Oh Baby Baby by Betsy Skagen

There's a baby arriving in my family next month. Shhh....don't tell, but I am making a little book for the mother-to-be to keep memories of those precious first months.

The book will feature all sorts of pockets, fold-outs and teeny little spaces to store precious mementos and tags to record different milestones and memories. I am using some of Gypsy Soul's wonderful chipboard to add some fun elements.

Right now I am just putting together the individual pages. Once they are done, I will reassemble them back into book form.

Tutorial--How to Make a Baby Book

Begin by gently bending the wire binding and remove the chipboard pages.

Cover the pages with black gesso.

Dry with a heat gun.

Cut a pocket from black cardstock.

Adhere decorative paper to the page.

Glue the bottom flap and right side flap to the back of the page. Because of the binding on the left side, instead of adhering the left pocket flap to the back side of the page, you need to adhere it directly to the decorative paper beneath the pocket.  

Place decorative paper on the front of the pocket. 

Paint the Special Delivery chipboard element and dry with heat gun.

Cover the element with embossing ink, coat with ultra thick clear embossing powder and activate with heat gun. When cool, adhere the element to the front of the pocket.

Cut tags that fit into the pocket from decorative paper. Glue paper on the back that is conducive to journaling.

Adhere decorative papers and a tiny pink vellum envelope to the back side of the page.

To finish your page, use sandpaper to sand down all the edges and rub black ink around the edges. 

So sweet! Now I have to get busy and make many more pages before the stork brings a tiny bundle of joy. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Special Delivery chipboard element

Chipboard album

Black gesso

Authentique Paper

Assorted paper

Black cardstock

Black ink

Pink paint pen

Embossing ink

Ultra thick clear embossing powder

Pink vellum envelope

Special Delivery Card - It's All In The Details by Barbara Rankin (EXTRA POST)

Hi everyone!  Barbara here today with a card project using Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts "Special Delivery" chipboard and Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime paper collection.  The colors in this paper are nice and soft and perfect for welcoming a cute little newborn baby.  My main focus today is sharing some fun and easy techniques for bringing your laser cut chipboard piece(s) to life.

Make a 5"x7" top folded card using a peach colored card stock.  I cut two additional layers, each 1/4" smaller.  So the second layer measures 6-3/4" x 4-3/4", while the third layer measures 6-1/2" x 4-1/2".  The edges of each layer were heavily distressed.

Adhere each layer to the base card and set aside.

Paint Special Delivery chippie with Timeless chalk paint.   You could also use white gesso, so use whatever you have.

Dab Picket Fence distress stain (DS) over stork, and Brushed Pewter DS over "Special Delivery".  Let dry.

Color stork's beak, legs and feet with Wild Honey and Mustard Seed distress markers.  Color top of stork's head with Barn Door and Worn Lipstick distress markers.  Let dry.

Trace around the chipboard pouch, as much as you can, onto a piece of sticky back canvas.  You can also use a scrap piece of canvas without the sticky back, and just use white glue to adhere it.

Cut out sticky back canvas pouch and dry brush over it with a very tiny amount of Frayed Burlap DS that has been watered down.

Remove adhesive backing and adhere over chipboard pouch.

Brush on a coat of white glue to stork and cover with Ivory Flower Soft.  (I did not have white Flower Soft, but you can use either color.  As always, use what you have.)  Add Baby Peach Flower soft to stork's head and add a bit over his tail feathers.  It looks funny right now, but let the glue dry and then gently brush excess flower soft away.

Rub Tarnished Brass DS over "Special Delivery" for a vintage feel.  Fill in any areas that may need more Flower Soft.  Add a dot of Black Enamel Accents for the stork's eye.

Die cut a piece of the same peach card stock with a decorative die, such as the one I used (Timeless Heart).

Adhere to card front so that it sits centered beneath the words "Special Delivery".

Punch some leaves from a piece of the green print paper.

Adhere Special Delivery chippie, some fussy cut stamp images from the paper collection, paper flowers and craft punched leaves.

Here are a few closeups of some of the details added to the card and chipboard.

