Waterfront Thoughts

Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful men on our lives! We need to honor those fellas and make them feel special :) I have quite a few of them in my life, and I have already made cards for all of them and featured them on my blog already.  So, I decided to make a masculine card that would work for any occasion, so I can send it on a random day to let one of my wonderful men know I am thinking of them.
And I wanted to play with my new toys ;)

I have been tossing the idea for a watercolored image with this stamp ever since I saw it in the new catalog. It jus makes me think of sunrise at the lake, when all of the "people" noises are gone, and that sun is just tinging the sky with pink.... ah, peace!
I used the Woodgrain embossing folder as it also reminds me of ripples in the water. The Chevron ribbon adds to the nautical feel of it :) I must confess, the color scheme was dictated by what color Chevron ribbon I have, hehe!

• Stamps: Wetlands
• Ink: Illuminate, Island Indigo, Smokey Slate, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
• Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party Core'dinations, Naturals White, Watercolor
• Other: Big Shot with Woodgrain EF, Finishing Touches edgelits, and Apothecary Accents framelits, Embossing Buddy, Heat Gun, Smokey Slate embossing powder, Smokey Slate and Island Indigo Chevron ribbon, Aqua-painter, Signo white gel pen, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, dimensionals, sewing machine and thread, Sanding Block, Island Indigo Candy Dots

To all the wonderful men in my life, I wish you a dozen of these kinds of mornings this summer! 

Leafy Father's Day

Wow, only about 10 days left before the retiring sets are gone for good! This card features a couple of sets that are retiring, including one of my favorite masculine sets, Best Dad Ever. I did not realize how much I would end up using the sentiments from this set. I use them all the time, partly because of their size/scale, and partly because of the fonts. And I bet you can't guess what set those leaves are from :)

I actually made this card before the retiring list came out. The DSP is retiring also. The leaves are from Raining Flowers, which is a 2-step stamp set. As you can see, I was not very careful about getting the green parts exactly into the outlines, and it still looks good. That is part of the charm of this set. Also, since I got the clear mount version of Best Dad Ever, I cut the words of the sentiment apart so I could stamp them in whatever configuration I wanted.

• Stamps: Best Dad Ever, Raining Flowers
• Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive
• Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Brights DSP pack
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Signo white gel pen, Natural Trim ribbon, Wide Oval and Corner Rounder punches, dimensionals

Need to see the retiring sets list? Here it is. Now, you want to order some of those sets, right! Shop here now :) 

Scrap File Treasures

 While reorganizing my supplies for the Color Refresh that is starting with the New Catty (so excited for new stuff!!!), I was thinning out my scrap files. It is amazing how many scraps a person can accumulate. And I always look in the scrap file first, so it is not like I don't use my scraps. I discovered some treasures in there, by golly :) I set them on my desk determined to make something with them ASAP.

And this is the result! The embossed panel, the diecut, and the fancy cut embossed frame were the treasures I found. This card practically made itself! The sentiment is the combination of two sets, both retiring.

• Stamps: Best Dad Ever, Family Reunion
• Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso
• Paper: Naturals Ivory, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
• Other: Big Shot with Argyle and Decorative Frames embossing folders and Apothecary Accents framelits, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Natural Trim ribbon, Signo white gel pen, dimensionals, buttons

Need to see the retiring sets list? Here it is. Now, you want to order some of those sets, right! Shop here now :)

Motorcycle Dad

Motorcycles. I think almost every guy has owned one, or plans on it someday. And SU made this fabulous single stamp a couple years ago. I had actually forgotten to add this stamp to the stacks of stamps I had gathered for making Father's Day cards! Can you believer that?! Then my hubby made a comment that a motorcycle card "would be nice" when I asked him if there was something missing from my selection of complete cards.

I snuck some more banners into this card. After I had it assembled I realized I should have made the blue banner just a little longer so you could see all of the words "best" and "ever". Then I could have stamped "dad" under the motorcycle! Oh well, next time I will :)

Inside is part SU sentiment and part PTI sentiment. They mix really well :)

• Stamps: Motorcycle, Travel Log, Best Dad Ever, Father Knows Best (PTI)
• Ink: Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Early Espresso
• Paper: Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Early Espresso, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Labels framelits, Corner Rounder, 1",and  1¼" Square punches. Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Signo white gel pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, black pen

 And don't forget to come back tomorrow to join us for the Blog Hop!

Funny Dad

Summer Starfruit. Hmmm. Kind of a tough color for me to love, until I saw this color combo on a non SU card on the web somewhere. Now, I love it!! I am so glad :) We only have this color for 2 years and sometimes a color will take 18 months to grow on me.

