Happy Father's Day

If you think it may seem a tad early for Father's Day, you might be right. But, such cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids need to be in to their volunteers by May 15, so they can sort & ship them to children's hospitals in time for the children to give or send them to their fathers. I created this one to donate to them, using Sketch #SC867 at Splitcoaststampers.com as my design inspiration.

I stamped the image, from Hero Arts' "Li'l Hoot" set (discontinued), onto 140 lb. watercolor paper & painted it with my watercolors. I was undecided if I wanted to leave the background the plain white of the watercolor paper, paint it like a night sky (going around the image), or fussy cut the image and glue it to another paper. I finally opted to fussy cut & glue, but then had to decide if I wanted a solid or patterned paper. Choices! I ended up die cutting a circle from navy cardstock & splattered it with white paint for the look of stars - and got some streaks that I thought could be comets or shooting stars.

I have had the banner for some months now. I even forget what I created it for, that it apparently turned out not to work on. But I recently found it in my leftovers box, so decided to pull it out and finally try to find something to use it on. At any rate, I tested the greeting, from the Essentials by Ellen "12 Days Companion Greetings" set (discontinued), against it, & it fit like a glove! So I stamped that in Versafine Onyx Black ink, using my MISTI stamp positioning tool to help me get the greeting curved - and stamped - accurately.

I adhered a cream cardstock panel to my white A2 card base, & added a strip of patterned paper that I had found in my scrap stash. I cut the excess off the strip at the top & bottom. I lightly taped my focal circle to my grid mat, to help me center the greeting banner at the bottom. I used liquid glue to tack the banner to the bottom center of the circle. When the glue had dried enough that the banner wouldn't fall off, I picked up the circle & now-attached banner & glued them to my card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #449: "Winged Things or Furry Friends"

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Wild and Wonderful" (owls are wild birds, right?)

The Paper Funday Challenges April Challenge #40: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Coolest Dad Ever!

The Sketch Challenge at Lawn Fawnatics inspired me to make this card. I am currently focusing on Father's Day cards to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids, so the kids who are inpatient at hospitals can give/send them to their dads.

I used a leftover circle of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to stamp my popsicles, from Lawn Fawn's "Best Pun Ever" stamp set (retired). I stamped the smaller popsicle with Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink, then heat embossed with clear powder. I masked that, stamped the larger popsicle with the same ink, and heat embossed it as well. Finally, I stamped & heat embossed the faces. The images ended up being a bit off-center, and I decided I wanted a smaller circle anyway. So I die cut it with a smaller die, centering the popsicles. I also used a scallop circle die to cut a mat from the middle of the panel I used for my background. After I colored my popsicles with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers & a damp paintbrush, I glued the bristol circle to my scalloped mat.

I cut a panel of plaid paper from Lawn Fawn's "Perfectly Plaid Chill" 12x12" pack. I used the orthogonal side of the "Vacay" pattern, since I knew I would be putting diagonal strips on, and didn't want those to compete with a diagonal plaid.

I cut 2 blue & 1 yellow 1/2"-wide strips of cardstock from scraps, pretty much matching the colors to the plaid paper. I made sure to cut them longer than I thought I'd need, since they were going on a diagonal & I didn't want to get caught with them being too short. I then adhered them to the plaid panel. I kind of wish I'd made them a bit narrower, since they took up a lot of real estate in the end, but I left it. I glued the focal circle on, stamped & die cut 3 stars from the blue cardstock & glued them in place.

I stamped the greeting, from "Best Pun Ever," onto a strip of yellow cardstock. Because it ended up touching the yellow diagonal strip and it blended in, I cut a narrow mat from blue and adhered the greeting strip to that. Finally, I popped that onto the card. I adhered my mint colored mat panel to a white A2 card base, then mounted my card front to that.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Pile It On #153: "Lots of Layers and/or Use Scraps" (used scraps for circle & strips)

Father's Day Card Set

The theme for Lawn Fawnatics' Challenge #26 is "Card Sets." I have been trying to figure out what to do for this challenge. Lawn Fawn products are required, of course, but I couldn't come up with a central theme or look to pursue. I finally came up with the idea to make a set of 3 Father's Day cards. Even though Father's Day is a ways off still, Send a Smile 4 Kids likes to have them in hand by May 15, so they have time to get them sorted & shipped off to the hospitals they serve. So, Father's Day it is!

I decided to go with Lawn Fawn's "Best Pun Ever" stamp set for my cards. I stamped the popsicles, trophy, & fan with Versafine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder. I used Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to stamp on, since I wanted to color the images with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers & Tombow markers. These markers, I have found, work best on bristol paper.

