Father's Day #2

    Hi there!  I'm back again with another Father's Day card!  I made three of them for my card class yesterday, and this one has to be my favorite!  Even though the stamp sets are retired, I have a few ladies that l-o-v-e lighthouses!  I still love the En Francais!
     I used the lint roller technique again on this one... crumb cake all over very vanilla.  I stamped the En Francais in soft suede, and the lighthouse in black stazon.  The other part of the base is crumb cake and basic black.  Very simple, but nice look!  Four copper colored brads completes the card.
     I hope this inspires you to drag out some of your favorite retired sets and play with them!  Try combining them with some new ones!  I've placed my demo order from the new catalog, and hopefully I'll get it SOONER rather than later.... I'm excited to play with my new toys!!!  It was very hard choosing, as I wanted it all... I just want more!  Remember the commercial that seemed to air at least once an hour this past winter; the one with the little girl nasally saying she wants more and her parents won't let her have more, but she just wants more...  That would be me.  Minus the nasal tone...  Anyway, patience, Valerie... your more will come... eventually!
   Happy stamping and see you next time!  Toodles

Just Another Manic Monday!

    Hi everyone!  It's Sunday night, and I cannot believe it, but my 80 card kits are ready for card class tomorrow... my Stamp-A-Stack kits are ready for Stampin' Up club (another 60 kits), catalog and order forms are packed, (and so is the calculator that never seems to find it's way into my bag)!  I'm prepared!!!  Oh my gosh!  Anyone got a calendar so I can document this?
    Of course, for those who know me well, know there is always one tiny thing I forget, no matter how prepared I think I am.  Thank goodness I only live about 5 minutes away...  shhhh... 4, if I'm speeding.
     So, since Father's Day is right around the corner, I had to make a golf themed card for my husband, and thought, hey, why not combine the two!
    While the stamps, card stock and punches are from Stampin' Up, the argyle paper is from my extremely large stash (caused from way too many warehouse sales).  I love how it goes perfectly with our paper!  I used soft sky, gumball green, garden green, chocolate chip, and whisper white.  I know the stamp set is old, but gosh, we just need more men stamps!!!  My husband isn't a hunter, he doesn't fish, and he doesn't like the sea.  But he eats, sleeps, breathes GOLF... so this set it had to be!  I just love the shoes!
    I hope this inspires you to sit down and create something fun for the men/man in your life!  Have a great Monday!  Toodles!

Lint roller???

  Hi everyone!  It's been hectic as usual around here, but the good news is my grand babies are coming!  Long story short, we've worked it out, and grampa and I couldn't be any happier!  This blog post is the very l-a-t-e Terrific Tip Time... it's about using a LINT ROLLER in place of a brayer.
    The idea came to me early one morning (about 2:00 a.m. I think), when I wanted to try a brayer look, but realized I didn't have one.  So... lightbulb moment... ta dah!  I'll use a lint roller!

    The first thing you need to do is rub it all over your clothes to get most of the sticky stuff off.  The four colors of ink I used for this card are Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Marina Mist and Pear Pizzazz.  The cardstock is Very Vanilla.  For the blue and green piece, start by loading your lint roller with some Marina Mist.  Work on a sheet of waxed paper, and begin rolling the ink onto your paper.  The lines will be softer and leave white bits, which is what I was looking for.  You can choose to add more ink or less, it's your design!  When you're done with the Marina Mist, change the tape on your lint roller to a clean one.  Again, rub on your clothes (you should have spotless clothes by the time you're done with this card!).  Add the Pear Pizzazz to it and start filling in your cardstock to however you would like it.
    With another half sheet of very vanilla, do the very same thing, with another clean lint roller, using crumb cake.  Add small bits of soft suede, so that it looks antiqued.  Do the same thing with a piece of 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 of Marina Mist.  And again to another half sheet of very vanilla (your card base).

   
  I used three stamp sets with this card.  World Map, The Open Sea and our new set Traveler.  I stamped a piece of crumb cake (5 1/4 x 4) with the World Map.  Once done, I ran the crumb cake/soft suede lint roller over it, and then ripped the edges and shaded them with soft suede.  Then I softened up the paper by running my bone folder over it again and again.  I didn't want the wrinkled look, hence no crumbling of paper!
    Then, on a piece of lint rollered vanilla, I stamped the manifest page from The Open Sea in Soft Suede. Tear, shade and distress the edges again.   I also stamped the tiny passport on the same sheet, using the same suede.  The ship was stamped with black stazon on the same vanilla sheet.   Next, stamp the globe from The Open Sea onto the Marina Mist and Pear Pizzazz masterpiece you created!  Cut by hand or circle framelit.
    I used a small piece of burlap ribbon and frayed the edges a little and cut it into a banner shape.  Using linen thread I sewed little "X's" on the left.
   Place your crumb cake piece down first, then the manifest piece.  Next, determine where you want your other three pieces and pop dot those.  I did a little extra fussy cutting on the ship so the globe would show through.
   Last touch was to add some more linen thread and a tiny gold anchor that I found in the jewelry department!  A little sentiment at the bottom would look nice but I don't think it's necessary.

    This card took me about an hour, which isn't bad when you're making a card for that special someone!  And Father's Day is right around the corner!  Happy stamping, and happy rolling!!  LOL!  Toodles

Try a little tenderness...

