Father's Day to Celebrate!

We are celebrating my husband this weekend for Father's Day.  He got a new gas grill barbecuer and wants to cook for the family on his special day, so we are hosting a potluck at our house with our four children and their husbands, wives, and significant other joining in.  We plan to play some lawn games if the weather holds, as you never know in the Northwest and a little gambling game I learned of at my Girls' Get-Away!

For John's card, I made almost the same coffee shaker card previously posted on May 31st.  This card suits him to a "tee," as he is a six-to-eight cups of coffee a day person.  His coffee shaker card is the first version I made of this card, and my former boss's card (and elementary school principal), was the second version.  That version was the simplified version to avoid the pleated ribbon edging on my husband's card, which I found a bit of a challenge to adhere and thought it too tedious to use for my Girls' Get-Away shoebox card (as I planned to use this design for the Get-Away ladies to make from my card kits.  My husband's card, as shown below, is the first and larger version.  Even though the ribbon was time-consuming and tedious, I do love the finished product!  I think John will be please as well.

A little Father's Day verse to come up with, a little design to coordinate with the outside, and voila, John's card is complete!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products: Cardstocks -  Early Espresso (card base), Real Red, Very Vanilla, Gold Glimmer paper; stamps - Perfect Blend (retired 6/1/15), Guy Greetings (2015 Occasions); inks - Soft Suede & Early Espresso; punches - Confetti Stars (2015 Occasions/ 2015-16 Annual); Dotted Scallop Ribbon (retired 6/1/15); framelits - Striped Scallop; largest Stars (banner fishtail pattern); smallest Banner (pattern for sentiment fishtail); Circle (3-3/4" & 3"); embossing folder - Lucky Stars (2015 Occasions/ 2015-16 Annual); cardboard from designer paper packaging (10-layer shaker frame); ribbon - Early Espresso 1/8" cotton (retired).  TomBow Glue.  Memento Tuxedo Black stamp pad.  Offray 1/4" Early Espresso Grosgrain ribbon.  Darice Dark Brown Seed Beads (coffee grounds).  Stash: Clear acyrlic sheet.  Large gold rhinestone.  Gold star brads.
(Note: I wanted to give credit to the person who originally came up with the idea for this card and the picture in my mind.  With lots of computer searching, I finally found the card I cased. . .boy do I have a good memory. . .thank you Ellen Taylor, who made the original over three years ago.) 

Pre-Retirement Boss Has a Birthday!

My boss, before I retired as the office manager/ administrative assistant of an elementary school, has his birthday at the end of May.  I needed to design a birthday card for him, and I decided I would use it as my Girls' Get-away Cardmaking Event Shoebox Share card.  In a Shoebox Share, those attending must design a card and put a sample together.  Then each attendee cuts out the paper sizes for the card and goodies for the other participants to make this same card.  They, in turn, do the same, and with nine attendees, each of us ended up with eight cards to make while at our get-away.

I remembered the daily ritual of both Scott and I coming into the office almost every morning with our Starbucks latte cups to wake up, rev up, and prepare for each day, which was bound to be jam packed with busyness and that feeling of not enough time to get it all done.  I decided my card design would feature those latte cups that were seen around the office each and every morning.  Just a side note to keep in mind, we are from the Northwest where the Starbucks corporate offices make their home!  

I wanted to do something a little extra with my card design, so I am featuring a shaker card with real coffee beans as part of the shaker items enclosed and real coffee beans for the shaker frame trim.  In the back of my mind lurked a memory of a card that I had previously seen with reds and browns in the color scheme and coffee beans in the shaker, but I didn't remember where I saw it.  I am sure this is where the idea came to me along with memories of coffee cups in the morning at the office.  

My card was a fun to design and make, though finding the smallest beans and the perfect size for inside and outside the frame was somewhat tedious, I am sure that was because it was for TEN cards. . .not just one!  As I designed my card, thoughts went through my mind of hopes that my fellow Girls' Get-Away attendees would have fun making their version of my card, but I especially hoped that Scott will enjoy his birthday card!

