A Little Brusho Work for Graduation Time!

We have a great-niece and a great-nephew on my husband's side of the family who graduated from high school this year, both are one of his brother's grandchildren.  My husband is the oldest of eight, so it is unusual that both would be from his same brother!  I wanted to make cards for both of them so that we could include a little gift of funds for them as they celebrate this happy occasion!

Before I begin any card, I check out the Splitcoaststamper challenges to see if any can give me inspiration and/or send me in a certain direction for the style of the card.  One challenge led me to the thought of using stars for sure.  Another gave me ideas on how I might like my Brushos to look.  Another had me looking on Pinterest for possible ideas.  A culmination of all these ideas and inspirations gave me great ideas my layout and design.

One thing I did know for sure was that I wanted to try out my new Brushos that my son and his wife gave me for Mother's Day!  I also checked out their high school colors to see which colors of Brushos I wanted to use.  Our grand-nephew's card will be Emerald Green and Golden Yellow and our grand-niece's card will be Brilliant Red and Golden Yellow.  With all the mojo running around in my head, these are the cards I came up, both using one similar style.  I think the recipients will be happy with their aunt's handiwork.  Take a peek below!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Basic Black; White Shimmer Embossing Paste;  Stars stencil.  Other:  Papers--DCWV Shimmer Stack/ Gold; DCWV: The Glitter Cardstock Stack:  white and black; Tim Holtz Watercolor paper.  Colourcraft Brushos: Emerald Green, Yellow, and Brilliant Red.  Impression Obsession Dies:  DIE280-B/ Congrats; DIE-281-D/ Grad Hat/ Diploma.  Eclipse Technique (modified).  Chatterbox verse (inside).  Size:  4-3/4" x 6".  

Hubby Celebrates Father's Day!

I had a second Father's Day to make, and this one would be for my husband, father of our four children!  I enjoyed trying out the Eclipse technique so much on my son's card, that I thought I should do another for my husband, though I wanted to use a different theme.

I checked out possible SCS challenges for a bit of inspiration on the theme, and I decided on the color navy blue in order to enter another Alphabet challenge, which would also work for a lovely Vera Bradley fabric found for this week's Inspiration Challenge.

After looking through my masculine paper stash, I found some navy, red, and tan paper with a nautical theme, which I thought would be perfect, as my husband has always enjoyed taking the boat out and tooling around the lake near our home.  The dark navy background, reminded me of a dark night on the water, night being the bonus challenge in the Alphabet challenge.  The addition of the red and tan in the nautical print remind me of the Vera Bradley fabric I found in the Inspiration challenge website.  I was stoked and ready to begin.

Take a peek below at my second Eclipse technique card for my hubby's Father's Day.  I have included my inside design and verse below the card front.  Both he and my son loved there Eclipse cards a great deal. . .so I'm grinning from ear to ear!

Ingredients:  ANW Crestwood cardstock: Deep Sea.  Basic Gray Adrift: Ahoy; Waves.  Authentique Pride: Amend (red/white dot).  Stampin' Up: Cardstocks--Whisper White, Real Red.  2013-2015 Background Stack: Crumb Cake pattern.  SU: Burnt Brown Sugar (ink distressing).  Dies: SU--Large Letters Framelits; Top Dog--Stitched Water Die.  Punch: EK Scallop Medium Photo Corners (inside).  Pinking Shears.  Chatterbox computer sentiment/ verse - Font: Shelley.  Size: 5" x 6".

My Son Celebrates His Second Father's Day!

Father's Day is right around the corner, and I'm going to have to really scurry to get two Father's Day cards made before Sunday!  My first card will be for my son, who is the father of our only grandchild, who is now a little over a year old!  So much fun, walking and talking already!

I did a quick look at the challenges on Splitcoaststamper to see if there were any ideas to use for Mark's card, and I found several.  I will be focusing on Quartz Gray for the Alphabet Challenge and I found a card on the Featured Stamper that utilizes the Eclipse Technique, which I decided to use.  In addition, I created an acrostic verse for this inside.  Take a peek below at the finished card inside and out.

Ingredients:  SU Cardstocks: Basic Black, Whisper White.  Patterned Papers: Three Bugs in a Rub/ Tool Time; K&Co. stripe; DCWV/ Limoncello Stack (gray mosaic).  SU Dies:  Large Letters Framelits.  Punch: EK Victorian Medium Photo Corners (inside).  Technique: Eclipse.  Chatterbox Computer sentiment/ verse--Shelley font.  Pinking Shears.  Size: 5" x 6".