See-Through Cards

Graduation Week . . . . .

Stampin' Up! "Tassel Time"

Graduation week begins!!  I feel like I'm forgetting something but I don't think that feeling will go away until Sunday morning!!  My first born is heading off into the world!  You can follow her career here: https://www.facebook.com/Madison-Falk-Photography-606872936114757/?fref=ts

She is an amazing young woman with an amazing future in front of her <3  (no bias here!!)

No other posts this week :(  But I will leave you with some pretty images from Unity Stamp Co that I've water colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.  I've never water colored before so they must be easy to use!!  I am in love with the results.  Hope you enjoy, plus I would be happy to do a quick tutorial for anyone who is unsure where to start.  I got my inspiration from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPycbxfUl-Y

Soon to be Graduation Cards!! Used School Colors on a couple of them

A Dog's Life

Today I put every thing on hold for my son's big event of the Spring.  The local dog show sponsored by his 4H canine club!!  What a great time!  All levels of experience for dogs and kids.

    The irony of this sign at 

the fair grounds hasn't escaped me over the years!  Ha! Ha!  I just had to click a photo to share :)

Since I've no new project to share I thought I'd share a clipboard tic-tac-toe game I made for Jacob years ago! Sampson has only 1 dark colored leg so I colored the dogs that way.  I love love love the papers and colors I used in this.  And the envelope is perfect for keeping the pieces safely with the clipboard!  He could also use it to work on homework or other things when ever he wanted!!

 Remember to CLICK photos for full size images

 

All of the rubber stamps for this project are vintage Stampin' Up!

"Bow Wow" & "Canine Capers"

Sorry I don't remember the origins of the papers!

Coming Attractions!

               I am so excited to share my next couple of projects!

The first is this crystal clear card front that I've made from left over packaging!  I set it on my plate stand to dry after I'd stamped it with this Unity Stamp Co. Sentiment & StazOn Ink - and WoW!!  The picture does not do it justice.  It is beautiful just like that!  But I have other plans for it :) 

Can't wait to share the process. What usually happens is that I get a whole bunch more ideas as I'm making it so likely I'll do several!!!!

Also, I'm really excited to begin the process of making high school year books for each of my kids!!  Have you ever felt like your child was not represented in the schools annual?  I mean who doesn't!!  There is only so much room after all, for every single kid to be equally represented!  So I have been saving for a couple of years, photos of games, school projects, sports, extra curricular, etc 

I like to make my pages interactive so I'll be showing how to do lots of pockets, pull outs, tabs and fold outs!  I am so excited about finally getting this project underway!!  Here's a  fun page I've done for a client in the past  ~just to give you a taste of what's to come !! !! !!

Again, thanks for sharing your time with me <3 ~  Click for full size photos

Reduce Reuse Recycle :)

Today I thought I would share with you how I build a simple card.  I like to reuse stuff that would other wise be thrown away, I find that to be a lot cheaper too!!  Here's what I did: 

Another quick & beautiful option!!

On this one I was excited to be using the wonderful white side of some MFT packaging.  The weight and texture of this paper is pretty close to the card stock I usually use for cards, it is definitely not cardboard. If it were I would've saved it for building a box, embellishment or something else :)

I'll use the pink
another time!

  I also decided that I liked the pink stripes at the top so since I have several of these MFT labels I decided to slice off that part and keep for another project!

You can see that I chose a simple color palette and stamped these pears from Unity Stamp Co. randomly on the white part of the card.  Using accent papers the same colors as  the ink makes it quick and easy. 

A slice from the pears
+ sentiment = beautiful
quick & easy!!

  For the background any of the ink colors used would've worked. Blue, light blue, lime green and soft yellow. 

I could've easily stopped there and added a sentiment but I decided I wanted to texture the background paper.  I also thought a monochromatic pop of color would be nice so I inked the de-bossed side of the embossing folder in the same green. 

Once again that would have been enough for a beautiful card, but I decided to set off the stamped image with a dark blue mat. 

  I wrapped a  double line of pale yellow bakers twine around the pears image, added a bow, and decided to use the lighter blue paper  with a heavier font for the sentiment -- {deciding that the dark thin sentiment got a little lost}.  I rubbed the "thanks" sentiment with a little ink a shade darker than the cardstock to make it stand out more and added dimensional tape before adhering it to the card.

          

Ta-Da!! As easy & simple as the card maker chooses!!           

