simon says... father's day!

Hiya, peeps! It's Wednesday... time for another Simon Says Stamp challenge! :)

This time, the theme is Masculine/Father's Day... good timing. ;) And the product line we the DT worked with was none other than Tim Holtz, of course! If you have any Tim Holtz in your stash, by all means - let's see 'em! But if not, don't worry... it's not a requirement for the challenge.

Anyway, my card...

..I used so many Timmy products, I don't know where to start! :) The car image is from the JOURNEY clear stamp set, the cracked card stock is from the SHATTERED 6x6 pad (by Core'dinations), "For You" is from the LABEL LETTERS sticker pack, and "Dad" is from the CIRCQUE INDUSTRIOUS sticker sheet (you will need two in order to spell "Dad", since there is only one 'D' per sheet). 

So tell me... would you like to have a $50 gift voucher to spend on whatever your heart desires at Simon Says Stamp? Then all you have to do is create your masculine/Father's Day project and link it up HERE, before 8am EST US next Wednesday (the 12th), and you could be randomly drawn to win just that! :)

And please, make sure you stop by HERE to check out more manly inspiration from my fellow teammates... all I can say is.. DUUUDE!! ;)

Thanks for reading today. Be back soon!

simon says... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hi, friends! it's Wednesday again (and APRIL... seriously, how is this happening?!) and that means there's another weekly challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp challenge blog!

But this isn't the usual... it's a very special week because it's the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog's 4th birthday! :D And we're celebrating with a HUUUGE prize give-away for this week's challenge! Heidi and everyone at Simon has so generously offered up not one, but THREE fab prizes:

PRIZE #1
Not $50, but $100 to spend in the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!

PRIZE #2
Friendship Circles stamps AND die

 

 PRIZE #3

Fit To Be Square stamps AND die

Simply Amazing. I can't imagine that there's anyone out there who has yet to participate in any of the Simon Says Stamp weekly challenges, but if not, this MUST be your week to start! :)

So, obviously the theme this week is Birthdays. And the product line we all used was none other than the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive stamps and dies! If you have any Simon Exclusives in your stash, please celebrate with us by using them in your creations this week! If not, no worries... it's not mandatory for participation. :)

And now for my card...

Since my husband's job relocated us half way across the country and away from our families almost 6 years ago, we don't get to celebrate with them in person on their special days as we'd like. But, we certainly celebrate in spirit, and that's what inspired this card. :) The BANNER SAYINGS stamp set has this perfect sentiment for those long-distance birthday wishes. I paired it with the ALWAYS on the Edge wafer die, and it's a match made in cardmaking heaven. I wanted the card to have a edgier, more masculine feel, so I went with black, white, and KRAFT. The background is the Hero Arts NUMBER PATTERN cling stamp, and was softly stamped with Hero Arts WHITE DYE ink. I chose dye instead of pigment because I wanted the background to be subtle, and not compete with the "Always" diecut popped up over the top of it.

So now it's your turn! Upload your festive, celebratory birthday project HERE before 8am EST US on Wednesday (the 10th), and you'll be entered into the random drawing for one of the incredible prizes shown above! And pleasepleaseplease go HERE to see what my fellow teamies have done with other Simon Says Stamp Exclusives... you will be blown away!

 

Thanks so much for reading, and for your wonderful comments. :) See you soon!

simon says... have a heart!

Hi, friends! It's hump-day.. time for another challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp challenge blog!

A $50 gift voucher could be yours, just for playing along!

The theme this week is "Have a Heart"... just in time for Valentine's Day. ;) All of us on the DT createdour projects with the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive line of stamps and dies. If YOU have any of the Simon Says Stamp exclusives in YOUR stash, show us! We'd love to see! But, as always, it's not mandatory you use them to enter the challenge. :)

Anyway, on to my card:

My Valentine is going to be for my hubby, and he is a verrry NO FUSS, NO FRILLS kinda guy. LOL ;) It makes it easy that his favorite colors are black and red, but I needed to keep everything else really simple and masculine. First, I used my digital die-cut machine to cut out the heart, then ran that through my manual die-cutter with Simon's ALWAYS On The Edge wafer die. I specifically cut my heart at this size, so that when I positioned it and ran the die through, it would cut the heart all the way across. I then put pop dots on the bottom half, lined up the positives of the letters with the negatives, and adhered the bottom portion to my card base.

