Masculine Thanks

I have had a few requests to show some masculine cards on my blog. I needed to make some Thank You cards for my husband to send out for Birthday and Father's Day. I have a few more that I need to make so I will share them as I make them. I don't have many masculine sets so I decided to use "Lovely as a Tree" which I am surprised and delighted didn't make it on the retired stamp set list. I love this set. I have never used the oak leaf and acorn image, so I decided to use it repeatedly for the background. I stamped the focal image in Timber Brown StazOn and watercolored it with my aquapainter and re-inkers. I also decided to add a bit of hodgepodge hardware since it is retiring and I have quite a bit that I have stored away! Also, when I was rearranging and moving my soon to be retired stamp sets, I discovered my *hoard* of In-Color paper from last year so I decided to use True Thyme on this card. It is still one of my favorite greens and I am leaving the paper out, so that I will actually use it. I don't mind that they are retired because they are still gorgeous colors. Thanks for fluttering by!

Stamps: Fundamental Phrases, Lovely as a Tree

Ink: True Thyme, Timber Brown StazOn, Close to Cocoa, White

Paper: Naturals Ivory, True Thyme, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Aged Copper HodgePodge Hardware, Dimensionals, Sponges * can you believe there isn't any ribbon?* Paper Piercer and Mat Pack

Stud Muffin

Just a quick card today! I made this card for my 8 year old son for his great report card! No frills, simple and boyish! He really got a kick out of the *studmuffin* sentiment. All of the images are from "Celebration Sayings" from The Saltbox Studio. I also used my cuttlebug for the embossed background. I colored the image with copics and prismacolor markers.

I am still working on setting up my embellishment center, so I will share pics as soon as I am done. I can't wait to get it all organized. Things have been kindof crazy trying to get all of my soon to be retired SU! stamps out of my space, etc. That is why I haven't been sharing my * A closer look* installments. Are they helpful? I don't want to keep boring you with them if they aren't helpful for organization ideas. Leave a comment and let me know! Thanks for fluttering by!

Sahara Stems

We just finished my husband's birthday party and I am exhausted. Today was my son's last day of school as well. Can I just say how happy I am? Lazy Days! I can't wait to *not* have so many things to do. It is nice just to be a Mom and have fun with your kids and not worry about Homework, AR goals, etc.

I finished the gift set for my son's teacher at midnight last night and so I didn't take any pictures, but everything turned out really cute. I decided on a "strawberry" theme, since I had been making Jam. I gave her some scrumptious strawberry body butter, lip butter and soap from The Body Shop, a set of handmade cards, a notepad, pen, designer kleenex, and a jar of my yummy homemade strawberry jam and last but not least, a gift certificate to the local School Supply store. I packaged it all up in a woven purse with a cute *berry* gift tag.

So...since I don't have anything new to share, I will share a card I made quite a while ago but haven't posted on my blog. The lighting isn't very good, but the card turned out nice.

I am hoping to get back stamping tomorrow! I have really missed it! Thanks for fluttering by!

A Very Berry Thursday!

I am up to my eye-balls in Strawberry Jam! I have been making it since yesterday. My final batch just came out of the water bath. I will be including a jar of it for my son's teacher for her end of year gift as well as some other *berry goodies*. I will post everything when I am done. So...with all my jam making, I haven't posted any creations for the last couple of days! I am sorry! I decided to post a card I made last week, but hadn't posted yet. The first time I saw this darling tree image from Papertrey Ink. it reminded me of some capris my daughter has with button apples on them. So...I decided to make a card using the same concept. It is simple and straightforward, but the buttons give it some interest. I also used my cuttlebug and my swiss dot embossing folder for some texture. Hopefully I will be posting more in the next few days. We are having a birthday party for my husband with my side of the family at my house tomorrow night, so I have lots to do! Thanks for fluttering by!

Cherish

I haven't used Baroque Motifs in a while and I thought that it worked well for today's color challenge over at SCS (Wild Wasabi, Taken with Teal, White). It seems like all of my cards made with this set look the same, so I tried to mix it up a bit. Instead of using the whole flourish image, I just used it on the side for the focal image. I stamped the small flowers off once, for a lighter color. I wanted the word *cherish* and the larger flower to stand out. I added a rhinestone brad to the center of the flower and some crystal stickles to the center of the smaller flowers. I used a lot of dimensionals on this card, but really, when don't I use a lot? LOL! I will be posting another design today using some Saltbox stuff so stay tuned.

I promised the girls I would let them swim in the little pool today and it takes a couple of hours to fill up! I guess I better get it up and started before the day gets away from me. This is the last day that I will be watching my son's teacher's daughter until school starts, so my daughter is going to be sad. I guess things will change at the end of the week when my son *finally*gets out of school. Then they will have each other to play with and we will be doing fun stuff. Oh ,the joys of summer! It really doesn't last long when you think about it. Hopefully, we can do something fun every day! I always love those Country Time commercials about summer. It makes me want to savor and enjoy every day! Thanks for fluttering by!

More Roses!

I know, I know! You are probably saying to yourself, "Haven't I seen this card before?" The answer is no...not exactly, but similar. This is the card I made for my son's Teacher's Birthday. I used the same layout that I used before, but changed the colors and a few design elements. I added some diamond stickles, but they don't show in the photo. I promise that this will be the last of the cards with this same image, layout, etc. I just really enjoy coloring those roses, especially since this time of year all of the roses are in full bloom! It inspires me!

On another note, I recorded "Little Women" on my DVR this weekend{I heart Little Women} and it has inspired me to make some fun primitive creations using my stamps from The Saltbox Studio. We are inbetween releases right now, so I have some time to use some of my favorites, so stay tuned this week. I also am waiting *patiently* for my stamps from Tweety Jill! I can't wait to share some creations with the great images that she offers!

Supplies:

Gentler Times, Floral BG, En Francais, Fundamental Phrases

Cardstock: White, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron

Ink: So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Black

Accessories: Ribbon, Corsage Pin, Pretties Kit, Oval Punch, Vintage Brads, Dimensionals

Fairy Nice Birthday!

Tomorrow is the Birthday of one of my darling little girls that I teach at church. She will be turning 4! How fun! I wanted to make her a fun card with glitter, sparkles and lots of pink! I don't think a 4 year old girl can have too much glitter! LOL! I haven't gotten her present, yet, but it is always fun to shop for little girls! I think I will take *my* 4 year old to help pick something out! Speaking of my little Emma...when I was making this card today, she said," Are all of your little girl cards going to use that stamp?" I said, Yes...it is one of the only little girl sets that I own. I am hoping the new SU! catalog will have a fresh little girl set that I like. Well...my daughter is sitting at my side whining for me to help her clean her room! No friends until it is clean! Better go! Thanks for fluttering by!