June - Friend Birthdays

There are a couple of friends that have birthdays this month, which gives me a great chance to try some new cards! For a "new" card friend...

Since we are connected by the beach ... this was a perfect card to make. Making  another it covered two birthdays. The originial was made during OCC in February using one stamp set (PTI Flipping Out) three ways. Changing it up a bit, I used some patterned paper that looks like water. It is very thin so it fit well on the white card base. 

Partially die cutting the flip-flops on another piece of white card stock,  I sponged  stripes with brown Distress ink using an edge of a scrap to look like beach sand. I tore the edge to resemble the foam of the water with just a touch of sponged blue at the edge. Then I die cut the red stamped flip-flops to layer on the partial die cut, adding the detail pieces at the end. 

That whole section was attached with a foam base to raise above the water. It looks so cool in real life! The sentiment is divided to make it more what I wanted it to sound like :) Versamark stamped and embossed. 

The beach would be a nice birthday present for anyone, right?

Retirements... Pretty Amazing!

Maybe because I haven't been spending much time card making... it has been so much fun! These past few days have been so relaxing for me.

Here's my latest retirement cards...

Once I looked at the SU Pretty Amazing stamp set, I could visualize this one layer card. I masked off the border and using a Distress yellow I sponged the edge after stamping before removing the mask.

The large SU Daffodil Delight yellow flower was stamped and then masked before being surrounded by PTI Bigger Blooms flowers. All of the inks are SU. The black greeting is cut from PTI Super Swoosh Die and glued on with Tombo Mono. Tried letting it extend over the masked area on the first card. Love that little hummingbird, fussy-cut and water colored with Distress inks. 

Made another one layer, and kept the greeting inside the masked off area. Here's another look at all of the congratulations cards...

Love retirement! Guess what else?

I just signed up and PAID for a Watercolor class at the Art Center! Crazy or what???

Congratulations- Retirements

Lots of friends retiring this year...

Having so much fun with PTI Flower Favorites with "2-step" iris and adding the cute little "2-step" bee...

As you can see I tried several colors and layers of mats. The sentiment is from another PTI Bigger Blooms. 

Finally I ended with a one layered card, masking off the border. I then decided to save this card instead of using it for a retirement. So there is no greeting on it ... yet!

I did decide to add the hummingbird from SU Pretty Amazing and water colored him with Distress inks, fussy cut and went around the cut with black marker. It is attached with foam to pop. Love these iris the best of all that I stamped. The coloring is just so realistic.

Congratulations... New Position

Lots of friends at John's school are retiring this year. Great chance to make some fun cards! And a new position for another congratulations card!

Here's the overview...

Another look...

Now here's a closer look...

This is the first congratulations card that I made. The principal of the school I retired from has just accepted another position. I am so excited for her! It will be a position that she will mold to fit, not try to fit into a past role. She will be so great at it... a K-12 school and she will just thrive! Congratulations, Principal Sarah!

Using my new PTI Flower Favorites set, the card base is white with a yellow layer under the top panel. PTI Super Swoosh die in black glued over the card layers. I love the way it extends across all the layers.

Using Wink of Stella gave great glitter to the iris! The butterfly also comes from the stamp set, although I had to fussy cut it and then attach it to the card. The fun part was a black thread tied as the body with antennae extending and the whole thing attached with foam to really pop off the card.

The colors are SU Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango, Gumball Green and Wild Wasabi. The edges of the top layer were softened by sponging Distress colors blue for the sky and green below.

Love this stamp set... Makes such a fun card!

May- A Birthday

My sister-in-law's birthday is May 17th. She is just such a special person. She and my brother have raised seven sons, all so amazing in their own right. My brother had a stroke about five years ago and is in a wheelchair, unable to do many things that I take for granted.

Carole is so unselfish and such a tender caregiver. Although she has lots of family to support her, the brunt of the hardship falls to her for his care. This is my card for her...

Carole loves gardening and has a real green thumb. Iris are some of her favorite flowers. So this PTI Fresh Flowers Stamp set is perfect for her card.

It actually worked up very fast! The two step Iris flowers are SU color inks, the lighter color stamped first then Melon Mambo on top. The center is SU Starfruit, perfect color for this! The greens are two step stamping of SU Wild Wasabi and Gumball Green.

The greeting is from PTI Mini Blooms, my favorite for birthdays and is finished off with 3 pink sequins.

Hope she likes the card, even though it will arrive a bit late :) Next time for this set, I'd like to try watercolor stamping or misting the stamp before applying.

May- Lyla and Reagan's Christening

Our newest granddaughter, 5 month-old Reagan and her sister, 3 year-old Lyla, will be christened tomorrow in MA. A very fun family event... wish everyone could be there. Here's my card for the event...

Papertrey Ink's Super Stars stamp set with gold embossing glitter and the Word die "blessed" tell the whole story! The die is cut twice, once with yellow adhesive foam and once with white cardstock. It gives the pop that I was looking for and a little color backing. Wink of Stella gold adds some mini-stars in the sky. The large star is from the stamp set gold embossed on white before cutting it out. The die cut star underneath is from gold glitter paper.  There are also 2 gold sequin stars added with Crystal Effects. 

I did not put a sentiment inside, but rather wrote a note to the family. Love how this came out. Will definitely be using this stamp set a lot!

More April Birthdays

A college friend is having a birthday on April 12th. She is a single mother of two grown girls that have moved and are no longer in the area. So she invited me to a dinner of her friends at a local restaurant for her birthday, April 13th. This is the card I am sending her:

I made this card some time ago in an online card class. The card background is masked off, stamped in white with the chevrons. The overall flowers are stamped on top of that. It is a one layer base, but I added the this strip of green and then put it on a white card base. 

The greeting is stamped on vellum from SU Curly Cute set. I love the look of the background in white, although I think it might have been more appealing to me in Versamark, maybe not so dramatic! Happy birthday, Phyllis!

Our son-in-law, Chris has a birthday on April 14th. He is such a wonderful addition to our family! Such a great daddy to his three daughters- it is wonderful to watch!

Here's the card I am sending him also from an Online Card Class:

This card is all one layer. The triangles were made by masking off sections of the card with strips of tape. Sponging color over the sections that were not taped, and then sponging Versamark on them.

Clear embossing powder was used for each triangle. Love the look and feel of this card! Wish I had used other colors, but it is great for a masculine card. I would like to try again with hombre colors maybe? The greeting is again stamped with SU Curly Cute.

I keep saving the cards from these wonderful classes, and then I ask myself why do I do that? Probably because I think it will encourage me to try one of the techniques again, but I rarely do. I guess I just pick up the real comfortable techniques that stay with me... like watercoloring!

Happy birthday, Chris!