Planning, planning . . .

and more planning!

Forgive me for my lack of posting this week, but I have been busy trying to plan a surprise 40th Birthday part for my DH. The planning part of it was easy, but do you think I can get him out of the house?

He refused to take an afternoon off and go golfing! What kind of guy would refuse to take an afternoon off? I just don't get it.

So now, I have the boys trying to convince him to take them to the movies. Keep our fingers crossed!

I will be back to post some pics after the event! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

~ Pat

Size 6

As soon as I saw this card, I knew I had to case it for my girlfriend Trish!

This is flip-flop card.

Here are the dimensions/directions:

Cut a 7 x 6 1/4" piece of orange cs. Cut a 6-3/4" x 6" piece of printed paper. Center and adhere to orange cs.

Score 1" vertical lines beginning at top, 3" and 4" from left edge; repeat at bottom.

Cut a 2-3/4" x 4-1/4" rectangle from orange cs. Adhere to center of card between score lines; cut around left and right edges, stopping at scored lines.

Fold card along scored lines so that left side is on top.

Stamp Bathing Beauty (Rubbernecker) and Ethel in Swimsuit (Rubbernecker) onto white cs; colour with markers and cut out. Adhere Bathing Beauty onto green cs and trim, leaving narrow borders. Adhere stamped images to centre panel so Bathing Beauty is visible when card is closed.

Stamp greeting onto scraps of orange cs; trim around words and adhere to card as shown.

Here is Ethel on the back side.

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Rubbernecker

Inks: black

Paper: Only Orange, Washington Apple DS, Green Galore DS

Other: Ribbon, markers

Thanks for stopping by!

~Pat

Happy 40th Birthday Rod!

Today is my DH's 40th Birthday! I have a difficult time making masculine cards, but decided to go through my DS paper to see what I can come up with.

I love the Manhattan DS paper as they are cater to making masculine cards. This is where I started. I picked out my paper and then picked out my cs colours.

This is a criss-cross card or pocket card. The dimensions are 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". The insert is 3.75" x 5.25".

Basically, you take a full sheet of cs and cut it half length wise. I scored both sheets at 4 1/4". I then cut one side of each cs from the score line to the outer corner. I adhered the uncut portion of the cards together. I cut my DS paper slight smaller than your A2 size - 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" and then cut in half diagonally. Adhere your DS paper to your cs.

I glued bottom of the flaps down.

I then took a strip of cs and ran it through the crimper. Once you crimp your piece, you may have to spread it out a bit to lengthen your strip. Tied a piece of ribbon around it and adhere it to the front.

Using one of the label die cuts from the Matchbox Bigz XL Die, I punched holes around it. I stamped Happy Birthday (On You Birthday) onto a piece of white cs scrap and then punched it out using the word window punch. Adhered it to the label and then popped it up onto the ribbon.

Here is what the insert looks like. Again, the dimensions are 3.75" x 5.25".

I stamped the man from Golden Oldies onto my cs, once on a plaid DS and another time on the blue striped DS. I then cut them out and pieced them onto my insert. It was easier to use SU glue to piece them, this way you get all the little nicks and notches glued down, and voila, my man is dressed!

I then stamped the sentiment in Always Artichoke from Full of Life (retired now) stamp set.

Using the round tab punch, I punched out the tab and folded it half. As the only number set I owned was Whismical Numbers (retired), I used it to stamp out "40" in Always Artichoke and adhered to the top of the insert.

Here is a close up of what my guy looks like!

I like paper piecing as I find that colouring is way too much work and really like the results of this!

I also coloured my guy using my Copic markers!

What do you think? I hope you have enjoyed this card as much as I do!

Here is the Recipe:

Stamps: On Your Birthday, Full of Life, Whimsical Numbers, Golden Oldies

Ink: Black, Always Artichoke

Paper: Manhattan DS Paper, Mellow Moss, Whisper White

Other: Mellow Moss Ribbon, Crimper, Matchbox Bigz Die

Thanks for stopping by!

~Pat

Mother's Day Card

This is my card for my mom for Mother's Day. I absolutely love how it turned out!

The actual card is black, therefore, it is hard to see the last layer.

I embossed the white layer using my Embossing Folder and mounted it onto the Pink Pirouette, which whas then mounted onto the black cs.

I stamped the Dogwood in versamark and embossed it in gold. Watercoloured the branch and leaves.

As I didn't have any dogwood punches, I created my own using a small egg punch, a 1/8th hole punch to make the little notch at the top of each petal and a tiny sun punch for the stamen. I then sponged each petal in Pink Pirouette ink. I used the larger side of my stylus and rubbed each petal until they started to curl up giving it that 3-d look. I glued each petal together and added the sun for the middle. What I should have done here was add a little bit of glitter to the petals, but as usual, this was last minute and we needed to leave to see my mom.

