Waltzingmouse Stamps - Cards

Did you know that Waltzingmouse Stamps is going out of business?  I'm dismayed - but what can I do?!  I did pick up two more stamp sets at the last minute - the leaves/flowers and the sentiments.  When they arrived, I sat down and made these cards right away.  They took no time at all!  Card stock and Inks were all Close-to-My-Heart.

ps - I believe they are closing April 1 and it's no fooling!  

Mormor and Oldemor

My niece is half Danish.  Her mother was called "Mormor" by Dorian for Mother's Mother.  Elisa's Grandmother was also Mormor, or Oldemor for Dorian.  It's nice to have these photos to honor the heritage.

The cardstock was CTMH, but the design paper was from Little Yellow Bicycle (retired).  

The toys that this child has had to enrich his life are simply amazing!  I love the bright colors and how interactive they are.  The xylophone must have been quite noisy - perfect for a little boy (maybe not so much for his Mommy)!

Learning to eat

These photos of Dorian learning to eat are so CUTE!  I love when he decided the bowl of spaghetti would make a great hat!  *giggle*

The papers are all CTMH, some retired.  The ribbon from my stash.  

Elisa's Family pages

Elisa's family in Sydney include the now infamous Aunt Amelie, her sister.  These pages needed "flip-flaps" also.  The sentiments are a LONG AGO retired CTMH stamp set, but the Glacier Cardstock and Chocolate Fundamentals paper is current.  I love when old-meets-new and they click like this!  

Robin Hood

There were so many photos of this evening, I couldn't decide what to leave out!  I left Elisa a "wee little spot" in the lower left-hand corner for journaling!  *giggle* 

Laughter!

I know that both Ben and Elisa are excellent photographers, but honestly - they must never put the camera down!  This photo is absolutely amazing!  I used CTMH Georgie papers and Picture My Life card, and stamped a tone-on-tone random design of elephants on the left side bar.  

First Swim?

This lovely photo of Elisa and Dorian in the swimming pool (with the waterfall behind them) is so sweet!  I've left a big journaling spot for her to enhance with more of the story!

This page started out to be about the "nursery".  I loved how D's parents set up everything - so welcoming!  Then I came across two precious photos of him in the crib and that adorable smile!  Well, another opportunity to use "Flip-Flaps"!  I've left the title blank - I can finish it up if Elisa has any ideas?!

Open Stamping Technique card

We take a break from our "regularly scheduled baby book scrapping" to bring you an important update! *giggle* 

One of my friends has been asking about the drapery fold card for a couple of months! It took me awhile to work out the measurements - perhaps if I were better at math . . . But I finally got something I can live with!  Naturally, there are lots of ways to do this technique; I wanted a 5" by 4" drape and used a slightly modified A2 (5 1/4" x 4 1/4") card base.  This was my second attempt to pull it all together, and I'm satisfied.  The papers are Penelope with a little bit of a yellow stripe design paper from Georgie.  The cardstock is Canary, Pixie, and Pear.  I ran out of Pear (Heavens!) so the card packets have the leaves cut from the design paper (green/white pattern) and I actually like it better that way.

Open Stamping is April 3 (Sunday) at 1 PM.  Please give me a call and let me know if you are coming so I know that I have enough packets. 

Sleepy time

There is something magical about sleeping babies!  I love these photos of Dorian sleeping!  There are others, to be sure!, but none compare to these two (imho).  I kept the page simple to allow the photos to take center stage.

Baby Play Group

Time's fun when you're having flies!  Tee, hee!  I used this retired CTMH stamp set to create some "boy" embellishments, even though the play group is a mixture of boys and girls.  Again, Dorian's parents will need to add a few more details - but I must say, these photos are amazing!

Okay, so I haven't had any little boys of my own, but I do realize that Dragons are not Dinosaurs.  I'm hoping Dorian will allow me some artistic license here!  His most precious babyhood toy was this Dragon!  I'm so glad Ben and Elisa took great photos of it!  

I stamped the bones on the Chocolate cardstock (in Chocolate ink) to create a background paper.  The dinosaurs are stamped on all sorts of different cardstock and papers (one from the current Urban paper pack - do you know which one?).  Hint:  looks a bit like stone.

What fun photos to have to use for the baby book!  I love the way Ben plays with Dorian - and while I don't have dates for these photos, I thought they might be close in age?!  It doesn't matter, Mummy and Daddy can add those details, perhaps.  The yellow base paper is from the current Georgie paper pack.  The design paper with the adorable dinosaurs is a retired paper from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I sure wish I could get more of that paper!  The three photos extending out to the right will be displayed in the book in "Flip-Flaps" so the one on the outside right-hand side will actually be on top, the middle one behind it, and the close-up is adhered to the scrapbook page.  

Baby Book pages!

I have had this retired CTMH Stamp set for many years - I bought it primarily for the Robert Munsch poem (center left panel) but the images of the parent-baby, or babies, are so very precious!  It was perfect for the birth day page - with room for Elisa to add special notes.  

The images were stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored with the Derwent Inktense pencils.  These are dye ink pencils that explode with color when you touch water to them!  I love my Inktense pencils! 

Gift bag

I needed a little gift bag to take for a dear friend.  This friend is truly "One  of a kind" and precious to me!  So, remembering a card idea I saw on Pinterest, I decided to line up some chairs and make one of them bright and fun (like my friend)!  Can you believe that I've had this now-retired CTMH Stamp of the Month for YEARS and had never gotten any ink on it!?!  Wow.  I think there have been some missed opportunities!

So, the details  . . .  Sangria paper pack, Poppy ink for the little sentiment, and I paper pieced the chair cushions.  The chairs themselves were stamped in Saddle but left un-colored. This weekend I'm at a fantastic scrapping retreat with my friend - it promises to be a BLAST - and with any luck, I'll have something to show for the three days!  *giggle*

ps - please ignore the very messy studio background on the "complete gift bag" photo!  My goodness, photos certainly tell the truth!

Animal Greetings again - the Whale

This card is the same as the one yesterday - only turned on it's side. I used Lagoon ink and cardstock and colored the whale with Shin Han markers.  Can you see the mottling on the whale?  I did that by pouncing a "barely beige" marker over the colored whale.  I love the effect! I don't have an immediate need for this card, but I'm sure it will find a home soon!  *wink*

Animal Greetings - Kitty

This card uses the Operation Smile benefit stamp set called Animal Greetings that is on the back cover of the Annual Inspirations Catalog.  The sentiments are all from a retired CTMH set.  I used Slate ink, cardstock, and the design paper is from La Via en Rose (another current paper pack).  I'm giving this one to the friend who watched over my precious kitty while I was off on our mini-vacation to Palm Springs!

Two more baby pages

These pages are "bath time" and "Diaper Change"!  I random stamped circular images on the bath time paper to suggest bubbles and I stamped a LOT of the little duckies.  The ones on the left were run through my Xyron machine and made into stickers so that Elisa can use them, if she wants to, on strategic places.  (Not sure that it matters, really).  The little diapers were made with a square that I just started fiddling around with - cut at angles, folded the top down, then found the white rick-rack to use to "hang" them on the banner.  Interesting!

Baby scrapbook progress

These two (in reverse order) are supposed to be together to show all the things little Dorian wants to be when he grows up.  The camera page is him with Daddy - who is a professional photographer.  The second page is him in various costumes with Mummy - and the photos shown to the right side of the page will actually be in "flip-flaps" on the outside of the page protectors so the photos are actually two deep.  Very cool!  Sorry I've been absent!  We were on a mini-vacation and the hotel that said they had wifi - didn't.  Home now to civilization!