Father's Day VEST Dad [CQC #139, LIM #69, MIM #68]

With Father's Day being just around the corner I though it was getting time to come up with a fun card for Dad. And play along with some inspiration parties! Like Less is More (shape cards), Make it Monday (pocket cards), and the Colour Q:

Not normally colors I would associate with Dad, but I thought it was a good excuse to get out of my comfort zone.

Here's the pocket part of the card ...

an actual pocket. Pull the handkerchief, see the message.

It was fun combining sentiments from the Papertrey Tiny Tags collection. The polka dots below the handkerchief came from the side of a banner stamp from Banner Builder. It was way too pink when I stamped it with Raspberry Fizz, so I stamped it a second time with a little Aqua Mist. This makes it a little more purplish like the tie.

The message slides through a slot under the diagonal pocket flap, and the end of the message has a larger rectangle attached so it stops as it's being pulled out. I was too scared to stamp on the strip since I constructed the card first, so I stamped on a separate piece and adhered it to the strip later. The stamped piece is slightly narrower, and ended up giving it a nice, beveled edge. Happy accident!

The buttons are punches in the same cardstock.

The tie is a metallic, textured paper from American Crafts. What a tie that would be IRL!

My husband isn't into clothes at all, so I have to admit to googling "stylish vest" to see what they actually look like now! Here's what I used:

jcrew

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

- Papertrey Tiny Tags and Tiny Tags II

- Papertrey Banner Builder

- AC paper

Linking to:

All Star Boy Card [PDCC #133, CFC #54]

My oldest son is really into baseball. In fact, his 8th birthday party next month will be a baseball-themed party. Tonight I ordered 2 dozen real baseballs that we'll use to write the invitations on. Crossing my fingers that it will turn out similar to what I have in my head : )

I'm a little worried how he'll be when the season is over. I thought it would be nice to give him a card at the end to let him know how proud I am of him. So this is what I made tonight.

Inspiration comes from the challenge at The Play Date Cafe to use the following color scheme:

Also entering this in CASual Friday's Man, it's Casual Friday challenge to create a manly card with designer paper. None of my papers jumped out at me to use with this color scheme, so I made my own background paper. I'm hoping that me being a "designer" of cards makes this a "designer paper". A stretch, for sure : )

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

Martha Stewart Background Stamp

A Muse You're A Champ Stamp Set

PTI 1 3/4" Circle Die

You Rock! [LIM #69, Gallery Idol]

My talented friend, Julie, just won an essay contest on her genealogy research and is on her way to San Deigo as part of her prize. So Julie, YOU ROCK! So proud of you : )

Inspiration for this card comes from the current Less Is More challenge to make a shaped card. I made sure to give this one plenty of white space (which I found a little more challenging since there is not as much card to work with after cutting the shape out!)

Huge props to Mandi and Chrissie for stressing the importance of including more white space for these challenges. Very cool to get constructive comments like that! Much appreciated.

This one ... not so much white space, and a little "irregular" ... but that's OK. I like the larger, grungy font on this one. It's for the Gallery Idol Contest that ends today. What the heck. It's always fun to play along.




Here's another one for the Gallery Idol Contest. Lottery Balls! A rather odd topic, but I wanted something a little quirky. I added some rough, generational, texture stamping around the sides of the balls to make them stand out from each other. And to make them look more like balls! The red "you" was too hard to read on the grey so it got another white "you" layered on top. Now the red is a shadow.

Speaking of quirky, I've had this Mark Twain stamp forever and have never used it. I may have gotten it at a garage sale, or at Borders Books about a decade ago on massive clearance. Not something you look at and say, "I want that stamp!" But I felt sorry for it, appreciated it for its uniqueness, and thought it would go well with the "encouragement" theme for Gallery Idol. I don't know if Mark Twain actually had grey hair, but he does on my card.

Thanks for looking through all the cards!

Supplies Used:

You Rock

Love, Elsie Baseball Alphabet

Autum Leaves Alphabet

PTI Think Big Favorites 

PTI Wonderful Words Die

Copics

Lucky You

AC Paper

AC Texture Stamp

PTI Wonderful Words Die

PTI Banner Builders

Circle Punch

Mark Twain Cheer Up

Unknown Stamp

PTI By The Numbers Die

PTI Paper

Chalk Pencil

Pulling For You [PTI Blog Hop]

Here's an inspirational card for the Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop.

The lime green looks so fresh set off with the black and white in Papertrey's inspiration photo:

I used the PTI Bloom Builder #3 die for the gears. The card was done last night, and this morning when I was taking pictures I couldn't stop thinking that the "gears" still really looked like flowers. Here's what it used to looked like...

So I punched some circles and put them in the center of each Bloom Builder flower die with a little adhesive so they would stay put. This effectively chopped off the long, rounded ends of the flower so they looked a little more like gears.



 

A texture is stamped on the gears to make them look a little more weathered. 

Thanks for looking!

Off to check out some wonderful posts in the Blog Hop ...

