Valentine's Day Kids Craft

Happy Friday, everyone! It's been a long week and I'm so ready for the weekend! Today I am featured over at the Passionately Artistic blog. Check out how to make this easy necklace using shrinky plastic material. Tutorial included. Enjoy!

Baby Card

Hello All! Carole here with a happy card and happy news. I have so many things I want to say, I may need to bullet point everything so I don't forget something important I want to share. Yes, that's what I'm going to do. Here goes:

• My nephew Travis, and his wife Britni (from here on out referred to as my niece, because to me, she is), had their first child last Thursday, January 12th. Aila Lael. What a beautiful name. More about that sweet thing later.
• Normally I would be jealous that my younger sister got to be a grandmother before me. But age has a way of mellowing a person and I'm so thrilled and happy for her and her whole family! This tiny little angel is loved by so many people. I just know I want to be part of her life in any way I can be.
• I love this card I am going to share with you. I love it so much I hate to give it away, but I also can't wait to share it with the recipients because I want them to see how much the event this card  is meant to commemorate means to me.
• I must thank my friend Sabrina Friduss because the inspiration for this design came through her and her blog.
• I am going to enter this into the Card Patterns Sketch Challenge 148 that I was led to after seeing Sabrina's submission for this Challenge. So thanks to them for giving me a starting point. It truly made this card doable for me.

Here's the card I made for baby Aila:

Before I give you the specifics I have to mention that either my camera sucks, or I just do not know how to use it. This card looks so much better in person. The colors, while subtle, are definitely not washed out. Thanks for indulging me in this side note!

How I did it:

I won't be able to give you all the specifics but a general idea of the parts and pieces. The paper is from two different retired Stampin Up paper packs. I'm not even sure what they are called. I have to believe Britni and Travis took special care in choosing their daughter's name. It's so filled with meaning and representative of their faith that I  know the name means so much to them. So, with respect for her given name, I decided to choose a theme that celebrates the beauty of it. First, I looked up the meanings of her first and second name on the internet, and copy and pasted them to a word doc. Next, I typed her name repeatedly into two tables on a word doc and printed out the documents on patterned Stampin Up paper. My sister mentioned to me that the baby's room was decorated in a green and brown color scheme and a large tree was painted on one wall. I used this as my cue for colors and design elements. I knew the meaning of the baby's first name, "oak tree", was important to her parents. So I decided to use a tree stamp (I think it's an oak tree, I'm not good about these things but it looks strong so I think it must be one)  on this card as well.  The quick and dirty of this...I took the baby's name and definitions and cut them into 4 strips lengthwise. I matted them on a rectangle of brown cardstock. I used a Stampin Up corner and matching border punch to punch around two sides of a rectangle in a coordinating color. I adhered the brown rectangle with words to the punched mat. I wrapped a piece of wide green scrap ribbon around this mat and tied a bow. I stamped the oak tree (a Stampin Up stamp) on a piece of patterned paper cut into a circle shape and colored it with some Promarkers. I die cut a fancy coordinating cut using my Cricut and the Martha Stewart Elegant cartridge (I think) and matted the stamped circle to it using pop dots. I then adhered this on top of the ribbon with more pop dots. Wanting to use the stick pins and beads I previously purchased, I fashioned two coordinating stick pins and stuck them through the ribbon. I adhered the completed mat to the Ivory cardstock that I covered with a coordinating piece of patterned paper. 

The inside sentiment was printed on the same patterned paper on my printer using Microsoft Word. I decorated the inside with the same border punch and scraps of paper I used for the front of the card.

Aila Lael means "oak tree of God", in case you could not read the card. What a beautiful, strong name. I wish the three of them much love and  blessings. How wonderful the start of a new family is.

Gift Check Holder

Good day, all! Today this project is being featured over at The Bugbytes. Please visit me there where I've posted more pictures and instructions. 

Thanks, 

Carole