After I had stamped & heat embossed my images, I colored them with my markers. I wanted mostly bright, bold colors, though I did use greys on the fan buttons & blades. When I had finished coloring, I die cut the images with the coordinating dies. The die for the trophy slipped when I was cutting, despite my having taped it in place over the image, so I had to redo that. :( Thankfully, it's a small image and I hadn't put my markers away, so it didn't take too long. When I die cut it the second time, I used TWO pieces of tape, to make sure it didn't shift!

I cut squares of patterned papers from my scrap stash, & slightly smaller squares of Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum. I lightly adhered the vellum squares in the middle of the patterned paper squares, just adding a little tape runner in the middle. Then I machine stitched around the vellum with black thread. I adhered those to 4.25x5.5" panels of green cardstock, and glued my images onto the vellum.

For the greetings, I used stamps from "Best Pun Ever." I first used a flexible ruler to draw a curved banner shape onto a piece of blue cardstock. I lined up the stamps along that shape in my MISTI, and stamped them in Versafine Onyx Black ink, to match the ink for the images. I clear heat embossed the words, and cut that first banner out. I used it as a template to draw my next banner, stamped & heat embossed the greeting, and cut that out. I repeated those steps one more time for my final banner. I glued the banners down to my card fronts, and adhered the panels to white A2-size card bases.

I'm also entering this card set in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create #208: "Anything Goes w/Optional Twist - Use Vellum"
Die Cut Divas: "Anything Goes"

Happy Father's Day Koi

I've been on kind of a "Father's Day card" kick lately, since I want to send several to Send a Smile 4 Kids. (They have to receive cards by May 15, so they have time to ship them to the hospitals they serve.) I think Father's Day cards are hard to create when you're not creating them for a specific man. Not so much because they are masculine cards, but because you don't know what the recipient is into. So I just try to make them generally masculine. I don't know where (or when) I got this koi stamp, or who makes it, but I figured it would fit for a Father's Day card!

I stamped the koi onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I colored them with my Inktense pencils, kind of following photos I found online for how the colors might go. I also colored the background, first using color from a blue pencil, then over that with green, so they look like they are swimming in a pond.

For the "wood" panels, I stamped the "Wood Pallet Background" from Altenew (a new one for me) onto a piece of cream cardstock with Hero Arts Cup o' Joe ink. I inked over it with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink, followed by a coat of Pumice Stone ink, to give it a worn, weathered-wood look. My idea was to emulate a pier by the koi pond.

I cut a strip to go between the 2 woodgrain panels, and printed one of the greetings from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Father's Day Sentiments" digi set onto the bottom. I inked around the edges with Iced Spruce Distress ink, and then adhered that & the woodgrain panels to a piece of green cardstock. I inked the edges of the focal panel with Iced Spruce as well. After punching a piece of blue cardstock with Fiskars' "Threading Water" border punch (apparently discontinued), I cut it into a strip, inked the edges, & adhered it to the image panel so it's peeking out below. Finally, I glued the focal panel onto my card front, and mounted that to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Send a Smile 4 Kids: "For Dads or Special Males (From the Kids)"
613 Avenue Create #197: "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #130: "Animals"

Best Dad Ever

The current challenge theme at Lawn Fawnatics is "Black, White, & Bright." Use black & white, with a bright pop of color. I decided to make a Father's Day card with gold accents to donate to Send a Smile 4 Kids, using Lawn Fawn's "Best Pun Ever" stamp set & coordinating dies. (After all, what color is brighter than gold? 😊)

I began by stenciling a piece of white cardstock with Black Soot Distress ink & Hero Arts "Flag Pattern" stencil. I trimmed the panel to 4x5.25", & rounded the corners with my 1/4" Corner Chomper. Then I set that aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

For the focal panel, I first die cut a mat from Canson XL Mixed Media paper, using the "Stitched Journaling Card" die from Lawn Fawn. I inked it in a gradient using Faded Jeans, Blueprint Sketch, & Dusty Concord Distress inks. Then I used my Distress Sprayer to spritz water droplets on the panel, waited a few seconds, and used a dry cloth to soak up the water & ink. That left nice "bleached" spots on my background, to add interest.

I stamped the trophy (from "Best Pun Ever") on some gold foil cardstock with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. After stamping the "#1" in Jet Black, I heat set it to keep the ink from smearing. Then I cut that with the coordinating die. I also die cut a banner from cardstock with another die from "Stitched Journaling Card," I stamped "best dad ever," from "Best Pun Ever," in Jet Black ink on that.

To put my focal panel together, I first die cut several gold glitter stars using the stars from "Stitched Journaling Card." I carefully cut a slit in the top of the trophy, and adhered it to my background with foam tape. After adhering my journaling card panel to my background, I glued down my stars, tucking 2 into the trophy, making them look like they are bursting out from the trophy. I adhered my greeting banner in place, and glued the final star next to that. I matted the background with black cardstock, mounted that to a white A2 card base, and rounded the outer corners of the card with my 1/4" Corner Chomper.