The result is a slightly off-set look, for something a little different. :) I stamped the sentiment, which is from Simon's exclusive FOR THE RECORD stamp set, on the top portion of the diecut, and filled in the heart with black Enamel Accents. It gives the little heart a kinda shiny, leathery texture... perfect! Something else was still missing, so I did a little faux stitching around the heart at the last minute. Not sure how well it works, but it's on there now. LOL :)

Anyway, now it's your turn! Create your project with heart (heehee), and link it up HERE, by 8am EST US next Wednesday (the 13th - and don't forget to link the the Simon Says Challenge blog, too), and that generous gift voucher could be yours.

And of course, please stop by HERE to see what my fellow teamies have made for this challenge! One word: LOVE! :D

Alrighty folks, thanks for reading. See you soon! xo

masculine friend - with a FLOWER stamp!

Hello, again! Back today with that masculine card I promised. :) The original of this design was made for a man named Mike who worked with Hero Arts and recently passed away from brain cancer. Prior to his passing, many over at the Hero Arts Flickr group created cards to send to Mike to maybe thank and encourage him in his final days. I whipped up my card and mailed it out right away, without pausing to photograph it. So here's a duplicate I made later to share here (click to see larger):



This design is also based on a similar card I made a while back that you can see here. Sometimes coming up with a design on the fly can be difficult. So just like using sketches or CASEing, there's no shame in referring to something you've already done once before to help make the process go faster. The only thing different about this card from Mike's is that this one has a different sentiment (from the new Thank You For Being My Friend set). It was an honor to make a cardc for a person like Mike whose involvement with Hero Arts brought joy to so, so many... directly, and indirectly. :)




Can you tell that I actually used a flower image - the new Small Solid Flower Cling - for the leaves?! I don't know if anyone else has already used this stamp in this way, but I couldn't believe it just dawned on me one day, "Hey - that kinda looks like a tree..." I love it when an image is so versatile! :D To get the graduation of color, I used the rock and roll technique with chalk inks. I think the seamless blending you get with the chalks looks great when doing this technique. And see that trunk? That's what you get when you mask off all of the other trunks on this stamp - the Tree Trunks Design Block. Another new 2011 Hero stamp I knew I had to have. ;)

To me, this has a masculine feel due to the ruggedness of the kraft card stock, the ambiguity of the images, and the neutral color scheme. However, I know hearts and Stickles might not seem masculine, but what can I say? I'm a girl and I love hearts and glitter! LOL At least I went with a more neutral color for the Stickles, like copper. ;)

Thanks for reading! See you soon... be sure to hug the ones you love today.

SUPPLIES
paper: kraft note card, Georgia Pacific white, and SU! Close to Cocoa
stamps: Hero Arts S5208, S5477, CG251, and CL487
inks: VersaMagic Sage & Spanish Olive, and SU! Close to Cocoa dye & Whisper White pigment
misc: rectangle Nestabilities, white embossing powder, Stickles in Copper, and pop dots

for you dad

Hello again! :) Here's the card that I had originally started for the masculine challenge over at the Hero Arts blog, but was unable to get done in time due to my back injury. Then, I thought I might enter it into the background challenge, since I had used a background stamp for my main image, but I was just too overwhelmed getting caught up that week to find the time to photograph it. But here it is today! LOL At least it's in time for Father's Day, since it is a Father's Day card, after all:



