Walk This Way, Baby!

My cousin is having a baby! Like ANY DAY having a baby. We attended her baby shower a couple of weekends ago, and this is what I gave her. She does not know if the baby is a boy or a girl, and the theme she chose was farm animals. I saw some pictures she emailed me of the nursery, and she had painted all the baseboards a beautiful celery green color. This is the card I made for her, using SU!'s Walk This Way stamp set. I used SU! Certainly Celery Cardstock, and Barely Banana Cardstock, along with Doodlebug Red, and a yellow striped patterned paper that I think came out of a DCWV stack. The gingham ribbon came from Michael's. I colored the images using Prismacolor colored pencils and Windsor and Newton Sansador. I made this card a top opening card with notches punched for the ribbon to sit in. I also distressed the edges of the card with my cutter kit from SU!.

For the actual gift, I got 4 small unfinished wood frames at Michael's, and painted them the same celery color as the cardstock and baseboards, using acrylic paint. After the paint was dry, I sanded down the frames for a shabby look. I stamped images on heavy white cardstock, and colored them in using the same technique that I used in the card, then added them to the frames. They were so easy to make, cost effective, and turned out adorable to boot! Using these frames, you could paint them any color, and put any kind of stamped image in them. I may do some Tractor Time ones for my kitchen! You could do any number to a set, too, depending on what stamps you use. Next comes the presentation. I didn't want to use any old dollar tree gift bag, I wanted it to be special. I had found these really cool popcorn tins...they were metal with a lid that had a clear window. I think they originally were from Target. I tried to cover the tin with paper, but that proved to be difficult, cause the tin itself was tapered. I decided to paint it with acrylic paint, and two coats did the trick. The graphics on the tin were not visible at all! After the paint was dry, I coated it with a coat of acrylic sealer. I then lined the edges with red gingham ribbon. I colored more of the farm animal images and mounted them on the yellow striped paper and red cardstock, and stuck them to the tin using red lined tacky tape. I stuck the frames inside the bucket along with some shredded SU! packing paper and tied it up with a bow. It turned out really cute, and she really liked it! Couldn't ask for more than that!! Have a beautiful day!--Keri