"Welcome Baby" Card with a Twist!

Hi, everyone! It's the Blog Hogger here with a different twist on a baby card.

One of my nieces had a baby boy this past Tuesday. I had planned to make a card for the parents, of course, but couldn't decide on a design. My niece is definitely not a 'girlie' girl, so a typical card just didn't "speak" to me. (Yes, I know cards shouldn't speak to me but...they do! It's a Stampin' Up thing! lol)

I know one of her favourite things to do is go hunting and she's very into camouflage clothing. She even bought a camouflage onesie for Kayden, my shiny new grand nephew. So...I decided to incorporate hunter's camouflage into the design of the card! That's an idea verging on brilliant but, not surprisingly, awkward to do! lol

(This is one of the reasons I like making my own cards. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to buy a personalized card like this!)

I ended up doing a screen divider card with the back panels featuring camouflage. It took a lot bit of fiddling to come up with something I was happy with, but I'm satisfied with the final design.

And here it is:

Here's a close up of the first two panels:

And here are the last two panels:

I used the tutorial from Splitcoaststampers to make the screen divider card. I found the tutorial here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/screendividercard/

Here are the details for making the camouflage panels;

1. Sponge random splotches of Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie ink on Crumb Cake cardstock.
2. Random stamp the top of the evergreen tree and the leaf stamps from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set. (Stamp off onto a piece of scrap paper any stamps inked up with Pumpkin Pie ink so the color doesn't come out too strong.)
3. Draw random branches onto the panels and highlight the sides with a White Gel Pen.

I used images from some long retired stamp sets (Greetings Galore, Punch Bunch, Happy Moments and For a Friend). I also used the Small Oval and 3/4" punches to make the balloons. The bottom of the balloons were made using a foot from the Owl Builders punch.

I coloured the images using Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie markers. All the images are popped up on Dimensionals. I finished the card off by covering all the images, including the balloons, with a coat of Crystal Effects, thereby giving them a nice glossy, 3-D effect.

I glued another Very Vanilla panel on the back of the balloon panel, so I'd have a place to write my sentiment. (All of the images were stamped onto Very Vanilla cardstock, although it looks like Whisper White in some of the pictures.)

I'm hoping my niece really likes this card, especially when I include a note telling her a cheque has been "camouflaged" into the card. I couldn't resist teasing her a bit and left the side of one of the panels open so I could insert the cheque into it! And I'm not even telling you which panel it is! lol

Well, that's it for now, fellow stampers!

Camouflaged hugs,

Colleen