01-12-23

 Hi there,

Today a bit of something different...especially for me.  A card for one of my new nephews.  He loves Star Wars and I have nothing that would work.  Luckily Google provided a site with step by step direction on drawing the robot.  Its not perfect, but I am satisfied with it.

I created a galaxy background and kind of a bit of a planet to ground the robot.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is silver embossed.  

 

I am going to submit this to The Male Room - Galaxy and/or stars.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Seize the Birthday and Fusion

Hi there!

This card is for one of my BIL's.  He was best man at our wedding 9 years ago.   The card was inspired by the blue striped rug in the graphic at  Fusion.   I am also entering it to Seize the Birthday - no toppings this time for me.

I am a big fan of the monochromatic card for masculine projects.  The card set comes from CTMH. The patterned paper is a left over from an old SSS card kit. The twine is from Hemptique.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Those Dogs are back

Hi There!

A guy friend of mine from my working days has a birthday coming up.  He is a dog lover so I thought this would be a fun card for him. I even made a matching envelope.  Both are watercolored, and then lightly covered with distress glaze so hopefully they'll make it to his place in good shape.

These were colored with water color pencils, and the eyes were dabbed with glossy accents for shine and the noses covered with black pico embellisher for a shine and some texture.  I am entering this to  ATSM's Make Your Mark .

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

 

Word Art Wednesday and The Male Room

This week at Word Art Wednesday it is Anything Goes.  The verse this week is "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom".  

At the Male Room the challenge is Colours - to use Black, White and 1 pop of color. 

I focused on the word Number and the color cue to combine the two challenges into one card. The number pattern background stamp is from Hero Arts, it was very black, so to tone it down I placed a piece of heavy vellum over it and then layered my sentiment frame and balloons over the vellum.

Three more birthday cards to go this month.



Thanks so much for stopping by!

Back Home and on to the Birthdays

I am back in Maryland after visiting my Dad in California. I was happy to spend time with my Dad...we shopped, ate, saw movies and played with the cats.  There are three now, my Dad took in a little stray girl kitten who had been hanging out in the back yard.  She is wild, but has warmed to my Dad. She even let me get a couple of pets in.

As hubs was hunkering down waiting for the ice storm, I had my toes in the sand at Newport Beach. 

My Dad and I attended the BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament in Indian Wells while I visited.  It is a spectacular tennis venue with two stadiums and several side courts. That temp shot was at night, during the day it was 90+ degrees; so glad it wasn't me on those courts.

And no trip to California is complete without a stop at In-n-Out Burgers, its a classic.

Now that I am home and unpacked; I took a look at my April birthday list...7 cards need making and I haven't started the Easter cards either.  Time to get busy.

First up, for my BIL.  I love this embossing folder from Anna Griffin...it is perfect to give an little extra punch and drama to a masculine card.  No bling, but some vellum under the sentiment strip, and a few white Nuvo drops for added texture. I was inspired by Michele's last posting.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Oh those Dogs...

I resisted those crazy birds for a long time, then I broke down and bought them.  Neither hubs nor my Dad like them at all...so they need to leave my stash.

Taking their place...my crafty friends thought for sure would be the crazy cats...but no.  They kinda freak me out a little bit--remind me of Halloween, and that is not one of my favorite holidays. I prefer cutsie Halloween over scary Halloween.

However, those crazy dogs...well they are so darned cute and adorable.  Those I definitely LOVE, and they had to join my stash as soon as I could grab them.

Here are a couple of cards:

                                                     Don't ya just love those googly eyes?
                                             

                                     That tongue reminded me of a heart, so this has to go to hubs.


I am sure to have more dog cards coming up. Thanks for stopping by.

Teen Boy Birthday

Ah the masculine cards, I can make them for the Dad's and the hubs, but the nephews and the Godson...difficult. They range in ages from 15 to 26. To old for cutesy animals, and to young for nature cards.

