A gift for Josh...

Hello again, ooh I am sooooo excited, there s only 3 more sleeps till our first SWUS Retreat!!!!!!! I am still busy packing and double checking kits and I cannot wait, I just know we are going to have the best time ever, I love crafty get togethers. Sadly I cannot share anything with you yet but I have a few projects that I have done a few weeks ago. On 4th of July Claudia one of my bestest friends celebrated her Birthday, you may also remember from this blog that in January she gave birth to her first baby boy the ever so sweet Joshua. Here's a few items I have made her.

Firstly the card

Tempting Turquoise and So saffron, a really fresh and summery combo. The stamp set used *True Friend* is one I haven't touched in ages and what I've decided to use. I love how you can create your own beautiful backgrounds with just one stamp and some ink, and I have used Tempting Turquoise to stamp the main medallion onto whisper white, I have also added a clear gem to the center of each one. The saffron flower has been glittered using the heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds, the turquoise circle was made with the tab punch, the slightly bigger saffron ones were cut out with the Coluzzle system. Some saffron striped grosgrain ribbon ties everything together.

Then I have made a waterfall album, using some photos of baby Josh. Some of them are not very good ones as I have pinched them off facebook so they were very small, but Clau and Leigh can easily replace those ones as they are only stuck down with repo adhesive.

The Cover

Of course I used Wild About You, this is probably my most loved set, I have made cards for 65 years old, men and women, children you name it, I just love it! And just how cute are those paisley elephants? To make them I have stamped the paisley background in Bashful Blue then I have clear embossed the elephants over and cut them out. The stick on letters come from my scrapbooking stash. Basic Gray, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery is the colour combo.

First page

The photos I have worked with are absolutely adorable, Leigh( Josh's dad) is a wonderful photographer and I really wanted to keep the pages clean and simple. Not only that but because of the nature of the album pages needed to be flat with no bumpy embellishments. Next 2 pages, I have stamped the cute tiny owl from the Forest Friends in versamark and added a square clear button over it, the eyes lined up with the holes perfectly. I have also added some journalling labels for mum and dad to add a few facts and details.Next two pages and again simple accents and stamped backgrounds. Just how adorable is Josh? I cannot wait to meet him in September.A celery giraffe of course, what else? LOL, and the last two pagesThese are the ones that will need changing but how about that cheeky grin. I smiled putting every page together, such a cutie pie.!!

So I am hoping mum and dad will take some pleasure in browsing this little album, but I couldn't post those out without sending Josh something and after spending ages thinking what to get him I have finally settled onto a little elephant from Russ, a soft toy made from Eco friendly cotton.

I fell in love with him and I can just imagine baby Josh nibbling and sucking on his trunk. Too cute. Oh and apparently one of J Lo's babies was photographed with one of those recently, so I thought to myself, if is good enough for J Lo.... LOL.

Well that s it from me today, off to sort some clothes out for the weekend as I'm in work all day tomorrow, then Friday morning hairdresser and after that I am travelling down to Guildford. I will have some posts scheduled while I m away and I have some recent reasons to celebrate, so I might have some candy for grabs who knows? See you soon M xxx