July 18, 2009

look who's here...

After moving past the mushroom/fun guy/fungi theme, I quickly settled on an owl theme for Twain's birth announcement.

I wasn't originally intending to use an owl, but I found a cute baby owl cartridge for the cricut, and was smitten by its sweet simplicity.


The baby owl cartridge was new and scheduled to be released at the end of June.

In the meanwhile, I ordered Twain some organic onesies and beanies, and made him a rough-applique owl onesie.


Enters girl and camera.

After manipulating my camera settings and getting everything situated, Twain would start to fuss.

Click.

and click.

Oh boy. This was not going to be easy.

Enters John. The ever present voice of reason.

After the umpteenth shot, he exclaims "Enough already, for crying out loud! Just pick a photo. This one. Or that one. They are all fine!"

Fine????

Over things such as this, John really is from mars and I really am from venus. I wished he would come to my land of fairies and unicorns...and at least humor my attempts at capturing the magical and elusive picture of the perfectly coo-ing baby.

I was perfectly willing to wait indefinitely for Twain to acclimate to my camera, so I could get the shot I wanted. But John? Not so much. He wanted me to move on so he could get his tidy house back.

persistent girl + camera + screaming baby + unsympathetic husband = very frustrated girl.

And that girl may or may not have snuck in one more attempt the next morning, before throwing up her arms in despair and settling on a photo.

Meanwhile June turned into July and there was still no release date for the baby owl cricut cartridge. I was getting ants in my pants here! I called the company and they were not sure when it would be released. I was dismayed, mind you, having revolved my entire announcement around the silly thing. But I was not willing to sit around waiting much longer. I was going to have to improvise.

I kept trying to make the announcement more elaborate, but this just made it look worse. Sometimes less is more. So after all this fuss, here is my simple little announcement.

I used a different
cricut cartridge to make the yellow branch seen above.(And no, I did not cut it out by hand, as some have asked me:)

And here is the back.
I wanted to use the die cut of the baby owl here on back, but since it was not released, I had to use a bitmap instead. Such a sad tale.

And here are some runner-up photos, where Twain was not wailing his head off.














And of course, the photo I ended up using.
It's a good thing I enjoy wasting wiling away my time playing with cards like this...

28 comments:

  1. oh goodnesssssss, the one with his little hands above his head and that tiny little smitten look on his face slays me!!!
    The announcements may not be what you originally had in mind but boy oh boy are they CUUUUTE!! I love them!!

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  2. The announcement was so cute - thanks for sending us one! I have got to get a cricut, that's all there is to it!

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  3. Isn't it funny the amount of time we creative types are willing to spend on these "quick little projects?" I totally understand Davi although our husbands probably never really will. But that's okay. The main thing is that we love (mostly) the process and are pleased with the end result. Your announcements are fabulous and Twain is adorable. You got several really great photos.

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  4. Oh, and just a thought. Have you ever tried playing music during your photo shoot? Just wondered if it would drown out the sound of the camera so Twain would relax and smile and coo.

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  5. I don't know how you chose a photo...they are ALL wonderful!!! And just how did you know what new cricut stuff was coming out???

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  6. Golly, that's too cute.

    Love the Who's part...

    Smashing work, my friend.

    We should hang out.

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  7. Davi you truly amaze me. I loved the announcement so much, I squealed a little (lot) when I got it in the mail! I must have been starring at it for 30 min trying to figure out how you made it so perfect!

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  8. See...tenacity pays off! These pics are fantastic. LOVE the announcement and the name.

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  9. ooooo my!!

    he is such a cutie!!

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  10. He really is such a precious little blessing!

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  11. What a precious baby!! And your anouncements are to die for. I seriously watched a 3 hour infomercial about the cricut and I had the phone and credit card in my hand when my husband shot down my dreams and swore the thing wouldn't work and wouldn't let me get it. Now that I know how well it works... I have to have it.

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  12. oh, just STOP IT!!! you are WAY too talented woman!! he is adorable..love him!

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  13. OMG that is so adorable!! he is such a cutie!

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  14. So cute! I love the one (third from bottom) where it looks like he's sleeping with his hands above his head!

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  15. They turned out great! And thank you so much for getting me addicted to the Cricut. Seriously obsessed! :)

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  16. Well, the announcement turned out cute all the same!

    There is one of those pics of Twain where he looks just like Calvin to me.

    One question, though, how do you know if it's a "baby" owl? Just cut it smaller, I guess. :-)

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  17. So cute, I have a question. Do you have a photography websight? I am doing a collection on my blog of photographers that inspire me, id love to put you up, if you dont im just goign to put up your blog.

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  18. well, you already now how much I adored your announcements and how utterly cute I think you and your son are and how admirable I am of your creative talents. :) I loved hearing the story behind them! Now I like them even more!

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  19. He's more adorable than the owl!!!

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  20. SO SO CUTE!!!! I love it! You did an incredible job!

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  21. we LOVED getting the thank you card and birth announcement in the mail, thank you! seeing your handwriting reminded me of when you and mike and i took turns writing certain words to compare the differences and discussed our signatures :o)
    twains beautiful announcement is now gracing our refrigerator door :o)
    we miss you
    xoxo

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  22. I am loving seeing your adorable announcement all over refrigerator doors in Santa Clarita! It gets many compliments and I am quite the proud auntie!

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  23. Thank you for the laughs! I had been scrolling down, and that fourth of July Pic of your son and his facial stars cracked me up! Then, the "fun guy... fungi". Ah... morphine, kids, frustrating life-moments, and then getting to sew and create and release it all!

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  24. OMG! SO adorable! I just checked my mail today (I've been out of town for a week) and got it!!! :-) IT SO ADORABLE! I wish I had your talent... and your Cricut! :-)

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  25. Love the announcement! Thanks for sharing! I have a four month old guy of my own, and I was wondering where you find all your great colored, apparently organic onesies, and beanies?? Would you mind sharing your source? They are super difficult to come by, and I think I am on the road to dying my own, but I would love to know where you get yours, if you don't mind! Thanks for sharing your family adventures!

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  26. i will pay you to make my next future child's birth announcement. thank you.

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