I am going take the easy way out and go with the numbers!  Two of our nephews are just two years apart in age. They are brothers, with birthdays in the same week. The cards need to be similar in content so no one gets a better card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Green Card Supplies
Stamps:
Hero Arts Brushstrokes
Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler 

Dies:
Avery Elle Count on it
Simon Says Stamp Postage Edge

Inks:
Hero Arts Field Greens
Simon Says Stamp Green Leaf & Catkin
Versafine Onyx Black

Blue Card Supplies
Stamps:
Hero Arts Number Pattern
Stampers Anonomous Crazy Sentiments

Dies:
Avery Elle Count on it
PTI Spirial Notebook Page
Simon Says Stamp Gift Card slots (Inside)

Inks:
Hero Arts Stonewash
Versamark w/ white embossing powder

Two Birthdays

Hi, it is good to be back with Hubs, and my crafty space.  I miss my dad and the furry boys...if only that teleportation thing were real!

While in California I did a bit of online shopping making sure all would arrive before I did.

One of my purchases was the MFT die set Jumbo Peek-a-boo Circles.  I think this is a fantastic set, especially for some of those smaller images.

So on to the cards:

For hubs, it's either trains or nature...This bird is from Stampin Up, the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

And there is something appropriately sweet and mushy inside. 


Next, for our niece who loves her kitty Scout.  I colored Newton from Newtons Nook below to look like Scout down to his orange nose.  I also used a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, and dies from Lawn Fawn and Pretty Pink Posh (isn't that bow sweet?)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Birthday

I am back from my trip to California to visit my Dad and do a bit of cat-sitting while he visited his sister in Iowa.  He returned in time to celebrate his birthday and of course I made a couple of cards for him. One from the boys and one from me. 

My Dad puts the cards I make up on the fridge.  I find it ironic and funny. While I was growing up nothing went on the fridge-not even a magnet, but I suspect that was my Mom's preference.

On to the cards...

Thanks for stopping by!

Golfing Birthday

My FIL likes to golf. Living in Ohio, his golfing season is much shorter than the one my Dad enjoys in California.  I wanted to make a fun golf inspired birthday card for him. I have used this stamp a couple of times but it has been a few years, so I figure it can come out and play again.

The golf ball and the sentiment are cut from fun foam; makes for a bit of silliness - just what a birthday card needs.  I poked at the ball a bit with a piercer so it would have some dimples.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Dies - Pretty Pink Posh, Lawn Fawn, WPlus9
Embossing Folder - Darice
Inks - Simon Says Stamp, and Copics

A long time coming

I have had this card in my head for quite a while.  It is inspired by the view out my window at sunset. I finally managed to snap a picture one March evening.  Then the hunt for the perfect stamp began.  I found  Tree Line by Stampendous and I thought it fit the idea.   My first attempt at this was not an overwhelming success. I had water colored the background, and the stamp is just too detailed for watercolor paper.

A couple more tries using dye inks and sponging, and distress inks...gave me beautiful backgrounds, but the stamping...yikes.

I decided to give it one more try, and that Misti really made the difference.  I stamped the treeline several times using Ranger Archival black ink.  Those trees needed to be really dark and solid to contrast with the sky.  I used distress inks in Worn Lipstick, Milled Lavender, and Spiced Marmalade to create my sunset.

It makes me happy when the idea in my head actually looks like the card in my hand!

I am back from California and had a wonderful time visiting my Dad. Its always a bit emotional when it comes time to leave, and this time was no exception. I miss my Dad, and am glad we talk, text and face time to keep in touch as well as play in the same poker league on line.

Jack and Digger are cute as ever, and have grown to be quite good hunters...I fear for the bird population; and the lizards...so many I saw scrambling around were missing tails...My Dad rescues them and puts them back outdoors when the cats bring them in. Here are recent pictures of the boys, while not siblings, they are very close in age...a matter of maybe a week. They are the best of pals.

Digger

Jack

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Finally the perfect stamp set

For those tough cards...Men and Boys ages 12 and up. Those cards drive me nuts...  Stampin Up has a stamp set that I am going to be using quite a bit for my male card needs.   I could even dress it up (pun intented) and use it on gal cards.

I think male cards are so tough, because traditionally they don't get as much embellishment as the girly ones. So to combat my feelings that the card is too plain - I created backgrounds on both the card base in a tone on tone pattern, and stamped repeated happy birthdays in versamark and clear embossed them on the white panel.  It's subtle texture, but it gives more interest.  I am quite happy with this man card!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:
Paper - Stampin Up, and unknown scraps
String - DMC Floss
Inks - Hero Arts Soft Granite,  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Stamps - Hero Arts Square Background,  Stampin Up Big Day
Die - Stampin Up Chalk Talk Framelits 

Nature...

images are great for guy cards!  A bit of inking, a plain font greeting, and that's it.