I had a request for a funny Father's Day card and Hambo Stamps came to the rescue for the phrases. I used a variety of stamp sets for the images :) The star clusters are from Extreme Elements, The argyle Dad is from Loved Ones, and the lower case dad is from Family Reunion. And I finally used some of the those wonderful Naturals buttons!

And the punchline for this card. I love it!!

Card #2 looks almost exactly the same, but has a different funny sentiment.

How can you not love these?!

• Stamps: Family Reunion, Extreme Elements, Loved Ones, Best Dad Ever, Hambo Stamps funny sayings
• Ink: Summer Starfuit, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake
• Paper: Summer Starfuit, Baja Breeze, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, Large and Small Star punches, Naturals Designer buttons, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer, Signo white gel pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Still Waters

I couldn't resist making another card with this set, and I had not yet gotten my order from the new catalog, I really wanted the Chevrons embossing folder, so I used a Chevron set I had in my stash to simulate waves in the background.

This layout kind of reminds my of those kitschy wall plaques about fish stories, lol!

And inside looks a bit like twilight fishing, when the heat of the day has worn off, the water becomes still and looks like glass....perfection.

• Stamps: Angler, Best Dad Ever, Chevron (PTI)
• Ink: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Versamark
• Paper: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Naturals White
• Other: Apothecary Accents dies with Big Shot, Paper Piercer, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, 1" Square punch, Embossing Buddy, White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Stampin' Dimensionals

Trout Anyone?

Another oldie but goodie! Angler is one of those sets that will never leave my collection. I have made many a card with it, and I will make many more I am sure :)

Lots if action on this card, the alternating circle sizes make me think of waves on the lake. The fish swimming by promise a great day fishing!
Living in Minnesota makes fishing an automatic pass time, and both sides of our family have worked in the fishing boat industry, so this is such an amazing set of images for me.
My love of Pool Party has not diminished lately, but I am finding myself using the Island Indigo more now too :)
The boat image is embossed in white to make a vibrant image, and I stamped the lures in the background as the cardfront seemed too blah without it.

More fishies swimming inside!

• Stamps: Angler, Best Dad Ever
• Ink: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Versamark
• Paper: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, Embossing Buddy, White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Stampin' Dimensionals, ¾" and 1" Cir

Old Green Truck

This old truck just has to be used for a Father's Day card or two. I just love coloring it too. And I used 2 of the new In-Colors on this card.

Raspberry Ripple is such a deep, rich purply-red, I love it! And I have already gone on and on about how I love the new Gumball Green :) This image tends to make me think of autumn, but these colors are the lush colors of summer, right now anyway!

The inside is all ready for someone to pick a sentiment, and the River Rock truck is light enough to stamp and write right over the top of it.

• Stamps: Countryside, Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Ink: River Rock, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand, Jet Black Stazon
• Paper: Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, River Rock, Naturals White, Watercolor paper
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents and Oval dies, Designer Label punch, Signo white gel pen, Aquapainters, Stampin' Dimensionals

Native Father

This stamp set (Dream Catcher) is retired and rare, and I paid  more for it than I care to admit. I bought it off Ebay shortly after I started working in Red Lake, and I am really glad I did. The vision for these cards came to me while driving home from work after a night shift on Friday morning, and I still love the way they turned out!

The new firm foam inkpads make this image so much more crisp and clear, so much more beautiful! I find myself more drawn to the intricately designed stamps because I can get an image I am happy with! I always assumed it was something I was doing that made the images a little mucky.
I used a non-SU set that really helped communicate the message I wanted for these cards. I love the crisp, clean imagery throughout this card.

And this is the second version. The print in the background gives the definition of the word Hero.

And the inside...

I am hoping that this is a popular card, but I only made 1 of each. Maybe I should make 1 more of each.

• Stamps: Dream Catcher (retired SU), My Hero My Dad (PTI)
• Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede
• Paper: Naturals Ivory, Early Espresso, Soft Suede
• Other: 1" Square punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

A Little Golf for Dad

I was a card-making fool yesterday! I made about 10 cards, all but 2 were unique designs. With Father's Day coming up next weekend, I have a number of people wanting cards at work. My goal was to have 20-30 cards ready to go by tonight. I have 17 cards done... we'll see it I make it to 30.
So, this is the first card I am going to post. Someone requested a golf themed card, and this is the only golf stuff I have. Boy, am I glad I held on to all of those masculine themed sets I have gotten over the years!

