A Better Dad

I am excited to be the Guest Designer for this month's challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! Their theme this month is "Cards 4 Dads/Special Guys." I created this Father's Day card to go along with that theme. My design is based on Sketch #SC783 at Splitcoaststampers.com.

I stamped the mice & dandelion (from Lawn Fawn's "Dandy Day" set) onto a scrap of Strathmore vellum bristol paper. I colored them with my Prismacolor colored pencils. It doesn't show up much in the photo, but I added a little light grey to the fluff on the dandelion. Then I die cut them with the coordinating dies. I actually had to redo the dandelion, since I apparently really messed up aligning the die with the stamped & colored image! So I tried die cutting first, taping the die cut from the back into the negative space, lining up the stamp with the die cut, & stamping. It's still not absolutely 100% perfect, but like Jennifer McGuire says, it's handmade, not Hallmark!

For the background scene, I used one of the "Grassy Hillsides Borders" dies from Lawn Fawn to cut the grass from green cardstock. I added a bit of shading with Mowed Lawn Distress ink. I wanted the father & baby mouse to be looking up at the other mouse, hence my decision to have them on a hill. I found a blue patterned paper with a bokeh look that I'd gotten as a gift with purchase from Lawn Fawn. I thought the bokeh supported the magical idea of blowing dandelions, so I used it for the sky. I adhered my sky & grass pieces to a backing of white cardstock, just so I didn't have to fiddle with them as smaller individual elements. After gluing down my mice & dandelion to the background, I also stamped the flying seeds on the sky paper.

I stamped my greeting, also from "Dandy Day," in black on a scrap of grey cardstock. I cut that into a strip, as per the sketch. I adhered my strip & scene panel to a piece of patterned paper from Crate Paper's "Botanical Gardens" 6x6" pad. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2-size card base. 

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.

Happy Father's Day

Ellen Hutson is currently having their Mix-It Up challenge for April. Participants are to make a project using at least one Essentials by Ellen product & one or more products from Taylored Expressions. I used the "12 Days Companion Greetings" & the truck from Taylored Expressions' "Big Delivery."

I used Sketch #228 from Operation Write Home for my design. I first stamped the truck onto a piece of kraft cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored it with my Prismacolor colored pencils.

For the greeting panel, I stamped the "Happy Father's Day" on a piece of kraft cardstock. I taped the "Mini Houndstooth" stencil by The Crafters Workshop over my panel, and spread Golden Light Molding Paste that I'd colored with Ground Espresso Distress ink over it. I did make sure I avoided the greeting area. Once I had the coverage I wanted, I carefully lifted the stencil, and cleaned it & my non-stick craft mat. Then I set the panel aside to dry for a few hours.

To assemble the card, I matted my greeting & image panels with some darker brown cardstock. I cut a piece of patterned paper from Authentique's "Natural" 6x6" paper pad to 4.25x5.5", and adhered my greeting & image panels to that. I glued down a button with Perfect Paper Adhesive, and threaded some jute twine through it, tying that in a knot. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base. I will send this to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

Happy Father's Day!

I recently sent in my Father's Day cards to Send a Smile 4 Kids. The idea is that hospitalized children can have a nice assortment of handmade cards to give their fathers for Father's Day. This is one of my cards.

I've had "The Old Truck" image from Fred, She Said for a long time now, and have never used it. I decided it would be perfect for a Father's Day card. The license plate on the truck reads "Clunker," so I could just see a kid--especially a teenager--giving this to his/her dad, as a bit of humor! Because I wanted the image to be a good size, I chose Operation Write Home's Sketch #38:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees, but otherwise remained true to the proportions & dimensions.

I added a greeting from this Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set to the image, then printed it onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I used my Inktense pencils to color the image, blending the color with a damp brush. I did print off one of the colored images that come in "The Old Truck" set, just to make sure I was painting everything correctly. I also started off pretty light with my colors, and had to make a couple more passes on the truck to get the deeper values. I used regular watercolors for the grass, flowers, and sky, since they didn't have to be so precise.

