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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

New Year/Baby/Beginnings


Hello and good morning!!

I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start.  Mine is going well so far, though I've finally started The Diet, and I still haven't taken down the Christmas decorations.  Crafting had to come first after a two-week hiatus.  You know what I mean, yes you do.  As for The Diet, it's been what, about 12 hours so far, and I'm already bored.  But I've been kind of bad for oh, the past 7 months, and now it's time to pay the piper.  But other than that, Happy New Year to me.

Thank goodness for paper.  And glitter.  And ribbon.

Today's card is a baby card.  I've made one baby card to date, about 6 months ago, and I'd like to have a couple on hand to round out my collection of cards.  At my age, all of my friends have grown, or almost-grown children, so there isn't much call for baby cards in my world.  Still, they're nice to have.  

Oh, who am I kidding, there are several challenges out there who are using baby cards or new beginnings as their theme, so without further ado, here 'tis.



I had fun making this card.  It is, for me, a rather simple card which is apropos for the subject.  The color scheme is for the color challenge over at There She Goes, which is to use blue, black and yellow.  Do you think they'll count it against me that I have one little accent shot of pink?  Hopefully not.  I really did enjoy these colors - they're fresh and clean.  (The black is the ink used to stamp the images.)
The first layer was embossed with the Swiss Dot ef as the base.  When I use white layers, I almost always tend to emboss them so as to not have a huge expanse of white cardstock looking back at me, which makes me, a color hound, completely nervous.  

I stamped the image onto Whisper White and paper pieced the three little bits of baby clothing after first having colored them with my brand new Copics.  Since I'm so new to using Copics, I didn't want to risk ruining the whole thing if I colored any of them poorly.  


I stitched around the middle layers (yellow and blue) a couple of times before adhering them to the base.

 And now for the fun part - the embellishments.  I LOVE embellishments and almost can't make a card without at least something dressing it up.  I used seam binding for this one (I think I dyed it myself), and tied it into a messy bow. I attached a tiny brass duck charm and two tiny tags with blue-striped baker's twine, then topped the whole thing off with a little flower button.  Darlin'.

  
I ruched the ribbon strip by pulling a couple of threads down the middle of the strip of seam binding, thereby causing it to gather up, then adhered it to the card with Scor-Tape.  Anyone who sews knows this is a great way to gather fabric, but I had forgotten it until I saw this tutorial given by my good friend Catherine Pooler over at StampNation (members go here, non-members here).  This is a much more reliable way of getting that ruched look rather than just manually sticking the ribbon to adhesive and hoping it holds (which it rarely does for me).  This way the ribbon is actually gathered instead of fake-gathered. 

Here's a picture showing the various layers in greater detail.  (You can see a glimpse of the finished inside.)  I love adding depth by popping up layers on dimensionals.


 I hope you've enjoyed my card today, and I appreciate you stopping by for a visit.  Here's wishing you a lovely day full of whatever it is that makes you happy.

Happy crafting!



 
Supplies:

Paper: Whisper White, Brights DSP Stack (all SU)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamp: Hello Baby (Flourishes), Tiny Tags (SU)
Extras: SB Labels One and Decorative Labels One, Copics, seam binding, Scor-Tape, button, duck charm (Mark's Finest Papers), Jewelry Tag punch, baker's twine, dimensionals, sewing machine, Swiss Dots ef.

Challenges entered:

SCS TLC411 - The Best of 2012 (I used the Ruched Ribbon challenge)
Alota Rubber Stamps #98 - New Born
There She Goes TSG189 - Color Challenge (blue, black, yellow)
Incy Wincy Designs - Something NEW (my Copics)
The Pink Elephant #181 - Celebrate (and new babies are reason enough)
Really Reasonable Ribbon #63 - My New Toys (+ ribbon) (My new toys are Copics!)
Simon Says Stamp - New Something (new Copics, baby card)
CCEE1301 - Baby card
Crafty Ribbons Challenge #36 - New Beginnings
3 Girl JAM #9 - Anything Goes
Tuesday Throwdown #129- Shiny and New
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #202 - Something New (new baby, new Copics)
A Gem of a Challenge #62 - New Beginnings

  
Sweet Sunday Sketch #175







21 comments:

Kristi said...

So lovely! What a great baby card!

Hugs,
Kristi

Kristie said...

Adorable! I love all your special touches Shea, especially the little duck charm. So cute! Love how you finished off the inside too!
Hugs!

Crafty Mamma Mia said...

Hi Shea - this is a beautiful card. I love all of your embellishments and the way everything pops off the card! Thanks for sharing your card at Incy Wincy Designs this week in our "Something New" challenge.
Helen x (DT)

Marie said...

So Sweet!

Thank for playing with us at Alota Rubber Stamps!

Allison Cope said...

A beautiful card Shea! I love the frilly ribbon details and your image colouring is fabulous! Thanks for playing along with us at Flourishes this week! Don't forget about "Love Letters" challenge - you could win the entire January release!!! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

The baby card is so darling. The raised dots look so sweet. :)

Sue said...

This is gorgeous. I love the sweet image and cheerful colour scheme with such beautiful detailing too.
Thank you for taking part in A Gem of A Challenge
Sue

Dawny P said...

This is so lovely - a really nice design. Happy New Year and thank you or joining us over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge. Hugs, Dawny x

3 Girl JAM said...

Another beautiful project! Love this color combination. Thanks for linking up with 3 Girl JAM!

Julie
http://3girljam.blogspot.com/
http://3girljamchallenge.blogspot.com/

Nikki said...

Beautifully done thanks for playing along at Incy Wincy this week
hugs Nikki &DT

carol said...

Gorgeous sweet card, thanks for joining in with our challenge at CRAFTY RIBBONS X Carol

jessica said...

Another gorgeous project!!! LOVE the color combo!!
TFS and playing along with us over at the 3GJ Challenge Blog!!
Jessica
3GJ DT

Laura said...

Oh, this is lovely!
Thanks for playing at crafty ribbons
Laura

Denise Marzec said...

Sooooooo sweet! Lovin' your ribbon treatment with the charm. Too cute. Thanks for joining us at the FTTC!

CraftyGirl said...

Lovely baby card. Your colors are perfect. I am very glad you entered this week at Tuesday Throwdown. I hope you had fun!!! See you back very soon to play in another fun challenge.

TTFN,

CraftyGirl
craftygirlcardsandcrafts.blogspot.com
Tuesday Throwdown DT

Mandy said...

Beautiful Baby card,I love the image and all your embellishments are fabulous....Thank you for sharing with us at A Gem of a Challenge and for entering the DT call,good luck...
Mandy x

Julie said...

Lovely card - I never though of pulling a few threads to ruche up ribbon - great tip!

Plus I love that little duck charm!!

Thanks for playing at Tuesday Throwdown!

Hugs

Julie

Theresa said...

What a beautiful baby card. I love that ribbon and the charms. Fabulous image. Thank for joining me this week at There She Goes.

Kim said...

This is so adorable. The colors and embellishments are beautiful. Thanks for playing along with us at Tuesday Throwdown.

Kim

Sheri Gilson said...

Adorable baby card...love all the sweet touches!! Thanks so much for playing along with The Pink Elephant!!

Decosse's Dynamite Doodles said...

What a cute card. I love that image you used.

Lisa D.