design notes: Baby Boy Notecard

My friends’ baby is almost a year old, so I thought I should probably get cracking on sending that baby gift that I bought when he was born. Along with it, I wanted to send one of my hand-made note cards. And why not post about it on my blog? So, here’s step by step of how I put it together.

Over the years I’ve accumulated a bunch of odds and ends of scrapbook-making stuff; scrap paper, corners, ribbons, knickknacks, etc. I usually pick this stuff up when it’s on sale at Michael’s or DeSerres or stores like that, or I save it off of stuff that I've gotten and don't need anymore. I'm big on the second R of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I also keep my eyes open for when blank note cards go on sale. So, I have this stash of craft supplies and hoard them until I need to use them, such as this occasion.

Step 1

When I make a note card, I pick a “centerpiece” and then build off of that. I chose a 3D snail sticker because it’s blue and green for the stereotypical boy look, and the pastel colours are very baby-like.

Step 2

The next step is gathering together any other elements that may go with this. I usually pick way too many things, but I gather them all together anyway.

Step 3

Then I roughly lay them out on a blank note card and piece it together to get an idea of how I want it to look. I have a habit of wanting to add a whole bunch of stuff to a card, so I have to keep reminding myself that less is more because otherwise it starts to look messy. So, for this baby boy card I picked a blue and white striped paper for the background, and a couple of sticker corners that had similar blue and green colours in them to match the blue and green of the snail.

White note card, striped paper, corner stickers, and 3D snail sticker

Step 4

Next, I measure out how big I want the striped paper to be on the front of the note card.

Measuring how big I want the background striped paper to be

I usually cut it out using an Exacto knife, but today I was in a hurry and didn’t feel like dragging out the cutting board, so I just used scissors.

Cutting out the striped paper

I used a glue stick to glue the paper, but after I took the photo, I discovered that it was dying and had to pick a blob of glue off the stick and spread it on with my fingers. I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves and get dirty, but I don’t recommend this spreading with fingers method because dying glue stick glue doesn’t spread very easily and can remain lumpy. And via Murphy’s Law, 5 minutes later I found double sided tape.

Gluing the striped paper

Step 5

Then I add the corners. Not complicated stuff. They’re stickers.

Adding the corner stickers

Step 6

Then I add the snail to the middle.

Adding the snail

Step 7

For the final touch, I busted out my fancy-shaped hole punchers. My favourite for baby note cards is the foot one. I punched out a couple of little blue feet, and double-sided taped them to the inside of the card for a little “aww” factor.