A baby will be landing soon....

No, WE are not expecting. My friend Rhonda is....

Rhonda and her husband are expecting a baby in May. We are so excited for them! Rhonda joined the AMA club with me and a bunch of my other girlfriends. AMA stands for Advanced Maternal Age... that is what my OB told me I was because I was over 35 years old and expecting our first baby! I was the first one in our 'group' to be labeled AMA but since then, several other friends have joined me. We support each other through all the trials and tribulations of being 'older' mothers. For example, I know I am not alone when I take Micaela somewhere and I find I am the oldest mother in the bunch. I always know I am older but when some of the other Moms mention they graduated from high school in 2000 and waited to have children, I cringe because. I was well out of college and had been climbing the coporate ladder for nearly 10 years in 2000.

Anyway, Some college friends and I are hosting a baby shower and I am responsible for the invitiations. At first, (sonogram #1) they were told the baby was going to be a boy so I stocked up on a bunch of Ballet Blue card stock and started hunting around for the retired "Toy Box" stamp set. I knew I wanted to use the airplane from the set for the invitations because Rhonda's husband is a pilot for a major airline. (I don't have anything boyish- ya know). Well, at the second sonogram in January, they were told the baby 'might' be a girl. Whoa, we are elated but I had stop the presses.. didn't want to use Ballet Blue if she was having a girl!

Luckily, Rhonda was able to have a third sonogram in early February. She called on her way out of the doctors office and confirmed the baby was definitely a girl. I had everything planned out and was able to start cutting, scoring, stamping and printing immediately, the shower is on March 1st so I had to get the invitations out in the mail quickly.

I decided to keep the airplane in honor of the new Daddy. Instead of the Ballet Blue, Creamy Caramel and Vanilla color scheme I decided to go with Barely Banana, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery instead. I used a double sided 12x12 designer paper by American Crafts called "Pat-A-Cake", it is Barely Banana on one side and multi color pastel dots on the opposite side.

The invitation is a modified Cami Trifold. Here it is as you open it.

And here it is completely open.

The airplane on the cover was stamped in Certainly Celery Craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I used blender pens to color the airplane in Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery. The wheels were done in Creamy Caramel and the windshield in Barely Banana. I 'shaded' around the plain with my Aqua Pen and some Bashful Blue ink to simulate a cloud. I used the fine tip of the Regal Rose marker to dot a flight pattern.

I printed most of the text on the computer. It was very tricky to get everything to print right, I used some desktop publishing software to help me but it was still a challenge. I had to stand on my head and single feed each page into the printer twice to get it to print right. Don't you just hate tempermental printers? I think it was worth it because I have gotten some wonderful feedback from the guests.

I Cuttlebugged the back with the "Created for you with love" embossing folder from the To/From set. (I think I am hooked on that one little embossing folder.

I am planning on making coordinating favors and a few other things. Look for more matching items by March 1st, the day of the shower. Thanks for stopping by...

Paper: American Crafts "Pat-A-Cake", Whisper White, Certainly Celery and Regal Rose card stocks from SU

Stamps: Airplain from "Toy Box" stamp set

Other: SU Scalloped Circle Punch

Font: Crazy Girlz Blond BTN