A Postage Themed Problem; "Special Delivery" Birth Announcements!

Often, I find that having a limit set on my supplies or time forces me to bypass the most obvious way to do something and find a really creative solution to a problem. It's one of the main things that I really like about the show Craft Wars. This week the CW contestants were challenged to make Christmas decorations from mailing supplies. In my attempt to create things referencing the show, I also created something that celebrates a special moment and used stamps and packaging materials to solve a crafting cunundrum. Here's the problem and how I crafted my way out of it.

In a recent post, I shared the story behind this photo and explained what went into creating the props for the photo shoot. I loved the picture so much and I wanted to use it as part of Joshua's birth announcement.

The birth announcement above is NOT Joshua, but it is the starting point for his birth announcements and for my problem. I found these blank announcements months ago at a HUGE discount. (I got a few hundred of these beautiful announcements for $5!) At the time, I figured I would get a good (horizontal) photo of the baby and do a similar layout.....and then I fell in love with this luggage idea (and its vertical orientation) and I had a problem!

Here is the initial picture from the luggage photo shoot. (Can you believe I took it on my PHONE?!? My "big camera" was out of batteries and the light was good and the baby was asleep and my phone apparently has a REALLY good camera on it!) I was aware of the layout issue and tried to take a few in a horizontal format, but they just didn't work for this image.

Before I could figure it all out, I went ahead and ran the photo through photo-shop to add Joshua's name and "special delivery" to the luggage tags. I also cropped the image and bumped up the contrast and saturation of the colors a little.

And then it was time to deal with the layout issue. I would have just flipped the card to be vertical, but there is the round monogram on one side of the card and it was going to show and be in an odd location if I flipped the card to be vertical. I decided that I would need to hide the monogram behind some additional element.

I went looking for fun travel or delivery themed images that could be glued over the monogram area to hide it. When I found these stamps I was SO excited! I also got a new idea for how to handle the odd monogram circle space so that these stamps no longer needed to be glued over the monogram area.

Instead, I placed them in random looking areas on the picture as if it were a postcard being mailed. As long as I was in photo-shop, I also played around with the date on the flag stamp, making it Joshua's birthday!

I still needed to deal with the monogram circle, but the stamps had given me a new idea. Instead of hiding the monogram circle, I re-invented it as a round postal cancelation stamp! This provided the additional oportunity to add the details of Joshua's place of birth, weight, and length where a real postal cancelation would have its own information.

I just used a craft knife to cut half the edge of the circle, so that the photo slid underneath the round shape and my problem was solved!

That's how I went from a problem layout to a postal themed "special delivery" birth announcement! I love how a few limiting factors and the choice of a few postage supplies created a finished product that was so much more creative than the original design!

Several Craft Wars contestants have also been making things inspired by the "Christmas Craftastrophe" episode. Check them out at the links below!

Lisa's Cardstock Christmas Tree

Traci's Craft Wars Inspired Wreath

Nikki's Wine Cork Wreath

Margot's Re-Do of Last Week's Sweater Wreath

Pattye's Up-cycled Christmas Ornaments