BOOM!

The challenge this week over at The Paper Players is a color theme:

Red, White and Blue!  I usually make 4th of July cards for family and friends and was playing around with a layout for this year. 

I was going for fireworks, using a sparkler stamp that I have, masking off the stick.  I also used two small "burst" type stamps that I had in my stash.  After stamping, a little dab of stickles was added in the centers.  I mounted the fireworks show onto red cardstock and inked up a thin strip of white with the same color of blue ink to add along the edge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Real #1 Dad and Faux Metallic

Hello friends!  This morning I put together a Father's Day card for my Dad.  He'll be 94 years old next month and he'll always be #1 to me! 

I used Hickory Smoke Distress Ink to ink up the rectangle layer then used white Perfect Pearls to give it a brushed silver look.  Then I dry embossed the cardstock with one of my favorite guy embossing folders (Lifestyle Crafts).  It looks like the bumper of my truck :)  The #1 Dad die cut is from Die Versions which I cut out of black cardstock and heat embossed a couple of times with clear embossing powder.  It's hard to see the shine in this pic!  Lastly, I added 3 brushed silver embellies from Heidi Grace.  I hope Dad likes it!  Thanks for stopping by ~ Have a great weekend!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

The Paper Players - Father's Day

Die Cuttin' Diva's - June Sketch

CASology #201: Sunshine

Woohoo, we have sunshine here today and a sunshine challenge this week over at CASology:

I found this Folk Art stencil in my stash and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've used it (what a surprise :).  I pounced it with Delicata Golden Glitz ink and stamped the sentiment (MFT) in VersaFine Onyx Black.  I still felt it needed a little more "shine" so I lightly sprayed the entire card with gold Glitter Blast through a piece of plastic canvas that gave it just the right sparkle. 

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you have some sunshine in your neck of the woods!

Words 2 Craft By #30: New Beginnings

Welcome back, W2CB friends!  To kick off the summer, our challenge for June is "New Beginnings."  Feel free to interpret this any way you'd like, such as a wedding, graduation, retirement, new job, new flip flops...you get the idea :-). 

I happen to have a favorite niece that is getting married in August.  I'm very excited for her and her husband-to-be as they begin a new life together.  They're as cute together as these love birds!

And here's a pic of the inside because I absolutely adore this sentiment from Taylored Expressions!

I'm sure I stamped this straight but it looks a little bit crooked in the photo.  I'm blaming my cropping abilities!

Anyhoo, we hope you'll play along with us this month and celebrate a new beginning!  Thanks so much for visiting today :-)

Cards in Envy - No Girls Allowed!

Hi CIE friends!  You guessed it - it's a masculine card this time around for the latest Cards in Envy challenge.  Any theme is welcome:  Father's Day, Birthday, Thanks, etc.  Just make sure it's flat enough to fit in an envy :-)

I distressed a very thin piece of balsa wood with Distress Inks and then stamped the image and sentiment in VersaFine Sepia ink.  I was going for a wood burned look...what do you think?  The DSP is from Hobby Lobby and I added gold stitching with a gold Sharpie.  The thin wood stars (Hobby Lobby) were also inked up a bit and adhered with Multi Medium.

Please come play along with us and share your manly cards!  Thanks for stopping by :-)

Anything's "Popsicle!"

CASology's Cue Card this week is CAS and so appropriate to celebrate their 200th challenge!  Congrats on this huge milestone and I just wish I had discovered this challenge earlier.  I haven't been playing along for very long but I'm so inspired by the uber-talented design team.  I typically make multi-layered cards which I enjoy, but find the CAS style much more challenging.  In other words...it's not as easy as it looks and sometimes take me a long time to be simple!  Thanks, CASology, for taking me outside of my comfort zone :-)

Here's my card - I'm celebrating nice warm spring weather here and looking forward to orange popsicles with my grandson this summer!

I started with an orange splat of color and popped up a mini popsicle die cut (The Stamps of Life) that I smothered with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents for a shiny, sparkly treat.  It looks like it's melted a bit!  The sentiment is also from The Stamps of Life.

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ Have a wonderful weekend!

SOS #254 - The 4 Elements

This week's Shopping Our Stash Challenge is to be inspired by the 4 Elements:  Water, Earth, Fire and Wind.  Since I live on the coast, it was an easy choice...Water, of course!

The "stash" part of this card is a roll of washi tape that I've had for at least a year that looks like waves.  I knew it would come in handy one day!  I layered the tape five times and tucked in the whale die cut (sponged with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink) from Memory Box.  I added a little vellum water spout colored with Copics, a small enamel black dot for his eye, and a sentiment from Impress.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you're having a good week!