Happy 60th!

Today my dear hubby is turning 60, I had a hard time coming up with a card for him. For me every birthday is a blessing as not everyone has that privilege to celebrate one but of course this is a milestone not just another birthday. At the end I ended up making one of the tower cards Sam at Mixed Up Crafts made recently. 

You know when people say 20 min from start to finish and that is not true obviously, at least to me because it's not even 20 to put the cards together in their video but the honest you have to add the time it takes to gather the supplies, cut the paper etc so if you we planning to only craft 20 and be done with the 10 or so cards they say that may not be happening anyway this card took me a week LOL not that it takes that long the card itself it was just all the thinking that it when after I started and to me all that counts in my process...start to finish! it was pretty easy the cutting bases, and scoring even the OCD scoring, picked a paper and cut it then picked my stamped set and matching die but that's when the problem started I wanted more, I needed more so the die cutting started and before long I was digging for information at the end this is what I ended up with.

No this card doesn't fold flat but that is my fault somewhere I didn't glue right and was not even something, Sam said to be careful but I was just paying attention on something else being straight anyway it's for Bret so no mailing necessary. Each square has something very important in our life or his life mostly our life. The coloring of the hot air balloons were done with Copic Markers and they were cut the small ones 3 times and the big one 4 times plus the color pieces behind from up & away thinlits dies by SU, the happy birthday is from happycalligraphy2stamp by The Stamps of Life stamped with Hero Arts intense black twice didn't want a dark ink as I was stamping the 60 with bahama blue on top and it's by Creative Vision, Big 60, the th comes from memorable moments by SU same ink; the other message if from lift me up also by SU and that was stamped with VersaFine Clair nocturne ink. My base and all white cardstock was Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock and my hot air balloons paper is by American Crafts. I used a mini blending tool to add some color to the clouds with Distress Ink hickory smoke

Happy Father's Day

Wishing all the fathers out there a happy day and hoping you are celebrated as you deserve and remember your children wouldn't be here without you 😁 so you are as important as the mothers are. For the man in my life that has two great kids I made him this card

Pretty simple as not much stamping or not a lot of doing but saw the tools and I am trying to use things in my craft room that have been there for a long time. I made my corner pop up card with Recollections 110 lb, white cardstock then I cut my layers with Stamps of Life stitched squares and Core'dinations raspberry cordial sand it, tear it, emboss it, love it paper it's a double sided paper that Joann used to sell. I added my tools which are stickers by Jolee's Boutique. My easel was done with two dies the nesting circles by LifeStyle Crafts and Stamps of Life stitched circles, the happy father's day is a stamp by Stampendous stamped with VersaFine Clair fallen leaves the other is two stamps that cut up to fit my square and I can't remember the company and I never put on the case and since I don't have my organizer any more won't know a lot of names of products😒 

Feliz Día del Padre

México as the US celebrates Father's day tomorrow, the 3rd Sunday in June so I was debating what to do for my dad, seems it's hard to make a card for one parent and not to out do the other. The companies in the US seems to make lots of pretty sets for Mother's Day or around that time with "honey, sweet" messages that maybe some might use and for dads TO MY opinion are totally very simple IF they come out with any including messages. So having to come up with a card for my dad not having options it's always hard. He can't have a tie card every year especially since he hasn't work in 15 years or more, anyway when I got My Monthly Hero kit and saw a background I did last year with alcohol markers I knew what I wanted to do but somehow I don't know if I used the wrong ink or what but after I stamped with VersaFine Clair nocturne ink on the background it was coming on my fingers not just the black but also the alcohol ink which was done last June so decided to let it dry until the next day. Next day it was the same, still coming off on my fingers and that is a no!no! decided to heat dry but I think I must have heat the yupo paper too much or something as it started like melting so had to go plan B😞

Cut a layer of Bristol smooth surface 100 lb. bigger than I need and using my Altenew  ergonomic brush I applied distress oxide ink: broken china, peacock feathers, faded jeans, chipped sapphire & seedless preserves then cut the layer I needed and stamped the bigger image I wanted with VersaFine Clair nocturne ink then on the other piece stamped the other images fishes and sea life and die cut them then added with Picket Fence Studios life changing blender brush twisted citron, mowed lawn, died marigold, ripped persimmon, seedless preserves and candied apple just to change the color; also cut 3 or 4 pieces in black to give them dimension; the message was from Deseos Pequeñitos stamp set by SU with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink cut it with word window punch, mounted on modern label punch both by SU and added basic jewels pearls; mounted all to Park Lane smooth 110 lb. black solid core cardstock and finally to my base of Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock

Happy Father's Day

These were my other father's day cards I made this year beside Bret and my dad which you will see in the next couple days. For these of course I had to do slimline and since everyone like baseball had to use that theme. 

