Sweet Stampin' ~ For A Child's Birthday

Hey there lovelies, how has your week been? This year keeps whizzing by, so fast I'm dizzy! But it's time to take a pause and tell you about our latest challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. We have such a lovely theme this week. It's 'For a Child's Birthday', so I'm sharing the card I made for my darling little man's birthday back in May this year. 

Zac is growing so fast and is so full of cheek and mischief now, but he's still such a soft hearted lil' dude, that when I saw this sentiment on the lovely MME paper pad, I just knew I had to figure out how to work it into my small dude's birthday card. The paper is My Mind's Eye ~ Lost & Found 2 Collection/Breeze. The page is called Boyish Handsome.

I can't quite believe he's 7 now. My kiddos childhoods are going so fast and I longed for my babes for too many years to say. I still can't quite believe I have two gorgeous kiddos! Beyond blessed and they're both such awesome kids, it's a blast watching them grow and develop. Seriously so blessed for a girl who (not so long ago) thought she might never have her own babes. I love my 'mummy journey' and I don't take it for granted for a single minute! But let me get onto sharing detes of his card...

Zac is a little gamer, he's loved it ever since he was super tiny, we have some uber cute images of him gaming with his papa when he was really small. So when I saw this adorable 'The Greeting Farm' stamp I just HAD to have it for my lil' guy. It makes the perfect card for him.

I coloured it with my Promarkers and added a little shadow to the actual paper on the card before mounting him, to ground him a bit. He's popped up on foam pads for a bit of dimension. It's an older stamp and no longer in stock, so I can't link it sorry.

 

I recently bought a Hampton Art Stamp Perfect tool and yes, I wanted a MISTI, but it's prohibitively expensive here in New Zealand, so I chose this option and I have to say I am not in anyway disappointed! It does exactly what it says on the box! All those pesky stamps I had trouble getting a good image from first time, are now stamping beautifully with two or three passes on my HSP. It isn't too big, which suits me, as I always craft with an explosion of stash around me, so I have a tiny working surface. I do clear my desk, but I seem to do my best work when I've lots of 'stuff' around me to look at and spark my inspiration. Apparently I'm in good company too, Einstein was famously messy! LOL. (Abi our resident 'Creative Genius', would like that bit of info' too!)

I made a shaker card as I think it's fun to have a 'tactile' element to kids cards. I love a shaker card, but I often shy away from doing them as it can be fiddly cutting all the matching layers, but this came as a 'ready to put together' kit with the foam precut along with the paper elements. So all I had to do was add the patterned paper. So I flipped it over and using my craft knife cut lines into the hole of the star shape so that I could fold the paper back over each point of the star. I thought this would give a really tidy finish to the card and it really does!

I marked where the star was on the paper by drawing a pencil line around the star before adding my stamping, so I could get it exactly right on the paper beneath. The '7' comes from a stamp set the kids and my hubby gave me for my birthday from a local craft store and the 'Happy Birthday' is from a Penny Black clear set called 'Sprinkles & Smiles'. I really love this set!

Zac is super into Pokemon right now, so I threw him a Pokemon party this year, it was huge fun! He just loves going on Pokemon hunts with mummy. It helps my step counter too, so I don't complain! I was so elated when my daughter Georgie was born, because she was my first breathtakingly spectacular miracle and I just never thought I'd love again quite like I love that lil' girl, until my wee boy was born. Isn't it amazing how the love just multiplies?! This lil' dude is such a blessing to us, an adoring sibling to his big sis (he worships the ground she walks on, it's seriously too cute!) and the snuggliest, funniest, cheekiest, sweetest lil' dude I could ever have hoped for. So I loved that this card captured a little of the sentiment we all feel as a family towards our littlest miracle. I made myself cry writing this, so I'll dry my eyes, stop the sop and wrap up this post. Hehe, sometimes you just have to be still and acknowledge life is pretty amazing though right?

Do stop into the challenge blog and check out what my amazing teamies have been up to for this challenge. They really are a madly talented bunch, so you're sure to leave inspired! I'll be back very soon with another crafty adventure, but in the meantime, have a fabulous weekend and take some time for 'you'. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Crafty Catz: #375 ~ Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge: #420 ~ Birthday Boy

City Crafter Challenge: #366 ~ Frame It

613 Avenue Create: #198 ~ Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Challenge: #23 ~ Anything Goes

Always Fun Challenges: #10 ~ For A Male or Dad

Passion For Promarkers: #399 ~ Add A Sentiment

Crafty Cardmarkers: #190 ~ For A Special Man/Boy/Father's Day
Aud Sentiments Challenge: #182 ~ Bingo (Patterned Paper, Stamped Image, Fav' Colour)
Stamping Sensations: June ~ Use Your Favourite Stamp (Ooh I've got lots of fav's! But this stamp stole my heart when I bought it which you'll see why I'm sure from my post.)

P.S. If you made it all the way to the end of my mammoth post, I found a few pics to share of my tiniest gamer... the wee man that inspired this creation, my lil' lad Zac hanging out with his papa.

Update: I made the Top 5 at Aud Sentiments. I'm so thrilled as I think this wee card has one of the nicest sentiments ever, so a real thrill to win! Thank you so much ladies. I'm doing a little happy dance!!