Graphic 45 Father's Day Cards

This group of cards was done using some old Graphic 45 papers that Shirley and I found at Tuesday Morning.

Father's Day Card

Now that I've delivered my Mother's Day cards to the nursing home it's time to get started doing some for Father's Day.

My stamp library doesn't have a lot of masculine themed stamps but this horse head is one of my favorites to use.

It's stamped with Close to Cocoa ink and mounted onto a frayed section of burlap.

The concho image and feathers are clip art images. 

The sentiment was printed on my computer.

Red Roses Mother's Day Card

The roses are a print and cut image.  I pop dotted one onto the doily and then pop dotted an identical image on top.

Unmounting Wooden Stamps

I've had some inquiries about how I unmounted my wooden stamps.  My blog post from March, 2012 explained how I stored them once they were removed but omitted any details on how to remove them from the wood blocks.

Rather than spend so much time making a blog post with instructions, I'm taking the lazy way out and posting a link to my friend Shirley's blog.  She has some great photos and instructions on how to remove the stamps and apply cling foam so they can be used on acrylic blocks. 

Hope this answers any questions!  Okieladybug's instructions on unmounting stamps

Mother's Day Card with Apron

The apron was cut using my Cameo.  I printed the sentiment onto some vellum and added heart "pockets" with a Stampin' Up punch.

Mother's Day Card

A Swiss Dot embossing folder was used for the base of the flowers.

The sentiment was computer printed and trimmed with a Stampin' Up border punch.

I added adhesive pearls for the flower centers and brads to the sentiment cut out.

This is another Mother's Day card that will be given to the local nursing home for their residents.

Daffodil Pocket Mother's Day Card

The small envelope was cut using my Cameo.  I added some pen work along the outer edges.

The daffodils are a print and cut image.  The sentiment was computer generated.  I used PesannaHMK font.

The inside sentiment is "and wishing you a Happy Mother's Day".

Mother's Day - 30 Minute Card

You don't have to spend hours on a card to get one that's really nice and that you'll be proud to give.

I printed the sentiment by computer and added three Petite Petal flowers with Pearl Pen centers. 

The edges of the popped up layer were rounded to add a little interest.

Rounding the edges of the printed inside sentiment ties it to the layout of the card front.

I stamped two more images beside the sentiment.

Another Recipe to Try!

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta Salad

    1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
    1/4 cup, plus 2 Tbsp, ketchup
    1/4 cup, plus 2 Tbsp, yellow mustard
    1/2 cup, plus 2 Tbsp, dill pickle relish
    2 tsp black pepper
    1 lb penne pasta, cooked and cooled
    1-1/4 lbs ground beef, cooked, drained, and cooled
    3/4 lb bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, cooled, and diced
    3/4 cup red onion, small dice
    10 slices American cheese, medium dice
    6 cups iceberg lettuce, large dice
    3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish, and pepper to make a dressing-like mixture. Add the penne, beef, bacon, red onion, American cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes into the same mixing bowl. Stir together until combined and coated with the dressing. 

This was shown today on a cooking show.  It sounds interesting and I'll have to give it a try.

Petite Petals Punch Mother's Day Card

The flowers were done using a Petite Petals stamp and punch from Stampin' Up.  I embossed the base with a Darice Folder.

This card was based one one done by Blythe , a Stampin' Up demo.  I saw it on Pinterest and thought it would be simple enough to make multiples for donation.

I especially liked the inside sentiment trimmed down to allow space for the flower shapes.

Mother's Day Card With Cherries

The diamond edges were done with a Fiskar's border punch.

I used a 2" circle to stamp the cherry leaves and added two buttons cut with a Sizzix Sweet Buttons die.

The sentiment was printed using Hallmark Card Studio software.

Embossed and Inked Butterfly Card

The butterflies were embossed onto vellum.  I trimmed the embossed area following the upper edge of the design then colored the butterflies on the back side using a Promarker.
This gives the impression that the butterflies have been cut out to let the card base color show through.

