Father's Day Stamp Camp project

I hold a monthly card making class at work over a lunch hour. We make 2 cards and its a great way to get together and get away from the pressures of work for a little while. Its been really fun and I've met some great people who are now very good friends. Its also quite interesting to watch engineers who are logical and straight-line thinking kinda of people pick up a stamp and do random background stamping. I've had people tell me "I can't do that" and not mean the stamping, but the random pattern creating.

This month we're going easy on the random and making a father's day project with Melissa Bickford's Men of Life stamp set


I've been playing around with this 4.25" square layout. I love that there is enough room to write a little note inside, but that you can overhang the focal layer and still fit in a standard envelope.

For this little guy, I stamped the boat and sails in chocolate chip, then paper pieced the sail in the manly striped patterned paper from SU!. I cut the image and layer using oval nesties. I tried to used the nestie as a mask and do a little coloring. It worked OK, but rubbing with a sponge tended to move the nestie so I got a little smearing at the top ... one more reason I need an air brush system ;o)

The sentiment was stamped in chocolate chip as well.

I finished it off with a punched circle of olive and some of the PTI aqua mist vintage buttons and dotted swiss ribbon I(I love dotted swiss ribbon!!)

Thanks for stopping by!

{Fathers Day card supplies - All PTI unless noted}
Stamps: Men Of Life
Paper: (All SU!) Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Naturals Ivory, Old Olive
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Aqua Mist vintage buttons, aqua mist dotted satin ribbon, natural hemp (SU!)

Spring Fling Challenge

I have a wedding shower to go to today. I helped make the wedding and shower invites and wanted to make a gift for the couple (Ryan's mom is a good friend from church). I bought them some things from their registry but wanted to give them something handmade too. I'll show the gift box another time (Its my entry in the My Timeless Templates Guest Star Stamper so I'll wait til that it announced before I post). But I made this card as well and figured I could show this.

The wedding colors are purple ... purple ... and purple and I was inspired by the purple flowers in the Spring Fling challenge of Kelly Lunceford.

I used Plum Pudding CS for the base and adhered Friends til the End patterned paper at the bottom (about 4.25" by 2.5"). I then machine stitched a straight stitch all around the front making about a 1/4" border.

(Thank You Michelle Wooderson for helping me overcome my fear of sewing on paper!)

Then I masked at the stitch line using Post-It notes and stamped the small blossom from Friends til the End in the upper part of the card.

(Thank you Dawn McVey for helping me overcome my fear of patterns and mixing patterns!)

I added a strip of Dark Chocolate CS and plum pudding dotted satin ribbon to hide the edge of the patterned paper.

A little blingy lavender rhinestones from Martha Stewart that I picked up at Mikes and a custom dyed fabric flower with a yummafalicious (my 16 yr old's favorite word) chocolate vintage button with chocolate twill tied in the center finishes it off.

I experimented with colors on the flower. First I tried Orchid Opulence from SU!, but that didn't blend well so i added some Perfect Plum ink to the mix and redyed it. I think it turned out pretty good!

Inside I continued the patterned paper and chocolate strip theme. I used a sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages ... my current go-to fave for sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by!

{Best Wishes card supplies - all PTI unless noted}

Stamps:Friends til the End, Mega Mixed Messages

Paper:Plum Pudding, Friends til the End patterned plum, Dark Chocolate, Very Vanilla (SU!)

Ink:Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence, Perfect Plum (all SU!)

Embellishments: Fabric Flower (SU! Pretties), rhinestones (Martha Stewart), plum pudding dotted satin ribbon, dark chocolate twill.

Remember

In this post, I showed a card file and cards I made for a friend's mom.  Its with mixed emotions I made this card for my friend:

My friend's mom died on Thursday.  I say it is with mixed emotions, because her death was quite peaceful and pain-free, and in these cases that is what you want.  My friend is doing pretty well, since they did have time to prepare.  I'm sure it will be harder in coming weeks, once all the family goes back home and things aren't as hectic.  So I wanted her to have something to encourage her when that time comes.

The card base is 4.25" square.  That left me some room to overhang the focal layer and still fit in a standard envelope.  Inside I stamped a few more poppies and a swirl

{Remember card supplies - all PTI unless noted}
Stamps: Remember
Paper: True Black, Stampers Select White, Real Red (SU!)
Ink: (All SU!) Basic Black, Real Red Mellow Moss
Accessories: Pure Poppy dotted satin ribbon
Tools: Scalloped and regular square nestabilities, Big Shot

Papertrey Blog Hop

I didn't have time to make anything new for the blog hop, but here is a collage of projects using Lauren's My Timeless Templates that I've made in the last month. I love these templates. They are so easy to use and so versatile. You can dress them up any way you choose. They are just fabulous!