After my painting had dried, I inked around the edges of the focal panel with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I cut 3 strips of patterned paper, all from my scrap stash, to go behind the main panel. I adhered them to a piece of navy cardstock that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5", and adhered the watercolor panel over top. Finally, I mounted this to a white A2 card base. Even though it's a simple card, it took me quite a while to get the painting right. Otherwise, it came together pretty quickly.

I'm entering this card in the May "Watercolor" challenge at Live Love Cards.

Two Father's Day Cards

I've been busy this week making Father's Day cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. They generally prefer to have these by May 15, but the particular woman I send to hand delivers hers, so she can take them later. These are 2 of the ones I've made.

For my first card, I used one of the sketches that My Favorite Things has for their "Blueprints 13" die set. I first die cut the background panel from Strathmore Mixed Media paper. I stamped the "Highline Ironwork" background stamp by Hero Arts/Basicgrey using Versamark, then heat embossed that with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I used a technique I saw on OWHtv, by Sandy Allnock. Basically, I took Distress inks in Forest Moss, Frayed Burlap, Stormy Sky, and Weathered Wood, and smooshed them directly onto my background panel. Then I sprayed it liberally with plain water. I discovered that you do NOT want to sop up the water with a paper towel too soon, because it will take most of the color with it. (Unless you want a more pastel look, of course.) So I did have to reapply the ink and spray it again. This time, I set it aside to air dry, while I worked on the other elements.

I die cut the 2 banners from patterned paper scraps that were on my desk. I adhered the ruler one on top of the blue, making sure that the "Evers Hardware Inc" text would be visible. I did have to cut off the left edge to get it to fit on the card front, but thankfully that did not affect the text too much. I then die cut the blue pinked circle & the white circle from cardstock. I scanned the white circle into my computer, and used Photoshop to add a text layer to that image, then printed the "#1 Dad" directly onto the circle.

By this time, my background was dry. I adhered my banner piece, but felt the greeting circle needed a little something else to make it pop. So I die cut another white circle with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG" die, and glued the 3 circles together, then adhered them to the card front. I die cut a white star, and glued that in the upper right corner. Finally, I mounted the panel onto a white A2 card base.

For my second card, I turned to Operation Write Home's Sketch #203:

I stamped the bears--from Hero Arts' "Lil Hoot" set--onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I did stamp off once on scrap paper first, so I would only get a grey outline. I colored both bears with a Neutral Grey Inktense pencil, using a damp brush to blend the color. I then went back with a black marker, to put the eyes and mouths in. I felt the baby bear's features were a little too "heavy" then, though, so I ended up stamping and coloring him again. I fussy cut him out, went around the edges with a grey marker, and glued him in place. I did take a fine-point black pen and go over his features, making sure not to be so heavy-handed this time! Finally, I used a Spellbinders "Standard Circles" die to trace around the bears, and cut that out.

I cut a piece of green cardstock as per the sketch, and cut 3 banners from patterned paper scraps, then glued them in place. I cut a piece of blue cardstock, and printed one of the greetings from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto it. I matted it with navy cardstock, and also die cut a circle from navy to mat the focal panel. Finally, I glued the greeting to the focal panel, and popped all that up with foam tape. I double-matted the background, added some Glossy Accents to the bears' eyes & noses, and this card was done!

I'm entering both cards in a2z Scrapbooking's May "Anything Goes" challenge. I'm also entering the "bears" card in May's watercoloring challenge at Live Love Cards.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm still in the middle of creating Father's Day cards for Operation Write Home. For this card, I used OWH's Sketch #79 as the basis of my design:

I enlarged the focal panel somewhat, to accommodate my image, and added a sentiment strip.