This is the first version of this cards. I love the new paper piercing guides, Worked so well on this Apothecary Accents die cut! The Perfect Polka Dots embossing reminds me of the dimples on a golf ball :)

And this it the second version, which was accidentally different. I had forgotten which piece I had embossed the first time, but I like this too. Sadly, no piercing guide for the smaller Apothecary Accents diecut.
I am really glad I hung on to the Creamy Caramel marker and inkpad. As you may already know, I work on an Indian reservation and people there are generally not pink :)

And inside the card are the simple sentiments that come in this set. This set really made this card come together fast!

• Stamps: And Many Mower...
• Ink: Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Going Gray, Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso
• Paper: Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits and Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, 2½" Circle punch, Signo white gel pen, Blender pen, Srampin' Dimensionals, Paper Piercer, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack

WIldlife Father's Day

More Father's Day stuff! This one uses another retired set, and this card came together in a flash. I actually used a past card for the layout.  And now that I looked at it again, I actually used the same animal stamp set on that card!

I find myself using the Apothecary Accents dies constantly! Love these shapes!! I chose the bear, eagle, ans wolf from the Wildlife Reserve set as they are seen as strong and noble animals, which seemed very appropriate for a Father's Day card to me. They are also important animals to the Native culture :)

 

I kept the inside pretty simple and I will be bringing my sentiment stamps with me to work so people can pick a sentiment and then  a card.  There are a few that I did put sentiments in already as they were designed for a specific phrasing.

• Stamps: Wildlife Reserves, Best Dad Ever
• Ink: River Rock, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso
• Paper: River Rock, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Always Artichoke
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, 1" Square punch, Signo white gel pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

New with Old Swap- Gently Falling Gumballs

I did another swap recently , and hopefully everyone has their copy in their hands by the time I post this :) The focus of this swap was to make new samples with a set that had carried over from the 2011-2012 season to the 2012-2013 big catalog. I chose Gently Falling, which was in the Holiday Mini last fall and I ♥ this set so much! I am such a sucker for leaf sets, but this one is special since it is so versatile :)

So, I was skeptical about the new green, Gumball Green, until I had it in my hands. I really love it! It is intense and bold without that neon effect green can sometimes have. And a great leafy green!
I did some generational stamping to add a little more depth the the main images. I was going for a lush summer leaves look :)

Here is the inside of the card. I made it pretty generic so it could be used for a variety of occasions.

• Stamps: Gently Falling, Friendly Phrases, Woodgrain BG
• Ink: Gumball Green, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
• Paper: Gumball Green, Early Espresso, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, Signo white gel pen, Paper Piercer, Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals

SA Retiring Mega Hop- Autumn Splendor

Welcome to another fun hop! It is that time of year again, and we wanted to say goodbye to some very good friends of ours. This will also give you a chance to GET these goodies before they are gone for good :)


If you are following the hop in order, then you probably just came from Rhonda's Blog where she showed us the wonders of Inspired by Nature, another fabulous set.  If you get lost along the way, you can always refer to the master list on this thread, and hey, while your at it, leave us a comment on the thread! We always enjoy comments :)

I am featuring the Autumn Splendor set, which I LOVE and will never part with. I love leaves of any kind, and this set is just fantastic!

My first project for this set is this fun little frame for a slightly trimmed wallet sized photo. It would look really good with a "Dad" title and a picture of your dad, I just didn't have one handy when I made this. Instead we get my woodsy daughter :)

• Stamps: Autumn Splendor
• Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso
• Paper: Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Labels Framelits, 1/8" punch, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Silver Mini Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals

My second project is a gift tag. I used a blender pen to color in the leaves and trimmed one of them out to layer on the tag. The curvy mat is from the Peek-A-Boo Frames die.

• Stamps: Autumn Splendor, Grateful Greetings, Woodgrain BG
• Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, More Mustard
• Paper: Naturals White, More Mustard, Cajun Craze
• Other: Big Shot with Peek-A-Boo Frames die, Corner ROunder punch, Scallop Trim border punch, 1" Square punch, Signo white gel pen, sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips, White Baker's Twine, Blender Pen

Father's Day is coming and this is a perfect set for dads. Lots of clean lines and natural images, how can you go wrong?! I used the Best Dad Ever set also. I stamped strips of paper and lined them all up and I love how it turned out. I see a pattern here though. I think I have used Naturals White on every one of these projects! I guess it is because this stamp set really stamps nicely on this card stock. Love it!

• Stamps: Autumn Splendor, Best Dad Ever
• Ink: Always Artichoke,  Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Basic Black
• Paper: Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Naturals White
• Other: Neutrals black button, White Baker's Twine, Signo white gel pen, 1" square punch, Alwys Artichoke Denim ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Now, on to the rest of the Hop! Next up is Kim with Upsy Daisy

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