Howdy

I got to do another baby plaque. This was actually a special request for someone else to give as a gift. Apparently the new mom loves horses and cowboy stuff. Soooo, I got my all time favorite Cricut Cartridge out, Paper Doll Dress Up. I used the horse from the Knight and the Cowboy character. I had just bought Stampin' Up! Soft Suede card stock and am especially pleased with the look of black chalk on it.

Subway Art Baby Plaque

I love doing baby plaques, but they're really hard to personalize if I don't know Jr's name. This was the case for a new baby that was arriving in early March. The parents were very tight lipped when it came to sharing the baby's name. I did know that it was a boy and the nursery was black and white...and football. I decided to wait to make the gift after I had the "details." I set up the type and verse and mock weight etc. in Make the Cut and then changed it once I knew. (I did guess the length...woo hoo!)

This is a definite change for the usual style I've done...but it was fun. I still have lots to learn on designing good Subway Art. But babies keep coming, so I'll have lots of practice. :)

I found the frame at Michael's, painted it black and  used white Orcal vinyl for the lettering.

It is Well

Here is another Pinterest inspired project. I repinned this collage. Unfortunately, whoever originally pinned it, didn't pin it from the original source. It may have been user uploaded, but whatever the case, I have no idea who to give credit to. Please message me if you know the original link or source!

**Here is the link to this at Etsy.

All that to say...I thought it was a great idea and loved the composition. I'm still pretty green on the whole painting thing, but here is my take on it. (I made it for a gift for my father-in-law.)

Here's what I did to make mine...

1. Find sheet music for It is Well with My Soul, size it to fit in frame (8x10), and print off on parchment looking paper.
2. Seal that with Modge Podge. (I did this so that my letters wouldn't stick and rip the paper.)
3. Cut out "It is Well with My Soul." I used Make the Cut and my Silhouette to cut out contact paper.
4. Adhere words to sheet music to use as a mask.
5. Paint two coats of very light color all over. Let dry.
6. Mix a medium color with some glaze medium, then brush it on working in small sections, wiping it off in circular motions with crumpled cheese cloth. Let dry.
7. Repeat with a very dark color/glaze mix. Let dry.
8. Carefully remove the contact paper letters.
9. Mount the mat. (I used clear packing tape on the back.)
10. Cut the bird image out of contact paper, removing the inside part, to make a stencil. (I found my bird on Silhouette's website here. I did tweak it a bit to make the branch a bit longer.)
11. Position stencil over mat and sheet music and adhere.
12. Paint inside the stencil with a light brown.
13. Mix dark brown with glaze and paint and wipe with cheese cloth like above. 
14. Remove stencil. Let dry.
15. Frame it :)

Doggie Bag

My daughter made an adorable puppy hat for baby Jeremiah. I got to help with the wrapping by making the gift bag and tag. Here's the coordinating efforts...

I used Cricut Doodle Charm cartridge for puppies.

Things that Go...

 

This baby plaque was fun to do. I challenged myself to not use plain card stock (with the exception of white.) It was an adventure for me to figure out how to use patterns and to blend them. I really like how it turned out! I used the Lettering Delights SVG set "Get a Job." for all the things that "go." The road was from My Scrap Chick's set Caution Dirt Digging Ahead. I'm excited to give this to baby Jeremiah...just waiting for his baby shower.

The verse I used is Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."