The little flowers were punched separately. I also used the larger side of the stylus to curl the petals up.

This is the inside of the card. Again, as the main cs was black, I added pink pirouette and white so that I could write on it.

To add a little pizzazz to it, I added some rub ons from the Summer Love collection and then stamped my sentiment. By the time I was finished, it was fairly heavy card. It was a good thing that I was hand delivering the card itself or it would have cost me an arm and a leg to mail it!

That is it for today! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Your comments are welcome.

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Make an Impression, All Holidays
Paper: Basic Black, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White

Ink: Black, Versamark

Other: Summer Love Rub Ons, Egg Punch, Tiny Sun Punch, Four Petal Punch, 1/8" Punch, Cuttlebug Embossing folder, Watercolour

Thanks for stopping by! ~Pat

Happy 40th Birthday Trish!

Today is my best friend's 40th birthday! Happy Birthday Trish!

This is a "Z" fold card.

Using the striped printed paper, I cut it 11 x 4 1/4 inches. Score vertically at 2 1/4 and 5 1/2 inches from the left edge. Fold card in half, then fold narroer panel to left.

Cut a 2 1/2 x 4-inch piece out of So Saffron printed paper and adhere to front panel on the left. Cut a 3/8 x 4-inch strip of white cs - add your brads here, otherwise, you will see the prongs on the outside of your card; adhere vertifically to So Saffron piece 1/4 inch from the left edge.

Open card. Cut a 5 1/4 x 4-inch pice of white cs; centre and adjere to larger panel. Cut a 5 1/4" x 1 3/4-inch strip of striped printed paper and a 5 1/4 x 1 1/8-inch So Saffron printed paper. Centre and adhere to striped strip. Pierce a hole through centre of So Safforn strip and attach your decorative brad; adhere strips to white cs 1 1/8 inches from top edge of card.

Stamp your sentiment in black onto lower right corner of the card.

Stamp the single flower from Bloomin' Beautful on white cs and stamp the flower portion again approximately 10 more times onto scrap. Using my watercolour crayons (I used Bashful Blue and Brocade Blue) to create the various hues to colour in the flowers.

I then cut out the flowers, layered one just below the main one, and with the rest of the remaining flowers, I cut out the petals to create a 3D look.

Here is a close of the flowers. I added glitter glue to the petals to make it sparkle.

Here is the side view of the flower so you can see the layers.

Your comments and opinions are very much welcomed!

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful, On Your Birthday!
Paper: Whisper White, Delicate Dots Designer Series
Ink: Black
Other: Large Decorative Brad, Silver Brads, pop ups

Thanks for stopping by! ~Pat

Ryan's B-day Card

I recently purchased a book on fabulous folds. I was very skeptical about it, but I thought why not give it a try. I could always return it if it didn't meet my standards.

Here is a birthday card, I made for my nephew. I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to make masculine cards, let alone cards for teenager. I wanted this card to have a bold, bright look to it and went through all my "stash" of paper and came up with Jersey Shore. It is too bad that this is retired now.

This is a tri-fold card. Here are the directions:

Cut a 9 1/4 x 4 3/4-inch piece of Brilliant Blue cs. Score vertically at 3 1/4 x 6 1/2-inches from the left edge; close card accordion-style and round off opposite corners using a corner rounder punch.

Front Panel

I made this panel into a pocket and the "Happy Birthday" can be pulled out, but I also added some money to the pocket.

Cut a 3 x 4 1/2-inch piece of printed paper; round off corners to match card panel. Center and adhere printed paper to card.

Cut a 2 3/4 x 4 1/2-inch piece of green printed paper. Round off the corners; centre and adhere to printed paper to card.

Cut a 2 3/4 x 3-inch piece of white cs. Stamp stars onto cs; colour orange with markers. Centre and adhere stamped paper to card. I only adhered the bottom and the sides to make a pocket.

Stamp cupcake onto white cs; colour with markers and cut out. Centre and adhere cupcake to card with adhesive foam dots. Stamp "Celebrate" on lower right corner of panel.

Tab: Cut a 1 x 3-inch piece of orange cs; round off upper left corner using corner rounder punch. Centre and attach eyelet; knot ribbon through eyelet.

Insert tab in pocket.

Centre Panel

Cut a 3 x 4 1/2 inch piece of orange cs; stamp with stars. Round off corners to match panel of card. Attached 3 ice rhinestones. Centre and adhere cs to card.

Cut a 1 1/4 x 4 1/4-inch piece of green printed paper; adhere to card close to left edge.

Stamp "Best Wishes" onto white cs; cut rectangle around words, then round off upper left corner. Adhere to card as shown.

Stamp a cupcake onto white cs; colour with markers and cut out. Adhere cupcake to card with pop up.

