Special to be a Dad

On Mondays, I like to come up with an Ippity card so that I can submit it to the weekly blog hop. Seeing that Fathers Day is around the corner, I gotta get crackin' on a couple of cards. I've been wanting to use the Ippity set called The Man for awhile. I love the buttoned down shirt and tie. I remembered a few cool Dad sayings on Unity's retired Feb 2010 Kit of the Month (Nothing but Blue Skies) so that worked, too. I turned to Operation Write Home's sketch library again and found Sketch #19 to be the right fit. What paper to use was the issue. I decided to use a boyish set of papers by K & Co. called Rough and Tumble. All the cute boy sayings and sports motifs went well with my sentiment (plus I was able to get golf and lacrosse images in there... sports that my boys play.)

Wanna hear about a little serendipity? I marvel sometimes at how things work out. I wanted a manly way to present the sentiment so I came up with using an I.D. tag punch. Then I thought it would be cool to add the little ball chain do-hickey so I dug through my stash and found one. But then I noticed in my tools, a little EK Success lady bug scoring tool that had a cute little ball and chain with a charm on it that says "Score".

Okay. How could I not use that on the card? I only have all those sports references on the paper! Isn't that cool?

This card will be for hubby. I have a card still to make for my dad, so check back in. I have to get it done soon because it has to be mailed and received by Sunday. Yikes.

Later,

Hello Baby

Like I said, we have a baby naming to go to tomorrow so today was the day to get the card done. Luckily, I made a baby album as a gift awhile ago so there was no mad dash to get that done, thank goodness!

I recently got two stamp sets from Paper Smooches (PS) that are perfect for the job at hand. One is Pip Squeaks and the other is Word Up. I stamped the baby, bear and clothespins on white cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers. (Fussy cutting those clothespins was a challenge... good thing I had Micro dots for gluing them in place.) I even stamped a clothespin on top of the baby's head to look like a lock of hair peeking out of the bow. Lol. The clothes and sentiment were stamped on an old scrap of Basic Grey paper. I love that it was a collage of pinks. The grass is from a Photo Stack set by DCWV. I just snipped it up to look more like grass on the card.

The patterned paper background is one of my favorites from a Designer Series set by Stampin Up called Domestic Goddess. (It's still available HERE as a digital download.) How cool is it that I could start my card with a base that already had a clothesline with clothes on it? The sun in the corner is from one of the other sheets in the set and it is a throwback to the days that my sister and I used to draw little outdoor scenes and always had a sun peeking out of the corner. *smile* I think this qualifies for the latest PS Sparks Challenge to use patterned paper on a project.

Thanks for dropping in. I have a silly card idea tickling my brain so I have to make it soon. Check back sometime to see.... In the meantime, have a nice weekend!

A summer birthday....

My nephew is turning 17 in a few days and since I tend to make frilly-glittery-usually-floral-sometimes-pink cards, I had to pause to think of a masculine and not kid-like approach to his card. I recently received a school related stamp set from Paper Smooches (PS) called Smarty Pants. Since my nephew lives in the south, he's out of school before his birthday rolls around so I thought I'd use the stamp set on the front of the card with the caption "School is Out" and on the inside, I'd have a birthday cake with the caption "Birthday is In!"

So here's the front. I loosely used Sketch #51 from Operation Write Home's sketch library and a great glittery school patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Academy stack. I stamped the caption with PS's Alphadot set.

Here's the inside. Simple. I stamped the wedding cake from PS's Hubby and Wifey set and made it a simple birthday cake. The acrylic numbers from KI Memories act as candles and the caption was partly from PS's Sentiment Sampler and Alphadot. A little Creamy Caramel ink (Stampin Up) on the edges and done.

Thanks for coming by. Next up, I have to work on a baby card for my neighbor's baby naming on Saturday. I've got a cute idea germinating so stop by soon and see how it came out!

*smile*

Put on Your Party Dress...

I'm telling you, the sketches over at Operation Write Home are so great to use when you start to make a card. Their latest sketch challenge enticed me to use it on my sister-in-law's birthday card. It's Sketch #124 If you use it, post it there so we can all see it.

I'll be stalking Ippity's website today to see if they're having their Monday blog hop because I used my new favorite stamp, Angie Girl. I love that it's a large stamp and that it's a girly girl. So many ideas come to mind. One is to treat her like my very own paper doll. Stamp her clothes on different patterned papers, etc. We DO do this crafting thing to feel like little girls again, right? Lol.

I did a little masking with the flowers that come with Angie Girl, then found the perfect sentiment in the Unity set called Undeniably You. I'm also lovin' text papers (like this Stampin Up one) and papers that are already embossed and glittered like this one from The Snapshot Stack by DCWV. It's so new, I can't even find it on their website but if you click on DCWV that I highlighted just before, you can go see their other stacks. Love them all.

