Father-in-Law's Birthday Card

Today my FIL is celebrating his 80th birthday, so I wanted something a bit special to give to him.  I had an extra card front of my New Year's card that I made for the Stampin' Addicts' Holiday Blog Hop back in August, so I decided to rework it and added part of the Medallion stamp, stamped in VersaMark and embossed in gold.  When I showed my husband, he said "hey, now that's CLASSY!"  Inside, I used a sentiment from the set It's Your Birthday - 'Life is not a matter of counting years, it's a matter of making years count' and then 'Happy Birthday', both stamped in VersaMark and embossed in gold.  I stamped the envelope to match.  I hope he likes it!

The Masculine Swap Card is FINALLY done...

Boy oh boy, has this been a tough month trying to put together my masculine card swap for our team meeting tomorrow!! This is what I finally ended up with. The stamp sets I used were Nature Silhouettes, which I got for FREE with my Sale-A-Bration rewards (yippee!) and Sanded, which I finally decided to get after many times first putting it on, then taking it off, my ordering list. The sentiment is from Fresh Cuts. I used Jet Black Staz-On ink on Glossy White card stock. The wolf card was brayered using the Blue Frost retired SU! Kaleidacolor spectrum pad. I got daring on the buck card, using the same colors as the Blue Frost pad (Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, and Brilliant Blue), but this time brayering on each color individually. I am a frequent visitor to Michelle Zindorg's blog, and after reading her FAQs on how she creates her brayered materpieces, I thought I'd try it. I was pretty pleased with the results. The moon was sponged with Summer Sun ink while using a mask. The hard part is making sure you don't get the yellow on your fingers, then touch the blue! I did that on my first attempt... oops! Other card stock used was Basic Black, Brilliant Blue and Summer Sun. Four silver brads accent the card. This is a timely swap for me, as my Dad's birthday is on Monday and we're going out to celebrate after my team meeting on Sunday. Shhh... don't tell him, but the buck version of the card is his!! Thanks for visiting, and I hope all is well with you and yours!

Masculine Pocket Silhouettes?

I'm still struggling with my masculine card swap coming up on Sunday. I loved the design of this card - it's Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #33, from back in February 2008. My original card for this challenge is here. I thought I might try it again as a more masculine card. I'm still not sold that it's masculine enough - what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have GOT to get this swap finished so I can get ready for my stamp camp on Friday. Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope it's not as hot where you are as it has been here - we're hovering in the upper 90's after being in the 60's just last week. I'm not ready for it to be so hot yet!

Father's Day, Part 2

Happy almost Father's Day! We celebrated with my dad tonight by having dinner out and then getting together afterwards at my brother's house. It was a nice get-together. Tomorrow, on Father's Day, we'll spend time with my dear husband's dad with a BBQ at his house. Before heading out to dinner, I finished making my hubby's Father's Day card. I hadn't used my Pocket Fun set, so last night I mounted the stamps. I used my Just Jeans background stamp and Blue Bayou ink on Whisper White to create the denim background, stamping the pocket from Pocket Fun on another piece, then cutting it out. I stamped the tools in VersaMark and then embossed with detail silver embossing powder. I stamped the tools again, and since I couldn't find my detail black EP (I really need to clean up my stamping room), I stamped in craft black and embossed with crystal clear EP. I then cut and pasted the pieces together to give a two-tone look for the tools. I adhered the pocket onto the denim background, leaving the top edge open to add the tools. The silver behind the denim was created by stamping with my VersaMark pad around the edges of a piece of Whisper White then embossing with detail silver EP. I topped it off with the screw top brads I got through Paper Wishes. I hope he likes it!

Happy Father's Day

I needed to make a few Father's Day cards, so I decided to use some of the extra Chocolate Chip envelopes I have from my Carousel Notes Purse class last month. I've always admired Silke's beautiful card that used images from the Simple Delights Simply Sent card kit, and decided to finally put some ink on my set. I found the cute pearl brads in the wedding aisle at Michaels a few months ago, and they fit perfectly! I used Brocade Backgrounds designer series paper to compliment the stamp set. It was great to be able to take some time to stamp - it's been too long! Thanks for visiting, and have a great weekend!