It's all "Monkey" business...

I read an article once about the origin of nicknames.  It seems way back in the dark ages, parents would call their children by substitute names during their youth (and especially their babyhood) to keep ghouls and goblins from stealing them.  This is how nicknames came to be.

We call our youngest son Monkey.  He's always climbing on everything, constantly clinging to us, and he has those HUGE chubby cheeks when he smiles really big.  People always look at us like we're crazy for calling our son after an animal.  I think it's adorable.  And he answers to it.  He knows that nickname as well as he knows his own name - although he chooses not to answer to either of them when he's up to no good and he's about to get into trouble.

A couple years ago, I attended a name frame workshop.  It was a complete BLAST!  Then, I made a name frame for my oldest son using the nickname I've called him from birth - Chunk.  He was the fattest baby I'd ever seen.  I used to call him my "michelin-tire baby".  You'd never know it now, he's as thin as a rail and is all angles.  I loved cataloging some of my favorite pictures in an homage to my son.

When our current Idea Book came out and I saw the adorable Babycakes paper pack, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it - make a name frame for the baby.  So I sent all my favorite pictures from my cell phone over to Walgreens and started measuring.  Thankfully, I was able to find the same frame I'd gotten for his older brother.  The finished size I picked is 9 x 12.  I wanted the most space I could  to put as many pictures of my little monkey as possible.

Don't you love it??  I absolutely LOVE how stinkin' CUTE this name frame turned out!  His favorite things are eating, getting filthy and being cuddled - typical boy!  I totally captured his spirit in this name frame and it's going to look GREAT hanging on the wall right next to his older brother's.

Welcome Baby Boy

I LOVE this card!  I might be a bit biased, cuz I made it.  And although I rarely make things I don't like, I don't always fall in love with some of my creations like I did with this card.

I don't think there are enough adjectives to describe how awesome I think this card is.  I love that the emphasis is on the mother and pram.  She looks blissful and peaceful - just the way we all want to look when we're pushing our little angels around.  I love that it's simple.  I love that it's elegant.  I love that it's "boy-ish" without being "baby-ish". 

I made it for my younger sister when she was pregnant with her third son.

First, I used our Later Sk8r paper.  (All current product is soon to be retired.  Later Sk8r is only available through July 31st, so order yours here before they're all gone.)  I love when CTMH brings out new boy papers!  I paper pieced the mother's dress and the baby's pram from two of the patterned papers in the pack.  I used our blending pen and inks to color in her hair, skin, shoes, and the baby's arm.  I added bling to hear ears and the middle of the wheels.  I traced over the wheels, spokes and handle of the pram with our silver metallic pen to give it the appearance of being made from metal.  I layered Lagoon, White Daisy and Outdoor Denim cardstock on top of each other to create a visually beautiful background without competing with the stamped image.  For the strip of Outdoor Denim behind the stamped image, I used our Color Ready Seam Binding Ribbon and daubed Outdoor Denim ink all across it.  But be careful!  If you do this, you have to color it on scrap paper and you HAVE to let it dry for 24 hours before using it.  Otherwise, you'll get ink all over you and your project.  I also added a few pieces of bling to the bottom of the card as a finishing touch.

I hope you like it as much as I liked making it.

It's a Baby Girl!!

Oh, my gosh!!  I am so proud of how cute this card turned out to be!  I just had my second baby in June and after I found out I was having another son, one by one a whole bunch of family members and friends started expecting their own little bundles of joy (3 cousins, 1 sister, 1 step-sister and a couple girlfriends).  Babies are falling from heaven all around me.  So I decided to pull out my "Mommy" stamp and make some cards.  I made this one for my cousin whose baby is coming around the holidays.

I love pink and black together (in case you hadn't noticed from my blog).  I think it can be classy and girly and give great attitude all at the same time!  I knew I wanted to use Roxie for this card because it does all that and more.  I paper pieced her clothes and the baby carriage and used our Blending Pen to color in her skin and hair, the baby, the inside of the carriage and to add dimension to the ruffles on the back of the buggy.

I didn't go all out embellishing this card because I wanted the focus to be on the mom and baby carriage.  I accented the flourishes on the patterned paper by using Liquid Glass.  It added just the right amount of shine.  I finished it off with a few pearls and a little bling in mom's ears (just because I think every woman deserves a pair of diamond earrings) and on the wheels of the buggy.

I hope my cousin likes this as much as I do!

Enjoy!

Theresa
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