Not sure how excited I am about this card, but it works. The original point was to create something masculine and that's difficult for me... no flowers or gems or anything froofy. LOL ;) I asked my hubby what colors he would like to see on a card, and he told me red, black, and white. So there ya go. LOL The background is an older Hero Arts harlequin stamp. I stamped it in red, and then stitched over it with black thread to create the argyle pattern. Argyle has always seemed somewhat masculine to me. :) The color-blocked layout also gives it a structured, angular feel, which to me, also feels more masculine. The ribbon was never meant to be a part of the design, but I made a small stitching boo-boo and just couldn't leave it as-is, so the ribbon helped to cover that up. ;)

A tip about stitching on your projects: If your machine uses a bobbin, load it up with clear thread. This has a two-fold benefit: 1) It no longer becomes necessary to change your bobbin every time you need to change your spool color, and 2) If you stitch directly onto your card base, you don't have to worry about what the thread will look like on the inside of your card... it's clear! It'll hardly show no matter what color your card is inside. ;)

On a completely un-stamping related note, have you seen Disney's "UP" yet? Then get thyself to the nearest movie theater PRONTO. Oh my... what a WONDERFUL movie! So much better than I expected. Really touching. :) I'm not ashamed to admit I even got teary a couple times! LOL Seriously tho, it's animated, but in no way just a "kid" film... you'll definitely be glad you saw it. ;)

Anyway, hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks as always for stopping by. Hugs! :)

SUPPLIES: Hero Arts note card(s), SU! card stock, Lipstick Red chalk ink, Hero Arts Large Harlequin Background (S3413), diamond stamp is Studio G, "for you" stamp is SU!, "Dad" stamp is unknown, ribbon is May Arts, machine stitching.

another card for CFH (featured on the Hero Arts blog)

Hello! Hope you (U.S. friends) had a great holiday weekend! :) Here's a card that was featured on the Hero Arts blog yesterday that I'll also be sending off to Cards For Heroes. It's a Father's Day card with an obviously patriotic theme (click to see details):



I stamped the Thanks Definition stamp on white card stock, trimmed it, and glued it to the Crimson note card. Then I trimmed a kraft note card, punched one end with a square punch, ran it through my crimper, and positioned it over the definition with pop dots. The blue "frame" was done with two different-sized square punches: first a smaller punch was used on the blue card stock, then I turned the larger punch upside down so I could see the card stock inside it. I positioned the larger square over the smaller square punched area, and punched! Voila... perfect frame. :) You could also do this with some square Nesties, if you have them. The rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory, I think.

Well it's Wednesday, and that means I have another Thrifty Thursday deal to share with you! :) This really is such a rockin' deal... TWO sets of stamps (valued at about $20 EACH) for just $11 + shipping. You can find the stamp sets HERE.

Or, you can head on over to the Hero Arts blog for some more cards from my fellow Hero Hostess and a FABULOUS card and video from the great Jennifer McGuire. The theme/challenge this week is manly cards. A lot of people say they have trouble with them, but you're sure to be inspired by all of the wonderful ideas the Hero Arts blog has for masculine cards this week! Check it out! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a good one!

SUPPLIES: Hero Arts stamps (Galaxy of Stars, Thanks Background, and Happy Greetings), Hero's kraft and Crimson note cards, blue and white card stocks, Blue Iris chalk ink, SU! craft ink, white embossing powder, Fiskars crimper, Hero Summer button, thin jute, and pop dots

Cards For Heroes Memorial Day blog hop!

Hey, there! Welcome to another stop on the Cards For Heroes Memorial Day blog hop! :) If you happen to be stopping by randomly, be sure to go HERE to start at the 'top of the hop'. There are SO many wonderful creations to see... you won't want to miss a single one! :)

Cards For Heroes is a wonderful, WONDERFUL organization that sends handmade cards to our troops overseas... either as a thank you to them for their amazing dedication and sacrifice, or as blanks for them to send to their own families and loved ones. Check out the Cards For Heroes homepage HERE to find out how YOU can get involved, either through card making or monetary donations to go toward shipping.

