Inspiration for New Baby Gifts

On Saturday my very dear friend gave birth to another beautiful baby boy.  I have been collecting together gifts for the family over the last couple of months but was rather stumped as to a card design. Whilst working on a completely different project on Monday and still very stuck for ideas I came across this clock face I had cut out from a magazine (when I was about 18!)...and my brain kicked into gear!

09.39am and 10.13pm. Two times which I will never forget - the time my boys arrived in the world and our world changed for ever. I thought it might be nice to create something for my friend which commemorated that special moment in time when her little boy arrived. Thanks to the detailed text message I received letting me know he'd arrived I had all the information I needed to record the time, date and birth weight.

So I got to thinking about clocks. I am going to cut three designs so my friend can choose which one she likes best. I wanted to give the option of different styles so have chosen a cuckoo clock, a mantle piece clock and a fancy wall clock.

I used this picture as inspiration but wanted to create something more organic. So I framed the clock face with branches and used leaves to hold some of the information as well as a banner held up by the two birds at the bottom of the clock.

This is a scanned image of the completed papercut (I will have some photos soon). I think that it will look great framed and because it is cut from black paper, it should tie in with any colour scheme.

All three clock designs will be available in my Etsy and Folksy shops from this weekend. So if you are looking to give a unique gift to celebrate a new birth or special moment in time why not get me to create a custom clock papercut?

Party at HQ

A bit of a lie in at Rosie and the Boys HQ today as we are celebrating the youngest boy's 1st Birthday! Known to us as Dove, we can't believe that it's only been a year - we can't remember what life without him was like!

So in honour of Dove's special day and to give you an idea of what might be coming up in designs later in the year I thought I would show you the birthday card I've made for him.

Cut directly into the card I've included two doves, a star and a heart in the design as well as his date of birth and lots of stripes. When I edited the photo I emphasised the shadows to help you see the cut more clearly.

I put some coloured paper behind the design in this shot. The great thing about cutting directly into the card is that you can then add any coloured paper as a card insert. So it could be as masculine or feminine a colour scheme as you like!

I cut the card last night and the shadow effect on the inside of the card when it was in artificial light was really stunning. I waited until this morning to take the photos though so the effect isn't as clear (especially as the sun kept disappearing behind clouds!) but hopefully you can still get the idea.

Decorative number cut outs are definitely something I will be exploring - I'm thinking special birthdays, wedding anniversaries, important dates etc. I'll keep you posted.