Another birthday card

yes another birthday card - for a dear male family friend. I do make other kinds of cards but I do send a lot of birthday cards! And I know I am stuck on this one image - that "sending Birthday wishes" there in the center (from Papertrey's 2012 Birthday Tags set - it's just so pretty! And admittedly very generic and versatile right?) -I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of this set. I also used the Mat Stack 5 collection as well as the coordinating dies, Limitless Layers oval and Half & Half dies. The patterned paper is from the Fine Linen paper pack - also all from Papertrey.
I made a few more birthday cards yesterday - and I've been preparing for our beach vacation coming up beginning this weekend. I cannot describe how much I need this vacation! I've downloaded some books and I've got a book waiting for me at the beach house (one of my sisters-in-law is leaving it for me - she's a peach!) and I shall be a fixture on that wonderful stretch of sand with my Nook!  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

It kinda looks like a quilt

do you agree?
I'd wanted to play with my Papertrey Happy Hexagons and Coverplate: Hexagon die over the last few days. I'd had a little trouble using the die itself with my Big Shot but once I pulled out my old reliable Cuttlebug - I didn't have a problem. Once I got that die cutting problem worked out I was off and running.
The stamps and die make me think of quilts - specifically a quilt my grandmother made - it was one of those yoyo style quilts -gorgeous and completely handsewn. Regardless - quilts have fascinated me for years. I've drawn them so I figure a paper quilt would be fun to try.
I stamped with a navy blue ink on Fine Linen cardstock then cut off a few rows and mounted that (with some foam tape) on a cardbase of Fine Linen. Then I cut out the die using white cardstock and added a few rows to the top of the card - and stamped on those white hexagons using another stamp from the Happy Hexagon set. Finally I stamped one of the sentiments from the set onto a diecut banner. I really like the white against the Fine Linen - it kinda crisps the whole thing up - kind like white sheets on a bed withh a pretty quilt topping it off. Okay - thats' all for today - hope you have a good one!

I like bright happy colors but....

find myself using a lot of the same, monochromatic color schemes in my card making (and my clothes come to think of it ... hmmm.... well I guess that makes sense huh? but i digress ;-)) As I was thinking about this - I also needed to make a few "hello-how-are-you-I'm-thinking-about-you" kinda cards for a few Aunts that are special to me. So I thought let's get out the colors and make somethin pretty and cheery for them. I pulled out Papertrey Ink's Stitches and Swirls stamp set which I thought would work nicely and found inspiration on Nichole Heady's blog (which is probably the most ridiculously inspiring place to visit as far as stamping goes... if you can't get some ideas there well ... I don't think your eyes are looking at your computer screen k?) I also pulled out the Fillable Frames Sentiments set, and the Fillable Frames #9 die (cute little tag die that coordinates with the sentiments set). I like how they turned out and I definitely fit the "cheery" bill I was goin for.
On another note - I've been busy with this and that - work, home stuff, and I'm working on getting a recent pile of pics scrapbooked so not so much cardmaking going on. I do have one other card I made I'll be back with tomorrow.
Oh one final thing - anyone have any good books they've read lately? I'm heading to the beach in a week :-) and need to fill up the Nook....

Make it Monday #73 Round 2

I intended to get back here yesterday but...  best laid plans and all. I don't know about where you live, but here in Northern Virginia, it's hot. Prediction for today is 102. I've had about enough. And apparently we will get a break in this non-stop heat fest come Monday. In the meantime we're going to have to think cool thoughts ;-) On to the card (thank goodness right?) I needed a card for a male friend and I like the combo of blue and Fine Linen. I used some Fine Linen patterned papers, the Super Stars Border die, Limitless Layers Ovals die, and Half & Half die. I stamped the sentiment (from Tagged Sentiments set) on the patterned paper with some Night of Navy ink (StampinUp) and I wasn't liking the strength of the color - it wasn't dark enough. I tried a few other times and realized that was as dark as I was going to get it. I didn't want to use black as my cardstock (Enchanted Evening) was blue. So what to do? I took the piece of cardstock and covered it in Versamark then clear embossed it - it pumps the color up just a bit and I liked how it came out. It can be a little hard on the fingers heat embossing a piece of cardstock that is completely covered in embossing powder so here's a little tip for you. I took a scrap strip of  cardstock and ran some repositionable adhesive over one half of it. Then I attached that to my EP covered oval - that strip of cardstock becomes a handle to hold your EP covered item. No more burned fingers. If you've figured this out before me - cheers to you! But I've been heat embossing for probably 15 years and this just occurred to me!  Ok - I need to get some weeding done before the heat becomes intolerable. Have a good one!

Make it Monday #73 Stamping on Patterned Paper

 I finally had a little time to play around with my stamps and decided to try the Make it Monday. I love these challenges especially when I need to make a card - gives me a bit of a kick start - ya know? So I had some scraps from last week's challenge where I used Papertrey's Giga Guide Lines to make a background. I used the scraps and added some tiny Raspberry Fizz cardstock circles to coordinate with a flower I made using the Bloom Builders #3 die (I cannot wait to make some of these flowers for some fall cards - it looks like a big fat chrysanthemum to me). I also wanted to use that raspberry color as it would also coordinate nicely with the patterned paper (from the Polka Dot Parade paper pack). I stamped a tag (Fillable Frames #9 mini stamp set) and then chose a sentiment from the Fillable Frames sentiment set. I also added a button to the flower with a little embroidery floss.
I managed to make another card for this challenge so I'll be back tomorrow to share that one. Have a good one!