Not many people know this about me (probably because it was so long ago), but my Dad was in the military... the Air Force, to be exact. He was an expert avionics communication technician stationed in the Philippines. Basically, he built and/or fixed the radios and communication equipment on the fighter planes. So any efforts to support our nation's military definitely touches my heart personally. :)

And just to let you know how much of a difference CFH is making in the lives of our soldiers, just check out THIS PAGE... emails and notes of gratitude from soldiers for all that CFH has done and meant to them and their families. I dare you to read a few and not get teary-eyed. ;)

Anyhoo, here's my card (click to see larger):



The star was stitched using one of those shaped plastic canvases (thanks, Cindi!) found in the needlepoint section of your local craft store. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes... and they're super cheap! Like maybe a buck or less? After using the template to pierce my design, I just used plain ol' embroidery floss to stitch the stars. The rest is pretty simple... a nice sentiment and some heat embossed stars that were cut out and pop dotted randomly. I hope it brings a smile to a soldier's face! :)

WE LOVE YOU, TROOPS! Thank you for all that you do for us, every single day. HOOAH! :)

And now, on to the next stop in the blog hop:

Diary of a Crazy Redhead!

She's a fantastic writer! You'll be sure to enjoy reading her posts and seeing her creations. :)

Thanks to you all for stopping by! I hope you were inspired to do something to show your support for our troops. Make a card or make a donation... either one will mean more than you could ever know. :)

Have a beautiful, blessed Memorial Day!

SUPPLIES: Hero Arts kraft note card, SU! card stock, VersaMagic chalk ink, SU! white pigment ink, DMC floss, needlepoint star template, Hero Arts sentiment (CL286) and heat embossed stars (CL318), and pop dots

masculine birthday

It seems I never have enough masculine cards on hand when I need them... florals and feminine designs are just easier for me. ;) I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and finally decided to try it out (click to see larger):

I love how it came out. I like the rustic, natural colors and textures. Nothing too froofy or frilly, it's simple enough for any guy. The best part - it took me all of about 10 minutes to make.

Maybe it's just me, but the green Cuttlebugged panel reminds me of the side of a saguaro cactus. LOL (Can you tell I've lived in the desert pretty much all of my life?)

As a side note, this picture was taken with my camera completely on MANUAL. No tweaking in Photoshop, scout's honor. Wheeee! I am so proud... :D

Thanks for peekin'. Have a great weekend!





**Comments have been disabled for this post.**

SUPPLIES:
paper - Paperbilities kraft notecard, Bazzill card stock
stamps - Inkadinkado ('Chelsea sentiments')
ink - StazOn Timber Brown
accessories - 'Distressed Stripes' embossing folder, Stampin' Up! Linen Thread, Autumn Leaves buttons (Thanks, Jennifer!), pop dots

Set Sail Birthday

*SIGH* Where to even begin with this card?! LOL

Like I said, this card goes in an entirely different direction from the OLCs I've been making lately. I think after all that simplicity, I was ready to stretch creatively and challenge myself a bit. ;)

It's for my Dad - his birthday was this past weekend, and even though he's not really the nautical type, he IS into model ships. I can rememebr "helping" him put them together as far back as age 4 (me, not him LOL). The REALLY intricate ones, too... yards and yards of twine, a miniscule wheel and ornate deck railings. These images really remind me of back then. :) I've had this gorgeous stamp set forever and never felt brave enough to attempt inking it until now. I hope I did it justice (click to see larger):


