Happy Fathers Day, aka NOT Woman of the Year day!

Hello and for all of you in the US, Happy Fathers Day!  Today I will be sharing the two cards I made for this special day, one for my dad and one for DH (from the girls, of course).  If you were intrigued by the lovely title of my post, let me enlighten you (if not intrigued...well, you'll just have to scroll down, I guess!).  

I feel like I always struggle to make cards for guys.  Pretty flowers and cute kiddie papers are naturally more my thing and I can whip things up in a snap when I'm going that route.  Masculine is a completely different situation... like embellishing...  Most ribbons are quite feminine and then there's flowers, pearls, and rhinestones... Yeah... not very manly...  Don't get me wrong, I know there are men who would enjoy a beautiful card (and to be quite honest, my Dad would probably love the card anyway), but I always try to add a bit of a personal touch to my cards to fit the people receiving them.  Did I mention both my father and DH are meat and potatoes, truck driving, getting dirty, fixing/making kind of guys? So...no flowers, no pretty ribbon, and no bling!  Instead they always end up with a truck or tool type of card.  

While my card this year is still in the 'tool' genre, it's not covered with saws and hammers.  Instead I pulled out a wonderful background stamp and got to work.  I was moving right along, found some great twine in my stash that looked manly enough and was symbolically patting myself on the back and giving myself all kinds of praise when I went to put the sentiments on the cards.  You will notice that the card on the right is horizontal...yeah...they were both planned to be that way, but there was one little problem...can you spot it??

In my excitement of having such a great guy card design, I did not pay attention to the numbers on the rulers and they were stamped upside down...Might have been kind of witty to have a Man of the Year badge on a backwards card, but then again, maybe not so much... Woman of the Year, I am not!  So now there are two differently oriented cards of the same design!  All things considered, I think they turned out OK and I know both guys will feel loved no matter what their cards look like.

I will leave you today of a slightly aged photo of my first favorite guy-the one responsible for my snarky, sarcastic, quick wit and stubborn streak (just ask my mother, she'll tell you it's ALL him!).  I hope you have a wonderful day and if you still have your dad nearby, be sure to give him a big ol' hug!

Dad and I, just a few years ago! 

Card Recipe:  Paper-basic black, kraft, Stamps-Backgrounds Rule (SU), Sentiment stamp by Inkadinkado, Ink-Tuxedo Black (memento), Soft Suede, Accessories-twine from stash

Steampunk Therapy

Hello! I am so glad to be back to my blog and creating once again!  I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Too many things keeping me busy and no time to create can make a girl grumpy!  I am so glad that it is my turn to share at Anything But a Card.  Gave me a good excuse to bypass laundry and cleaning since I 'had' to make something!

Our challenge this month is Steampunk and those of you who know me well, know that this is quite out of my comfort zone.  I had never made anything Steampunky before joining this team, but the ladies at ABAC are so supportive and encourage everyone to grow, so I can happily say this is my second Steampunk creation.  I still struggle with getting what I want in my head transferred to paper, but it is a lot of fun and a good excuse to buy new things or dig through your treasures for something that will work.

I honestly had NO clue what this was going to be when I started.  I'm still not sure I know exactly what it is, but it was a lot of fun to play!  All I can tell you it is an ATC that features some industrial flower- like things growing in an imperfect garden!

I started with a piece of watercolor paper since I wasn't sure how inky it would get and I wanted it to be sturdy with the metal that was sure to appear on a steampunk piece.  I used the dots mask and a stipple brush to apply so saffron,  crumb cake, and soft suede inks.  Then I added the background stamp Backgrounds Rule in soft suede.  I was sure I had some images or embellishments that would work, but couldn't come up with anything that I liked together. I had this cog image in my head at this point and had zero 'gears' stuff to use.  I improvised with the spoked wheel of a bicycle stamp.  When I finished stamping a row of them, they looked more like flowers than cogs... That got my muse going! Flowers aren't very industrial-unless they have metal centers and copper stems! I also came across a left-over die cut flower and colored it with a copper sharpie and stippled soft suede ink over it to dull it down a bit.  An old button and some metal brads gave the flowers just the right touch of punk, and the copper sharpie made some nice little stems too.  I thought the Tim Holtz tag was the perfect mantra for this piece.  Not everyone can make flowers from bicycle wheels...

I hope you have been inspired to step out of your comfort zone or at the very least, find a new way to use your stamps!  I also hope you will join us at Anything But a Card this month!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Project Recipe: watercolor paper, Inks-so saffron, crumb cake, soft suede, early espresso, Stamps-backgrounds rule, bicycle from Paper Pumpkin kit, metal brads, crochet trim, TH metal tag, button from antique/collectable shop, copper Sharpie