Father's Day 4x4 Photo Card for YouTube

Here are the links to the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNIDnJNqtiE



Happy Monday, all! My friend Aldo and I are at it again, creating a Father's Day card that can be made with minimal materials. You'll have to wait to see the step-by-step instructions on YouTube, but here are some pictures of what I came up with. My son was mortified that I would use this picture for my project, but it was the best one I had, so he'll have to deal with it. After all, he's the one who made the face! Don't tell him that I think he looks a little bit like one of the Three Stooges!

This card was inspired by one I saw last Father's Day on Kristina Werner's blog. I chose the easel layout instead because I think it's a great way to display pics of dad's kids at the office, on his dresser at home, or in the car, mounted to the dashboard!

I made two versions of this card and the second one featured items anyone might have around the house, specifically a magazine and a Sharpie marker. The picture I'm posting features a chipboard frame made shiny using Silver Embossing Powder, but while we were taping, the idea of using a metallic silver Sharpie marker occurred to me, so we redid that section. Again, you'll see it all on the video!

There's almost a month until Father's Day, so do a little planning. Snap some pics or flip through an old photo album, and do some crafting. I'm certain your dad will love it!

Introducing Watercolor Trio

The Summer Mini Catalog selling period started Saturday, and here's the first card I made using one of the sets from it, Watercolor Trio. This is a fantastic beginner set, as it has images and sentiments. It's also available in wood mount or clear acrylic cling mount. I chose acrylic cling mount because I can see where I'm going to place the images and sentiments--love that!

I created this card for the women I stamped with over the weekend (hi again, gals!), and it was a big hit! I used Kraft as my base, layered with Very Vanilla, and the images were stamped in Rose Red, More Mustard, and Elegant Eggplant. The sentiment was stamped in Old Olive. All that alliteration had the gals cracking up, but they loved the combination!

I love how fast this comes together, and yet how fancy it seems because of the easel fold. Check my archive (4x4 easel card) for the link to complete directions. It's so much easier than it looks!

The women stamped this as a Mother's Day card, but I already had all of those I needed, so I created a blank version but kept the butterfly from the set as my "peg" to hold the easel in place.

It's so energizing for me to share card making with others. Thanks to Bekah for bringing the group together. If you'd like me to share my love of stamping with YOUR group of friends, leave me a comment and we'll get the ball rolling!

I Have a Good Reason, Really...

Wow...15 days since I've posted. Well, instead of giving you the reasons, which I'm sure you'd understand because you're doing other stuff besides sitting around waiting for me to post here, let's get to a card!

Lorri Heiling is a very encouraging SU! demonstrator in AZ. She has a blog, and posts monthly the cards she and her downline make to swap at their meeting. This week, she posted this card by Barbara (who does not have a blog), and I LOVED it! I wrote Lorri immediately, seeking details. Lorri found a thread on SCS that gave details about this card design and its creator, Penny Wessenauer. That thread led me to Penny's Photobucket page where all the directions were neatly typed, complete with pictures! Don't you LOVE the internet?!

Here's my take on her design. I started with Soft Suede (SS) card stock, which is such a yummy color of brown that it's almost a shame to put it in the same category as Chocolate Chip or Close to Cocoa. (I won't reiterate all the instructions, because Penny already did a fantastic job with them.) I had my dear friend Shelly in mind for this card, since I missed her birthday and wanted her to have something that would communicate how I feel about her all the time, not just on the one day a year we officially celebrate her existence.

I pulled out the Peaceful Wishes set, which is retired (don't even get me started), and tried to think of a complementary color to pair with the SS. I chose Always Artichoke (AA). Aahhhh...I love trees, and these two evoke an evergreen forest in my mind. Enough waxing poetic. I needed a layout to help get my juices flowing, and I'd just seen a one for a square card on Melissa Sauls' blog. I stamped the evergreen branch image on 2-1 3/8"x3.5" strips to create patterned paper and then focused on the main image.

One of the main reasons I purchased this set was for this image. I used the direct to rubber coloring technique with my SS, AA, and Ruby Red Stampin' Write Markers. After a good huff on the stamp, I admired my work on the Very Vanilla (VV) card stock. I wanted to mat the image, and one thing led to another and suddenly I had 3 layers!

Now for the fun part--creating a little stopper so that the card would have a built-in easel! The pinecone in the set was sized appropriately to serve this purpose, and I mounted it with 2 double-stacked Stampin' Dimensionals to give it the height it would need. The sentiment from Kind & Caring Thoughts completed the card. I'm so tickled with how it turned out! Now I'm going to have to wait at least a week to hear what Shelly thinks of it. She lives in Vietnam, so this card's going a LONG way to its home.

Here's a side view so that you can get a better idea of how the easel is created. That Penny is BRILLIANT!