Friday, August 20, 2010

Baby Shower Mania

My sister is having her second child...15 years later...and it's so exciting to get to throw her a baby shower since I was done six years ago and most of my friends are done having babies.

I spent the better part of my day today searching online for baby shower invitations.  I know it's hip and eco-friendly to do the evites nowadays, but there's just something about a little card with all the specifics that the mom-to-be can hang onto and cherish for years to come.  Besides I'm old fashioned and all that new-fangled stuff scares me.

I used to be a stamper and I made all kinds of beautious cards.  I cut, I stamped, I glued, I glittered and I had fun for a while.  But not having a dedicated craft room had its drawbacks.  When my free time (what little there was of it) was up, I'd have to put everything away so my boys wouldn't get into it.  Such a drag.

So I sold my scrappin' stuff on ebay and made a killin'.

Wait, baby shower, baby shower, ... oh yes, I was online looking at invitations since I no longer make cards and couldn't find the one I wanted.  My sister has decided to use monkeys as a theme and none of the cards were just right.  I also don't like the commercial looking ones and that narrowed my choices greatly.

I did find one where the style was perfect.  The block print type animals were exactly right.  The monkey... left a lot to be desired.  It was just his head poking from the vines at the top of the card.  But it was enough of a start that I decided I would make my own using those ideas.

Now I am assuming I didn't infringe on any copyright things because I actually drew everything freehand on Photoshop.  And though I sampled the colors in that card, those colors are available freely on my program, so no problem there.  The monkey I added was from a card also, but again, I drew him myself rather than using the actual graphic and I used free brushes for the vines.  Besides, I'm not selling them, right.

And here it is and I am so in love with it.




The gray background has just the slightest hint of texture and since grays, yellows and browns are all neutrals, the color scheme works perfectly.  And who doesn't love a lime green.  I was going to put the babies name in the monkey's belly but just talked to my sister and they might be changing their minds on his name.  That's alright.  She can ink that in after he's born.


~R

Let me give credit to:
The card  And let me just say that if that card had been perfect, I would have ordered it.  The prices are so great here.  And I love that you can customize the cards.  Not just the words but the graphics a bit too.
The monkey  Again, great prices, just not exactly what I wanted.  But I'm really picky like that.




3 comments:

  1. I love the monkey baby shower theme, you did a great job!

    Sandra @ www.modern-baby-shower-ideas.com

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  2. That came out very cute! I can't believe you *drew* it in Photoshop! I've tried a little bit of that, but it was very awkward for me, and I gave up quickly.

    I like real cards for this kind of thing so much better. I made most of the invitations for my kids birthday parties when they were younger, and always held onto one from each. They're in a box somewhere. Because, you know, the whole scrapbooking problem.

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  3. Turned out very nicely. I have the same problem with crafting and no longer having a space. I did get out a painting project a few weeks back but I am thinking it will be packed away soon as I have not sat down to it for a few weeks. I now have tracing paper, but couldn't find the required colours so now I have to figure out colours on my own and that is more work and takes my brain; both of which I can't spare at the moment.

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How sweet of you to drop by.