Final Baby Announcement

A few weeks ago, I posted some sample baby announcements that I made for some friends. Well, little Rory Beth arrived last Thursday morning - right on her due date! Here is the announcement that they chose. I made a few edits to the text and the photo is the real Rory with her real birth info. I think she's just beautiful!

I want to explain the poor quality of the actual photo. It's a low-res image that Evan sent via e-mail a few hours after she was born. And my printer doesn't like me right now for some reason. I managed to print the text fine, but the photo has all kinds of junk in it that shouldn't be there. The parents are going to supply their own, better quality photo when they send the announcements. I just wanted to put this one in there so they could see the final sample with their real baby in it. Plus I wanted to show her off because she's just so darn adorable!

I'm thinking about adding something below the text beneath the photo. I had to move it up pretty far so that I could print 3 announcements from one sheet of 12x12 paper. Any lower and it got cut off. So now I think the space below looks a little empty. I haven't decided yet though. I'm going to see what the parents think.

I'm also going to submit this for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge. The theme this week is a color challenge - Strawberry Mint Julep - or pink and green. Can't get much more pink and green than this. I know it technically is not a card, but they do say other items are allowed. And even though it is not a card, I'm not sure it could get any cuter - at least as far as the main image goes. :)

Supplies
Stamp: Tiny feet (Stampabilities); all text is computer generated (Segoe Script and Segoe Print fonts)
Ink: Pink Pastel Chalk Ink (ColorBox)
Paper: Green cardstock (Paper Studio); pink cardstock (Bazzill); DP - 29th Street Market (My Mind's Eye)
Tools: Scalloped border punches (Fiskars); circle and scallop circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); scalloped corner slot punch (Paper Studio)
Embellishments: Ribbon (Offray)
Finished size: 4" x 9"

Birth Announcements

My friend at work Evan and his wife Cindy are expecting their first baby next month. I offered to make some handmade birth announcements as my gift. This is a first for me. These are the samples that I gave them, but they haven't chosen one yet. I am very happy with the way they turned out. I would love to have your comments on them too. By the way - I have no idea who the baby in the photo is. It's just a picture I found on a stock photo site. She is pretty cute though. I printed all the text on these on my computer.

This A2 size announcements has two side, and this is the front. I made the flower from white cardstock and vellum punched with my daisy punches. I put the white pieces through the Big Kick with my Swiss Dots folder, then I inked the edges with Pastel Pink Chalk Ink and put a pearl in the center. The squares are cut with my Nesties and the edges of the top part are border punched. I cut two slots with my ribbon slot punch and tied the ribbon through them before I attached the top piece to the card. I did this to make the ribbon more secure than just sticking in on with a glue dot. The quote says "A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope a dream of possibilities." One note, the center scallop border piece is actually dark brown. It looks black in the photo.

This is the back of the announcement. I didn't plan my printing very well, so the text ended up a little closer to the photo than I wanted. I'll correct that if they choose this design. I used a corner slot punch to insert the photo into the mat and put it on a scalloped rectangle cut with my nesties.

The announcement above is 5x7 and only one-sided. I printed the text on pink paper, then stamped on the side with swirl stamps. I punched more daisies from cardstock and vellum and placed them randomly on the swirls. I used tiny pink rhinestones for the centers. I made another bigger daisy for the corner of the photo. The quote on this one says "It is not a slight thing when those who are so fresh from God love us." That's by Charles Dickens and is one of my favorite quotes of all time. I'm a quote freak by the way. :)

The last sample is a long 8 1/2 x 4 option. I realized after I had it printed and almost put together than I should have moved the photo and info up or down and added another quote or sentiment to this one as well. If they choose this option, I would do that on the finished cards. I decorated this one simply with some DP and a scalloped edge. I stamped the little footprints (are those cute or what?) and cut them out with my nesties along with the scalloped circle mat and added a ribbon.