For my papers I used Craft n Craftin Best Creation Inc and Recollections 65 lb. chocolate cardstock which I cut with square grid windows slimline essential dies by Kraftgali, my base was done with Accent Opaque Digital International Paper 100 lb. Cover Smooth white cardstock, the thinking of you is from dense bubble set with VersaFine Clair pine cone ink, for our oldest that is a dad I used a wish for everything set by SU same VersaFine Clair pine cone ink with Rectangle stitched Framelits

for our youngest that is a stepdad and also for a friend I just added a father's day, one is by MSE and the other by MB

and last but not least for my brother I used el mejor papá del mundo set & deseos pequeñitos set both by SU

Graduation Grade School

Our oldest grand-daughter finished elementary today, not sure if everywhere is the same but finishing 5th grade makes her be done with elementary or grade school and she will be going to Jr High or what now is called Middle School that is from 6th to 8th grade

I made her this card. For my base I used Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock then cover the whole front with a layer of Park Lane 110 lb. smooth black solid core cardstock then a layer of graduation scrapbook paper by Best Creations Inc. For my two front layers, the first was Spectrum Noir 100 lb. ultra-smooth premium white cardstock where I stamped my goodbye which is part of a stamp in the set Rainbow Bridge by Waffle Flower, the grade school is from the set school days by Altenew both were stamped with VersaFine Clair nocturne ink then I stamped a scholar! by PB with W plus 9 Design Studio pure color dye black ink and colored with Copic markers, added Spectrum Noir sparkle Crystal clear glitter brush to the stars. Then I cut my layer with double stitched rectangle die by Kat Scrappiness and matted it with a layer of Park Lane 110 lb. smooth black solid core cardstock cut with Cindy Echtinaw Designs Card Creator Perfect Layers A

Happy 94th

 Today one of my adopted aunts celebrated her birthday, she turned 94! I am hoping to make it to my big 60th in 4 years so celebrating her 94th is a big deal. 

I decided to play with the 3D folders the way Jennifer McGuire had showed a while ago so I dig all the folders I had and since I also took a layering dies class with Altenew I combined both for this card.

For my base I used Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock, then used a layer of Recollections 65 lb. gray cardstock which I cover the whole base then cut a layer of Park Lane smooth 110 lb. black solid core cardstock with Cindy Echtinaw Designs Card Creator Perfect Layers A and embossed it with Mosaic 3D embossing folder by SU with a mini blending tool I applied Brilliance fast-drying pigment moonlight white dew drop ink very careful so I would only get it on the high areas then die cut my Layered Rose die by Altenew Freebie from Simply Cards & Papercrafts Issue 174 using scraps of white and gray papers added some Nuvo Crystal Drops gloss oyster gray, the message is from uplifting thoughts stamp set by Concord & 9^th with VersaFine Clair nocturne ink and cut with rectangle stitched Framelits 

I tried this technique with regular embossing folders didn't work as well so the difference between 3D and regular folder does make a difference 😁

Paper piercing

Back in the day when my eyes were better I used to enjoy paper piecing and paper embroidering now it's hard. With my glaucoma seems like my sight just keeps getting worse and hard on things that I have to focus too much but I found some card front I had made years ago but never made into cards and in one of my groups they had a swap with this theme so was able to join. This is who I finish my card

I mounted the yellow piece on a black Core'dinations 65 lb. paper then in another black base, then added black pearls on the center of the flowers and die cut the hello from hello shaker die by PPP 3 times. The paper piercing was done with a brass stencil

Happy 50th

 Today is my sister-in-law's big 50 and with COVID is not really time for big celebrations still but I still wanted to let her know that from far away we were wishing her a big day.

Used Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock for my base, Recollections 110 lb. blue cardstock for my top layer which I die cut with double stitched rectangle die by Kat Scrappiness, the cake shaker is from KS Crafts I used Suze Weinberg’s beadazzles hot pants for the bits in the shaker. "the big 50" is from a small set Big fifty stamp set by Creative Vision with Bahama blue dew drop ink, I used a Copic for the flame

Paper Pumpkin

 This was one of my alternatives to the summer nights July 2020 kit. I used for my base Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock then I used one of the postcards from kit and then added the light house from my monthly hero creativity in a box kit June 2020 wonder of the northern skies –aurora borealis. The dies was cut 4 times on the bottom it was the full die with the bits and pieces that were colored with Copic markers the on the top one I added Spectrum Noir sparkle Crystal clear glitter brush and finally added the little halo hello steel craft die by Poppy Stamps (cut 4 times in cardstock and the vellum) because it's hard to adhere vellum I always add one white below the vellum that has adhesive on both sides that way I don't have to worry about the adhesive on vellum