I've been on somewhat of a "Stampers Anonymous" kick lately. I've collected several stamps designed by Tim Holtz over the past couple of years, and have not gotten many of them inky. I think they work well for masculine cards, though, so I pulled them out and have been putting them to good use.

For this card, I used the airplane image from the "Travel Blueprint" set. I cut a panel from 140 lb. watercolor paper, and punched one edge of it with the "Binding Edge" edger punch from EK Success. I then stamped my image onto that, using Versafine Onyx Black ink, and heat embossed it with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder. I used Distress inks in Iced Spruce, Old Paper, and Stormy Sky. I applied the ink by rubbing the pads directly onto the paper, then used my mister bottle to spray it generously with water. The water "activated" the inks, causing them to pool & spread. I sped the drying process with my heat tool, being careful not to re-melt the embossing powder.

For the strips, I chose 3 patterned papers from the scraps on my desk. I cut them to size, and glued them to a 4.25x5.5" piece of black paper. I then glued my focal panel on top. I inked a piece of white cardstock with Old Paper, and then created my greeting in Photoshop. I printed the greeting directly onto a strip I'd cut from my inked cardstock, and then stapled that to my card front with my Tiny Attacher tool. I also glued down the other end of the strip. Finally, I adhered the card front to an A2 card base.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers & Dimensions"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Stamping"

A Pair of Father's Day Cards

The Father's Day deadline for Operation Write Home is looming large--April 30. So I'm working in that mode. I've heard several card makers say that masculine cards are hard to make. I personally like doing them, and don't seem to have any problem with them. I've had Stampers Anonymous' "Remnants" stamp set for a long time, and have never used it. I decided the balloon image would make a nice masculine card.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to 4.25x5.5", then stamped the balloon with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, using my MISTI tool. Then I colored the image with colored pencils. I decided not to use Gamsol to blend the colors this time. I wanted them to remain vibrant on the kraft, & I was afraid the Gamsol would take away that vibrancy.

After inking around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink, I scanned the card front into my computer. I opened that in Photoshop, and placed one of the greetings from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto the digitized image. Finally, I printed the greeting directly onto the panel. I felt the stamping on the balloon had gotten a bit undefined with the colored pencil on top. So, since my stamp was still on the MISTI cover, I was able to restamp it exactly over the original image, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. (I LOVE my MISTI!) That restored the definition and detail to the balloon. Finally, I adhered my card front to an A2-size card base, and rounded the top right corner. I did touch up the inking on that corner, and this card was done!

Operation Write Home's Sketch #13 inspired the design for my second card:

I'll admit, my interpretation is pretty loosey-goosey. The main thing that drew me to this sketch was the large focal panel. I used the globe from Stampers Anonymous' "Travel Blueprint" stamp set. I stamped it in Versamark, then heat embossed it with Ranger Gold embossing powder. I felt it was a bit lost on the brown cardstock I'd used, so I stamped it again with Versafine Onyx Black. Thanks to MISTI, I was able to get perfect placement. (Did I mention I love my MISTI?) I wasn't sure the Versafine would stay put over the gold embossing, so I sprinkled Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder over the wet ink, and melted that with my heat tool.

For the background, I used Hero Arts' "Tweed Pattern" stencil. I taped it over a cream cardstock panel, and inked through it with Distress inks in Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, and Mowed Lawn. I felt it was a little too "clean," though, and didn't exactly go with the focal panel. So I went over it lightly with Frayed Burlap Distress ink. That gave me the more aged & worn look I was after.

I used an alphabet stamp set by The Paper Studio (name unknown) to spell out "DAD." I stamped each letter on the same cardstock as I'd used for the background, using Versafine, clear heat embossed the letters, and then cut them into tiles. After rounding all the corners with my 1/8" Corner Chomper, I blended more Frayed Burlap over each tile. Finally, I adhered the focal panel & letter tiles to the background, and mounted that to an A2 card base.

