Oh, Baby!

By | August 13, 2016

I saw my daughter Anne making a plain white cake the other day and she told me that it was a practice run for baking a bigger cake for a baby shower. This isn’t just any baby shower however – it’s a “Gender Reveal Party,” where no one (except my daughter!) knows the sex of the baby, not even the parents! Anne had gone with the mother-to-be to a recent ultrasound appointment and she was given that information, but the mother asked not to be told. Anne’s job will be to bake a cake, with white frosting, but inside the cake will be tinted either pink or blue, depending on the information that only she knows, and it will be known by all when the cake is cut! What a fun surprise!

Foxy Friends Baby Love

While Anne is the best cook and baker in the family, I am the resident card-maker, so she asked me to make one for her, which I was happy to do. Just last night I had been playing with my Fox Builder Punch and I’d made a baby raccoon, so I started with that, and one thing led to another. Anne said the baby’s room is going to be aqua and gray, so the “A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper Stack” in Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Calypso Coral, Basic Black and Whisper White was the perfect choice for a background paper.

Foxy Friends Baby Love side

One great thing about our Designer Series Paper Stacks is that they come in a 6″ x 6″ size and there are different patterns on both sides of the paper. So, when I chose the gray hearts paper for the front of the card and cut it to size, there were a couple of extra strips left that I turned over to the other side, Pool Party and Whisper White diagonal stripes, and I used one of these under the “Baby Love” sentiment that I stamped on vellum with photopolymer stamps from the Crazy About You Set. I then layered that with a piece of plain Pool Party cardstock to give it a finished look. (Note: I used Basic Black Archival Ink on the vellum, but I cleaned it right away with a little Stazon cleaner and followed that with a pat of water. I usually try to limit my use of permanent inks with my photopolymer stamps because that cleaner is hard on them, but it is essential to use a permanent ink when stamping on vellum to avoid smearing.)

Foxy Friends Stamp Images

Images from the Foxy Friends photopolymer stamp set

The Foxy Friends stamp set and Fox Builder Punch are so versatile, you can make not only several versions of a fox and a raccoon as I did, but other animals such as a cat, a skunk, a wolf and more!

Foxy Friends Baby Love detail

For my baby raccoon, I used Smoky Slate cardstock and Tuxedo Black Memento ink, my preferred choice when working with photopolymer stamps whenever possible. I used the ink full strength on the tail, eyes and nose, and stamped off once for the mask and ears, and then I sponged ink all around the head, body and tail parts before assembling. I used Layering Ovals Framelits with Calypso Coral cardstock on the scalloped frame, and matched that color on the little hearts “word bubble” too.

Here are the colors that I used on my card, the same color scheme that is in the A Little Foxy DSP Paper Stack, along with Whisper White:

Click on any swatch to see other items that Stampin’ Up! offers in these colors!

Here are the supplies that I used to make my Raccoon Baby Love card (showing all the different formats; bundles, photopolymer, clear mount, wood mount.) Click on any picture for more information, or to order:

 P.S. My daughter just baked the cake and I know what color it is! Any guesses? I’ll give you a hint: It came out looking a little like either A) Calypso Coral or B) Pool Party 🙂
Rocky Raccoon
Yes! Raccoons really do visit our yards at night, searching for goodies.

 

2 thoughts on “Oh, Baby!

  1. PaperPuff

    I love the cake reveal idea! Your card is super. I wish we had racoons here as they are so cute (maybe not in reality, I don’t know?!).

    Reply
    1. ValoryDegree Post author

      Thanks, and I agree, the cake reveal is such a clever idea. We have a lot of raccoons here in Northern California; even though we live in a large city they often come into backyards at night, foraging for food. We have to bring our cats and their food inside every night because the raccoons are big and they would hurt the kitties – but they are beautiful and it’s so fascinating to watch them eat with their hands! I snapped a photo of one on our back deck one night; I’ll put it at the end of my post. One night we had a visit from a mother and five babies and our cats, looking through the glass door, were going crazy! They always alert me with a “distress meow.”

      Reply

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