Best Dad Ever!

Even though the Father's Day deadline for Operation Write Home is today (meaning, cards must have been sent in already), I figure they always have a use for general "dad" cards. So I decided to make this one.

I wanted to make my main panel look like burned leather. (Decoratively burned, that is!) I began by cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to 4x5.25". After taping it to my cutting board, I wet the middle area with clean water. I smooshed some Distress inks in Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, & Gathered Twigs onto an acrylic block, then used my wet paintbrush to pick up each color, one at a time. I daubed the color into the wet area, letting the water blend the colors (with some help from my brush, of course). When it looked like I wanted it, I dried it with my heat tool. Then I took Hero Arts' "Tweed Pattern" stencil, and taped it down over the panel. I blended some more Gathered Twigs through the stencil, concentrating it more in the center, and letting it fade out at the edges. After removing the panel from my cutting board, I blended some more Tea Dye around the perimeter. Then I tore around all 4 sides, and inked the torn edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink, to give it that aged, "burned" look. I matted it with a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash, cut to 4-1/8x5-3/8".

For the greeting, I cut a piece of tan cardstock to a strip, and trimmed all 4 corners at an angle. I distressed the edges, and inked them with more Walnut Stain. After scanning it into my computer, I used one of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Father's Day Sentiments," digitally placing it on the label "canvas," and sized it to fit. Finally, I printed it directly onto my label. I adhered that to my card front, and punched a hole in either end with my Crop a Dile II. I set a black eyelet in each hole, and threaded some jute twine from The Paper Studio through those, tying each end in a knot. I attached a brad through the upper center of my card front, and ran the twine behind it, so it looks like the label/sign is hanging from that. I squirted a little Ranger Multi Medium Matte behind the twine on each side, just to make sure it stays in place. Finally, I matted the whole thing with black paper, and adhered it to a cream A2-size card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's "Stencil"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers & Dimension"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes"

Happy Father's Day!

This is another in my series of Father's Day cards for Operation Write Home. I based the design on this sketch from OWH:

As you can tell, I rotated it 90 degrees clockwise, and changed the one narrow strip to a banner shape. But otherwise, I stayed true to the sketch.

For the greeting, I used one of the stamps from this digital set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I printed it on a light khaki cardstock I got out of my scrap stash. The patterned paper for the banner is from FarmHouse's "302 Paper Pack" 6x6" pad; and the largest background panel is from the "Venice" 6x6" paper pad by 7gypsies. I created the brown dotted panel by blending Walnut Stain Distress Ink through the Tim Holtz "Dot Fade" layering stencil onto kraft cardstock. The star brads at the top of the banner are very old ones I found in my way-too-extensive embellishment stash.

I created kind of a "mini-challenge" for myself with the mats. I wanted to see if I could cut all the green mats out of one 4.25x5.5" piece of cardstock. And, by cutting the middles out of the 2 larger mats (since those areas would be covered up anyway), and using each for the next smaller mat, I'm happy to report I succeeded! Once I had cut all the layers & printed the greeting, the card came together surprisingly fast.

World's Best Dad!

Operation Write Home's deadline for Father's Day cards is 30 April. So I decided I'd better get hopping on those. This is one of my latest, based on this sketch by OWH:

For the background panel, I just used a piece of blue cardstock. I pulled a piece of dark brown cardstock with a slight texture from my stash for the mats. The patterned papers are both from 7gypsies' "Postale" 6x6" paper pad.

Rather than the 3 round embellishments on the right shown in the sketch, I decided to try something different. I had seen Kristina Werner demonstrate coloring through a stencil when I took Online Card Classes' "Stenciled" class a few months ago. She used a colored pencil, and just colored in a sketchy fashion through the opening in the stencil. I recently got the Tim Holtz "Stars" layering stencil, and thought it would be perfect for this technique. So I colored the stars directly on the grid patterned paper with a blue pencil, to pick up on the blue in that paper and the background cardstock. I was rather pleased with how it came out. So pleased, in fact, that I couldn't stop at just 3, and did 6 whole stars (plus tiny portions at the top and bottom of the rows) instead!

For the greeting banner, I cut a piece of white cardstock to the size shown in the sketch. I inked it with Antique Linen Distress Ink, and then printed the greeting from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto it. I glued it to its mat, layered all the papers on the card front, and adhered it to an A2 card base.

Happy Father's Day!

The current Midweek Throwdown challenge at Operation Write Home's Stars & Stamps blog is to use purple & yellow in a card. I usually don't remember to participate in their challenges, but decided to give this one a go.

For the design, I chose this OWH sketch:

As you can see, I followed it exactly.