I'm entering my second card in the following challenges:

Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers & Dimensions"
Operation Write Home/Our Daily Bread Designs April Challenge: "Masculine Cards"

Movin' On--Happy Father's Day!

After working so much on Mother's Day cards for Operation Write Home & Send a Smile 4 Kids, it's time to move along to Father's Day. Both those organizations have at least a month's lead time for special days like this, so they can get the cards sent out in time for the initial recipients to send/give them to their loved ones. So, even though Father's Day is still a couple of months away, it's time to craft those cards!

My first card was inspired by this YouTube video that Sandy Allnock did on OWHTv. She heat embossed a background, then smooshed Distress ink pads onto that. After spritzing it with water, she let it dry, and had a nice, masculine background. The same technique could be used for a feminine card, just by changing the color scheme.

I used the Hero Arts/BasicGrey "Highline Ironwork" background stamp. I inked it up with Versamark, and stamped onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper that I'd cut to 4x5.25". After sprinkling on Ranger's Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, I heat embossed it. I then applied Distress inks in Weathered Wood, Peeled Paint, and Chipped Sapphire to the background, spreading the colors directly with the ink pads. I spritzed it generously with water from my mister bottle. Not having Sandy's patience to let it air dry, I sped it along with my heat tool, being careful not to remelt the heat embossing. While I was drying it, I did use a paper towel to soak up a few spots that just looked too dark, before the ink dried.

After I'd dried the background, I used one of Spellbinders' "Classic Ovals SM" dies to cut a window out of one side of the panel. I scanned the panel into my computer, then opened the image in Photoshop. I used that to size and position my greeting, from this Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set, so it would show through the window. Then I printed the greeting onto a piece of white cardstock that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". I did end up having to trim that piece slightly, because I got some ink on where it would have shown. So I cut it smaller than the inked background, and adhered it to the back of that panel. Finally, I adhered the entire piece to a white A2-size card base.

a2z Scrapbooking's challenge theme this month is "Stencil." I decided to combine this challenge with A Blog Named Hero's "Embossing" challenge, and create a stenciled/embossed background. My design inspiration came from Operation Write Home's Sketch #227:

I did a rather loose interpretation, mostly using the focal panel position from the sketch.

I used the Hero Arts/BasicGrey "Flag Pattern" stencil, a recent acquisition. I taped it over a 3.75x5" piece of Mixed Media Paper, and smooshed Versamark ink through the stencil. Once I knew I had good coverage, I applied Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and melted that with my heat tool. Then I went over the embossing with watercolors in the orange/red range. The embossing resisted the watercolors, giving a really neat effect!

For the focal point, I stamped the gears image from Stampers Anonymous' "Mini Blueprints 3" stamp set onto a piece of blue cardstock, using Versamark. I white heat embossed that, and matted the panel with a burnt orange cardstock, which I felt went well with the background, and complemented the blue. After adhering that in place, I matted the background with more of the blue cardstock. I colored 3 silver mini round brads with Ranger's black alcohol ink, and used those to attach 3 of The Paper Studio's "Vintage Gears" around the focal panel. Finally, I created my greeting in Photoshop, printed it on a piece of bristol paper, cut that into a banner shape, and adhered it with foam tape to the card front. I matted the whole thing with more burnt orange cardstock before adhering it to an A2 card base. I will be sending these cards to Operation Write Home.

I'm entering my first card in A Blog Named Hero's "Embossing" challenge as well.

A Truck for Father's Day

Our Daily Bread Designs is having an "Anything Goes with ODBD Stamps" challenge this week. Since, at least on Operation Write Home's calendar, Father's Day is right around the corner, I decided to use ODBD's "Truck Single" stamp to make a Father's Day card.

I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #237 for my card design:

I began by stamping the truck onto a piece of white Bristol paper with Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink. I then colored it in with colored pencils, using Gamsol on a paper stump to blend the colors. I matted that with dark brown cardstock.

