Twins and Teapotters

Happy New Year!  I was lucky enough to kick off 2013 with some gorgeous snow which really put me in a festive mood.  It made for a beautiful start to the New Year!

Today's card is a Teapotter's Challenge card at Splitcoast Stampers.  This week our cards are celebrating the birth of fraternal twins born to a sweet couple, Andrea and Erik.  They've been married for 19 years and have suffered through miscarriages until finally, at the age of 44, Andrea gave birth to twins.  Yay!!  Every time I hear a story like this, it makes me smile all the way from my heart.  I know quite personally how hard it is to go through a pregnancy after miscarriages, and I know the amazing joy of bringing a child safely into the world after months of waiting and worrying.  So I am thrilled to send this card to Erik and Andrea with my very best thoughts and wishes:

 

I just love this image of a mother cradling her child.  I used this image and sentiment on the cards I sent out to family and friends after my daughter was born.  The sentiment is a Christmas one (I'm sure you recognize it as a movie title), but I think it fits perfectly.  My daughter's birthday is in December (and Andrea's twins were born in December), so the sentiment suits the season well.  I feel such deep and utter contentment when holding my children and I know that really, truly, my life is wonderful and amazing and blessed, and this stamp really puts my feelings into words.  Since these babies are boy and girl twins I had to include some pink and blue on my card, which I used in the background.  I kept the baby's blanket a neutral yellow so it could symbolize either baby in her arms.  I wanted the focus to be on the image and sentiment so I kept this card free of embellishments. It is a simple card, but I hope it conveys my heartfelt joy at the birth of these beautiful, much-anticipated babies.

I started by stamping my image and sentiment on Solar White 110 lb. card stock, then used watercolor crayons and brushes lightly dipped in water to color the image.  I inked the edges of the stamped panel with Rich Cocoa and set it aside.  I used the direct-to-paper method to add blue and pink ink to another panel of Solar White card stock and adhered the stamped panel to the inked one.  I attached pink and blue patterned papers to a Solar White card base, then added a satiny white ribbon to cover the seam.  I attached the stamped piece to the card base to complete the front of the card.  I also stamped a sentiment on the inside which reads, "It's the smallest things that fill your heart."

I never get tired of making baby cards!  Since I took a short break from stamping over the holidays, this challenge gave me a happy excuse to get inky again.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Products Used:

Stamps: Sketches (Stampin' Up!); sentiment from Hampton Art

Stamp on Inside Panel: Smallest Things (Stampabilities)

Paper: Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb. card stock (Neenah); Clouds (Paper Pizzazz);
Baby Girl Elephant (Reminisce)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Summer Sky and Angel Pink (Tsukineko)

Tools and Accessories: Watercolor crayons (Staedtler); ribbon (Offray)

To the Moon and Back

Today's card just tugs a bit at my heartstrings, so I hope you don't mind if I share the story behind this one.  I bought the stamp I used on this card because the sentiment means so much to me.  If you ask my son how much his mommy loves him, he'll answer, "To the moon and back!"  (I must pause here to announce that I have amazing children.  Sure, I'm biased, but it's still true!) 

So when I found this stamp recently, I knew it would be well-loved at my house.  And when I saw this week's challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch (check them out HERE), I decided it was the perfect time to pull out this stamp and start creating.  I have a feeling you'll be seeing more cards with this stamp in the future.  It's just such a great sentiment!

Here's the sketch I was working with:

And here is my card:

It's really hard to see in this picture (darned overcast day!), but the sentiment panel and the moon are shaded with peach, yellow and blue tones to give them some dimension and keep them from being stark white.  I used die cuts in my Big Shot for most of this card.  The moon is a circle die cut, the sentiment is a Nestabilities die cut, and the stars are die-cut from shimmery silver paper.  I stamped my sentiment, then sponged dye ink and chalks on my sentiment panel and the moon.  I adhered everything to a dark blue card base (it's lightly textured, which also doesn't show up well in the picture).  This will be an easy card to recreate, so I plan to make a few more to donate to Operation Write Home.  I am sure there are some deployed mommies and daddies who would love to send cards home to their kids!

I am working on another challenge card today and will be posting that one tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Products Used:

 

Stamp - Unity

Paper - Various sources

Ink - Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)

Tools: Big Shot; Sizzix Circles #2; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eighteen;

Provo Craft die for stars; Stampin' Up! chalks; various dye inks