Supplies Used:

PTI Bloom Builder Die
PTI Linen Impression Plate

AC Texture Stamp

AC Chevron Stamp

Stampin' Up Paint Splatter Stamp

Technique Tuesday Pulling for You Stamp

Robot Birthday [CFC #53]

OK, so the danger of browsing card sites late at night is that you see a card, love the idea, and then totally forget where it came from a month later! Someone, somewhere had "happy" going down the card with "birthday" stamped in the "p" and I just loved it. If anyone knows this card let me know!

This is for the CAS-ual Friday challenge to get punchy and use a punch or two on your card. For this one I used Martha Stewart border punch, a big circle punch, and a smaller circle punch as a mask for the "2".




Here's another version with a robot helping to give birthday wishes.

I made 20 of these cards for a card exchange last weekend and to have extras on hand for myself, so needless to say I had some left over pieces. Some of the left overs got used on a card for the PTI patterned paper challenge this week.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

- Autumn Leaves Tia Bennet Astro Boy stamp set

- PTI Banner Builder stamp set

- AC Textures stamp

- Sandylion Kelly Panacci 360 Degrees stamp set

- Cricut Boys Will Be Boys Alphabets

- Martha Stewart double loop weave border punch

So Many Scallops [LIM #68]

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you make a card for a challenge, get busy, and all of a sudden you miss the deadline. Then sometimes you get lucky and the card works for the very next challenge. Hooray! This card was originally for last week's Less is More one layer challenge to use 3 stamps. Now, it's for this week's Less is More baby card challenge.

This one layer stuff is HARD, especially when using a wood mounted stamp (the onsie on this card). You just can't tell where those things will stamp! Four cards later I finally had a revelation ... stamp the wood mounted image FIRST. Then you can build around it. Much better, worked like a charm.

Not wanting to toss the other off-centered cards, I stamped the main image (rabbit/elephant/duck/sheep) on a scrap piece of paper, punched it out, and stuck it right on top of the old image.

It happened to fit right inside the dotted circle. Again, sometimes you just get lucky.

The scallops are stamped in alternating colors down the card. 

Last week, when I was in one-layer challenge mode, I tried using an impression plate for the scallop portion of the card, with a separate circle die run through at the same time to keep the main part of the card unembossed. Ignoring the off-centeredness, I think it could have worked, but the circle die cut the impression plate a little so I stopped before I ruined the impression plate. I tried using a couple layers of cardstock circles to block the impression, but the impression from the plate still came through slightly. So, I scrapped the embossing for this card design. Maybe I'll explore that one a little later. If anyone knows how to do this and is willing to share, let me know : )

Anyway, thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

Inkadinkadoo Mehndi Borders (scallop)

Stampin' Up (onsie and toy images)

Kelly Panacci 360 Degrees

Colorbox Lime and Lilac ink

PTI Simply Chartreuse.ink

Corner rounder punch

Woven Paper Birthday Cards [PDCC #132]

Boy, it's been ages since I've woven paper for a project! I was inspired by the checks in my son's madras shorts and thought weaving would be an easy way to get those checks (these are the goofy things I think about when I'm driving the highways!)

Originally I planned to use patterned papers to mimic the shorts, but when I saw The Play Date Cafe challenge #132 to use a splash of mustard with black and white, I thought I'd work with that graphic combo instead:

At first I lined up all the strips right next to each other, but it was impossible to keep the strips going straight across. So I left a tiny space between each strip and it made the weaving so much easier. The ends are secured with Scotch tape in the back. So not glamorous.

The strips are in random order, so it was a surprise to see what the pattern was going to be. After paying attention, I saw that alternating colors on the top and side will make a stripe. The same color on the top and a different color on the side will make a check.

Instead of tossing the leftover strips I made another card. I like the first card with random strips better than this one. But always good to have a card you don't mind sending out in the mail : )

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used:

PTI Mat Stack 1 Collection stamp

gems

Patterned Paper Birthday Cards [MIM #67, CQC #138]

Again, a fun challenge at Papertrey ... use at least 3 patterned papers on a card.

One challenge is to use patterned papers from the same pack. Already coordinated, nice! The "2" and "u" circles, and the punched border, are leftovers from last week's project that I haven't posted yet.

Then, you are challenged to use patterned papers from your scrap bin. Much more playing around with things for this challenge, not so easy when things aren't already picked for you! I always love making things from my leftover papers though. Seems like you often come away with something you totally wouldn't have thought of otherwise. This card has 5 pattern papers ... a record for me!

It also uses the colors for this week's ColorQ challenge:

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used:

PTI leafy vine border die

PTI tag its #1

PTI circle die

PTI banner builder stamps

Kelly Panacci 360 Degrees

Martha Stewart border punch

Hole punch

Making Memories Just Chillin' cardstock (first card)

American Crafts Confetti (Lucy Lemon Twist), Peachy Kean (Easy Peasy), Letterbox (Reply) cardstock

Gems

Purple Felt Flower Bouquet [MIM #66]

Here's a rolled felt flower bouquet inspired by Make it Monday's challenge to use your border dies to make rolled flowers. Anytime I can get more uses out of my tools I'm thrilled! So thank you, Ashley Cannon-Newell, for your idea to do this.

