Lighthouse and Tree

Just finished my Father's Day cards. Whew! I don't know why but I always find it so hard to make cards for guys.
The first one up is the one I did for my husband:

I really liked how this card turned out. I used white cardstock to and jet black Staz On ink to stamp the image. Then I used Faded Jeans Distress ink on the edge followed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I used light blue cardstock to mat the stamped image and inked the edge with Vintage Photo along with all of the other pieces. I adhered the kraft strips of cardstock to a light blue piece of cardstock.

 I punched holes in the corners of the light blue mat and used brown and white Baker's Twine wrapped around the blue brads in each of the four corners so the Baker's Twine framed the mat.

Before I adhered the large blue mat I had to cut part of one prong off of  each brad since it was going to show.

 The next card is for my dad: It is a 5" x 61/2" card.

 I stamped the image with brown Staz On ink onto white cardstock. The edges are inked with Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.

 I then mounted the stamped image on dark brown cardstock that was cut using Creative Memories Custom Cutting System.

 The green cardstock was put in a Cuttlebug embossing folder and ran it through my Cuttlebug then I spritzed it with water mixed with Perfect Pearls to give it some shimmer. (Sorry I didn't take time to get a picture where you could see the shimmer.)

The card front is covered with a dark brown pattern paper. After adhereing the green embossed paper strip to the dark brown pattern paper I wrapped a piece of Simple Chartreuse grosgrain ribbon from Papertrey Ink around the dark brown pattern paper then adhered it to the card front. I also made a bow from the ribbon and attached it with a couple of glue dots. After stamping the sentiment, Happy Father's Day on a white cardstock circle and inked it with Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and Walunt Stain and adhered it to the middle of the ribbon.

If you double click on the photos you can see them better.

June Blooms

We have been complaining about all the rain this spring but when I look out at my garden I can't help but grab my camera and try to capture the beauty of all the gorgeous blooms. I took these after it had stopped raining and the colors seemed so intense.

I have three bushes of these red azaleas and all three are covered in blooms.

My mom had a bunch of these purple irises along our driveway and I can remember stopping to inhale their sweet scent in the afternoon after school. I always thought they smelled like grape kool aid their scent was so sweet.

My purple Rhody is full of blooms too. It isn't a big bush but the clusters of blooms are huge this year.

Remember to take time to stop and smell the flowers.

Finally Something Crafty

I finally have a card to share with you today!

 I made these thank you cards for my husbands retirement from serving 30 years in the United States Coast Guard. I had to make quite a few so I wanted them to be fairly simple.

 I used Spellbinders Large Rectangles Nestabilities and my cuttlebug to emboss the card with a rectangle.

 Next I punched a large red star and a small blue star with Spellbinders Star Nestabilities and adhered the blue star to the middle of the red star. I then used a cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss both stars together.

Here is what the stars looked like after spraying them with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and water.  After the stars were dry I adhered them to the upper left corner of the embossed rectangle on the card.  I then stamped thank you in red inside the embossed rectangle.

I love how you can just emboss with Spellbinders to frame your sentiment. This is the first time I have done it and really am pleased with the results and how easy it was. Here is a tip: I used a couple of tiny bits of scotch tape to hold the die in place while cutting.

It was also the first time I had layered shaped pieces together and embossed them at once. I really like the look.

If you would like you can share something new you have tried and tell me if it is something you would like to do again.