In case anyone's interested, here's the full instructions (with some **handy tips**):
1. Stamp Cheesecloth BG with Soft Sky ink onto Soft Sky card base and sponge edges with Timber Brown StazOn
2. Using the SAMJ, line up the compass image and stamp with Blue Bayou ink
3. Stamp ship/frame image with Timber Brown StazOn onto Very Vanilla card stock
4. Stamp ship/frame image with Blue bayou ink onto Soft Sky card stock and set aside
5. On the Vanilla/Timber image, color with Prismas, blend and shade with Gamsol & a stump
6. Using an X-Acto knife, CAREFULLY cut out the negative spaces of the ship (between the ropes and sails), then the ship itself, then the inside edges of the frame... discard everything but the ship and frame
7. Very carefully, tear around the frame and sponge the edges with Timber Brown... apply 1/16th inch pop dots to the back
8. Apply 1/16th inch pop dots to the back of the ship (this is kinda tricky because you need to cut your pop dots into tiny, little slivers so they will fit in between the open spaces that were cut and removed, make sense? You'll do the same thing with the sentiment later on)
9. On the Sky/Bayou image, cut about 1/4th of an inch off the outside of the frame... color the seagulls with the Unibal Signo gel pen
10. Carefully adhere the Vanilla frame image directly over the Sky/Bayou image, lining everything up... do the same with the ship
11. Stamp Linen BG with Blue Bayou ink onto Blue Bayou card stock panel and sponge edges with Timber Brown... mat with Chocolate Chip card stock and distress the edges
12. Adhere the framed/dimensional image onto the Bayou/Chocolate strip and set aside
13. Stamp AYCI sentiment with Timber Brown onto Vary Vanilla card stock
14. Using an X-Acto knife, CAREFULLY cut out the sentiment... apply (the slivered) 1/16th inch pop dots to the back
15. **BIG TIP**: Ink up the same sentiment with Soft Sky ink, STAMP OFF ONCE, and then use your SAMJ to position the sentiment over the compass and then stamp - what this does is gives you a VERY faint ghost-like image of the sentiment so you'll be able to put the now cut up letters in their right places, nice and straight and perfectly spaced, just like the original image... you won't even be able to see the stamped image underneath, because you made sure to stamp off once first ;)
16. Adhere the sentiment
17. Measure out where you want your eyelets on your twill ribbon and attach them... adhere to the top and bottom of the card base using red-line tape
18. Adhere the Bayou/Chocolate/dimensional panel and admire! :)

*Whew!* Yes, the card really DID take me that long. And YES, I am a complete nutjob for cutting out the ship and the sentiment like that! LOL All in all, I think I went through about three sponges, 2 X-Acto blades, but just one transfusion. LOL ;)

One **BIG TIP** when using your X-Acto knife, always use a glass cutting mat. Glass mats are smooth and give you the best possible control when using your knife. It also helps keep the blade sharper, longer.

My next **BIG TIP**, always turn the paper while cutting and not your wrist... it allows for more fluid movements and control when going around curved areas.

Another **BIG TIP** about using an X-Acto knife for cutting out small areas with negative spaces... always cut out the INSIDE of your image or letter FIRST, then cut away at the outside. It's much easier to handle the paper when it's still large and in tact while cutting out these teeny, tiny details than it is to try and hold a teeny, tiny image/letter and THEN cut the centers out! LOL Talk about some serious blood loss doing it the wrong way! ;) Not that I injured myself while cutting, no... I'm just a clutz and stupidly chose to try and catch my X-Acto as it started to fall off of my work space. :P Yeah, uhh... BIG TIP numero 5: When a sharp object is in motion, DON'T TRY TO TOUCH IT until it comes to a COMPLETE stop. LOL Although this should be common sense for most people. ;) (I have since purchased this adorable little tool to prevent that very thing from ever happening again... not to mention, it was just too darn cute to resist! ;))

Anyway, enough chatter. I hope you like it. :) Have a great day and thanks for the peek!


CARD SUPPLIES
Paper: SU's Very Vanilla, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, and Chocolate Chip
Stamps: SU's "Set Sail", "Cheesecloth" background, "Linen" background, and "All Year Cheer I" sentiment, all retired... All night Media "compass" image
Ink: SU's Soft Sky and Blue Bayou, StazOn Timber Brown
Misc: Prismas & Gamsol, sponges, X-Acto knife, paper distresser, white Unibal Signo gel pen, twill ribbon, aged copper eyelets, and red-line tape