The sentiment was printed on my computer then punched with a Word Window punch and layered onto a Modern Label punched out shape.



The white butterfly was embossed with a Brocade folder and pop dotted for dimension. It's a Martha Stewart punch.

3 Dimensional Pansies Mother's Day Card

Glenda Calkins, a Stampin' Up demonstrator, shared a video on using their Pansy Punch to make three dimensional flowers. 

After watching it, I decided it was something that would work well on Mother's Day cards for the nursing home residents.


It takes quite a bit of time to assemble the pieces but the results make it worth the time.

The background was embossed with a houndstooth folder.  I used MTC to resize and cut the base for the sentiment.

Mother's Day Card - 30 Minute Card

The sentiment is computer generated.  I embossed the bottom section with a Cuttlebug folder then added five paper flowers with adhesive pearl centers.

The inside sentiment is also computer generated using Hallmark Card Studio software.

Butterfly Card With Window And Vines

Using MTC, I cut the rectangle and vine in the white card base.  The butterflies and the rest of the plants are a Memory Box die. 

The die was cut several times then I cut it into segments and glued them onto the card front.

There are four embossed lines for a little added texture.

"Cheesey" Card

This card was totally CASED from one seen on Splitcoast Stampers.

I used MTC to cut the holes for the cheese and used Silhouette software to print and cut the mouse image.  It was colored with Promarkers.  The mouse is from Your Next Stamps Quirky Animals stamp set.

Mother's Day Sweater Card

This card was inspired by one I found while doing a Google search for Mother's Day card ideas.

I cut a piece of copy paper the same size as the card front and drew a "V" shape in it to determine the angle and size for the neck opening.  This was used as a template to mark the back side of the floral cardstock and cut it out.

The lacy collar was done with a Stampin' Up border punch and cut to 1/2" wide.  The placket is also 1/2' wide.  I embossed the blue cardstock to give it a more lacy look for the collar and placket.

Looking back at the papers I chose makes me wish I'd chosen something other than mini-dots for the bottom layer.  Once the card front was assembled, I decided the large open "V" was too plain and added a Pearl Pen dot necklace.  Dots on dots!

The flower shaped buttons are from the Dollar Tree.  I was wandering around the store and discovered them on the aisle with the automotive stuff!  They were no where near their craft supply area.

This template is really handy to have around.  It gets used a lot to decide what size circle punch to use for a particular stamp or to draw an arc.  It was found at Hobby Lobby in the area with drafting and art supplies.  I have two of these.  Once has circles from 3 1/2" down to 1 1/2" and this one has 2 1.4" down to 1/16".

I used it to create the arc shape for the Pearl Pen dots in the necklace.

 There was a comment left on Facebook after I posted this card in a card making group with the suggestion to add thread to the buttons.

They had already been adhered to the card so, instead, I used a Pearl Pen and just added a faux thread across from side to side.  It does improve the appearance of the buttons and I didn't have to fight to get thread looped though them!

30 Minute Card - Monarch Butterfly

Sometimes the most simple card turns out to be one I really like. 

I used some scraps of paper with script print and just picked up the olive color with the background paper and ribbon.

The butterfly is by Tim Holtz.

Large Butterfly Card

Today I'm playing with all the new supplies that arrived last week.

The birch tree embossing folder is from Stampin' Up; the butterfly is a Tim Holtz stamp that I colored with Promarkers; the greenery was die cut.

Quatrafoil Background Card

This afternoon I traced and cut a quatrafoil background image.  It measures 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" so it will completely cover an A2 card front. 

The stamp is from Inkadinkado.  I used Crushed Curry ink.

The sentiment stamp came with a card making magazine published in the UK.

Using MTC, I resized and cut Stampin' Up's real estate punch for the sentiment. 

The ribbon is Lemongrass 1/4" gross grain ribbon.

This card was inspired by one seen on Pinterest.

