My Dad's Day Card

Michelle Zindorf is so inspiring and wonderfully creative. She is also very talented and sweet to take the time to share all of her creations with step-by-step tutorials of how to create amazing cards with your brayers - a tool a lot of stampers forget I think.


This card is my first attempt at creating a sunset themed card. It turned out okay; there are some things that I would do differently. I chose to use glossy card stock - so not necessary. I chose to emboss my image - again, not necessary since it is just a black image. It also created an area that doesn't see ink without sponging (see the white areas around the image?). When applying the different colors, I came up with a line between the different colors. I cleaned my brayer and went over the whole thing again to blend the colors but I ended up with more Pumpkin Pie along the base than I would have liked. Next time, I think I will blend from the bottom to the top and clean my brayer in between swipes.


Have any of you tried this technique? Post a link in the comments! I'd like to see what others have done and what other tips you may have for this beginner! :o)


I also finished the inside of the card. I matted a piece of So Saffron inside and used the same branch image to stamp a little frame across the base and slightly up the sides, then sponged around the entire edge. I, personally, took this idea from Denise, aka Peanutbee. I realize that many stampers do this, but she was the first to make me take notice because she always posts a pic of the inside of her cards and it's such a wonderful finishing touch! Of course, I forgot to take a pic of it before I wrote in it! Doh!


Thanks for looking! Hope you all have a fantastic day! ~lyss


Stamps: Artfully Asian, Brushstroke Alphabet


Colors: Basic Black, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust

Blog Candy

K...I don't have any blog candy, but go here and enter for some really fun new stamps from Doodle Factory. They are super cute!

Things that make me happy...

I have one card to show from Father's Day that I attempted for my dad. I'll show that on a later post. I wanted to show some of the things in my life that make me happy. The first are my two men - DH and DS. I love this pic of daddy showing his little guy some love! :o) Honestly ladies, is there anything that warms your heart more than seeing your sig other love on your kiddos?!?!?

Next are pics of my front flower garden. My dogs don't allow me to have one in the back! LOL! The burst of sunshine is called Coreopsis spp. I have a couple different kinds in my small garden because I love things that flower throughout the summer. Just keep deadheading and you have wonderful color all summer long! The purple is a Clematis; unfortunately, this particular one was ripped up along with the tree it was climbing up by the tornado! I just planted two more - one white and one crimson. I hope they make it!

This odd little flower is from a succulent called Hens and Chicks. I was getting a macro shot with my new camera and out popped this little grasshopper. Quite a catch if I do say so myself!

Lastly, we have the newest addition, Lantana. I love all the different colors in this little beauty. We'll have to see how she handles the western exposure of my front lawn! On my patio this year, I also have my garden. I hadn't yet had the time to plant my garden when the tornado roared through town (thank goodness!). Since we don't have a fence yet, dogs, workers, whoever wants to just walk right through the yard and garden area. So.....I potted all my garden plants on the front porch. I have jalapenos, poblano peppers (for stuffing...mmm, yummy!), tomatoes, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, basil and cucumbers. I also put a pumpkin in a side flower garden. Since I love to hang out on my front porch, maybe I'll actually pay more attention to my garden this year! :o) Thanks for looking! Hope you all have a great day!

Another Question:

I haven't been stamping anything that I can show just yet. I'm making calendars for my MIL and my mom of their new grandson, the most handsome, little cutie patootie on the planet! (I'm not biased at all!) I am doing them month by month so they have updated pictures of the little guy. I got a bit behind on my mom's, but since she sees him everyday she doesn't mind. Anyway, since these aren't yet finished, I can't show them to you yet. Anyhoo....

Here's my question: I am seriously thinking about removing my Stampin' Up! rubber from the wood blocks and putting it on EZ Mount. Has any one done this? Are you happy with the results? I find I am liking my acrylic stamps more and more because I am such a perfectionist, and my SU rubber gets passed over. I would love to hear any positive or negative feedback. Thanks! Hope you all have a great day!

Question for all you bloggers out there:

Anyone know why sometimes you can't click on a picture to make it go bigger? A couple of my card pictures won't open in another window and I don't understand why. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Happy Anniversary baby!

2 years! I'm kind of surprised we've made it! Ha ;o) Yes, we are one of "those" couples that got married on 6.6.6. What an easy anniversary to remember - I know my DH will never forget! When we met and fell in love, my husband told me he would never have another kid he wouldn't raise and he would never get married again. After I stayed with him for 5 years, I guess he kind of figured that I wasn't going anywhere and he couldn't deny me the joy of having my own kiddo. We didn't want to spend the money to have a big wedding, so we walked into the clerk and recorder, said our 'I dos', paid $10 and the deed was done! Short and sweet :o)

Baroque Anniversary

While checking all my favorites the other day, my jaw dropped to the floor with this stunning card. Laurie has such an amazing, elegant style! When trying to decide on a design for my husband's card, my mind kept going back to Laurie's card. So I CASEd it! I used vellum, Basic Gray and black cardstocks, black and silver reversible satin ribbon (oh, so gorgeous!), Going Gray, VersaMark and StazOn Jet Black inks, Baroque Motifs and PTI Out on a Limb stamp sets, some silver and black embossing powder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Nestabilities, ticket corner punch and a sponge. I didn't have any silver brads (can you believe it?!?! That's like a stamping staple!), so I used some primary colored ones that I will probably never get through, heat them up, dunked them in some silver ep and heat again. Turned out just the way I wanted them! I needed a way to attach the vellum that is stamped with the PTI sentiment to the black cardstock, so I used the brads. I think everything else is pretty straight forward.

Thanks for looking! Hope you all have a great weekend! We'll be removing stumps, doing more tornado clean up, and getting the hot tub fixed. I'm ready for some 'me' time! :o) lyss

Artfully Asian Bookmarks

Thank you for your well wishes and thoughts for my neighbors. I realize that many people have been through this before, or have perhaps seen it first hand themselves; however, until you see it, you never realize the devastation. It will take a long time to re-build all those homes and lives, but maybe people will get to build things the way they want to or change the things in their homes that they didn't like. You know, get a kitchen remodel out of the travesty! Gotta look on the bright side ;o)

Since I haven't had time to even look at any of my stamping stuff (except for all the blogs I stalk), I thought I would post some bookmarks I love to make. I think these are so fun and easy. Such a great gift to give in a card with a gift card to Barnes and Noble or something. Artfully Asian is one of my absolute favorite SU! sets. I like the sentiment, Each day provides its own gifts, and the font that it is in. I just love everything about it.


The black bookmark is embossed with black ep and colored in with markers, Mellow Moss and Ruby Red. The brown one is stamped in Chocolate Chip and colored in with the same markers. I don't remember what color I did the Rough Texture wheel in - it might just be 2nd generation Choco Chip. Both bookmarks have the above sentiment stamped on the back side, embossed on the black one in black ep - such a classy look. It really is pretty if you haven't tried it before.

Whoops! Had another one here that I had done with the leaves from the set, but I accidentally deleted it when I was editing my post and don't have the pics on this computer. Maybe I'll come back and add it later on tonight. I was trying to copy this card by Alisa Tilsner. Her water coloring is so amazing and I had just gotten the watercolor pencils from SU!, so I just had to try it.

Anyway, thanks for looking and hope you all are having a wonderful day!

lyss

ETA: Here's the pic. I had actually tried to make the card that Alisa had made and I couldn't get my piercing straight, etc. So I chose to recycle the image into a bookmark :)