Twin Birth Announcements

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My sister, Melissa, lives in Amsterdam with her Dutch husband Peter, her American son, Hans (3), and now almost 9 month old Dutch twins Benjamin and Elianna ~ pronounced [ae-lee-anna].

The quick story of how she came to live in The Netherlands and marry Peter all began with an European vacation and a love-at-first-sight meeting at the Lowlands Festival in The Netherlands.

The quote that I used in their guestbook, {a handmade book that had a quote and black & white photos of them on the left side of the page} it is also my favourite, and best sums up their whole relationship, courtship and marriage, even to this day...

"Once in awhile,
right in the middle of an ordinary life,
love gives us a fairy tale."
~ Unknown ~

Before Hans was born, Melissa asked me if I could make birth announcements, of course I said, "YES!"

For her wedding in Amsterdam in August 2005, I (along with my"Team" {Mom, SIL, Aunts and others depending on time...}) made her wedding invitations. We did the same thing again for her reception party here in Abbotsford (BC) later in October.

So when Melissa found out that she was having twins, she naturally asked me if I would do the announcements for them. I said "YES", again , because I wouldn't trust another to do a good job, nor would I want them to pay to get a printer to just "print" them.

Here is what I came up with...

This is the first rough cut:

When I emailed Melissa, she loved it ...

... Me? Not so happy ... It didn't look right. The carriage was floating and it looked bare, there was no ribbon ... { Everything I create needs some sort of ribbon } ... I was just not happy with the whole thing ...

So I played some more and then came up with this draft ...

... I was happy!

The Tim Holtz Baroque Die was the perfect background that grounded the carriage.

The flower, pearls, and bits of ribbon added that touch that I knew was missing ... I loved the results!

... The only thing that could make this announcement perfect ... but would add more time to the process ... more weight to the envelopes (many these would be mailed overseas) ... and more expense overall ...

... would be another carriage!

But it only made sense to add another carriage because there were 2 babies! So unbeknown to Melissa and Peter, I added another carriage and this was the final birth announcement!

You don't want to know how many had to be made ... Really ...

... Let me just tell you how many hours it took to cut up all the cardstock and pattern papers ... and they were all simple cuts! { Twenty four hours }

... The actual work bee with a team of 4 plus myself and another who work did all the technical/tricky stuff { seven hours }

But I'd do it all over again ... those babies are really cute ...

Take Care,
Tanya

Card Notes: Pattern Paper - Graphic 45 (Baby to Bride), Cardstock/Bling - Bazzill, Ribbon - May Arts, Tim Holtz Distressing Ink (Vintage Photo) - Ranger Industries, Flowers - Prima, Pearls - Kaiser, Tim Holtz Alterations (Baroque Die) Sizzix