Baby Gift Album

We have a new great nephew on the way. He is due the end of this month and I wanted to make something special for his arrival. I found a Nana's Kids 8 x 8 scrapbook album. The baby boy album is multicolored (yellow, green, lavender & blue) with animals (deer, rabbit, squirrel & bird). There is a bit of sparkle too. I am then making the layout for the book. They are complete except for the photograph. These are to be added by the parents the first week, first month, first year - whatever they want. They can rearrange papers as they want to since I did single side pages only. I used general titles where I even used titles: Baby Boy, Brothers, Big Sister, Splish Splash and this one - Swing!

The image here is from Phindy's Place.  I colored him with Copics. The lettering is Sticko and the rocking horse ribbon was in the clearance bin at Michael's!

These pages are fun to make - simple, but you still have to think. The page has to be complete enough to look good without the picture - great when the photo is added. I've used some sketches I found on line and I made up a few of my own. You want the focus on the baby so embellies need to be at a minimum. Digi stamps worked well for me for inspiration and temporary focus. They are meant to complement the photos.

Do you need a baby shower gift? I purchased the album on clearance at JoAnn's for less than $4. An extra set of refill pages was about $2. The digis were already in my computer (I have over 500 images) - both purchased and freebies. The paper is from my stash. By using an 8 x 8 it allowed me to use more of my leftovers. The smaller pieces were purrfect to mat a photo or digi image. As the commercial says: The personal touch? - priceless.

Walking on the Wild Side: Paper Cutz Challenge

This week Paper Cutz Challenge is to make a child's birthday card with a zoo animal stamp. These two cuties are from Prairie Fairy. I colored them with my Copics. The background green paper is My Mind's Eye and the plaid is from that infamous shopping channel pack. The lettering is Sticko and the large copper brad I believe I bought at Paper Wishes. I love the color combo here. I may have to use it for a layout too.

Hope you join in the fun at some of these other challenges. I have a lot of fun visiting other blogs and then taking links from them to discover other places for digis or challenges. Some I visit once, some I visit once a day.

Soft Pencil First Anniversary

To: Elizabeth and Michula,  Happy Anniversary! A great year and another to come! 
From: Mary Ski & Sir Chester

Phindy & Phood (uhhh Food)

The challenge this week at Phindy's Place is to use our favorite Phindy image. The challenge at Digital Tuesday is to create with a food theme. I normally do not enter the same image in two challenges - that is just me. But.... this time I can't resist. Mr. Brown is BBQing and we are getting to that time of year. He is colored with Copic markers and the grill is coated with Paper Glaze (Aleene's). The checkered paper was in a BBQ paper pack and the 3 red crystals are Mark Richards (Paper Wishes). I have tried so many times in the past to color this image and have never been happy with my efforts. This time it all came together!

 This is a picture of DH (we've been married for almost 32 years!). Now you know why the above image is special. Mike does not have the paunch of Mr. Brown, but he has the love of BBQing. He has competed in the Lenexa BBQ Battle for many years. Originally he was with 2 friends and then as the kids got older and wanted to cook too, they broke off and started their own team. Approximately 180 teams invade the park in Lenexa KS the last weekend in June each year - just look for the cloud of BBQ smoke. I have no problem being an "official" taste tester. The others do the cooking, I just taste, nap, read, visit with friends, etc. We've had a nice shady spot along the east side of the pond. Looking forward to this year's battle!

Two Challenges with one Card

This is the first of two cards that I made using Phindy's Place images. Totally unlike me, I am entering the same two cards in the same two challenges. Normally, I make a new card for each challenge. I just couldn't decide which card to send to which challenge - are you following me? So I am also entering this at Digital Tuesday.  The image is colored with Copics as usual. I used lettering and paper from a BBQ pack and the flower brads were in the stash.

Dearest Aunt Betty

This is my first card as a member of the For Fun Challenge Design Team. The challenge is to make a Mother's Day card. Some of us no longer have Mom in our lives. My mother died 4 years ago.
This card is going to Aunt Betty. Aunt Betty was Mom's best friend from high school til the end. She and Uncle Joe were godparents (in different combinations) for my brothers and me.
I have such wonderful memories of the annual summer picnic at Aunt Betty's house near Chicago. They had a pet goat. The guys would play basketball in the driveway. The best part were the coolers of soft drinks from "Arlington Bottling Company". It was the one time a year that Mom allowed us to have more than one bottle of pop. Notice I said bottle not can. They were short bottles but it still made you feel grown up. Betty helped me through the rough times of Dad's death and Mom's dementia. I know she was hurting inside too. Uncle Joe died almost exactly one year before Dad. It didn't stop her from giving us all she could. Happy Mother's Day, Aunt Betty!

Calming from a Kitty

Sir Chester suggested the title for this post - couldn't you guess?


Soft Pencil Digital Images is celebrating its anniversary this month. I love the Michu (the kitty) images the best.

I mounted the image on a flower shaped chipboard piece and attached it to the card with dimension dots. The serendipity squares are my handmade embellishment. (They are available for purchase at my shop. Click on Sir Chester's picture at the top of the page). Handmade embellishments is a requirement for the challenge at Cute Card Thursday this week. I cut the front of the card shorter than the back and laid a border of gold Dazzles along the bottom. "Relax... Enjoy the Day" is spelled out with Sticko lettering. This card is appropriate for Mother's Day or a birthday.