New Supplies Arrived Today

This is a shout out for Scrapbook Outlet .  These are the goodies I ordered from them that arrived today.

They had the lowest prices I've found on dies and stamps.  The large butterfly set by Tim Holtz was less than $5.   I had never seen the bow and winter scene dies before.  The bow die will come in really handy for card making.  I may have to do a little shading on it with a Promarker to add some dimension but I won't have to worry about it getting mashed in the envelope.

Daisy Hello Card -- 30 Minute Card

I joined a daisy shape onto the edges of a rectangle using Make The Cut software then added 1/2" punched circle centers

The sentiment is CluffHmkBold font, cut with my Cameo.

I'm still struggling with color!

Whenever I'm inking a background I tend to leave the colors too muted.  I'm still struggling with color!

I used four different inks on the background and really thought it would be more vibrant.  The final card looks fine but it's not what I was aiming for at all.

The sea horses are clip art images that I did a print/cut with my Cameo and colored with pencils.

The shells are from a stamp set and also colored with pencils.

The coral is embossed with white.

I printed the sentiment on my computer and pop dotted everything for dimension.

Leaf and Stems Die Cut Card

The leaves and stem shape is a Poppystamps Lorelai Leaf die shape.

I used CliffHmkBold font and Make the Cut for the word.

The 1 3/8" circles were punched from a piece of turquoise cardstock, sprayed with Glimmer Mist and the edges inked with Bermuda Bay ink.

This was inspired by a card seen on a blog from the UK.

Prismacolor Pencils Coloring

I'd almost forgotten that I had purchased some Prismacolor pencils a few years back.  It was when I first began card making and before experimenting with water based and alcohol based markers.

At the time, the "in" thing was to use mineral spirits and either Q-tips or blender stumps to shade images.  Once I was introduced to Promarkers, the pencils got put away and forgotten.

There was a short video posted on Facebook recently with instructions on using colored pencils to shade stamped images that already had the shadows incorporated in the image. I decided to give it a try.

It's been several weeks since any cards have been made around here.  It's the middle of tax season and I put in some long hours until it ends.  Most days by the time I get home from the office I'm too tired to even think about doing any crafting!

Using the pencils adds just enough color to the image to make it stand out.  I used a Strathmore toned gray sketch book for the base and mounted it onto some Bazzil gray cardstock.

I like the effect the pencils give to the image.  It's more delicate than using a marker and takes only a few seconds to complete.

If you're missing seeing my posts

Google has done some changing.  Earlier this week I noticed that I'd lost around 50 followers of my blog.  It made me wonder if people were just cleaning up their list of blogs they follow or if followers were no longer interested in my posts.

I asked a question in a Facebook group to other bloggers to see if they'd noticed a change in followers and this was posted:

An update on Google Friend Connect
December 21, 2015
 
In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.
As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.
We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.
We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.
Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

Reading this did make me feel a little better.  I was concerned that my not posting every day had caused followers to lose interest.

This time of the year I'm working as an income tax preparer for a tax franchise office.  We work long hours and sometimes seven days a week.  By the time I make it home, I pretty much just have dinner and call it a night.  Once tax season is over I'll get back into the swing of things and start making more cards to post.

I certainly hope the decrease in the number of followers of this blog is just the result of Google's changes! 

Girl's Silhouette Card

Using Silhouette software I printed the free clip art image of the girl and cut the ovals.

I eliminated the balloon she was holding in the original image using photo editing software and replaced it with an embossed heart.

The sentiment was printed on my computer.

Scallop Trim Border Punch Card

Stampin' Up scallop trim border punch and heart punch were used.  I punched with the border punch first then measured up 3/4" from the punched edge and drew a fine line with a pencil to use as a guide to punch the hearts.

The sentiment was printed on my computer.

"Paws-ing" Valentine

The image is Great Impressions stamp Friends Forever.  It was colored with Promarkers.

The sentiment was printed on my computer using Xiomara font.

The small red hearts on in the inside were done with a Martha Stewart punch.