Used my favorite die of the moment, too. Spellbinders Nestabilities Lacey Ovals. They work perfectly with the standard oval set, yay.

Thanks for dropping in. I need to work on a card for my nephew, so I will be back soon.

Oh, and I set up an email subscription widget so if you want to know when I've posted again, sign up and it will be delivered right to your inbox! *smile*

Regal Legal Eagle

Tomorrow, ds#1 turns 21.... yikes. Where does the time go? In honor of his big day, I made him a corny card that had an interesting birth. See, first I thought about the word "legal," because that's what 21 means. Then, I remembered that Paper Smooches (PS) has a cute eagle in a set called Circle of Honor. "Legal" rhymes with "eagle." So okay, I'd put a "21" somewhere on the eagle. I decided on a pendant. That's when I noticed that a PS set called Green Acres has an egg stamp that makes for a perfect pendant. Lol.  (I just had to use a tiny number set from My Favorite Things to fit in on the egg.) Then, for some strange reason, the word "regal" popped into my head and I thought, That's easy. I'll just plop a crown charm on the eagle's head. (I'm telling you. I should work in the Corny Dept. at Hallmark.) So the theme became a "regal legal eagle."

I used Sketch #1 of the 100 free sketches I downloaded from the generous folks over at Operation Write Home (here's the LINK again for those sketches.) I love these papers from The Green Stack, a recycled paper set by DCWV. The tree die is from My Favorite Things. The crown is from a retired trinket set at Stampin Up. A little copic coloring on the eagle and a computer generated sentiment finished the job.

I have a quick tip to share with you regarding floss. Whenever I have a new skein of floss, I always manage to get it knotted and tangled when trying to use it directly after buying it. I found out tonight that if I remove the paper band and open the circle of floss up and wear it like a bracelet, I can then wind it easily around a little cardboard floss holder for better storage. Here's a pic:

I couldn't resist buying this as a gag birthday gift for my soon-to-be-21-year-old. I'll say that he's finally legally of age to be able to eat these. Lol.

Thanks for dropping in....

Got graduate?

My Stampin Up demo friend, Brenda, showed me how to fold up this adorable card. I decided to recreate it with a Paper Smooches sentiment and decorate it with a new DCWV set of papers called The Snapshot Stack. (I made the tassel with red cord but I think next time I'll try floss...) When this cute grad hat unfolds, this is what my recipient will see:

 All these papers are from the stack. Even the banner was cut from a sheet of banners. I just love DCWV. Their creativity make me look good. Lol. As an example, look at this glittery 12"x12" sheet that I cut up to get that one polaroid image for my card:

So, now I want to show you the steps for folding the hat so you can make your own graduation cap card.

Step 1: Cut an 8"x8" square of sturdy black cardstock. Score at 4" both ways, then score diagonally from one end to another. Only one diagonal score.

Step 2: Fold the 4" lines in. Then turn the square over and fold along the diagonal line. If the 4" lines are mountain folds, then the diagonal is a valley fold. Okay?

Step 3: Use your pointing finger to press down on the center of the square and it will automatically fold in a little.

Step 4: Bring in the sides ...

Step 5: After you've got your folded card ready, then use your bone folder to make all the creases crisp...

Step 6: Make a hole at the center of the front panel for your tassel. Send the string through the hole and secure it with a brad. You will cover the string on the back with patterned paper.... in my case, the polaroid image.

Step 7: Cut a 4" x 5-1/4" panel of white cardstock then mat it with a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" panel of sturdy black cardstock. Add the sentiment on the bottom and attach the hat above. Decorate the inside squares with 3-3/4" x 3-3/4" patterned paper. For the triangular sections, I just took another two similarly sized squares and cut them on the diagonal. They fit perfectly.

I hope you're tempted to try this. It will surely bring a smile to the face of your honored graduate.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for dropping in!

What's on Your Workspace Weds (WOYWW) #156

This is a special WOYWW for the keeper of the flame, Ms. Julia. It marks her 3rd year of running this fun weekly event. Where else can you spy on the workspaces of crafters around the world? Love it. So I'm joining in today and playing along with the game devised for this occasion. Make an ATC for the person who follows you in the blog list. I have to admit, I had something else planned for today so I went to my stash and found an ATC to give away. Here it is. It uses Stampin Up sets: In the Wild, Rough Edges and Flexible Phrases.

Use this LINK to check out the desks this week. You walk away inspired for sure!

I almost forgot to post a picture of my desk today. Here it is.

It has all the chaos related to the card I was going to post today. But, it will have to wait until tomorrow. It's a graduation card with a fun folding twist. See you then. *smile*