Okay I wet a bit further, the cat tails were colored then given just a touch of wink of stella and a bit of glossy accents for dimension. The die cut sentiments come from PTI, cut out of wood tape then inked a bit darker. The background of the main panel has some fronds from a Stampin Up set stamped very lightly in wet cement ink (Hero Arts). All is mounted on a kraft card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday

It is Tuesday, and I have my challenge sheets all lined up for some marathon card-making this week.

First up is a masculine birthday card, it never hurts to have a few extra of these around.  I used the Sketch from Cas(e) this sketch, and will also be entering this at seize the Birthday with a Masculine Topping.

I die cut the PTI Happy sentiment from Very Vanilla and a scrap of patterned papers.  I then took a light blue card base and adhered the various pieces.  I didn't want the card to be too plain so I added a piece of twill (manly ribbon) to the card front for an added textural element.

    

Thanks for stopping by.

Another Birthday

I am trying to get my Guy Card mojo back.  I have been putting off making this birthday card, because I just couldn't picture the card I wanted to make.  Push came to shove and this needed to be mailed...so I had to hunker down and get it done.

I decided to go with my comfort zone...water colors and Stampin Up's The Wetlands stamp set.  Nature seems a good image type for a male card.

I started with Bristol Paper and an almost dry brush loaded with Distress inks in Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire; then added a bit of Scattered Straw and my background was done.

 I used Ranger Black Archival ink to stamp my images, some of the reeds were second generation stamping to give a feeling of distance.  I used a stamp a ma jig to place the sentiment since these were cling stamps and you cannot see through them.

I cut my panel using Simon's stitched Rectangle dies, matted it with a bit of black and mounted the whole thing on to a Stampin Up Baja Breeze card base.

I decided to off set the panel a bit and add some manly chevron natural twill ribbon to the left side to balance the sentiment on the right.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday

A quick post for hub's birthday card.  We have been remodeling our bath, and my crafting time has been reduced.  I managed to put this together, using a stamp of sneakers from Simon Says Stamp, it came from one of the card kits this spring.  Hubs is a big Converse Chuck Taylor sneaker fan.  Definitely his favorite footwear.  Since I was taking the Copics for Cardmakers  class I used them to color the shoes.  The sentiment diecut, was a creation on my Silhoutte Portrait stacked 4 times.  Hubs enjoyed the card.

 Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Dad

It is always hard to make those masculine cards. I love the pinks and yellows and girly flower stamps...so wrapping my brain around man cards is tough.  I bought this stamp quite a while ago, and I may have used it once before.  I though it would make a great card for my Dad.  A bit of nostalgia with the swing.

I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo black, and inked up the background very lightly with distress inks.  Then the tree was colored with copic markers to make the scene fall-ish. I stamped the card base with some distress ink and a Stampers Anonomous wood grained stamp to add some texture to the card base.The Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped in Memento as well and comes from Simon Says Stamp.

Of course, since my Dad adopted two kittens early this summer (Digger and Jack) he really needs a birthday card from them as well.  And of course they are cats...so minimalism rules.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate...

My FIL is celebrating his birthday, and hubs and I wanted to wish him a wonderful happy birthday.  He is a wonderful caring grand-father and father.

Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps - My Favorite Things; Avery Elle 
Embossing folder - Lifestyle Crafts
Twine - We Are Memory Makers
Stars - Michaels
Cardstock and Vellum - Bazzil

Celebrate Today

My BIL's birthday's is coming up, and I have the opportunity to get another man card under my belt.  I quite like how this one turned out.  The stamp sets both come from Stampin Up - By the Tide and Perfectly Penned. A few layers, some stamping, some fussy cutting, some burlap, twine, a sparkly brad--I couldn't help myself, it matched the theme! :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Man Card

Another family birthday.  There are far more men in our families than women.  I get a lot of practice with the guy-cards.

Thanks for stopping by.