Hello Little Baby

I have some special cards to share over the next two days, both made with the Pop 'n Cuts system.

Our family has recently welcomed Oliver to the crew. He made his arrival 5 weeks early weighing 1.9kg and has been able to come home this past week, weighing 2.3kg. Although still very tiny, he is adorable. His parents asked me to fill some frames to decorate his room, and I continued with the African Animal Theme they had embarked on some months before. Zoo Babies was the answer, and a number of other stamp sets for the vegetation which was stamped in Basic Gray and Smokey Slate to allow the numbers and animals to shine. This is when they were a 'Work In Progress' and I took a pic with my phone to ask the parents if this is what they had in mind. The big, bold, bright sun is from Kinda Eclectic, one of the first stamp sets we were given for a Make & Take session at Convention. I had only just arrived home when I began this project. The numerals are from my pre-Stampin' Up! days, purchased from the US, but the Coaster Board I used to cut them from is all Stampin' Up! Its ID is in a list at the end, and it is lovely for projects like this, cuts well on the Big Shot with a die, and equally well by hand, for the animals.

The Pop 'n Cuts are retiring, but until 30 June 2014, these are still available to buy through me, or your own Stampin' Up Demo (Australia/New Zealand). It's a shame, as once you've mastered the system, they're good fun, and very effective. I've made some cute gift pouches using it too, which you can see if you come to a class with me during June.

Apparently Karen Burniston, who developed this cutting system, has dissolved her partnership with Sizzix, who Stampin' Up! also partnered with to bring us Big Shot and all those fantastic Embossing Folders and cutting systems. It is a shame that we will no longer carry them, or the very popular Dress Form Pop 'N Cut. All on Page 188 of the catalogue and a die for the dress which will also retire at the end of June is on page 187. The two pieces I needed for these cards are Card Base Pop 'n Cuts and Label Pop 'n Cuts, so you cut 2 separate pieces and join them, fold out the pop up piece and move on to decorating.

As always, things co-ordinate perfectly, so it was time to grab the Deco Labels Collection and cut a label to stamp the zebra and toucan onto. The elephant was stamped on another piece of Whisper White, and fussy cut. I have the 'Brand New' from Baby We've Grown, stamped and die cut twice in Marina Mist.

On the outside are two more Deco Label Framelits cut in Whisper White and Marina Mist. The white one has been stamped with 'Sweet Baby' from Baby We've Grown, in Soft Sky, so it is very, very light. I stamped the letters of his name using ABC-123 Sketch Alphabet & Numbers. Luckily I had punched a few extra flowers with the new Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack while at Convention, 'cos I used some on the label too. Isn't the new flower just so cute? There is a small star and heart in that set of three, available after July 1st.
It was easy enough to cut the letters out using the Petite Pennants Builder Punch and I'm looking forward to the new stamp set they're releasing which matches the punch. The current set, Pennant Parade, is retiring.













I'm not permitted to share photos of Oliver on social media, but when I asked about my blog, my son seems to think no one reads it, so that will be okay. We won't tell him that you took a peek at his darling, little son, will we?

You can tell me though, {wink, wink}
Rachel




Card Base Pop 'n Cuts 130099
Label Pop 'n Cuts 130160
Coaster Board 129392
Deco Labels Collection 130102
Pennant Parade 128697 W 122742 C