Father's Day goes to the Dogs!

Here's a sneak preview of my Father's Day card. Not all of us have children and therefore some of us use our pets as surrogates ... so here's a card for all of us! The background paper is from an unknown source. The stickers are from Sandylion. The dogs are "Max" a 5 year old female Great Pyrenees and "Bayley Magee" a 13+ year old cocker spaniel. As all of us know who have dogs, the funniest part of the card is the fact that the dogs aren't in the chair. I know at my house I sit on the floor while they are on the couch and I can swear to the fact that no dog I've ever had has brought me the paper (eaten it or messed on it for sure) or brought me a cup of coffee (stuck their tongue in it maybe - I afraid to think about it). Oh well, no matter, we love them. Happy Father's Day to all the father's out there.

Father's Day (part two)

The second type of card is more personal and something needs to be known about the recipient: in this case I used western themed images because the person is into riding horses and somewhat of a "cowboy" at heart. The background paper is from Colorbok and is edged with walnut ink. The horses portrait is a rubber stamp from Stamps on Fire, which is stamped in walnut over a mosaic background stamp by Starving Artistamp, Inc. which was inked with chocolate and yellow. I colored the horse with pencil to add another layer to the image. The stamped images were trimmed, edged in chocolate and then attached to the card using copper square head brads from Making Memories. The text is from Inkadinkado and is stamped in black ink.

Father's Day (part one)

What better month for card making for and by men but june and just in time to commemorate and celebrate Father's Day? This is what I have been looking for since I started this blog earlier this year. For the occassion I wanted to create two types of cards, one that was more generic in feel and could be given to any father and one that was more personal and rellied on a little more personal knowledge of the recipient father. I will post the these in two sessions starting today with the generic card. The card is one that has strong masculine overtones but no direct personal touches, although it has what I believe to be a regal touch and feel to it. The background paper (source unknown) is the perfect starting point with it's masculine monochromatic color scheme and strong graffics. The scroll is a rubber stamp from Third Coast Rubber Stamp, which I stamped three times in walnut on tan marbled paper, cut out and then re-assembled using thin raised adhesive dots to create a 3D effect. Before I re-assembled the image I added the text and fleur-de-lys, as well as edging all the pieces, in walnut ink. This added depth and emphasized the 3D effect.

Second time around!

I got so excited about the first mirrored image card that I decided to go a around with the idea a second time. I looked through all my stamps and couldn't find one that would work. Then I saw the lighthouse stamp at A.C. Moore and knew this was a perfect image to mirror. Luckily I had coupons galore and I got it. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket and works well here too. I stamped the reflected image in gray to create a softer affect and the actual image in black. Using a brayer I inked the lower part of the image with various shaed of green and blue inks. Therest of the coloring was done with pencils. The text is a sticker from Cloud-9-Designs/Fiskar (which is now available on an acrylic stamp sheet).

May: a time to reflect

Experimenting with new techiniques and looking back at what you have done is always a good thing. I wanted to come up with something new and fresh (at least for me) for a generic man's card. So I took out some stamps and played around. I'd always wanted to try my hand at mirrored images with rubber stamps and I decided this was as good a time as any to go for it. So here it is. A serene manly landscape using the mirrored stamping technique. The idea really came together when I found a great background paper from Cosmo Cricket of a beautiful sun set/rise. The rest was just a little trial and error and a lot of patience and work. I had seen stamps sold at craft store to use for creating mirror images, but they were small and quite expensive at over ten dollars. So I looked for something else to use that woult not limit me on size and break the bank. I settled on a sheet of plumbing rubber (about 8"x8" that I bought at the local Home Depot for under three dollars). To create the mirror image I stamped on the plumbing rubber, which I laid flat on my working surface and then laid the paper over it and using a brayer "rubbed" the image on. A quick tip: the process works better using dye inks. The stamps used in this case were all from Stampim Up! I left blank spaces in both the sky and the water areas for future text or greetings.