Baby Boy Box Card

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend, a belated Happy 4th of July to anyone who celebrates it, my husband and I had an Independence Day meal even though obviously we don't celebrate that holiday in the UK, to be honest I just wanted to try some USA frozen meals from Iceland lol - we had chilli Philli Steak Bake, salad and soured cream with home grown chives mixed in. I'm not sure how authentic the meal was but we both loved the chilli Philli steak bake and we'll certainly be having the soured cream and chives again though I may add some sliced spring onions next time to give it a bit more kick.

 Now that the weather's cooled down a bit I've been able to craft a bit more and today we got a phone call letting us know that we have a new addition to our family - a baby boy, the first one born in our family for 41 years! (That's on my husband's side of the family, I have three nephews and a great nephew on my side.) As you can imagine we're all thrilled at the news (not because it's a boy - we love all babies.) To celebrate I've made a new baby card for the new parents.

Baby Boy Box Card

This card has been a real labour of love, I started it at 3pm and didn't finish until nearly 2am, I didn't work solidly though as I broke off to make tea, wash up afterwards and I watched two hours of tv (love Criminal Minds and Bones!) Three of the handmade toppers are layered or partially decoupaged so I had a lot of fussy cutting to do which is why it took me so long to make. Although the box card blank is relatively simple to make, decorating it can take a while depending on how many toppers you want to add. I used five different stamp sets to make the toppers; Clearly Besotted Stamps "Child's Play" and "Little Onsie", Hobbycraft "Stork" stamp, Me to You tiny tatty teddy Boy Clear Sentiments stamps and Papermania "Honey & Hugs" - Owl stamps (new arrival oval sentiment). I stamped most things using Memento Tuxedo Black ink but used Tim Holtz "Mermaid Lagoon" distress ink to stamp the base layer of the shield shaped sentiment and the yacht on the back onsie, "Scattered Straw" distress ink for the onsie star and "Stormy Sky" distress ink for the elephant. All elements apart from the three stars were then coloured in using Flexmarkers. The stars were made by punching three shapes out of scrap card using a star punch and  I gave them a base coat of yellow Sharpie pen then covered over that with Sakura Glaze pen in yellow. To finish them off I added a pale yellow self adhesive gem in the centre of each star once the glaze had dried. The baby bundle that the stork on the back panel carries was stamped twice so it could be decoupaged and the A,B,C bricks and shield were also layered. The panels of the card base were covered using K & Company Cuddly Chenille Blue Stripe Printed Flat Paper and Congratulations scrapbook paper from my stash, this paper doesn't have any information on it but I suspect it was from a DCWV paper stack from quire a few years ago. Here are some more photos.

Close up of the 'floating' toppers

Close up of decoupaged stork on back panel

Close up of the back layer of floating toppers

Close up of middle layer of floating toppers

Close up of front layer of floating toppers

New Arrival Box Card

I've thoroughly enjoyed making this card, yes it took hours but what better way is there to spend those hours than on a hobby I love? I think my friends and family will be getting sick of receiving pop up box cards before I tire of making them lol. Because I decorate each panel I can use card with a lower gsm than my usual card which is great as I accidentally bought some 200gsm card. These cards are a great way to use some of it up. I have at least two more designs in mind, a zoo themed one for Bethany (my niece) and a dolphin card for my sister-in-law Sue. I have a while yet before I need to start making these cards though.

My friend rang me today to check I was available on Friday for a visit so I'll be frantically cleaning the flat for the next few days (housework comes second usually to crafting lol) so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to craft. However as soon as I have some spare time I'll share a couple of other projects I've been working on recently. As always if you have any craft related questions or comments I'd love to hear from you so please leave them in the usual places. I hope you all have a good week and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx