Happy Birthday Hubby

I just realized that I hadn't ever uploaded a pic of the card I made for my hubby's birthday. It was a while ago- let's just pretend I was waiting so all you strangers would have no idea when his birthday is- he'd like that! ;)

Ok, so I shamelessly copied the design from an idea book and traced/drew the deer onto vellum. I free handed the "to my" and "wonderful" based on a font I saw in a book. The only stamps on the card are on the three blocks at the bottom- the two designs and the word "man."

You'll all be happy to hear that he deemed it a manly card as well!

Love it or Hate it???

Here's another that I really went back and forth about even posting. I can't decide if I love it or hate it... It's weird- I make and make and sometimes it works and other times it just doesn't. I wish I had a method to my madness so I really liked everything I made....

I think now's an opportune time to switch from card making mode to scrapbooking mode...

Birthdays for REAL Men

Ok, so in spite of my sister's insistence that the latte cards are perfectly appropriate for men, I had my hubby pick out some stamps from the catalog that he thought were more appropriate. It appears that he thinks serious stuff is best for men... because these are two the stamps that he picked.

He also picked a bunch of hunting type stamps with really intricate, life-like nature scenes, but then, I'm tracing this stuff with a marker, so that wasn't gonna happen. Maybe I should actually buy some of those...

(As always, click on any photo to see it larger)

More Birthdays

Ok, back to making cards for adults. I seem to be on quite a roll with this tracing stuff! These are made from a fun stamp set that I've always been tempted to buy. The base is one stamp and then you can add a cupcake top or a handle and steam! They're really very quick and easy to trace. After making a few of each, it occured to me that it would be very easy to make a variety of mug shapes.

The cards are all on a yellow base with a black layer and then a layer of the fun circle paper. I printed the words on a light blue coordinating paper (the back of the circle paper actually) using the computer. I had to use some glue dots to get them to stick down once I had the swirly paper clip on. The steams are all out of vellum and have some stickles. The stickles made the vellum curl pretty bad, but I found that if you did the stickles prior to cutting the steam out, it wasn't as bad...

When I made 4 of the latte cards I assumed that would be great for guys or gals, but my husband seems to think that they're a bit too fru-fru for real mean! Hrumph! What do YOU think????

More Camping

I have this paper that looks like a photo of a forest. I bought it a long time ago, thinking it would be nice for a camping card or layout. However, I can't ever seem to find anything to use it on. Continuing on my camping theme, I was determined to use some of the tree paper. So, here it is. ha! I guess I really just hid it! oh well.

The tent is traced onto vellum from a catalog pic. The other images are stamped on. The string is sewn on by hand using a yarn needle.

More Boy Cards

I wanted to continue the look I got with the pirate cards, but do something more campy (I like to encourage non-criminal adventures, after all). However, I couldn't find any stamps that fit the bill. So, I just free-hand modified some images to make them work.... But I spent so much time on the drawing, that I didn't spend quite enough time on the embellishments... maybe I'll find just the right thing to add to this to give it the balanced look it needs....

Currently, the image is drawn on, then colored in using my watercolor crayons and a blender pen. The boy is drawn on vellum and colored with pencils. The tag is just written on, copied from a font I liked and secured to the card with a small black brad.

Birthday Boys

So now I'm on to doing some birthday cards. I made this one for my cousin's son. I think I should have taken the picture on something other than a black background, but it's too late now! The card's been mailed!

While I was on a pirate roll, I also made this one for my nephew. I did an inside to this one as well- the map kind continues from the outside to the inside...

I used more of the tinted vellum and a bit of Stickles for the sparkle.

I don't actually own any of these stamps. I did some tracing from pictures onto the vellum and then, once I'd traced it a time or two, it was pretty easy to draw it free hand.

Using my scraps

My sister's always 'encouraging' me to keep and use my scraps. I recently followed her lead by organizing all my scrap paper into little envelopes by color and while I was at it I found these funny pink die-cut things. So, in a effort to use them, I created this. It seems like there's something wrong with it, but I can't figure out what it is. I don't really like the idea of posting cards I'm not as proud of, but maybe you guys have some suggestions for this one- I keep starring at it trying to figure out what's off about it...

With Sympathy

I guess I got on a little roll with the sympathy cards too- but when I need one I'm not always in the mood to make one, so they're very valuable to have on hand

...thoughts and prayers

This one is a lot more serious and not strictly for fall, but I was on a roll with the leaves and I find when I need a prayer card, I need it now- not when I get around to making it...

I used the tinted vellum again and the perfect pearls on the bird

kid-friendly fall card

I did several cards similar to this one for a few friends with kids. I really like the funny little turkey!

more fall cards

...again, playing with the tinted vellum, but this time with my mother-in-law's leaf punches as well! I cut the tree out using a Cricut machine and then made it metallic useing the new Perfect Pearl Pigment Powders that my sister got me for my birthday!

another fall card

A friend gave me some tinted vellum a few weeks ago and I've really been having a lot of fun with it!