I also love how challenges force me to use the things I've been hording ... like the homemade paper I used for the flower wrap, my Grandma's purple felt from her estate, and an incredible hand-dyed strip of green silk that I bought from an artist at a flea market.

The paneling look from the new stripe impression plate is so neat, so thought I'd try to re-create that by scoring my own lines. It turned out OK, the scoring rolled the paper a bit so I had to roll it the opposite direction a couple times to get it straight again. Might be easier to just buy the impression plate! 

 

 For the flowers, I used the simple circles die and cut it in half lengthwise to get two flowers out of one. It was a little tricky rolling those thin strips, so I found if I rolled the strip of circles BEFORE I cut it, it was easier to then cut the already rolled bundle in half.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

PTI Simple Circles Border die

PTI Tiny Tags die and stamp
Score-Pal

felt

handmade paper

hand-dyed silk

70th Birthday Card - Where Has the Time Gone? [PDCC #131, cQc #136]

We're going to a 70th birthday party tonight ... at a bar!! Love it. I'm not a drinker, but I think it speaks to how "not-70" my mom's cousin is. Thought I'd loop in a few challenges as long as I was making a card. The colors in both The Play Date Cafe, and colourQ were quite a challenge for me, but I guess that's the whole point of a challenge, right?!

I linked the die cut "70"s to make them a little less obvious. And the clocks are all pointing to 7:00 (not sure that would be noticed, but figured I might as well as long as I had to pick a time.)

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

PTI by the numbers die

Kelly Panici Time Flies stamps

Versamark Ink

Damask-ish Card

After seeing so many fun cards from prior challenges, I though I'd check out the current Moxie Fab challenge and participate for the first time. The challenge is to use damask in your card design. Well, no damask here, but I thought the PTI Mehndi Medallion stamp could maybe pass for a damask-ish design. Masked the center portion off, and added the ticket strip for the sentiment. Not sure if you can tell, but I notched the corners with a hole punch to mimic the look of a ticket.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:

PTI Mehndi Medallion

PTI Just the Ticket Die and Stamp Set
PTI Mellon Berry, Pure Poppy, and Raspberry Fizz Ink

What's the Word, Bird. [CFC #52]

You'd think owning a bird stamp would be a given after stamping for awhile, but I was surprised to find I only have one set of bird stamps. Disappointing, since the CAS-ual Fridays stamp challenge is to make a card with a bird on it. But I found one I liked. I wanted something graphic, and thought it would be fun to make a bird pattern. 

For the first row I penciled a straight line across the middle of the panel, lined up the bird's feet, and went from there. Somewhere along the way I got off, but that's what makes things custom and "one-of-a-kind" right?!? Yep.

For the blue bird perched right above the word "bird" I realized his legs were cut off with the mask I used. Bummer. But then I took a deep breath and ... drew my own. After all that bird stamping I was a tiny bit scared. But now I like how it makes the bird stand out a little more.

Happy accident : )

Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies used:

Inkadinkadoo Bird Assortment Stamps

Watercolor Pencils (yep, still no copics)

Trendy Triangles [MIM #65, LIM #66, CFC #51]

What fun playing with triangles! I had a blast seeing what I could make from various background papers cut with the PTI triangle banner die. This is prompted by PTI's Make it Monday challenge to make a background from patterned paper scraps, and by Casual Friday's Happy Birthday challenge (Happy One Year, guys!)

The first card is kind of quilt-like, with one upside-down triangle focusing on the sentiment. Originally I had the red triangle pointing up to the sentiment, but the wide end matched size-wise to the word "heart" so I thought it looked better that way.

The card is based on a pin by Ali Edwards of a quilt from Blue is Bleu. I've had it in my head for awhile, knowing it would be a card one day:

Now I'm left with a desk FULL of triangle scraps (the die cuts three triangles at a time, which is a lot when you only need one).

So what's a girl to do ....

More cards!!

This one is a simple hexagon on dimensional adhesive.

and ...

a flower note card.

wait, there's one more ...

Reminds me of a kite string (although I don't know who actually had cute little kites with decorations on the string, it wasn't me, but I always loved pictures of kites like that). Embossed paper on one side, sentiment on the other. Zig zag stitching down the middle. Really, really easy. I had so much fun playing around. And now I have a whole set of cards! These would make a nice gift set, I think. They all have different sentiments from Dawn McVey's dress form set so they coordinate in that way too.

OK, OK, just one more ...

This one is for the Less is More "Yellow" challenge. Fun cards to make!

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:
PTI banner die
PTI dress form stamp set
PTI circles impression plate
Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine paper

Inspired by Family Magazine Article (part 2)

The second and last part to the Mother's Day Cards article has been published over at Inspired by Family Magazine. Please head over to check it out, and all the other Mom-centric articles they feature. There's some good stuff there!

If you missed it, here is part 1 of the cards article.

Thanks for looking!

Inspired by Family Magazine Article

The nice folks at Inspired by Family Magazine asked me to write an article on handmade Mother's Day Cards. Fantastic! Please head on over and take a look. And while you're there, check out all the other articles on crafts, recipes, fashion, inspirational messages, DIY, photography. It's a fun site to hang out at!