A welcome card for Baby Jack

Back in January, my family was blessed with another dear baby boy, Jack. Born to my brother and his wife, I am very lucky to be his aunt. And he is a new cousin for my Ashley. Following is a photo of the two of them. Unfortunately, I didn't get the timing right...Jack was coming up to a feed and therefore not the happiest chappy but it'll give the cousins something to talk about one day :)

I was very slow to make a welcome card for Jack but was happy with the result. The colour combo of yellow, blue and warm grey along with ribbon and scalloped border works well.

Of course Jack is a bouncing bonnie bubba now, with his newborn phase long gone. He's onto solids and I'm sure he'll soon be on the move.

Love from Crafty Kim

Welcome Baby Boy

Well I really have strayed from the great unpacking...but I had this picture ready to go so I thought I'd show you sooner rather than later.

I made this card for a crafty friend and her husband who recently welcomed their son into the world. It always wonderful to hear about the safe arrival of a new baby.

This card is made with a retired stamp (for the main image) and retired paper but I love the colour combination of Bashful Blue, Vanilla, Cocoa and Chocolate (you'd think I was chatting about food). I love the twill tape too.

Anyway, the washing machine is making a final boarding call for all holiday clothing to board so really must go.

Love from Crafty Kim

Our Little Reindeer

Howdy,

Here's one of the make-and-takes from our recent Get Ready for Christmas Craft Day.

It's a 6 x 6 inch photo board decorated with Ski Slope paper from the current Spring Mini Catalogue. Teamed with some stripey red grosgrain ribbon.

The photo is from my son's first Christmas. He was a February baby so he's about 10 months old in the picture. He's 7 years old now and more excited about Christmas than ever. How time flies.

I thought this project would make an ideal Christmas gift for grandparents or other relatives. It proved popular at the Christmas Craft Day. If you would like the instructions, please email me. It's quite adaptable, I've used the format previously as shown here. And if you want to update the photo, it's a simple as squeezing the clip and replacing it with the new happy snap.

Love from Crafty Kim

Baby Jumpsuit Card

Congratulations to Suzanne, Wesley, Luke and Robert on the birth of baby Matthew. Three boys. I read somewhere that the average life span of mothers of only boys is less than that of those with only girls. Now why would that be, hmmmmm....anyway enough philosophy, here's the card I finally made to congratulate them all on the new arrival:


It is approximately A6 in size but is in the shape of a baby jumpsuit. I'm really pleased with the result. This card style would also make great baby shower invitations because they are quite easy and quick to do. The original design and instructions come from Lauren Meader. I decided to use Bashful Blue as the base card and the "Happy New Baby" greeting from the Level 1 hostess, For A Friend stamp set. Since this greeting has some small flowers on it, I used the small flowers from Little Pieces stamped in the same blue and Whisper White. Then, thanks to Marelle Taylor's suggestion, I added Faux Stitching to the arms with the Mat Pack, Piercing Tool and White Gel Pen and matching Bashful Blue Eyelets as press studs the bottom. Done (at last - the babe is 6 weeks old).

Love from Crafty Kim

Is there a Baby Boom happening?

My friend, Mia, who is an early childhood nurse, tells me September/October is the peak period for births. That's certainly true for my circle of friends, there's plenty of new babies around.

While I was up in Queensland, one of my SU! team, Kendall had a baby girl, Savannah Dawn. A new daughter for husband, Daniel, and a little sister for Amelia (Millie). Here's the card I made for them all:


The design is largely inspired by a card from Marelle Taylor. I've used the big and small flowers from the Little Pieces and Big Pieces stamp sets, stamped in Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose on Whisper White card stock. I've pieced together a baby from the All In The Family stamp set and mounted it on a scallop made using the Scallop Circle Punch.

The "Welcome Baby" greeting is from the Short & Sweet stamp set which is great value this month at 20% off its normal price. Both words and graphics for under $24!

Thanks for looking,

Love from Crafty Kim

Welcome Nathan James

It's been a busy few days but I finally got to making a baby card. My beautiful friend, Kathryn, has been blessed with a gorgeous boy, her third son. Big brothers Thomas and Benjamin are thrilled with their new brother. Ben, is especially proud to be a big brother for the first time after nearly five years of being the little brother.

In the words of Don Herold..."Babies are such a nice way to start people". I couldn't agree more.

The starting point for this card was Bashful Blue. I looked at my trusty Colour Wheel and found that it teams well with Brilliant Blue. I tried teaming the blues up with Barely Banana and it wasn't in any way offensive but it was hardly eye catching. All by myself, I came up with Pumpkin Pie instead (with apologies to Michelle Dyson who has an aversion to orange). But what else? I'm thinking green but what green? So I went for a visit to Stampin' Up! Colour Combos site and plugged in the colours in use. Back came Whisper White (obviously), Gable Green and Wild Wasabi. I do like Wild Wasabi but I love the soft freshness of Gable Green.

I was away...I love giraffes and have a few of them in my collection. I decided to use the little giraffe from Little Hellos and use the Spotlight Technique. I just coloured the giraffe with an orange pencil since Brilliant Blue smudges if you try to water colour or use a blender pen on the image. I used the corner rounder punch to create a scalloped edge and then the 1/8 inch circle punch to add the holes to the scallops. I love the new Silver Hodge Podge from the Spring Mini Catalogue so I framed the words "baby boy" from Everyday Flexible Phrases with silver. I couldn't leave my ribbon reel in its home so Pumpkin narrow grosgrain was threaded behind the silver frame. I used my favourite pad, Versamark, with Itty Bitty Backgrounds to stamp the Gable Green base card.

So, if you're ever faced with a colour dilemma, be sure to solve it by visiting the Colour Combo site. There's always a link to it on this web site, on the right under "Places I like to visit".

I have been working on a Christmas novelty item today and bought some Pascalls Columbines for the purpose. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the project due to a shortage of the lollies. It seems the manufacturers put less in the bag than they once did ;)

So I'll be back right after I've re-stocked the Columbine supply.

Love from Crafty Kim

P.S. Note to my lovely friend Suzanne, also a recently appointed mother of three boys, if you're reading this. I know baby Matthew is older than baby Nathan and I still owe you a visit and a card. You're not forgotten. Thanks for your patience.