    Happy Memorial Day everyone. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those men and women who have served our great country, including my Grandfather, my Father, my Husband, and my son-in-law.  We are a very proud military family (I served myself for 4.5 years), and I wouldn't change a thing!  
     I wanted to mark today's solemness with a couple of sympathy cards.  The first one is done in Wisteria Wonder, Basic Gray and Whisper white.  I love the simplicity of this tree.  I chose to add some pearls along the punched border instead of in the tree as I've seen in other cards.  A simple punched Praying for You and a neat knot bow finishes it off nicely.  I did use an Anna Griffin embossing folder... I just wanted a floral background.  The rest is all Stampin' Up! though!

   This next card is done with black, whisper white and wild wasabi.  I used some ribbon I'd gotten on the clearance rack (love it!).  The stamp set is Serene Silhouettes and Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Three tiny pearls add a little shuzzhh (a British term I picked up while living in England for 7 years)!  The embossing folder is our Fancy Fan one!

    The neat thing about these two cards is that you can change the sentiments and have two completely different cards!  Experiment by changing out the stamped images as well to come up with completely different cards!  The possibilities are endless with these simple layouts.   I hope you enjoyed these, and they inspire you to create your own 'works of art'!
   
     Until next time, toodles!

You're "Sew" Special!

    Happy Friday everyone!  Whoo hoo!!  Time for the weekend, and possibly a meteor shower tonight, clouds permitting!  Today I'm sharing a card I CASED off of Pinterest; but I changed the papers.  I had some retired Stampin' Up! DSP that I thought reminded me of retro quilt fabric.  I cut them into half inch strips, and the middle square is 1 1/4.  To start, take a white piece of paper cut at 4 x 5 1/4.  Eyeball the square and adhere it to the middle of your card.  Take your first strip (in my case the poppy) and lay it next to the square, edges flush.  Adhere, and trim off the edge.  Turn your card counter-clockwise, and lay another poppy strip flat edge to flat edge.  Trim off excess .  Repeat until you have the first 4 strips laid.  Continue going around and around like this until your whole white piece of paper is covered up.
      When you're finished with that, choose an embossing folder that gives the look of quilted lines (I used the Modern Mosaic one.), and emboss.  Mount on a coordinating colored back (4 1/8 x 5 3/8).  Make a simple border strip in whisper white, and add a strip of ribbon with a knot bow.  Add a few buttons or whatever you have available to keep it in the 'sewing' theme!  If you're really feeling the 'sewing' theme, do a little machine stitching or hand stitching as well!
    I chose not to add a sentiment, but a small one using the word window punch would look cute on the bottom right.  Especially now that starting June 2nd you'll be able to get your hands on an alphabet wheel, so you can customize your sentiments even more!  It's item # 133769;  it's $14.95; and it has space for 13 characters!
   Hope you enjoyed this little card.  I fell in love with it when I first saw it!  It looks harder than it actually is, so whoever is the recipient is going to think you slaved for hours making it!!!    Have a great weekend, and see you next week!  Don't forget to check back  for Tuesday's Terrific Tip!  Toodles!!

Where does the time go?

   Hi everyone!  I could have sworn that today was Wednesday... but nope... so I'm a day late with this post!  I hope you all are keeping better track of time than me!  
    Today I'm posting a project that uses our new Blackberry Bliss color... can I just say that I LOVE THIS COLOR!  (no, I'm not yelling, I'm just excited!)  I created my own DSP by stamping Stippled Blossoms with Blackberry Bliss on whisper white; and then cut a circle using my circle framelits.  I also cut one the next size up of the Blackberry for the mat.  Cut them in half and layer, then place on a piece of whisper white that you have embossed (this particular folder isn't Stampin Up, but it's one of my Monday Senior card class ladies favorites).
     I stamped one of the images from Serene Silhouettes in Mossy Meadow and rounded two of the edges to give it a little wow factor.  I also matted it on some Mossy Meadow paper.  Add a few pearls, and use dimensionals to pop it up a bit.  Add a butterfly using the butterfly punch and Papillion Potpourri stamp set.  She deserves a few pearls too!  Add a small knot of Blackberry Bliss ribbon, and voila'!
    I hope you enjoy this little project!  I'll post another one tomorrow, since I'm behind a bit!  Have a good day!  Toodles

It's Monday! Yippee-Skippee!

    Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  My husband got a new phone this weekend, so he hands it to me so I can look at it, and the very first thing I do is hit the FACE TIME button to call my grand kids!  Omgosh, that is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!  We skype, but this is so much better!  Yes, I love my grand babies and miss them so very much!
     Today's card is inspired off of one I'd seen on Pinterest (cannot remember the name of the designer!).  For my card, I chose to use the new Moonlight 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 pad in the upcoming new catalog!  I also used  Lost Lagoon and Hello Honey (new In-colors).  The neutrals are Basic Gray and Whisper White.

TERRIFIC TIP TIME:
    I do have a tip for cutting hexagons with our punch!  So you don't waste paper unnecessarily, start by punching half of a hexagon on the bottom right side of your sheet.  Then, line up your punch to punch a full one UP and to the LEFT of it.  Keep going with half, full, half, full until you've gone across the paper.  You should now be able to line your punch up for maximum hexagons with little or no wastage!  And for cards like this one, save those little scraps because you never know when you're going to need one to stick somewhere to fill a gap!

    I hope you enjoyed this edition of Terrific Tip Time.  I'm going to try and incorporate them into my blog posts at least once a week!  Happy creating, and toodles!!