To continue the masculine tone of the card, I chose my patterned papers mostly in brown & teal tones. I added the yellow paper to echo the yellow color of the truck. I cut them to the sizes indicated in the sketch, inked the edges of each piece with Walnut Stain Distress ink, and adhered the layers together.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to 4.25x5.5". After inking the edges with more Walnut Stain, I lightly marked with a pencil where the focal panel would be. I scanned that into my computer, and opened it in Photoshop. For the greeting, I chose one from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Father's Day Sentiments." I sized and positioned that on the kraft image in Photoshop, and then printed the greeting directly onto the cardstock panel. Finally, I adhered my patterned paper layers to the top of the kraft, and glued my focal panel in place. I adhered my completed card front to an A2 card base, and I was done!

I'm also entering my card in Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers and Dimensions."

Happy Father's Day Bluebird

The current challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs blog is a sketch challenge. All that's required is to make a card following this sketch:

I say "all," but even then, it can be a bit challenging. (Otherwise, I guess they wouldn't call it a "challenge"!) At any rate, I made two cards. This is my first:

The biggest challenge I faced (besides no measurements on the sketch) was to create a standard A2-size card with it, so I could send it to Operation Write Home. I also wanted to use this ODBD stamp on my card, so I had to take its measurements into account when planning my design. Other than that....

I started by cutting a piece of plaid patterned paper from Echo Park's This & That "Charming" 6x6" pad to 4x5.25", to use as my background. For the smaller panel behind the bird, I cut a piece of patterned paper from the "Botanical Tea" 6x6" pad by graphic 45. I used the flip side of that paper for the border strip, which I die cut with this Spellbinders Edgeabilities die.

I stamped the bird image on watercolor paper in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, then colored it with Inktense pencils. It doesn't show up much in the photo, but after the bird and flowered branch dried, I applied a pale wash of blue using my Master's Touch watercolor set and water brush.

For the greeting, I cut a scalloped circle with a die from this set from white cardstock. I inked it with Faded Jeans Distress ink, the printed a greeting from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto it.

To assemble the card, I matted everything (minus the scalloped circle and border) with a dark green cardstock. The mat behind the plaid paper is 1/8" larger all around. I used my Perfect Layers ruler to cut a 1/16" border around the smaller panels. I glued the dot patterned paper to the card, adhered the border strip over it, then the bluebird panel. Finally I glued down the greeting, and adhered it to an A2 card base. So, another hero overseas now can send a card to his/her father for Father's Day!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Our Daily Bread Design's "Sketch" challenge
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Big Stamp" challenge

Happy Father's Day Banners

Father's Day, at least for Operation Write Home, is fast approaching. The deadline for cards to get to them is April 30, so I have been hard at work finishing up some more cards, so I can mail them out tomorrow!

For the design of this card, I used this OWH sketch. I did have to cut the banners narrower than in the sketch, since they didn't seem to want to fit well, even though I cut all the other pieces to the indicated dimensions. Other than that, I stayed true to the design.

I used 2 patterned papers from graphic 45's "Good Ol' Sport" 6x6" pad for the background and the strip along the left edge. For the banners, I pulled one pattern from 7gypsies' "Postale" 6x6" pad, and the other from their "Venice" pad. I inked over the banner with the checkerboard pattern with Iced Spruce Distress ink to age it a little more, and did the same on the red patterned banner with Frayed Burlap. After adhering the striped piece to the background and determining where the greeting panel would go, I glued down the banners.

For the greeting panel, I inked over white cardstock with Frayed Burlap, which ended up giving it a kind of leathery look--perfect for a masculine card! I used one of the greetings from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, printing it directly onto the inked cardstock panel. I inked around the edges of the card front with Frayed Burlap, just to help tie it in with the inking on the banners & greeting panel. Finally, I adhered the greeting to the card front, adhered that to a standard A2 card base, and it was done!

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"