Okay, no... this isn't a tutorial on babies. Although, with six of my own I might have a bit to share. ;o) My bestest friend from High School just had her first baby! I'm so excited for her! She was the one 'back in the day' that always wanted to be a mom. The rest of us were not that excited and I think I even said I wasn't going to do it at all. As is often the case, teenagers haven't a clue. Two of us ended up getting married fairly young and popping out the kids. My other friend just couldn't seem to find Mr Right until about two years ago. I know she has been dying to have a baby and now she has one! (can you tell I am in my writing mode....sorry about that) ANYWAY! I wanted to make her a super cute baby congrats card. As per usual, I just start cutting and stamping and not worrying or even thinking about the size my card is going to be until I am mostly done. What I end up with a lot of times is a cute card that doesn't fit any envelope known to man. But, do not despair! I am getting pretty good at mutilating, I mean, modifying envelopes to suit my purposes. 
First off, let me tell you about my card. My card base ended up being approx 3-1/2 x 7 when folded. I started with bashful blue cardstock. I cut a piece of designer paper from Bblue and then punched 8 3/4" circles to make my scalloped border. (Using your grid paper to line these puppies up is essential!) I adhered the circles to the back of the DSP and then adhered both to the card base. I tied a piece of white tafetta ribbon around the front of the card and then went to work on the focal point. (I'm lying, I did the focal point first, but...don't tell) I stamped the elephant from All through the year in basic black, stamping them close so they looked like they were attached. I took a black marker and added a little hook to finish the illusion there. To color in my elephants, I used a VersaMarker and drew the stripes, dots and flowers. This is fun because you can't really see where you have drawn. After I drew in all my patterns, I used a sponge dauber to rub chalk over the image. The Vmark ink grabs the chalk and the pattern appears....like magic! I did the same technique for the little wheeled pallets too. I added some colored brads to the wheels and some faux stitching to the top of the focal point and to the card base. I punched a 1/2 inch circle from the side of the focal point (so my bow would lie better) and mounted it onto some barely banan cardstock,which I also punch the 1/2 circle from. The focal poit is adhered with dimensionals.
Because I ended up with an odd sized card, I didn't have an envelope that it fit. To fix this problem, I looked through my envelop drawer and found one that 'almost fit." This one was a bit too long. Here is how I modified it to fit:
I lined up the card with the open side of the envelope. I wanted to keep that side in tack.
I used a clear ruler to score a fold line 1/2" from the end of the card. Then I moved the ruler and measured out an inch from the score line and cut on this line. I used scissors to cut the top level of the envelope away. I rounded the corners that were left and then folded the new flap over and adhered it. It looks like it was made that size and it fits my card beautifully. I've had several people ask me about making envelopes, so, hopefully this is helpful to them. I better go see if anything is on fire!
I don't know if you could tell, but I actually wrote this post in the afternoon. A mistake I won't soon repeat. I have been interrupted by 4 phone calls, two kid fights, comments from my DH, 3 door bells, and an amazing amount of general Noise! I hope some of it makes sense!!
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