Sweet Friend Valentine Card -- 30 Minute Card

It was super easy to cut the hearts using Make The Cut and my Cameo.

The top layer was embossed using a Divine Swirls folder.  The sentiment was computer printed and attached with a matching pink brad.

The embossed layer was adhered onto the pink printed cardstock and pop dotted off the card base.

"Hanging Heart" Valentine

Using Hallmark Card Studio, I printed the sentiment onto white cardstock in each of four sections.  This gave me four card fronts.  Then I placed the cardstock onto the cutting mat for my Cameo and cut the heart opening.

Once the hearts were cut out, I used a guillotine cutter and cut it into four pieces 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" to make four fronts and trimmed 1/4" off two edges.  That allows the red card base to show.

A Divine Swirls folder was used to emboss each of the four fronts.  Then I added a small piece of baker's twine and a pre-made bow.

A smaller heart was cut then pop dotted for dimension.  I coated the small heart with Crystal Stickles.

This idea came from a Stampin' Up demonstrator's blog.

Blue Gingham Valentine

The swirl is a clip art imagae.  I used a Martha Stewart punch for the small hearts and cut the blue heart on my Cameo.   The white heart was done with a Stampin' Up punch and stamp.  It's pop dotted onto the blue scalloped heart for dimension.

30 Minute Card - Three Punched Hearts

Super quick.  Just cut three strips of cardstock 1 3/4" wide by the desired length.  Use Stampin' Up heart punch on the bottom edge.  Then leave a small space between the punched strip and the heart shape.

I embossed the bottom half of the card front with the Divine Swirl folder, added a pre-made bow and two red gems and it was complete. 

You could use this for Valentine's Day, a wedding card, or just an I love you card.

Butterfly Valentine Cards

This was inspired by a birthday card by Wanda Pettijohn that I saw online.

I made two versions to see if the butterfly would look better and stand out more if I used red cardstock.  I also tried different sized butterflies before deciding that a 2 1/2 inch tall version of the Silhouette file #19799 looked best.

Both versions turned out nice and I'm pleased with them both.

Pink and Blue Valentine

The past few days have been spent making Valentine cards for the local nursing homes.  Each one has included traditional colors.  Today I decided to go the non-traditional route and I made a pink and blue Valentine.

Swirl And Hearts Card - 30 Minute Card

Just a clip art image found online, a computer printed sentiment and some punched hearts-- definitely a 30 Minute Card!

Mickey and Minnie Silhouette Card

The Mickey and Minnie silhouettes are from a Cricut cartridge.

The hearts are Stampin' Up images from their discontinued software program.

The lower border is a Martha Stewart punch.

This card was inspired by one seen online.

Elephant and Hearts Valentine

The elephant image is a free coloring page found online.

It was resized and printed using Hallmark Card Studio software and colored with Promarkers.

The sentiment is a stamp I've had for some time.

Print and Cut Mickey Valentine

The Mickey image and large heart are print and cut images done with my Cameo.  The smaller hearts were done with a Stampin' Up punch.  I rounded the corners of the card.

Chevron Valentine Card

Some time ago I found some boxed cards on clearance at Hobby Lobby so I  used one for the base of this card.

The sentiment was printed on my computer, trimmed down and a corner shaper used on the lower corners.

I added just a single strip of ribbon trim and some hearts I cut out with my Cameo.  Two of the hearts were embossed with a Swiss Dots folder and I added some white pen stitching to the third.

Stacked Hearts Valentine Card

Colleen Fennessey created a gift card holder that was the inspiration for this card.

The edge is a We R Memory Keeper punch and my Cameo was used to cut the red printed heart.

The sentiment was printed on my computer and punched with a Stampin' Up heart punch.

Six Hearts Valentine Card

The hearts were cut on my Cameo.  Four were embossed using my Cuttlebug.  The white hearts are pop dotted for dimension.

The sentiment was printed on my computer and cut out by hand.