baby cards for Crate Paper

way back in August (okay, that's not that long ago), i was asked to create a trio of baby cards for a Specialty Post on the Crate Paper blog.  at the time, i knew i was pregnant but we weren't telling anyone outside of close family.  it was a great assignment, given that i was literally thinking about babies all day long, though in a way, i wish i could have shared the news then.  however, we like to be cautious during that first trimester as it can be a risky time so i knew that mum was the word.

the post ran on the Crate blog a few weeks ago but i've been waiting to share the cards on my own blog until i could tell you our secret.  in addition to finally publishing those cards here, i also have a few more baby-themed creations to share this week.  

i LOVE this card!  it was actually the last one i made because i had my 3 completed, but at the last minute changed my mind about one of them.  i whipped this together fairly quickly and i was so happy with the outcome!  all of the cards i'll show you here today use Crate's recent baby lines Little Boy Blue and Little Bo Peep.  it's a good thing i'm already pregnant, otherwise these two collections would make me want to GET pregnant, for sure; they are just so sweet!  

doesn't that wood veneer deer just squeeze your heart?  it's too, too cute!  i won't go into too much detail here on my blog about the design process, but you can read the post i wrote up for the Crate blog here.  this card, obviously being intended for a baby girl, is made using Little Bo Peep.  

 up next is a neutral card and it uses both LBB and LBP.  Hoss and i want to be surprised about the sex of our new little one--i should say, i want to be surprised and Hoss is kindly going along with the idea. 

there is a definite stork theme happening here, wouldn't you say?    i love those colors together; the addition of gray and the touches of wood help modernize the yellow and green.

i know one reason people want to find out whether they're having a boy or a girl is so they don't get stuck with an abundance of yellow and green baby gear.  i'm not too worried about that since all of the big items we need (carseat, stroller, crib, etc), are pretty neutral already and not necessarily yellow or green.  most of the clothes Mr. Bagubian wore as a baby have animals on them instead of trucks or footballs so they would be appropriate for a baby girl, as well.  (my gut instinct is telling me we're having another boy, anyhow, though!)

lastly, a card that is very near and dear to my heart.  when Mr. Bagubian (you can see that his real name is Gus) was born, i had every intention of making baby announcements for him.  i couldn't wait to make them and visualized them for months before his arrival.  but when the time actually came, i was too exhausted to even set foot into the craft studio, let alone sit down and make 50 cards.  i have always felt guilty about that--especially because i'm supposed to be a crafty mom.

so when i was given the assignment for Crate to make 3 baby cards, i knew i wanted to make a baby girl card, a baby boy card, and a neutral card.  i also wanted to have 3 different occasions:  a baby shower, new arrival, and decided that a baby announcement would be fun for the third.  

now, i realize that what i came up with is very involved and detailed, and if i couldn't even make up a simple one when Mr. Bagubian was born, the likelihood of me making up 50 of these would be out of the question!  but i went all out for it anyhow.

you could easily turn this into a simpler announcement by omitting some of the products and steps.  or, you could make ONE just as a keepsake and put it in your little guy or gal's baby book.  that's what i plan to do with this.  all of the products are from Little Boy Blue, by the way.

  
that's it for me today.  don't forget: take 15% off your entire purchase at my ETSY shop!  just use the code NEWBABY2.  it's good on everything in the store until September 30, 2012.