Completing the card with a design and verse inside to compliment the exterior and the purpose of the card was the final step.  Here is my completed inside.

 

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products: Cardstocks -  Early Espresso (card base), Real Red, Very Vanilla, Gold Glimmer paper; stamps - Perfect Blend (retired 6/1/15), Guy Greetings (2015 Occasions); inks - Soft Suede & Early Espresso; punches - Confetti Stars (2015 Occasions/ 2015-16 Annual); Dotted Scallop Ribbon (retired 6/1/15); framelits - Striped Scallop; largest Stars (banner fishtail pattern); smallest Banner (pattern for sentiment fishtail); Circle (3-3/4" & 3"); embossing folder - Lucky Stars (2015 Occasions/ 2015-16 Annual); cardboard from designer paper packaging (10-layer shaker frame); ribbon - Early Espresso 1/8" cotton (retired).  TomBow Glue.  Memento Tuxedo Black stamp pad.  Offray 1/4" Early Espresso Grosgrain ribbon.  Darice Dark Brown Seed Beads (coffee grounds).  Stash: Clear acyrlic sheet.  Large gold rhinestone.
(Note: I wanted to give credit to the person who originally came up with the idea for this card and the picture in my mind.  With lots of computer searching, I finally found the card I cased. . .boy do I have a good memory. . .thank you Ellen Taylor, who made the original over three years ago.) 

Sharing Halloween Cards from Friends!

I was away over the Halloween holiday and into the second week in November helping my daughter with a room renovation on her beach house in Seaside, Oregon.  I was pleasantly surprised to find two wonderful Halloween cards from two of my favorite cardmaking buddies had arrived in my absence.  I so love making Halloween cards, and I was delighted to receive some that I had not made.  These two ladies and I had lunch and went cardmaking shopping at a little shop in Tukwila, WA called Impress Stamps.  We made many wonderful purchases between the three of us.  Most of our purchases were going to be used for Halloween cardmaking, and the cards I received from them were using some of their new stamps and dies.  I want to share their cards with you.

This card was made by my friend, Sandy.  It depicts our neck-of-the-woods with the Seattle skyline stamp and the Space Needle die cut all from Impress Stamps in Tukwila, WA.  The picture doesn't do the card justice in that the little witch is flying across a glitter covered moon (made with adhesive spray and glitter).  Love, love the gigantic spider trying to make a home on top the Needle!  Thanks, Sandy, so enjoyed getting your card to let me know you were thinking of me this Halloween season!

My next card received was from my friend, Charlene.  She used two stamps from Impress Stamps as well, and applied the chalkboard technique.  She used white embossing powder to achieve this look.  Mr. Skeleton wears a little pirate hat embellishment and a martini glass, which I understanding she garnered from online.  See the cute little Googlie eye in the other stamped martini glass.  Love those eyeball olives!  Thank you, Charlene, for the wonderful chalkboard skeleton card!

My Son-in-Law's Birthday!

My son-in-law's birthday was coming up in mid-July, and I was leaving for a few weeks on vacation...our first excursion out in the motor-home this year.  With our leave date coming up soon, I needed to be proactive and get Don's birthday card made early to leave as we would be gone on his actual birthday. Yikes, I was feeling the pressure to get busy very quickly.

Now, he is a big coffee drinker, so I decided to use my Perfect Blend Stampin' Up stamp set with his card. Then, I remembered a really cute card I had started at a class taught by Liz Thayer several months ago where she taught the masking and reverse masking techniques.  We used the Perfect Blend stamps with the reverse masking technique to make this card.  I had all the parts stamped, cut, and embossed, I just needed to assemble the card that was almost complete, but I decided I wanted to modified my card's design a bit to put a little more "me" into it.  I wanted to enlarge it and add more color for interest, so I added a black card base to make a fifth layer, which accomplished both things.  I also added the printed belly-bands to the two outside cups instead of just on the middle cup.  I decided to use red scrappers floss ties on my ribbon instead of twine and put it on the top as well as on the bottom.  I then added a larger dark brown glimmer ticket as a base layer to my ticket sentiment and a red star with his initial on the center cup.  I also added an inside pocket to place a Starbucks gift card inside, and made a birthday verse for the inside with decorations to coordinate with the front.  I think my additions enhanced Liz's original card creation yet preserved its original cute design.  I hope Don likes his card as much as I enjoyed make and modifying it.

