CASEing the great Maile ~

Hello there!  How’s everyone doing?  Hopefully, you are fantastic!  Things are pretty good here, except that Colorado, as a whole is burning to a crisp.  The fire here at High Park {about 20 miles away as the crow flies} has burned over 82,000 acres along with countless homes and has cost over $17 million so far; the fire near my hometown of Durango has burned over 6000 acres with at least two other fires in a 50 mile radius; a fire started in Estes Park yesterday afternoon and has already burned 20 homes!  Of course, there are also fires in Colorado Springs, Pagosa Springs and Leadville…burning up!!  So if you wouldn’t mind, could you please do a rain dance or two for us?  But make sure you add the little booty bop to ward off the lightning, since those just start more fires!  lol Thanks!  We need anything we can get right now!

Anywho, I don’t have anything new to show, so I thought I’d bop in with the card I made for my first niece's high school graduation.  A few months ago, Papertrey Ink introduced some interactive card dies.  I didn’t buy any because, well, I’m broke.  But my sweet friend, Annie, sent me a few to give them a shot.  Thanks Annie Bananie!  Maile Belles made this card for the release, and I knew immediately that I would CASE it completely!  The only difference?  I chose to Copic color my hot air balloons.

The front sentiment is embossed for that extra punch.  Here’s the inside

And a little detail

Thanks, Maile, for all the inspiration!  Have a great day, friends!  :o) lyss

Father’s Day Cards ~

I just wanted to pop in and post the last of my father’s day cards.  I was going to stretch them all out, but since FD is officially over…  I’m finding it hard to do all the things I want to do in a day – blogging being one of them!  lol  Actually, I’ve been reading the Fifty Shades series and just can’t seem to put a book down once I’ve started it!  Not much is getting done around these parts!  I’m also deciding if I want to move my craft room back down to the cave beneath the stairs.  It’s easier to bop in and get a quick post or card done if I can be close to the kitchen or the backyard to keep an eye on the punk and his puppy.  As I’m typing this, they’re downstairs, alone, and I’m feeling anxious!  Decision made!  ha!

Ok, so here’s the one I made for my dad and my FIL.  I knew I just needed to simplify things or I wouldn’t get them done.  I found some DP that I liked but figured I could recreate it with my new stamps from The Cat’s Pajamas, The Mustache Set.  So all of the background papers are made with stamps and sponging distress inks.

The letters are cut with the Cricut.  I wanted some dimension to them, so I glued three of each letter together.  The mustache is from the dies from TCP and is cut from black felt.  The little green button was inspired by this pic on Pinterest.  I also used PTI Background Basics: Text Style and Polka Dot Basics, as well as Verve’s World’s Best.  I figure since there are 3 letters, 2 papers and 1 button, I can enter this in the Papertake Weekly Challenge too!

This next one was for my mom to give my grandpa while she was visiting him this past weekend.  I used the June Sketch for You To Try as my jumping off point, but this card took me forever!  Partially because I was trying to use a negative die cut piece of the DAD that was leftover from deciding the size of the letters I would use on the previous card.  That’s why this card ended up being so big (5.25 inches square).  I ended up scrapping that idea and going with trying to find him a golf tee, preferably a half backed one with a magnet that was engraved with the name of some place he’d visited around here.  We searched all over Estes Park, CO and I even went to the local golf pro shop looking for one that said the name of the place my mom lives, but nothing!  I couldn’t believe it…seems I’ve seen these somewhere before.  Oh well!  The girl at the pro shop was nice and just gave me a tee instead of making me buy a bag of them.

I smooshed the VersaMark pad all over a Cuttlebug embossing folder before running it through and then sprinkled clear EP all over it to resemble a golf ball.  The flags in the background are glued around a toothpick to mimic the flagstick on the course.  I had to color the seam binding with two Copics (the most I’ve used my markers in a while!) to get them to match the flags.  It wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but it works.

Lastly, I spent so much time on all the other cards that I was left with zippo inspiration for the hubby’s card.  Plus, I just don’t know how to top last year’s card.  I ended up home on Saturday night around 6 with no card for him.  I used an image that I already had colored up and always reminds me of our punk. 

I let our punk pick out and apply the buttons with glue dots.  We also answered a little questionaire about *My Dad* and put it inside.  The funniest thing he said is that his dad is 3 years old…there are so many days that I think just that!  lol

Thanks if you’ve made it this far!  Hope you all are having a super week!  :o) lyss

CHALLENGES:

My Craft Spot #59: King of the Grill (masculine)

The Pink Elephant #52: Masculine

June Sketch for You To Try ~

Hi there!  I was asked by my mom this month to make her 2 father’s day cards, taking my total of FD cards to 6 – one for my hubby, my dad, my FIL and my grandpa, plus the two she needed for my dad and grandpa!  Yikes!  I simplified it a bit and made the same card for my dad and my FIL which I’ll show you in tomorrow’s post.  Today is the card that I made for my mom to give to my dad, and I have to say it one of my favorites!  Sorry, I know you’re not supposed to say that about your own stuff, but whatevs!  :o)

I used the June SFYTT as my inspiration, as well as a couple of other challenges.  I didn’t have the stamp set that this sentiment came from (PTI Father Knows Best), so I created it in word and printed it a gazillion times to get just the size I wanted. lol

I cut it out with a classic circles die from Spellbinders and sponged it with Antique Linen distress ink while still in the die.  The mat of the rustic cream/white (not sure which color it is, since I have them both in the same folder) is impressed with the canvas side of the linen/canvas impression plate from PTI.  The leaves are stamped in Memento New Sprout and the edges rolled in Bundled Sage distress ink.  The leaves weren’t quite dark enough, so I, very carefully!, stamped over them again in New Sprout.  Three new leaf buttons tied/laced with brown beading twine finished this off!  CAS and came out completely as I’d envisioned it!  Have a fantastic day!  I’m off to work – yuck!  ;o) lyss

Challenges:

Cute Card Thursday #221: Punch Drunk use punches (or dies??)

Let’s Ink It Up #24: favorite embellishment Buttons!

My Craft Spot #59: King of the Grill (masculine)

The Pink Elephant #52: Masculine

Papertake Weekly: 3,2,1  3 buttons, 2 leaves, 1 sentiment