earlier this month making the keepsake shadow boxes my church gives to families who have their children dedicated.  I personalize each one, which takes some time, but it is totally worth it.

I took last names and the church name out to post them.

Each letter in the name is cut three times in white cardstock and glued together. Next, the patterned paper I chose is cut and glued to the now thick letter and popped up with foam tape.

The name and date tags are die cut on the girls' ones using Papertrey's Christmas Label die and on the boys' using Spellbinders Ribbon Labels.  At the bottom the white verse card is cut from Spellbinders Large Labels, the logo hand colored with a coordinating Copic, and the lamb is pieced together from Cricut's Create a Critter. Before piecing I run the white parts through a swirl embossing folder to get the texture.  After the lamb is complete, I use Glossy Accents on all exposed black parts for shine and dimension.

 This green and white ribbon is some May Arts ribbon I have been hoarding.  I finally used it here as I thought it went nicely with the paper on 'Claire.'  Use your nice stuff for the people you love--I have been living by this while making the shadow boxes and my cards lately and am liking the results.  I highly suggest it.

For the boys' shadow boxes this round, I used metal tape in copper to 'hang' the letters.  I just got it last month and am loving it! Such a cool, masculine textural element.

Yes, some of the dates are different.   Parents are asking for boxes for their children that were dedicated before we implemented these boxes.  I happily oblige.

Thanks for looking!

This card was tricky to photograph.  The teal mat, clouds, and airplanes are mounted on a piece of clear acetate.  The orange mat is mounted underneath on the chevron paper but when it is closed they match up so the orange mat makes an outline shadow for the the teal mat.

It was made for a baby shower for a little boy.  I chose to forgo a sentiment and instead made the formation of planes.  The orange mat was just the right size for a handwritten note. 

I need to make more cards with this technique as it was fun to make and the outcome is fun as well.

Thanks for looking.
Paper: Pebbles - Happy Thoughts; Duralar - Acetate Alternative; PTI - Stamper's Select White, Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist
Stamps: PTI - Little Hot Rod
Ink: Memento - London Fog
Dies: Little Hot Rod, Cloud Dies, Mat Stack 4, Mat Stack 4 Layerz

For this card I stamped my images onto Spring Moss cardstock and colored with them Copics.  No fancy shading here since I wanted a simple look.  For the stars on the three animals on the bottom, I added sparkle with a clear Spica glitter pen.  The banner is hand cut since my Double-Ended Banner die was too narrow for this particular sentiment.  I was so excited when these images came out in this larger size (Tremendous Treats); it makes my Tiny Treats set even more versatile!
Paper: Papertrey Ink - Spring Moss, Spring Rain, Orange Zest
Ink: PTI - Soft Snow, Orange Zest; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Stamps: PTI - Tremendous Treats: Birthday, Script Sentiments, Happy Day
Other: PTI - Happy Day die; Copics - E55, R20, R22, C4, C1, C4, B21, Y 15, Y19; Spica Atyou - clear, Cuttlebug

I have not used my Spellbinders dies in a while so I pulled them out to use on this card.  I was very pleased that these Papertrey Ink stamps fit so perfectly within the second largest oval.  After I stamped them in Dark Chocolate ink I used clear embossing powder on top.  To fill the empty space at the top of the oval I pulled out my box of rhinestones and liked how the medium blue popped on the orange best. 

The slight overlap of the grosgrain ribbon over the card edges works nicely on this card.  One thing I have realized lately is I have a thing for polka dots.  Multicolored polka dots have to be my favorite, but all polka dots make me happy. :)
Paper: My Mind's Eye - Twinkle Twinkle Little Boy - multicolored polka dots and orange dots, Papertrey Ink - Dark Chocolate
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Congrats All the Way set
Ink: Papertrey Ink - Dark Chocolate
Embellishments: A La Mode - clear embossing powder, Kaiser craft - aqua rhinestones, Ribbon Boutique - brown grosgrain, Spellbinders - ovals
Other: cuttlebug

While talking with my best friend, she told me about a baby shower she was going to be hosting.  I offered to make her invitations and since she is my best friend I had to make the amazing.

I have been wanting to make invitations that pull out of a pocket for a couple years and decided this was my chance.  I learned quite a bit -- angels are not my friend while I am tired -- that will aid me in streamlining the process next time I make them.

I really like how the chalking around the edges looks like grass.  Can you tell I am enjoying using my KI Memories Classic Stack?  This zebra print paper has shown up in several of my recent designs.  The orange ribbon adds a nice detail and is also functional as a good way to pull the card out of the pocket.  

Of course the invites were cuter before I had to edit out information on them.  