Recipe:  SU Papers:  Cardstock-Basic Black, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla; Neutral Paper Stack; Red Glimmer.  DCWV Glittery Glitz: Dark Brown.  SU stamps: Perfect Blend.  SU Ink: Soft Suede.  Spellbinders die: 5-Point Star.  SU Punch: Ticket Corner (ret.).  SU Decorative Dots EF.  SU Chevron ribbon.  Making Memories Glitter letter (colored with Copics). Stash: Red Scrapper's Floss.  Technique: Reverse Masking.  (Size: 4-1/2" x 5-3/4").

2014 Sister-in-Law Birthdays - #3

So, with two of the eight sister-in-law birthdays already under by belt, it is now time for sister-in-law #3's birthday.  Dianne used to be a tea drinker in her younger years when we live near each other in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Wow!  That was 40 years ago...a lot of time has gone by.  She has lived in at least three states other than California since then, and the same is true for me.  The only other state we both lived in was Virginia, but our tenure was separated by at least ten years.  Each of our other states of residence have been totally different areas of the country.  It is amazing how a husband's work career can move you around the country.

Back to Dianne's card...remembering our tea drinking days, I decided to make her a little card depicting a teacup...I just love all the stamps and dies available to do just that.  I chose a Papertrey Ink set of stamps and dies to make this little card.  I cased a card made by my sister several years ago, and changed it up a bit by enlarging my card to a 5-1/2" square and adding a darker aqua layer and more sewing machine stitching.  I also coordinated my tea bag color with the card...that was a bit of luck!  I add a little homemade verse and coordinated the inside decor with the front of the card.  I hope Dianne likes her little tea card!

Recipe:  Papers: SU Whisper White cs (base), Coastal Cabana cs.  Papertrey Ink patterns: Green Boutique, 2008 Bitty Dots, 2008 Bitty Box Basics.  Papertrey stamps/ dies: Tea for Two Additions.  SU Ink: Soft Suede, Baja Breeze. Zutter Corner Rounder. Colorbox Chestnut Roan (distrressing).  Machine stitching.  Computer-made verse (Tempus Sans ITC font). EK punch: Fancy Photo Corners.  Stash:  Baker's Twine.  (Size: 5-1/2" square).  (Thank you Heidi Gonzales for design to CASE).

October Birthday for a Son. . .

My youngest son, Mark's, birthday is in October is just a few days.   I was thinking about what theme I should use this year and it was a bit of a challenge.  For previous birthday years, I've done a vintage truck (representing his very first vehicle that he owned), tools used as a building contractor, and his dirt bike riding hobby. . .so what to do this year?  After pondering a bit, I know Mark has always loved the outdoors.  As a teenager, he used to ride his dirt bike in the forest behind and around the area where we live with a couple of his high school buddies, and as they grew older, they added camping with bike riding trips to their hobby list.  I remembered two stamp sets: "The Great Outdoors" and "Under the Stars" by Stampin ' Up, which I thought both had great potential.  

