Blame it on my Pants

Okay, this might be TMI, but today's card was inspired by my pants. I'm not sure why Old Navy felt that these tan chinos needed that cute little polka dotted material on the inside of the waistband, but as I looked at it the other day, I thought, "The color of those dots is very similar to Rich Razzleberry...that color combination would make a cute card!" My brain--it's weird. I know. I'm comfortable in my own mind though, so I filed the idea away for later execution.

When I got to my craft room, I remembered that I don't have any stamps that are polka dots (although there's a great small background stamp with dots for sale right now in the Occasions Mini, and I'd contemplated buying it but decided for the solid stripes instead), so I improvised. It's just inspiration, not duplication, right?

I used my RR Stampin' Write Marker to ink the stripes and created my patterned paper. Then I pulled out one of my favorite sets of all time: Wonderful You. I had seen this card by Nina Dee and wanted to CASE it. I don't have the Big Shot die that has this leaf, so I used the leaf image from WY and heat embossed it with White Embossing Powder! Yay!

I was going to mount the 1.75" squares in a straight row across the card, but they looked better wonky. Again, I went with the flow! Everything was adhered to a Kraft base and with the addition of a little Hemp Twine, the card is complete. I'm not adding a sentiment at this point, as I don't know who I'm going to use it for. A friend of mine does have a birthday later this week, so that's what it might be used for.

Look around for inspiration...you never know, you might be sitting on it!

Baby Shower Invitation

Finally! I've come up with a card for a baby that I LIKE! This card is the invitation for my cousin Abby's baby shower, which will be held next month in Indiana. I won't be able to attend, but I wanted to be part of the event in some way, so I volunteered to make the invitations.

The baby's nursery doesn't really have a theme, but the walls are painted baby blue and tan. So I pulled out Bashful Blue and Kraft card stock and began experimenting with some new stamps I have.

The striping on the Kraft is done with a new small stripes stamp that's featured in the Occasions Mini. It's a great size; 2 7/8" square. This makes it easier to work with than a large background stamp. There are 4 of these, and I purchased 3! I stamped the stripes with Whisper White Craft ink and heat embossed them with White Embossing Powder.

I used a second one, albeit in a very small way on the BB card stock. If you click on the picture of the card, you can see the small letters peeking out behind the focal image. I have a feeling these are going to get a lot of use!

The bug is from the Level 1 Hostess set offerings and is called Love Bug. I stamped it with Sahara Sand Classic Ink and then colored it with that and a BB Stampin' Write Marker.

The heart was almost an afterthought. I couldn't figure out how to incorporate a sentiment that made this into an announcement/invitation. I had this heart in the same small box I was keeping the buttons, and I remembered that I have a very small stamp that says "it's a boy". My son wandered in while I was trying to determine placement of all the pieces, and he's responsible for this result!

I only have 11 of these to make once I get a thumbs-up from the hostess, so that won't be overwhelming. I have a pretty busy week. Working every day except Wednesday, crafting at Ronald McDonald House tomorrow night, then hosting a group of high school girls Friday night through Sunday morning for our church's local retreat. Good times! Have a great week!