If you give a cardmaker scraps...

...she will make a birthday card!  I am frequently teased about the scraps of cardstock and pattern paper that  I save. "Oh wait! There's still an eighth of an inch of paper there..." ha...ha...ha...

I'm not quite that bad, but I do save pieces that I think can be used, including strips of white cardstock that are 1/2 an inch wide.  Why? They are the perfect size to use with the word window punch and the bitty banners!  I also save smaller pieces of ribbon that can be folded and tucked to dress up an image or turned into something else.  These scraps also keep me from cutting into a full sheet of paper when I only need a tiny piece, and stretch a spool of ribbon just a bit further!

I was in desperate need of some birthday cards, especially kids and gender neutral.  I came across the dinosaur image that I made ages ago and put in my "Do Something With This" box.  We won't talk about how many things are in there... I made this paper pieced dinosaur shortly after I made this card.  The background paper just looked like dinosaur skin! So I used the scraps (seeing a pattern here?) to stamp and paper piece this awesome guy!

notice the scrap of paper used for the banner!

I also made a gender neutral card because sometimes I forget birthdays (gasp!) and then need to grab a card as I walk out the door.  These are great for those occasions!  I managed to use smaller pieces of cardstock for most of this card, but the best scrap use is the ribbon scrap as the tails of the badge.

Now I have a few more cards in my file and a few less scraps hanging around! Bonus!!

I hope you are having a wonderful week and perhaps you'll spend a day digging through your scraps too! Who knows what you might find?!  Thanks so much for visiting!!

Card #1 Recipe: Paper-crumb cake, garden green, whisper white, Woodland Walk DSP (ret), Ink-garden green, crumb cake, stazon black, Stamp Set-Dinoroar (ret), Accessories-pastels, bitty banners framelit, big shot

Card #2 Recipe: Paper-whisper white, daffodil delight, old olive, Ink-night of navy, old olive, Stamp Set-Blue Ribbon, Accessories-circle framelit, 2 1/2 " scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, perfect polka dot embossing folder, chevron embossing folder, denim ribbon

Anything But a Card's Manly Challenge and another graduation card

Hello! So glad you stopped in today! Sunday marked the start of the new challenge at Anything But a Card.  Since we will be celebrating Father's Day soon (in the US anyway), our challenge is anything masculine or something for Dear Ol' Dad.  Remember, we accept any type of art-sewing, mixed media,  scrapbooking, altered items, ATCs... anything BUT a card!  I will be sharing my project next week (need to get busy on that...) and I hope that you will join us too!

Now, on to my card... We celebrated another graduation this past weekend.  I decided to change things up a bit from my last graduation card found here.  I also managed to use up a scrap piece of so saffron paper that was laying on my table!!  My niece's school colors are green and gold, but I thought the so saffron and gumball green were a little softer and more girly.  I colored the rhinestones with a pale green sharpie so they would coordinate with my card colors.  

We had a wonderful time at her party and my brother put together an 'old farts' volleyball team to challenge the younger crowd.  We all cheered when they won, but joked that the 'young punks' would easily beat them in a rematch the next day!  I'm sure some of them were a little stiff Sunday morning!

We have been having some minor mishaps at our house this week.  Half of our house was without electricity this weekend and DH has been using all of his construction expertise to fix it.  He ended up running some new wiring for a few of our outlets and lights.  Hopefully this will fix our issues.  We are planning on building  in a year and hate to do too much to fix our old mobile home, but wiring isn't one of those things we can bypass!  For some reason we seem to think we need air conditioning and lights...

On a happier note, I did find a little time to play this weekend and have some cards to post for Flashback Friday and I'm working on a few other things too.  I hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to be crafty too! Happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Paper-whisper white, so saffron, Ink-gumball green, Stamp Set-Blue Ribbon, Accessories-gumball green ribbon, rhinestones, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch

Congrats, Grad!

Do not adjust your computer monitor! Yes, you really are seeing a midweek post from me!  My poor neglected supplies got dusted off this past weekend to make a graduation card for a very special young man, my nephew! I have plans to clean up my crafting table this week so I can actually find everything again and be productive.  Wish me luck!  I would have done this already, but the weather has been beautiful here and I've been working in our little garden and planting some flowering bushes while I can.

My nephew also graduated this past weekend so it's been a little hectic here.  He is such a kindred spirit and we are often partners in crime in driving his mother, my sister, crazy!  She is a little concerned about him going off to college in the fall, but I know he will be amazing and can't wait to see what he accomplishes in his life.  He is very intelligent, loves to read, and has a wonderful sense of humor.  Did I mention I think he's very special?!  But enough of that, here is his card...

Apologies in advance for the picture! It was very overcast when I took the picture and I couldn't get a good shot.  I had the hardest time putting this together!  Every patterned paper, ribbon, and embellishment that fit the color scheme seemed too girly to me.  I wasn't crazy about the dotty paper, but it was the least girly I had in real red.  I actually took the star buttons from DD#1's stash and colored some white bakers twine with my basic black marker. I think I'll have an easier time with my niece's card next week.