I had a vague memory of seeing "The Great Outdoors" bear carrying a bear stein.  I went in search of it to refresh my memory and found Michelle Surette's beer-bearing bear card with a "Cheers to You" sentiment.  I thank her for the idea as beer is Mark's beverage of choice on a hot day and especially after the dirt bike riding is done for the day.  I wanted to do something with camping and a forest scene involved, and I thought the bear with the beer could be somehow incorporated.  The problem was I didn't have a stamp with a beer stein and the one Michelle Surette used was retired after 2010.  Whoa is me!  To the computer I went. . .I found a free, black and white line drawing of beer in a stein very similar to the one Michelle used, but much larger.  I downloaded it and put it into PaintShop Pro and fixed it up a bit and saved a mirror image of it as my bear is a two-fisted beer deliverer, and I was ready to go.  

The card evolved as I progressed.  I decided I needed lots of trees so I could make a layered forest, so I used Stampin' Up "Evergreen," which is actually a Christmas stamp set, but then that is the kind of trees we have in the Northwest.  As I Copic colored eight trees, I had plenty of time to ponder and my mind got stuck on a big moon behind the bear with his delivery of beer.  The card is done, as well as the inside with my poem and embellishments too.  I think Mark will absolutely love it.  It was so fun to make!

Recipe:  SU Stamp: Under the Stars (bear).  Digital beer stein.  Ink: Memento Cocoa Brown.  Moon Sponging Inks: Memento Desert Sand, Cantaloupe; Stampin' Up So Saffron.  Paper: Darice Kraft cs; BoBunny-Camp-A-Lot Plaid/ Dots, DoubleDot-Mellow Yellow (moon);  PTI-Summer Camp (sky); X-Press It Blending Cardstock-White (w/Copics).  Copics: bear, steins, trees.  Dies: Lifestyles: Circles; Spellbinders: Fancy Tags 1. SU Corner Rounder mini punch.  Colorbox Chestnut Roan-distressing.  Stickles-Lace (beer foam).  Favorite Finding Buttons (mini). May Arts twine.  Computer-made sentiment (Font: Annie Use Your Telescope).

My Fall 2012 Trip to California!

I have been a bit out of commission for posting to my blog, and I do apologize.   Plus, I am extremely behind keeping up with my favorite cardmaking blog friends; therefore, I have not been posting comments either...shame on me!  I think I was just having too much fun!

While away, I attend several cropping events and retreats...oh how enjoyable!  I've already told you about my family crop retreat in mid-October at a small town north of Redding, staying at the rustic Trout House...that was scads of fun...just my Mom, my sister, and me this time!  Regressing: in the first two weeks of my arrival, we went to two one-day crops south of Redding: one was private crop hosted by Teresa Barnett in Red Bluff, and the other was an anniversary crop at the Paradise Scrapbook Boutique in Chico (our favorite vintage-decorated shop).  Of course, we stayed away overnight and shopped before we start home at any quaint little shops we found as well!  In the last part of October and early November, we went to a one-day crop at the "Rock Paper Scissors," a new Redding scrapbook store, and another most-of-the-day event called the Christmas Card Extravaganza.  We made 18 cards by six designers in 7 hours!  Needless to say, I brought a few unfinished ones home to complete.

To finish off my trip, we traveled east to the tiny town of Weaverville to a four-day crop retreat, called Trinity Scrapbooking Retreats.  We had a blast with our papercrafting, but also enjoyed this small town's Halloween evening festivities.  It was such fun to see how a rural town celebrates the holiday with costumes worn by shop owners and restaurant employees and each business giving out treats to passersby.  But while there, I did manage to get a little crafting and cardmaking done too.  Some of the cards are from kits provided by my sister, Heidi Gonzales (www.mylilscrapcorner.blogspot.com), who designs and teaches cardmaking at Redding's "Rock Paper Scissors," plus holds her own events and is a Stampin' Up demonstrator, as well.  Here are my "sister cards" with a few modifications if a whim struck me while making them:

Following are some cards I made from ideas I got online or at various events or stores, as well some of my own designs.  I left off the sentiments on most of them so I could decide later what I wanted to use them for, and here they are:

Now that I am home, I must get started on Christmas...I will be sharing a mini album I started in California and some cards I made as well!  Hope your late September, October, and early November were as enjoyable as mine!