Masculine Birthday

We spent last evening celebrating my husband's cousin's 30th birthday at our favourite Mexican restaurant....mmm, so yummy!  We had a great time and it was nice to catch up with extended family again.  I wanted to make a masculine birthday card for this occasion and turned again to my "Clockworks" stamp set.  I've mentioned before that I purchased this set on a whim and I'm SO glad that I did.  I love the "splat" in particular.

Another simple card really.  I did a lot of distressing and sponging edges on this one.  I chose to do a really simple colour scheme too.  Soft Suede and Very Vanilla are the staples with a little bit of Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit.  The sentiment comes from the "Best Dad Ever" set.  Here's a close up on the clock:

 

 

When I first saw the seagull/swirl stamp as part of this set I wasn't sure what I thought.  I've found though that as a background stamp it works really well.  "Clockworks" was definitely a good investment!

 

Happy Stamping!

Another Father's Day Card

I created this card for my Stampin' Up! Catalogue launch party that I had last week.  I wanted to create a relatively simple card that could be created without much guidance and this one fit the bill. 

I turned to the Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper again for this card.  I love the versatility of the colour combination that Stampin' Up! has put together in this paper.  I wanted to showcase a number of the designs in a relatively small space and I like how the strips of paper accomplish that.  I framed the sentiment using a Labels collections Framelits die and embossed it using the Stripes Textured Embossing Folder. 

To up the "wow" factor one could use a textured embossing folder to emboss the Very Vanilla matte and add embellishments such as ribbon, baker's twine, brads or buttons.

Here are some more of the details:

Stamp Sets: Best Dad Ever

Paper:  Soft Suede, Very Vanilla and Midnight Muse card stocks, Comfort Cafe DSP

Ink:  Cajun Craze

Other:  Labels collection Framelits die, Stripes Textured Embossing Folder.

Happy Stamping!

It's all about Dad for Monkey 112

With Father's Day fast approaching I used this week's A la Card Monkey challenge for my inspiration.  I must admit, I've had quite a creative block the past couple of weeks.  I don't know what it is....I find that I just can't get my brain in gear when I sit down in the evening to "work".  But I got a bit of my mojo back with this card.  Here's the sketch:

Here's my interpretation:

Best Dad Ever stamp set and Comfort Cafe DSP

I love the simplicity of this sketch.  Once I settled on a colour scheme (Pool Party, Midnight Muse, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla) it was actually really easy to put together.  My favourite part was creating the button.  I don't tend to purchase a lot of embellishments so I was intrigued by a recent "Techniques" article in the Stampin' Up! demonstrator magazine, "Stampin' Success".  It outlined how to create your own buttons using card stock and Designer Series Paper (DSP) along with Crystal Effects.  Really quite simple and I will be teaching this technique in the fall at one of my techniques classes.    Here is a close up of the button:

Do-it-yourself button....using card stock and Comfort Cafe DSP.

I really like this colour combo.  The new Stampin' Up! catalogue has got some great DSP and one of my favourites is "Comfort Cafe".  This collection of paper has both "masculine" and "feminine" paper which makes it very versatile.  The "Best Dad Ever" stamp set is great as well because it's got a nice collection of sentiments.

Here are the details:

Paper:  Pool Party, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla card stocks, Comfort Cafe DSP

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Pool Party, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Sets:  Best Dad Ever

Embellishments:  Pool Party Baker's Twine, Crystal Effects (on button).

Stayed tuned for another Father's Day card tomorrow.

Happy Stamping!!

Masculine Birthday Card for TSoT

Just a quick post tonight....it's 12:30 and WAY past my bedtime.  I decided to use the Try Stamping on Tuesday sketch for some inspiration tonight.  I've had some requests for "masculine" birthday cards at my classes so I put this one together for tomorrow evening's class.  First the sketch:

TSOT Sketch 47

Masculine Birthday for TSOT

It's super simple to put together but I like the effect.

Stamp Sets:  Circle Circus, Best Dad Ever

Papers:  Crumb Cake CS, Pocket full of Posies DSP, Subtles (Baja Breeze) DSP, Whisper White CS

Inks:  Crumb Cake

Accessories:  None.....but lots of distressed edges.

Happy Stamping!

Summertime....

....and the living is easy!  How quickly that sets in.  I find that once school is out slipping into lazy days is so easy.  I'm so happy that my husband is home for the next two months and I'm looking forward to all the travelling and visiting we'll be doing.  Which, of course, means that I won't be posting nearly as often and I'm finding it hard already to get myself into my little corner downstairs when it is so gorgeous and sunny outside.  I was, however, asked to be a guest designer again this week over at A La Card Monkey so here's a fun, summery card for you.

Summer Fun Monkey Challenge 63

 Here's my version:

Happy Summer Birthday

Firstly, thanks to my friend, Leena, at A La Cards for the great idea to use a scallop punch to make a sun.  Punch out your image using the scallop punch and then punch again, this time a little offset.  I found using a little non-permanent adhesive to attach the shape to a scrap piece of paper made it easier to punch again.  I used the BRAND NEW "Just Add Cake" DSP and Baja Breeze card stock for my background.  A combination of alternating Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron punched images for the sun in the middle.  Finally, the sentiment comes from "Best Dad Ever". 

Happy summer everyone!

Clean and Simple Birthday for PP52

I think I mentioned in a previous post how many birthday's and other occasions I have to acknowledge this week...from June 23rd to June 30th there are 4 birthdays, 1 anniversary and 1 retirement!  And because Canada Post has decided to strike (and who can blame them really) that means everything has to be ready tomorrow for when I see everyone : )

I'm really getting into this whole "challenge" thing in the blogging world.  I like that I get a template to work from and that certainly helps get the creative juices flowing.  For tonight's post I've got a really Clean and Simple (CAS) birthday card for my husband's grandfather who turns 85 tomorrow.  I based the design on the Paper Players sketch for the week.  Here's the sketch:

PP52 CAS Challenge

Here's my card:

I began with a piece of Crumb Cake card stock which I sponged in the same colour ink.  I decided to use a cosmetic sponge (one of those triangle sponges one uses to put on foundation) as I find that they give a more defined "print" and it almost makes the paper look like suede.  Thanks to Sue H. for the idea.

Next I layered some Old Olive card stock with some of the Nursery Suite DSP and then used Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock for the sentiment which comes from the "Best Dad Ever" stamp set.  Finally, I wrapped some Early Espresso baker's twine around a couple of times to finish it off.  Clean and simple!