Father's Day card - super late!

I know how completely late this is, but I wanted to share the Father's Day card I made. Things have been SO crazy at work, that I haven't had a chance to post on this blog.

It's a 4 1/4" square card. The image is a digi stamp from Mo Manning and is called "Daddy's Shoes". Isn't it sweet? :) I used my Copics to color him up and used a card from the July issue of Card Maker (pg. 48) as the inspiration of my layout. The paper is from the Complete Boy paper stack by My Minds Eye and the cardstock is from Stampin Up. The sentiment was created with a combination of Lawn Fawn's Sophie's Sentiments set ("happy" and "day") and a Martha Stewart alpha set ("Father").

I'm excited to have a few days off to catch my breath from work. I can finally catch up on a few things around the house and enjoy some time with the family. And hoping that some of the heat we've had in Michigan will let up a bit. These 100* days are for the birds! :) Hope the weather has been a bit cooler in your neck of the woods...and if it has, please feel free to send a bit this way!



Bun In The Oven card!

I haven't played with my Lawn Fawn sets in a while, but this set was calling my name today. It's called "Plus One" and is so cute! And no, I'm not expecting! But there will be a new baby cousin for my kids to play with this summer! How exciting!

So here we are:

And here is the inside of the card:

Copics used:
BG10, BG11, R81, R83, C1, E13, E15
After I colored the oven with my Copics, I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the front to mimic the glass door of a real oven. Unfortunately it doesn't really show up in this picture, but the effect is very cute in person. First I ran my base card through my BigShot for a dotted background. I then used a bit of plaid scrap from the Olivia 6x6 paper collection and a scrap of baby themed paper that's ages old. I think it's from Hot Off the Press. A button from my collection and a bit of bakers twine and the card was finished. I'm thinking about trimming a bit of the plaid off the front of the card...it just seems a little bit out of proportion now that it's all put together. What do you think?
The card sketch is #354 from Splitcoast Stampers. Stop by and join the fun! :)

And here was my desk companion this morning...Jewel spent quite a while sitting under my desk lamp getting nice and toasty! :)

Making cards

I made a few cards recently...it's been hard to get the time to work on projects but I finally had a bit of time to work. I've been in the mood to work on "romantic" cards lately. Perhaps because of Valentine's Day, maybe because I've been watching too many sappy movies! :) Anyway, here are the cards I came up with:

I broke out my Copics for the first time in ages...I love this sweet stamp I found at Hobby Lobby, and have lots of plans for it. I was really pleased at how the shading on the umbrella turned out. :)

Once it was colored, I cut it out and popped it up with dimensional adhesive. I stamped the image on the card front before I layered the cut image and did some quick coloring to match the layered image, although I didn't color the center and I didn't do the same amount of shading as on the top image. The sentiment stamp is from American Crafts, and maybe it's just me, but I never seem to get a crisp image from these clear stamps.

I found this quote on Google some time ago and knew it would be great for a card. I printed it on vellum with my computer, and next time I think I would try to print directly on the card...I really don't like the vellum tape that I had to use to secure it. Maybe it's time to invest in a Xyron sticker maker? The background script stamp is a retired stamp from Stampin' Up. The little heart is from a set of small enamel sticker set I found at Joanns ages ago (I think in their dollar section?)

This image from Stampin' Up was colored with Prismacolors and mineral spirits. I'm really loving the blending abilities with these pencils...so worth the money! (especially with a 50% off coupon from Michaels!) 

I used a Lawn Fawn stamp set for the background and the sentiment stamp is from the dollar bins at Michaels. The Memento ink in London Fog was a little darker than I expected...I was hoping for a more subtle look, but nevermind! I used the same tiny dimensional heart sticker as I used in the second card.

It was great to finally spend a bit of time getting inky fingers. I've missed it, and really need to set some more time for myself to work on things like this. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day. :)

Mornings, a little whining and Robins...

I have a love/hate relationship with mornings. Generally I like them, when I have had enough sleep; something I don't feel like I have had lately. Hubby went to Pittsburgh this past weekend with some of the guys to watch the Tigers play the Pirates and I took the opportunity of that, nice weather, and the motivation of his parents coming into town later this week to do some work. I desperately needed to cut the grass and wanted to do a little painting in the upstairs hall.
That hall has been a nightmare since we moved in 5 years ago. It was covered with 6 layers of very old brittle wallpaper and we found ourselves discouraged even more after discovering that half the hallway has not only wallpaper, but the wall itself is made from some type of pressed cardboard. Ugh. Naturally this is also the wall that goes up the stairs. So I concentrated on finishing the scraping on the other walls. They are finally done and this weekend I put on a couple layers of white paint. Hurray! Today after work I hope to put up a coat of a light of white color and call it done for the time being until we figure out how to finish the rest of the cardboard wall. I really need a few days off. :)

Big D has Field Day at school today. I think I will try to take half a day to help at the school. It's tough; there just never feels like I have enough time to get everything done.

Lil A joined the karate class that Big goes to yesterday. Of course I missed it because I was at work, but Hubby sent me a couple pictures. A tiny little girl in pink right in the middle of a group of little white belts. She was very excited to tell me all about it.

As for crafting, it has been on hold a bit lately. We have had so many home projects and things to do at work that I just haven't had time to do much. Which brings me back to mornings...so tired! If I just have a chance to clean off my craft table this week I will call that an accomplishment! I do have one card to share. I submitted this to Paper Crafts but it wasn't accepted. In looking at it, the sentiment is a bit crooked...but there could be a million other reasons why it wasn't accepted. No worries, I still liked having a sketch to work from and overall I was happy with the way it turned out. Now I have a chance to share it. I used Lawn Fawn stamps, and you know how I love my Lawn Fawn stamps!




I haven't kept up on the Robin family outside our kitchen window, so I wanted to share a few pics from the last few weeks:

Only 3 of the 4 eggs hatched. This was the last picture I could get over the nest. The parents are constantly keeping watch if they aren't on the nest and have no problem swooping down to peck at any intruders (as I found out! lol)

Three mouths were plenty to keep Mama busy! I could still get some pretty good side view photos from the kitchen window and eventually Mama learned that I wasn't going to hurt the nest.

These are the three healthy baby robins today...too big for their nest and working on their wing strength. They are soooo cute! I think they will be gone within a few days, and wish them well!

Hope you have a lovely day!

Keeping busy...

Happy Tuesday! I'm hoping you are having a great day! I have a very welcomed day off after working this weekend. I work at a museum and weekends tend to be busy for us, especially when we are launching new family-focused programs. This one involves a certain little blue engine...that's right, THOMAS the Tank Engine! I will have Thomas related songs in my head for months, I know it! :)

Anyway, on this day off, Lil A and I have been doing a bit of crafting for Mother's Day. Check out this card that we made together...she colored this super cute C.C. Designs stamp (Gretel) and I layered her on a card using Nana's Kids paper, which I have had for ages! The sentiment stamp is from "Just Cheese" by Lawn Fawn. And of course it needed extra flowers and a little bit of glitter on the wings! She is so proud of her card for her Grandma. :)





This is another card that I made today, inspired by DCSrappinDiva1 on YouTube. I haven't used my birdcage die in far too long, so I cut a few using the Lemon Flower mat stack from DCWV. I'm loving this paper!



And an update on the robin...I took another peek into the nest and she has 4 eggs now! Still no sign of the male though. We also saw the most adorable tiny hummingbird right outside the kitchen window but I didn't get my camera in time. Hopefully it comes back.