This is where we are this morning

We're out at the local reservoir this morning with our neighbors and
their boat. If it warms up, the guys may even go tubing. If it
doesn't, they've got their fishing gear, and I've got a book. :)

April (snow) showers bring flowers ... at least in the stamp room

This card was a quickie for stamp club this month.  I used 2 layers of white and 1 of vanilla cardstock for the petals and ran them through the Big Shot with the "Flower, Daisies #2" die.  I alternated the colors and topped them with a 3/4" circle in summer sun and micro beads.

The stems/leaves are both Old Olive grosgrain ribbon and they're both "pinned" in place with mini glue dots.  The glue dots allow for the bend of the stem.  The Thank You is from the set A Note of Thanks.  Finally, I put streaks of Crystal Effects on the petals for a little visual interest.

Stamping on the high seas

This is the club card that we're making this month as a focus on watercoloring.  It's also got some embossing in both black and silver.  I used Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an Aqua Painter for the coloring.  The paper that the image is on is Confetti Cream.  The designer paper is Manchester.

Psst.  If you're interested, this is the card before the update to a Father's Day card.  Also known as the card BEFORE Ky's input.  I love these cordouroy buttons, but I think it was actually a little babyish for this card.  He also suggested the smoke clouds to add some weight in that upper corner.

Papers used are Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Manchester DSP, Confetti Cream.  Embossed outline in black EP and watercolored using an AquaPainter and Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  All supplies are from Stampin' Up!

Barbequed Birthday

This weekend was ALSO my father-in-law's birthday.  Ky asked for a card using this grill stamp, and then he wanted a cake on the grill.  And, he wanted the cake to be on fire ... I couldn't bring myself to make the cake on fire, so he just got a sparkly candle instead.  :)

The grill was embossed and Crystal Effects'd (sure, that's a word) to the hilt.  It was a real pleasure to give the card to my FIL on Sunday and see his smile about it.

Stamps: BBQ (Creative Mode) and Cake (Stampin' Up's Voila set).  Paper: Stampin' Up's Washington Apple.

It's for Ewe

Yesterday I showed you my mom's Mother's Day card.  Today I'm showing the card I gave my sister.  Again, I tried to focus on her hobby.  My sister is a knitter / yarn-fanatic.  I couldn't exactly knit her a card (I'd need to know how to knit for that!!), so I gave her a little sheep to bear the message of the day.

The sheep is from the set Pun Fun.  I colored it in, cut it out and covered it in fun flock (so she'd be wooly).  I stamped it again on Baja Breeze cardstockand cut out the heart so it would pop out. The sheep's ears, hooves and nose and the heart are covered in Crystal Effects.

I made the sentiment on the computer and guessed at the color for the ink.  I punched it out with a punch and then freehanded the brown oval under it.

With a tiny focal point like this, I felt like I had to up the layers for interest and I think it worked ... The designer paper is Manchester.