Monday, April 26, 2010

Birth Announcements


Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me. 
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I am currently looking at birth announcements. And there are more decisions to be made than I first thought.

Paper or email?
I am still such a paper person – I know often an email is so much quicker and people actually prefer it over a letter. But not on such important or special occasions like weddings or births! I think in these cases you need something you can keep: in a shoebox, on the fridge, in a photo album or wherever you store special memorabilia. So paper it is for me. Maybe with a quick email or text to my nearest and dearest to share the ‘good news’ immediately.

Photos?
A definite YES for me. Babies are adorable – oh well maybe not in the first couple of days with their bruises, funny-shaped heads and red, wrinkled faces. But afterwards they are just beautiful. I always loved looking at the tiny new beings. Tried to figure out whether they looked more like their dad or mum (usually it is just the perfect combination of both). Admired their peaceful sleep or their open stares. So yeah for photos

Printed text or handwritten note?
As I said I am old-fashioned when it comes to invitations. I prefer any hand scribbled note – no matter how difficult it is to decode – over a beautifully composed and printed text. Especially on those exceptional moments in life. It also gives you the opportunity to personalise the announcement. What I want to tell my grandma about the arrival of her first great-grandchild will be very different from the thoughts I want to share with my best friend. I know it takes a lot of time, but in my opinion it is worth every second.

The usual information or a bit more?
Name, date of birth, time of birth, height, weight – the usual things. Okay, I understand the former three – these are interesting information. Not too sure about height and weight. What does that tell you? That the baby is healthy? That the labour was easy or hard? That my baby is the biggest ever in the family? Or the lightest? Aren’t other information more important? Things like that we fall more in love with her every day. That she has the cute habit of wrinkling her little nose whenever she becomes annoyed with something (or whatever she will actually do)?

Bought or crafted?
Not sure yet. I usually make invitations (even our wedding invitations) and birthday cards myself. Because I love to craft with paper, have stacks of different cardboard and ribbons and adhesive tapes and just like the handmade feel of them. But when looking for inspiration online, I found some which are already amazing and they don’t cost the earth, so it would feel a bit stupid and like a copy-cat to replicate them. Have a look at these wonderful examples and then you understand why I cannot make up my mind:
found here

found here

found here

found here

found here

As you can see there is a little polka dot theme going on. This is not a coincidence though, because the name we currently use for our little one (aka belly name) is dottie. Yes, I am really into images and things with a special meaning ;-)

Dear readers, do you have any creative tips or ideas on how to design and what to include into the birth announcement? I would love to be inspired and I’ll keep you updated on how I go with my decision making on the cards.

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