Once Upon A Time - Baby Shower Card

by Vanessa McClure
(Fremont, NE, USA)

Babies, babies everywhere. It seems this is the year of the baby for friends and family. I adored the vintage photo offered of a sweet babe sitting in a chair. Such a sweet angelic face. There's just something magical about the eyes captured in vintage photos. I knew this image was destined to become a baby shower card for one of the lucky ladies I know.

Much of my inspiration came from the beautiful collection of papers by DCWV (The Once Upon a Time stack). They reminded me of the youthful belief in magic and fairy tales...princes and princesses, dragons and fairies. Since the mom-to-be that I am crafting this for doesn't know if she's having a prince or a princess I tried to keep it as gender neutral as possible while maintaining the fairy tale feel. My vision was to make it look like a book with a ribbon binding and matching ribbon bookmark.

I like the ethereal feel of ripped paper opposed to the stark straight lines of a well-manicured slice so most of my elements have been torn. I ripped the woodland image from one page and used an Elmer's glue stick to adhere it to another page that had lovely faded typeset story of the Frog Prince, leaving the edges of the woodland image free to curl and lift in places. I cut out the oval center and used an MS punch to make the conifer branch border centered around a white paper flower (Prima Flowers) with a little MS Antique Gold glitter (LOVE that stuff!)in the center.

Inside the card I used a castle scene also taken from the Once Upon A Time stack. I lined it up with the front of the card and cut out another matching oval in the center. I used a coordinating tapestry print from the premium stack and lightly glued (Elmer's Glue All) the two sides and bottom to the inside castle scene leaving the top open creating a sleeve. Through the opening in the top, I inserted and centered the adorable vintage photo and adhered it with a simple piece of scotch tape. The hope is that I will be able to take a vintage photo of the baby when he/she arrives and that picture can then be placed in the card much like a frame.

Next, I used a square and gently scored a line (with a MS bone folder) top to bottom a quarter inch in on the binding side of the cover so the card could be easily opened and shut. I put a thin line of Elmer's glue along the edge and attached the front page of the card to the back page of the card. I picked out a lovely forest green ribbon and glued it front to back...to give the illusion of a book binding. I used the same green ribbon to create a "bookmark" gluing the top of the ribbon inside the "sleeve" created when the inside castle image was glued to the back cover.

Inside the card I printed and cut out a vintage crown image found on Graphics Fairy and attached pearl and ruby rhinestones to it. I used hot glue to attach it just above the oval cut out. I find hot glue allows me to dictate the loft an image has above the base media. As it cools, I can pull the image up giving it dimension. More MS Antique Gold glitter in a thin line around the inner oval frame.

To complete the cover I ripped an oval of paper with more of the Frog Prince text and distressed the edges with Ranger's Distress Ink in Tea Dye and Antique Linen and used a black sharpie to write "Once upon a time" in the center. Again, I used hot glue to attach it, lifting it as it cooled to raise it above the base image. Finally, I added a few cute little dragonflies (cut out with a simple paper punch) attached them with Elmer's and dusted with MS Antique Gold glitter.