This is the All Boxed Up template:

This is Filed With Flair

And finally the Desk Organizer and For Keep{sake}

Thanks for stopping by on the blog hop! Enjoy the rest of the fabulosity!

Birthday Presents

My youngest will be 14 this week ... eek!  I haven't gotten that much older!  All she wants for her birthday is a guitar and since I won't be able to get out and get one pick out before the big day, I am falling back on this gift set.

The box is using My Timeless Templates - For Keep{sake}.  Erin's favorite color is black.  She actually hates pinks unless its paired with black so I felt safe with the color combo.  The card was inspired by some samples Dawn McVey did a while back.  I have a tough time playing with patterns and so I thought this was a chance to play around.

For the box itself I used True black card stock.  I printed the template on copy paper then marked it off on the black.  I stamped Polka Dot Basics using SU! craft white.  The lid is raspberry fizz.

Instead of cutting out the holes on the template, I decided to just add a focal layer.  I used raspberry fizz and a scalloped rectangle nestie.  I cut out a white regular rectangle as well then stamped Guidelines 2 in black ink.  I added some hot pink flourishes and finished it off with pink rhinestones from Martha Stewart that I just picked up at Mike's and dotted raspberry fizz ribbon

The card is another clear acetate card.  I angle cut a lot of different papers, some patterned paper and some of my own making.

I finished it off with some PTI vintage buttons in white, black and pink (hibiscus burst)

Oh and in case any one thinks she is getting gyp'd - she won't just be getting an empty box.  She is getting her cell phone back.  It was taken away a while back for - um - misuse and she has earned it back.  I thought it would make a nice replacement birthday present until she and I can go guitar shopping.

{Birthday Card Supplies - all PTI unless noted}

Stamps: Friends til the End, Guidelines 2, Damask Designs (sentiment)

Ink: Basic Black, Craft White (SU!)

Paper: Clear Acetate, Raspberry Fizz, True Black, White, Dotted Black and Dotted Raspberry Fizz;  Regal; Rose (SU!)

Extras:Vintage buttons, dotted black stain ribbon, black gingham ribon (SU!)

{Birthday Box Supplies - all PTI unless noted}

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Guidelines 2, Damask Designs (sentiment)
Ink: Pink Passion, Basic Black, Craft White (SU!)
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, True Black, White,
Extras:Vintage buttons, dotted raspberry fizz stain ribbon, My Timeless Template For Keepsake, Martha Stewart Rhinestones, Scalloped & regular rectangle nestabilities

More Secretary Gifts

Here are my last 2 gifts for Admin Assistant Appreciation day. I again used the All Boxed Up template.  I used Riding Hood Red and Bella Rose DSP by Stampin' Up!

The medallion on the front was made with the Labels One nesties.

Inside I layered chocolate and dotted  DSP along with another medallion made using my circle & scalloped circle nesties

The cards were made to match with a smaller floral image punched out to adorn the front.

Thanks for stopping by

{Card Box and Cards Supplies - all products from SU! unless noted}
Stamps/Ink: None
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Bella Rose DSP
Embellishments: Chocolate satin ribbon, striped twill ribbon,
Tools: All Boxed Up My Timeless Template, Labels One, Circle, & Scalloped Circle nestabilities, CIrcle punch & Scalloped circle punch

Other kinds of assistance

Admin Assistant Day is coming up on April 22 (also my youngest's birthday and Earth Day).  We have all kinds of assistants where I work.  One group, the Engineering Project Assistants, keep all our many documents in order.  Since we have to certify our equipment with the FAA, its very important to have your documents in order.  And, boy howdy, do we have a lot of them!

I don't think there is a formal Engineeing Assistant Appreciation day (although ladies - it should be every day!), so I decided to make them something for Admin Assistants Appreciation day.  I hope they don't mind.

I used the Desk Organizer template from My Timeless Templates and made some bright springy cards and matching holder.  I printed the template on Summer Sun card stock.

This template was sooo easy to make.  I decorated the top with a strip to match the cards and added some New Leaf twill tape to hide the upper seam.  I did stamp on the front and back of the vellum to make it look more shadowed.  I used the darker ink on the back so it still showed through, but less intense.

The cards were also very simple.  I used the Life stamp set and stamped on PTI Linen vellum.  One technique I used was "rock and roll" on the flowers.  I love the clear stamps for that.  I got the flower inked up with SU! Summer Sun and then rolled the flower in Pumpkin Pie.  I finished up inking the stem with Old Olive then stamped and repeated.  I had been trying to get this effect with markers and it just didn't look blended.  but rocking & rolling sure made it look smooth!

Thanks for stopping by!

{Desk Organizer & Card supplies }

Stamps: Life, Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)

Paper: Summer Sun (box), So Saffron (card) Whisper White (SU!), Linen Vellum (PTI)

Ink: Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Alwasy Artichoke, Old Olive (SU!)

Embellishments: New Leaf twill

Tools: oval punch