Publications: Round 1

I am one of those people who is constantly looking for validation. For example, when I make a new project or do something I think is fabulous (or not), I need to show it to EVERYONE right away and get feedback. I believe this is mainly why I loved participating in the challenges on Splitcoast :-) Having said this, I CANNOT believe that I never shared my published cards on my blog. HELLO!? SO unlike me not to be bombarding you all with these looking for pats on the back and such! Without further ado, let me introduce 'Modern Mom'--my first publication which was included in Cards Magazine, August '08.

This was an invitation that I came up with for a woman named Andrea who hired me to make baby shower invites. I had made a few samples and they were pretty traditional and then I was inspired to make something a little different and 'Modern Mom' was born. I took a look at Michelle's online registries and it allowed me to see a little bit of her personality. There were these onesies she had registered for and they were pink, olive, and brown and then these sheets that had a funky circular print which together made me think of this American Crafts paper I had. I decided to try making something a little different using the paper, but it didn't look 'baby' enough so I added the Mom image from the stamp set Swell News and paper-pieced the dress which made the card look more suitable or obvious for a baby shower. I shared it with Andrea and she loved it as soon as she saw it. She thought the design would be perfect for Michelle and I loved it so much I decided to submit it to be published. Which leads me to my pep talk...if you've ever made a card that you just LOVE, submit it somewhere! You just never know what a publisher will be interested in and if you really love something, chances are someone else will love it as well. Now, having said that...persistance is sometimes necessary because even GREAT cards don't get picked up all of the time!

I made a simple 'thank you' card to coordinate with the invites and this card was published as well. So, another word of advice--if you submit an invite to be published you may as well make a coordinating 'thank you'. I also made a registry card which I didn't photograph and I included it with the two cards and the publishers ended up using it as well so you just never know! On both cards, the mom image was stamped with Adirondack ink and colored in with Copics. I colored a LOT of these images in the course of completing Andrea's order and let me tell you the whole process made me love and appreciate having my Copics that much more.

Okay, so those were the items that were published. I also want to share some coordinating projects if you're able to stick around for a few more minutes ;-)

Here's a little nugget box that I made using the same paper as a possible favor idea. The monogram was made using stamps from PTI. It's so faint that you probably won't be able to see it, but on either side of the 'Z' are the words 'baby' and 'girl' in a soft pink. Another possible favor was this little package (sour cream container) made again with the AC paper and same monogram as the nugget box.

Thanks for hanging in there with me for such a long post! I have some scrapbooking layouts to share so hopefully I can get those photographed and posted sometime soon.

Hope your week is off to a great start!