Paper: Papertrey Ink - Dark Chocolate, New Leaf & Kraft, Staples - white cardstock, Doodlebug - juggle animals, Recollections - orange & light brown, The Paper Studio - medium orange & light pink, KI Memories - The Classics stack - blue zebra
Ink: Powder Puff Chalking Inks - Green with Envy
Embellishments: The Ribbon Boutique - orange grosgrain ribbon, googley eyes,
Other: Cricut, Create a Critter Cricut cartridge, Cuttlebug, The Paper Studio zebra embossing folder, Fiskars corner rounder, Crop-o-dile, Marvy Uchida paper cutter, brown ultra fine Sharpie, printer, Scor-tape

Hosting a baby shower for a lady that has a fun, vibrant style gave me a bit of creative lisence.  I went with a safari theme with some nontraditional, vibrant colors and a bit modern.  Usually people give the theme more subdued colors.  I also chose to use cheetah, zebra, and giraffe prints and splashes of color.

The embossed chartreuse cheetah texture with the textured gray of the elephant makes you want to run your fingers over them.  Papertrey Ink paper embosses beautifully.  Since I wanted to stay modern I found an elephant cut that did not require fussy layering or lots of intricate details.  I did scale down the onesie sleeves as I felt they were too long for the invite. 

Ripping the edges of the paper took quite a bit more time than cutting them quickly with a paper trimmer, but the overall affect is great.  I carefully ripped the paper (ha, yes, an oxymoron) to maximize the most exposure of frayed fibers.  The 'wanted poster' font fits with the jungle-ish feel.
Paper: Papertrey Ink - Blueberry Sky and Simply Chartreuse, The Paper Studio - textured gray, Georgia Pacific - white copy paper
Other: Cricut, New Arrival Cricut cartridge, Cuttlebug, Sizzix - cheetah embossing folder, printer

I made this banner for the safari theme baby shower I threw.  The location it was at had ceiling tiles which made hanging this a breeze as the tiles held the ribbon securely without adhesives or tacks.

I forgot to take a close up of it so I gathered the papers and ribbon I used (minus the brown satin grosgrain as I used it all) for you to see.  These colored zebra papers are a lot of fun and the orange paper with glittered animals was perfect for the letters.  The giraffe print ribbon was used as accents on some of the other decorations throughout the party so I tied it to the brown ribbon and used it to hang the banner.

Paper: KI Memries - The Classics Stack - blue, green & yellow zebra, DCWV - Animal Crackers stack - orange with glittered animal prints, Recollections - pale blue

Embellishments: The Ribbon Boutique - brown satin grosgrain & giraffe print satin grosgrain

Other: hole punch, Cricut, New Arrival Cricut cartridge

This was my first attempt at making a diaper cake.  The ones I have seen and received in the past for the most part had the diapers rolled up tight and secured with rubber bands or ribbon, but I did not take that approach. 


I fanned the diapers around in a circle like you would fan a deck of cards.  This swirling of the diapers looks interesting and pretty.  Next, I wrapped tissue paper around the sides for color and to get the look of fondant and then added the layered ribbon.  The giraffes were propped against the side as an afterthought when I had a couple left from decorating the room.  I like them.  I chose to leave the top unadorned and not to add animals or baby items all over it to go with the modern feel I was trying to achieve.
Paper: Papertrey Ink - Orange Zest, KI Memories - The Classics stack - yellow with white polka dots
Embellishments: The Ribbon Boutique - brown satin grosgrain and giraffe print satin grosgrain 
Other: green tissue paper, Wilton 12" scalloped cake round, Cricut, Create a Critter Cricut cartridge, diapers

Recently, I needed a special card for a special friend's baby shower. I went through my patterned papers to find just the right paper to make a [fairly] believable onesie. 

I wanted to make the onesie really girlie so I pulled out two colors of tissue paper and pleated them to make ruffles.  The flower at the top is tissue paper too to pull it all together.

I had heard there would be butterflies in the decor at the baby shower.  I knew I wanted to in cooperate them into her card.  The print on the onesie has a few but I chose to decorate the inside with them as well.  The yellow and white pocket on the left side is a gift card holder.  The pink satin ribbon wasn't exactly what I wanted so I flipped it over and used the textured underside on the lip of the holder.  
Paper: DCWV - The Lemon Flower Stack - white and yellow grid, Recollections - dark and light pink, Staples - white cardstock, DCWV - The Stack 6 - summer time print, light and dark pink tissue paper
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Congrats All the Way set
Ink: Stampabilities - white pigment
Embellishments: Hero Arts - green flower gem, Papertrey Ink - luxe satin ribbon - Hibiscus Burst

Today I have something out of the ordinary.  A friend of ours had a baby and she likes moneys so I whipped out this cute monkey with the baby's name for the flowers we took to her at the hospital.  I love two tone roses. I don't know the actual name of these, but they are like fire and ice roses except they are yellow and orange.

The rickrack ribbon layered on top of the grosgrain ribbon is really cute here. The vine that the letters are attached to had leaves spaced out just as I needed.  Don't you just love it when things pull together themselves.  

Paper: My Mind's Eye - Twinkle Twinkle Little Boy - yellow with tone on tone stars, light blue with stars, Recollections - tan, black, and green, Best Occasions Textured Cardstock - brown
Embellishments: Hobby Lobby - green grosgrain, Michael's - blue rickrack
Other: Cricut Create a Critter cartridge - monkey and vine, Cricut George cartridge - stars, Cricut Hannah Montana cartridge - letters