Father's Day this Weekend!

Seems I may never grow up... At least I felt like a kid again while I made my dad something for Father's Day. I guess one of the best things about crafting is being able to make custom items for those unique people in your life that a store-bought card really doesn't address. Long have I been disappointed with the endless golfing, fishing, and other sports themed father's day items for sale each year. None of those match my dad's personality. He likes to wear ties. He's an artist. He's an Egyptologist. Nothing in a store works well for him. So, here's my little collage I made this year. I liked it so much I put it in a little acrylic frame then tied a ribbon around it. Hope he likes it. Love ya, dad!



For specifics...I printed words from the computer on regular white cardstock or vellum, used retired "Maine Blueberry" DSP for many of the paper accents, night of navy, bashful blue, certainly celery & old olive cardstock & ink, square & scallop square punches for uniform sizing, and various stamps.

MORE information per request from my new followers: The size of this is 5 x 7. This was the size of the acrylic box frame & just happened to be JUST right for the 12 squares to fit very nicely.

PPA46... Thanks for Owl You Do!

Thanks Pals Paper Arts for helping me get into a crafting groove again. I love it when I actually have cardstock on hand that is called for in a color challenge. Pals Paper Arts latest color challenge, PPA46, is to use SU! Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry & Soft Suede colors. The first two colors retire this month & I had just enough of a scrap of Curry cardstock & DSP to use...

The owl stamp from Forest Friends has been calling to me lately - almost literally as it seems every night around 2 or 3am several of our woodland friends have really been "hooting it up!" Oh well, I can't say I mind as I know it means we have lots of healthy critters in our woods (I hope)!

The leafy branch from the Two Step Bird punch has got to be a favorite accent for lots of people (me included!). Other punches used include the scallop square & square punches and just a hint of the scallop border punch. The sentiment is from a spring mini-catalog hostess set, Picture This.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

New SU In-Colors...

Got my pre-ordered items last week. So fun to play with new things. Still not sure I can tell that the Pear Pizzazz is that much different from Certainly Celery (I've used both inks & cardstocks in this card, can you tell which is which? - just a slight shade different from each other). Still, I had fun playing... what should I do with these colors for the next O.I.P. swap?

Since I wanted to try all the new in-colors, I used all my new in-color markers on the vintage vogue flowers & leaves... Blushing bride on the tips of the flowers, concord crush, poppy parade, peach parfait on rest of flower petals & pear pizzazz on leaves (I created stems with the pear marker).

I added some cardstock layers with pear pizzazz, peach parfait & concord crush cardstock. Pear pizzazz is just a tad shade darker than certainly celery (to me).

The background on the top note die & the embossed Vintage Wallpaper background I used Certainly Celery.

Birthday Block stamp from Summer Mini- so easy to use!

Mix and match colors, stamp the sentiment in an ink of each color, snip a word or two and layer it on - It is so easy to customize this stamp for your birthday gal or guy's favorite colors.

Birthday Block stamp from the Summer Mini catalog used above, along with a background of circles from the retired Seeing Spots stamp set. Colors used here are Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Certainly Celery (all current and available 2010-2011).

Welcome, summer time!

Memorial weekend and the week following had a classic summer feel to the air around here, even if summer doesn't officially start until later this month. Above is a photo of my husband hand-cranking some home made ice cream as our dog patiently hung out on the deck with us. We may hate humidity around here, and how it curls our hair, but you cannot pass up a good opportunity to make some of the best summer time treats!

For the lactose intolerant, we always have some popsicles around, too! :)



I CASE'd the popsicle card idea from a poster at SCS (sorry, don't remember who), but added some extra detail by dry embossing the middle of the popsicles with my stylus around a REAL popsicle stick. And I added a bit of sparkle to add a frosty touch.

The colors are the same as those that come in our brand of popsicles around here, but happen to be new SU in-colors, too, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade & Concord Crush. I set this on a card base of Tempting Turquoise - it just seems like a "cool" color & I just happen to have plenty around. Stay Cool, everyone!

Feeling mellow...

Good bye, Mellow Moss color...
So, SU retired a favorite color, but I snagged some before it officially disappeared from the catalog & have used it a lot lately... Here's a few of my 'feeling mellow' mellow moss cards from last weekend. There's some mellow moss in each card, gotta use it sparingly. I do like some of the new colors, so no worries! Next post I'll share a card made with some new in-colors for 2010-2011.



Shown above I used the Vintage Vogue stamp set (will be available in the latest SU catalog) and sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes; background texture made using the square lattice embossing folder.



Retired Sale-a-bration birdcage shown above. Notice how cool the punched leaves from the bird punch can create a vine-type decoration at the bottom of the oval? Kinda reminded me of a great 'coat of arms' design that this could be used for... the background texture is from a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Well, I had fun making these. Now back to chores. Boo.