I learned in Online Card Classes' "Stenciled" class, which I took a couple of months ago, how to dry emboss with stencils, using a manual die cutting machine. I decided to try that with this card. I cut a panel from purple cardstock a bit larger than I'd need to cut the 4 sections in the sketch, and ran it through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur with the "Mini Houndstooth" stencil by The Crafter's Workshop. That gave me the texture I wanted. To enhance the design, I kept the stencil in place as a mask and inked over the panel with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and my ink blending tool, just hitting the raised portions of the embossing. Once that had dried sufficiently (which doesn't take long), I cut the 4 small panels from that piece.

I used a greeting from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I die cut & embossed a circle from white cardstock with one of Spellbinders "Classic Circles" dies. Before removing it from the die, I lightly sponged Dusty Concord ink in the center portion. After I took the cardstock out of the die, I further inked around the edge with a darker application of Dusty Concord. Then I printed the greeting onto it.

To assemble the card, I cut a piece of yellow cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I adhered the 4 purple panels to it, spacing them apart slightly. This was not as easy as it might sound, since the houndstooth pattern has a directional motif. So I had to pay close attention to which way the design was going when I adhered each panel! Thankfully, I realized this before I started adhering, and got it all right the first time. I popped the greeting up on foam tape, adhered the front to an A2 card base, and this simple card was complete.

Happy Father's Day Star

I recently got a couple of new 6x6" patterned paper pads at my local scrapbooking store. They have lots of more masculine-looking papers, which I felt I needed to make Father's Day cards for Operation Write Home this month. I decided for this card I wanted a design with lots of layers involved. I looked through my OWH sketch collection, and found this one, which definitely fit the bill:

I searched my stamp collection to find a focal image. The one I chose was too large for the panel in the sketch, so I had to improvise a little. I cut the second and third panels, as shown in the sketch, using papers from the FarmHouse 6x6" "302 Paper Pack." I overlapped them and adhered them temporarily with repositionable adhesive. Then I stamped the star image from this stamp set by Tim Holtz on the panels in Versamark ink, and heat-embossed it in gold. I separated the panels, and matted each on tan cardstock. I did change the "layer" measurements in the sketch slightly, so those panels had only a 1/16" mat, rather than 1/8", so it wouldn't break up the image too much. I layered those on another pattern from the same pack, and mounted them to a paper from 7gypsies' "Venice" 6x6" pad.

For the greeting, I was going to use one from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. But I couldn't find one that seemed to fit the general look of the card. So I finally created my own in Photoshop, and printed it on the same tan cardstock I'd used for the mats on the middle layers. I inked the edges of the panel with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and adhered 2 threaded buttons to it. Then I glued it on to the card front, and mounted the whole front onto a standard A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes with Buttons"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "The One with Lots of Rules"

Happy Father's Day Loons

With Operation Write Home's deadline for Mother's Day cards just past, and the deadline for Father's Day cards at the end of April, I have shifted focus to making cards for dads. I have had this loon stamp, which I got while on holiday in Maine, for a long time. (Sorry, but I don't know who made it.) And, like so many things in my stash, I have never used it. I finally decided to pull it out and get it inky.

I based the design on this sketch from Operation Write Home:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees, and substituted an oval for the rectangle, but otherwise stayed pretty true to it.

I stamped the loons on watercolor paper, intending to color the area surrounding the birds with a blue watercolor pencil, fading the color out towards the edges. After stamping with Archival Jet Black ink, I die cut & embossed the oval with a Spellbinders Classic Ovals die. I colored with the blue pencil, washed over the color with my water brush, and set it aside to dry.

I chose the harlequin patterned paper from 7gypsies' "Venice" 6x6" paper pad, and the newsprint paper for the banner from Echo Park's This & That "Charming" 6x6" pad. I inked the edges of the latter with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I lightly marked in pencil where the larger patterned paper strip & the oval would go on the card front panel, so I'd know where the greeting could go. After scanning the panel into the computer to aid in placement of the text, I chose a greeting from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, & printed it directly on the card front.

I decided to trim the oval down slightly, so just cut it around the embossed line. I also didn't like the stark contrast between the "clean" look of the watercolor paper and the distressed look of the patterned papers. So I lightly went over all but the loons with Antique Linen Distress Ink, and inked around the edge with Walnut Stain. I felt that helped blend it in with the rest of the card better.

I adhered the patterned papers & loon panel to the card front, and inked the edges of the front with Walnut Stain. I threaded 3 brown buttons with embroidery floss, tying it in a simple knot. Then I glued the buttons to the top right corner with Glossy Accents. Finally I mounted the front to a standard A2 card base. While I don't have much experience in making masculine cards, I think this one turned out rather well.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything with Buttons"
Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' Challenge #6: "Use a bird, birdhouse, or rose"