Baker's Twine tied around top of pouch

Gold Pearl 3D paint added to flower centers

Three stamp images cut from paper collection

Flower Soft added to stork, black enamel dot for eye

Supplies Used:

GSL Special Delivery
G45 Once Upon a Springtime paper collection
Spellbinders S6-126 Timeless Heart Die
Americana Timeless chalk paint
Distress Stain
  Picket Fence
  Brushed Pewter
  Frayed Burlap
  Tarnished Brass
Distress Markers
  Wild Honey
  Mustard Seed
  Worn Lipstick
  Barn Door
Ranger Black Enamel Accents
Five Leaf craft punch
Paper Flowers (Prima)
Flower Soft
  Ivory
  Baby Peach
Baker's Twine (pink & white)
Adhesive-backed Canvas (Ranger)
Gold Pearl Metallic Dimensional Paint (Jacquard)

I hope you enjoyed today's project and perhaps have been inspired to use some of your products you have laying around in your stash to further enhance your chipboard embellishments.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful and craft-filled week!

Barbara

Special Delivery Baby Keepsake Box by Susan Killam

Hello folks!  Today I have a baby-themed keepsake box to share with you.  I used the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts large Hidden Drawer Book Box and turned it on its side.

Sometimes I joke with myself that "I make the mistakes so you don't have to".  Today's project is super sweet to look at but was a bit sassy to finish.  It all comes down to a lot of excitement for the *idea* and no stopping to actually design it.  I jumped right in!

First steps are to cut the laser details out - I usually only press a blade in rather than try to slice into the chipboard.  Mostly because I'm a klutz.  If needed, turn it over and press into the reverse side.  Next, wipe off any laser soot with a barely-damp paper towel.

Choose your paper.  At the time I thought the special delivery laser cut would be all-white, possibly with crackle paint.  I wanted to make sure it would stand out on the keepsake box top.  In #2, the diamond paper is the top and the green polka dot is the top inside.  Note in these photos the notches are penciled and cut on the inside layer only.  I chose the text paper to wrap around the the outside walls (#3).  To finish, I pounced white glue on the chipboard to layer the papers.

Assembling the box required white glue on the tabs, both hands and a little patience while the glue set up well enough to move on the the next piece.  No pictures, though.

So, ta da!  #1 below shows the assembled box *and* temporarily taped-together drawer.  (I did this to be sure the handle would be in the center.)

#1 - measure the center of the drawer front and poke a hole
#2 & #3 - lay the box on it's back end and center the drawer front on top;  extend pencil lead to make a mark on the inside drawer front
#4 - poke a hole in the inside drawer front

These will be lined up when you're ready to assemble the drawer.

Choose and cut your inside and outside papers for the drawer.  Notice my striped inside paper is the same height as the dotted outside paper?  Er, this is where I made the miscalculation.  I didn't want the chipboard tabs to show on the finished box, but didn't think about it until all the papers were cut AND glued.

It was not a happy "ah-ha" moment.

I had to re-cut all the dotted papers (even the larger one) and layer them on top of the original dotted paper.  At this point I have two layers of paper on the outside of the drawer.  It's a snug fit in the box.   Not my best work, but I will *never* forget this lesson! :)

Back to the drawer assembly... put a little glue at all the joints and hold it a few beats to let it set.  I used a paper towel to remove little bits of seeped out glue on the inside.

I put the handle on and clamped the drawer front to the drawer inside piece.  Just for good measure I added a heavy item to let it all sit over night. 

The next day picked out the colors for the Special Delivery laser cut, and painted and embellished it. (My original idea of all-white was too boring.)  Photo #2 shows how I reclaim that laser shadow if paint spills over the side -- use a brown brush-tip marker and lightly fill in from behind.

I love the flourishes of the 5 Petal Flowers, so I gesso'd and painted green.  The flowers look like leaves on the finished box.  Kinda neat!

More finished photos!

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope you're inspired by our daily new projects here on the GSL Cuts blog!

Cheers,
Susan

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Used
Hidden Drawer Book Box (Large) #D165D
Special Delivery D30M (Coming soon!)
5 Petal Flowers w/Flourishes D12P (Coming soon!)

Other Supplies Used
DCWV Nana's Nursery, Baby Girl (from 2010-ish)
Prima, Petaloo, Wild Orchid flowers
Liquitex white gesso & acrylic paints
Golden Titanium White acrylic paint
Lumiere acrylic paints
Ranger Liquid Pearls - white opal
Ranger Stickles - diamond, clear rock candy
Mod Podge
Fabri-Tac
Crafters Pick