My Husband Celebrates His Birthday!

My husband celebrates his birthday today, and I wanted to make a special card that if you knew my husband, and then saw the card, you'd know right away that card was meant for him.   I was excited to see a stamp set in the 2016 Sale-A-Bration flyer this year named, Sky is the Limit.  I couldn't wait to add it to my stamping stockpile, and, of course, I knew just who would get the first card made with it for his birthday!

My husband received his private pilot's license when he was in his twenties and even owned a small plane with his father for several years until job promotions and transfers no longer made it possible for us to keep it.  But, he still loves to pilot his own craft, and he would probably love to buy another plane now that he is retired.

As it turns out the new Stampin' Up 2016 Occasions mini catalog has several products that fit into my aeronautical card theme.  There is a Sunburst die that looks very interesting, and I have had the chance to use it twice at two cardmaking events that I have attended.  I would like to add it to my collection, but I have not done so.  It would have been the perfect die for the card I had in mind for John, but I decided not to let that stand in my way.  Over the last several years, I have made several sunburst ray cards that were handmade, and I thought why not, it should work just as well, if not better than die.

I wanted my ray papers to have a sky theme to go along with the biplane stamp I planned to use, so I used the night sky constellation and the world map papers that are in the Going Places paper stack.  I needed at least two more patterns or types of paper, but I did not see anything else that jumped out at me, so I decided to make my own paper by stamping a Compass Rose onto black cardstock with White Craft Ink.  For my fourth paper, I decided to use an antique gold glitter paper.

As my card evolved, my sun got changed into a sentiment sun by under-layering the sentiment with gold glitter paper, plus layered over some vellum clouds as well.  I heat embossed my biplane in black, fussy-cut it out, and double popped it up to overlap the sentiment sun edge just a bit.  I added a trio of  black and metallic gold gems on the lower right corner to finish off my card front.  I'm pretty pleased with my homemade sunburst ray card, and I think it will please my hubbie as well!

Below shows the inside coordinating design and little birthday verse with a "flying" theme that I made for my husband's card.

Recipe:  SU products:  Cardstock--Basic Black, Naturals Ivory (retired), White Vellum, Going Places dsp stack (2016 Occasions); Ink--Craft White; Stamps--Sky is the Limit (2016 SAB), Going Global  (2016 Occ.); Punches--2" Scallop, 1-3/4" Circle; Embossing Powder--Black.  Other: Darice Glitter Silk-Kings Crown; Recollections Black Pearls; Studio 112 Gold Metallic Gems. 

A Father's Day Card Depicts a Favorite Hobby!

Many years ago (before children), my husband trained and received his private pilot's license.  He and his Dad bought an antique plane, a 1939 Funk.  It reminded me of the "Spirit of St. Louis" because it was silver and similar in shape.  I recall many flights to various places in northern California where we lived at that time. After John's dad was killed in a freak boating accident, children came along, job demands became more challenging and time consuming, including moving with different job assignments, we felt the needed to sell the plane (flying it from California to Virginia, from Virginia to Hawaii, and finally from Hawaii to Washington would have been challenging for sure!).  

It is a hobby that remains near and dear to John's heart, probably because flying was something he enjoyed with his father for a lot of his life from boyhood to his middle 30's.  With this in mind, I thought I would make a card that would be full of fun memories, and a bit of nostalgia as well, thus the card below came to be.  I hope he likes it lots!

I finally finished the inside, making a little verse about "flying" and Father's Day.  I think he will like it!

Recipe:  Papers: Darice cardstocks: Kraft, Ivory; Bo Bunny: Double Dot-Chocolate Vintage; Echo Park: This & That-Yardsticks; Graphic 45: Le Romantique-Sweetheart of Mine-2, Fashionista-Debutante-2; Recollections Portobello Road stack-Airplanes (greatly computer-adjusted color); DCWV Shimmer Stack-brown; . Sentiment: computer-generated.  Stampin' Up Distressing/ Sponging Inks: Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, So Saffron. EK Arrow punch. Spellbinder dies: Circles SM, Petite Scallop Circles LG, Petite Ovals LG, Ovals SM, Big Scallop Ovals LG. Vintage online images. Stash: Woven Jute Trim, June twine. Stampin' Up Naturals Designer Button. 

2012 Birthday for Hubby!

My husband will be celebrating his birthday in a few days on Groundhog's Day.  I bought Papertrey Inks die/ stamp set with airplanes specifically for my husband, who used to fly in his younger years, and we even owned a small plane. . .this, of course, was before children and before John's company was transferring him all over the country for his job and we had to sell the plane.  I just love the little whimsical bi-plane I chose to use for his card. 

For my husband to remind him of his flying days! 

(used Papertrey Ink stamp/die set).