Here are some additional picts with prompts. CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM   If you've  been wanting to try card-making for yourself I hope this simple tutorial helps alleviate some of they fears you might have had!  Please let me know if this was helpful and what other information you would like to see here in the future. 

Thanks,

Rain on Sunday

Good Morning everyone!!  I have to admit that the tulip photo was taken a couple of day ago in the sunshine, but I love the bright hope that it gives :) 

Currently it is more like this!!!  If you look closely you will see the line in the yard indicating that I Did Not succeed in finishing the lawn mowing!! My crazy teens decided that a thunder storm was the perfect opportunity to enjoy sitting on the deck!!!  I couldn't even get close to the screen door with the camera because there was so much rain coming in! 

As for Sampson, don't be fooled ~ he loves the water, & it was plenty warm outside!  He worked the sympathy card pretty hard, I couldn't stop laughing.  The final humiliation, I snapped this picture!! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Pentecost Sunday, celebrating the day that Christ rose into the heavens in Ever Lasting Glory.  We had a wonderful day of popcorn, movies, conversation and reading.  That's one of my favorite things about rainy days, no good for farming!






You can always click photos to view enlarged

You Are My Sunshine

Even the cloudy days here are beautiful.  Last night I went to bed after a long HOT day of work (I even got a little sunburn!) and this morning it looks like rain.  Still, the birds are making their beautiful racket and everything is a brighter shade of green.  Have you ever noticed overcast days are like that? It's like color enhancement, with a bright gray sky!

Here is a fun card to tell someone you're thinking about them on a rainy day. Again, the stamps all come from Unity Stamp Co!! (I swear they are my favorite!  They have new stamps coming out every week!! For links & more info. see below.)

I had fun with different cloud configurations, & wound up with 2 1/2 cards! I actually cut the stamp in half so that I can easily use it with the rain or without.  Cling stamps make it easy to do stuff like that because you can put more than one cling onto your block so it's all lined up before you stamp! I really lucked out finding the cute clouds washi tape at the dollar store ~ and the perfect color too!!  (click photos to enlarge)


I hope this post brings a little sunshine into your day.  Now I've got to go finish mowing the lawn before it rains!!

having fun with the card back and inside !!

Unity Stamps are all cling mounted and I have found they have the most reliable clingy-ness!  They are also made of deeply etched red rubber which I prefer for a really nice image every time!!


To make the sun peeking out from behind I used part of a set called Blossom Stackers:   https://www.unitystampco.com/shop/blossomhttps://www.unitystampco.com/shop/blossom-stackers/-stackers/. It's a huge set of various flower, doily, and plain circles great for building embellishments ~ and as it turns out, sunshines!! 
The sentiment stamp comes from their Itty Bitty line:   https://www.unitystampco.com/shop/you-are-my-sunshine-ep-itty-bitty/  
I also used one of their brand new sets:   https://www.unitystampco.com/shop/little-sunshine/   for the detailed clouds ;)
The faint lighter clouds were stamped from:  https://www.unitystampco.com/shop/sending-up-something-beautiful/

Spring Blossoms

 

What a beautiful Spring we're having here in the Pacific North West!  Everything here is now in Full Bloom and the air smells like perfume.  It's the time of year I most like having the windows open.  In comes the cool breeze, the fresh sunshine, and best of all the wonderful smells of fresh cut grass & lilacs! 

This year my little crab apple tree has really outdone its self!  The hot pink clusters of those blooms!!  One of my favorite stamp sets immediately came to mind, "Beauty Around You" designed by Phyllis Harris and carried by Unity Stamp Co.  & you can no doubt see why! 

I wanted to make some of the Blooms float across the card, so I kept the negative of the frame I put the image to use as a window.  I cut a piece of clear plastic packaging to give it strength and the look of glass and a place to put accents.

I love the idea of a surprise inside so I created a label to hide one of the children while the card is closed.  The sentiment comes From another Unity Stamp Co Phyllis Harris Design "Best Day Includes You".  I divided the sentiment so the card goes from celebrating the best of Spring ~ to the joyful abandon of sharing it with someone you Love!

Thank you for taking a look at my FIRST EVER BLOG POST!!!  Feel free to comment and come back again; I'll be sharing more of our county life and lots and lots more rubber stamping & paper crafting.  Feel free to use this link to find the rubber stamps I used in this project https://www.unitystampco.com/?s=phyllis&post_type=product