Back Panel

Cut a 3 x 4 1/2-inch piece of printed paper; round off corners to match back panel of card. Centre and adhere printed cs to card.

Cut a 2 3/4 x 4 1/4 inch piece of green printed paper; round off corners. Tie ribbon around cs, knotting ends on front; centre and adhere to cs to card.

Stamp cupcakes onto white cs; colour with markers, then trim around cupcakes to make a strip 2 3/4 inches long. Adhere stamped cs to orange cs; trim, leaving narrow borders. Adhere cupcakes to card 1 inch from bottom.

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Hero Arts, Crazy for Cupcakes, On Your Birthday, other miscellaneous stamps,
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Jersey Shore (retired), Only Orange
Ink: Black
Other: Glitter Glue, Miscellaneous Ribbon, Brad, ice rhinestones, SU markers

Thanks for stopping by! ~Pat

Bleaching Technique

I recently taught the bleaching technique in one of my Technique Tuesday classes. These are samples cased from SU.

The first card, is the easiest - Just Stamp It!

1. One easy way is to create a "stamp pad" by saturating a folded paper towel with a little bleach.

2. "Ink" your stamp using the bleach "pad" and stamp the image onto your card stock.

3. Then sit back and watch the magic as the bleach lifts the image out of the background.


Just Stamp It . . . Twice!

1. This will create beautiful shadow effects by using both bleach and a tone on tone duo of ink and cs.

2. This is most effective when you use lighter hues, such as More Mustard or Baja Breeze.

3. To create a shadow for the lighter image, first stamp the flowers in More Mustard ink on More Mustard cs, and then stamp the same image using bleach.

4. The multiple shades you get from the cs, ink and bleach give the card a multi-dimensional feel.

Emboss It!

1. Use bleach as a background for embossed images.

2. This reverse shadow accents the embossing and gives your work a bit of a faded, vintage look.

3. Stamp a line art image in Versamark ink on coloured cs.

4. Then apply bleach using a blender pen to fade out the centre of the image and give it a lighter background.

5. Emboss the image using Black Stampin Emboss powder, and add the finishing touches using Watercolour pencils.

Sanded Manhattan Flower

This is another take on using the Manhattan Flower Embossing folder.

This time, I embossed the flower using the Parisian Breeze Specialty paper. I then sanded the emobossed portion very gently as you don't want to sand the rest of your cardstock. I found it very easy using our SU sanding blocks.

I tried this on Chocolate Chip cs, but to my dismay, it didn't work -- only because I had forgotten that SU cardstocks are died throughout the cardstock and not just the surface. You are able to try this with other cardstocks that leave the inner layers white.

I added the Ice Rhinestones to the bottom and a Chocolate Chip organza ribbon.

I then mounted it onto Baja Breeze and then Bashful Blue as the main card.

Here is the recipe:

Paper: Parisian Breeze Specialty, Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue
Other: Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder, Sanding Block, Ice Rhinestones, Chocolate Chip Organza Ribbon

Have a Happy Wednesday! ~Pat

Mother's Day Card

I was just playing around with my new Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder and have seen many beautiful cards made with this folder.

This is my take on it. I was playing with Basic Grey and Baja Breeze colours and came up with this variation. I have had this cardstock forever and finally have the courage to use it.

I embossed the flowers first onto cardstock vellum. Cut out the top portion of the flowers. I then tries to ink the embossed portion with my Baja Breeze ink pad to give it a bit more definition. Then using my 2 way glue pen, I outlined the embossed portions and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds, adhered it to the Basic Grey and then to the Baja Breeze.

I stamped "Happy Mother's Day" (from All Holidays Stamp set) in Basic Grey. Tied the white taffeta ribbon around, and voila!

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: All Holidays
Paper: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Cardstock Vellum
Ink: Basic Grey, Baja Breeze
Other: Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder, Dazzling Diamonds, White Taffeta Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by! ~Pat

Look at What I've Been Up to . . .

For the past month and a half, I have been working on this puzzle for my youngest son.

Owen had a gift certificate to spend from Chapters. He really really REALLY wanted to purchase Thomas the Tank Engine trains, but because I know that he doesn't play with his trains anymore (and god forbid that we have another train!), I talked him into purchasing this puzzle.

It was a 1000 pieces and I thought it would be fun to spend some time with him piecing the puzzle together.

Well, he only lasted for about an hour and that was it.

There layed the puzzle on our dining room table for the past 2 months. I worked on it whenever I felt I needed some down time or to just relax. Funny enough, who would have thought that working a puzzle would be relaxing? Well, it worked. Albeit very challenging, I think the end result is beautiful and well worth it.

Owen was very pleased when he saw finished result!

Thanks for you patience everyone! I hope to be posting more often.

~Pat