I want to take a minute and send a message to any blogging friends who were affected by the  recent tornados and storms.  My heart goes out to the families dealing with such loss and devastation.  I can not begin to imagine what that feels like.  My family is keeping all of you in our prayers.  Hugs!

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and that you find some time to be crafty too!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-whisper white, real red, real red DSP, Ink-black stazon, Stamp Set-Blue Ribbon, Accessories-chevron folder, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, basic black grosgrain ribbon, bakers twine, star buttons (from DD#1 stash)

It would be a Valentine, but we're calling it a love card...

Now how's that for a post title?  Confused??  Well, if you visit my blog at all, you know that I am a long time card carrying member of the Procrastinator's Club (well, I would have a card if they ever got around to making them...) and on occasion, my procrastinating leads to complete and total forgetfulness.  Today's card was created for a club in February and it WAS a Valentine card, but since it is now mid March, I don't want to look too absentminded, so I'm renaming it a Love card, perfect for an anniversary or just a 'honey, I love you' note.  Clear as mud, right?!  My intentions were to post this for Valentines day, but in my procrastinating to create the post, I completely forgot to make it.  And while I know that some people create Christmas cards all year long to prepare for the holiday, I don't know anyone who makes Valentines all year.    If you do, please don't tell me! I already feel like a slacker for not making enough cards for the times that I do need to send them!!  But enough of my endless rambling about forgetfulness...

Here is the once a Valentine, now a Love card...

I totally pulled inspiration from a dear blogging friend, Carole.  I loved the way she used the heart framelit for her card and had to make my own version!  She of course, was not a procrastinator, and had her card on her blog well in advance of Valentine's Day... I should despise that about her, but she is so super sweet and so much fun that I am willing to overlook her perfections!! Did I mention she has a wonderful sense of humor too?!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my card and don't think too poorly about me and my less than perfect posting habits! Have a wonderful rest of the week and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-whisper white, More Amore DSP, Stamp Set-That's the Ticket, Fabulous Phrases, Ink-real red, soft suede, Accessories-Hearts a Flutter framelits, Chevron folder, ticket duo builder punch, pool party ruffled ribbon

Sorry card...you didn't make the cut...

As many of you already know, I am on the design team at Color Me Beautiful and AnnMarie and Carole really come up with some fabulous color combinations!  I saw the colors for this week's challenge and immediately thought HALLOWEEN!! and I proceeded to make a card, which I quickly decided was not going to be my DT card.  Silly, I know, but I feel like if it's going to inspire someone else, I really need to LOVE it! So I made a new card which was posted on the challenge blog.  But, I didn't hate my Halloween card, so I figured I might as well share it on my blog.  So even though it didn't make the cut for the challenge blog post, it's getting a little love from my personal blog! Apologies in advance for the shadows...

While I really need to use up my DSP, I didn't have a pattern in these colors that I thought matched cute little Frankie's personality! So out came the embossing folder and the sponge daubers to add a little something to the otherwise basic cardstock. The rhinestones were colored with a sharpie to match the rich razz paper. I was thrilled with how well they matched!

So there you have it... I know I'm not the only one who critiques her work, and generally even if I don't love it, someone else does.  I really hope that in some way this is inspiring and I would love it if you found the time to join us in the color challenge!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-tempting turquoise, basic gray, rich razzleberry, lucky limeade, whisper white, Stamp Set-Googly Ghouls, Ink-Black Stazon, basic gray for sponging, Accessories-chevron folder, big shot, lucky limeade ruffled ribbon, basic rhinestones, glimmer brads, word window punch, modern label punch, decorative label punch, googlies, dimensionals

Masculine cards don't have to be scary!!

Hello! I am half way through my first week of school and they haven't made me run for cover yet!! hee! hee! I managed to get my three projects prepared in time for my club meeting this past weekend! Nothing like working under pressure!! The day was so unusually beautiful and cool that we changed locations and went outdoors to a local park.  We ladies sat at a picnic table in a shelter house to get crafty while our children played together on the playground.  Fun for everyone!!  As a payment for their babysitting duties, I took my girls to the local ice cream shop after the meeting for some yummy treats!  I was a little bummed that they didn't have mango flavored Dole whip as the flavor of the week and consoled myself with a pineapple sundae! Oh, the sacrifices I make...  But enough of that!

I had something interesting pointed out to me at our club meeting.  I have never considered myself a great creator of masculine cards.  It is always so much more natural for me to go with whimsical or flowery when I make cards.  Because of this, I always have plenty of feminine and kids cards on hand, but have to make sure I actually have guy cards when the occasion arises.  This led me to the assumption that I am not good at the manly design.  I started off our club saying "I always struggle with guy cards..." and one of the ladies started to laugh. When I stopped, she said "You ALWAYS say that and then show us these great cards!" Hmmm... So now I am going to change my mindset on masculine.  I think it is so easy for many of us to say "I'm not good at..." when we really mean it's not our favorite style.  After all, I live in a home where the estrogen outnumbers the testosterone 3 to 1 (the dog and cat cancel each other out), so I tend to go girly.  But seriously, isn't masculine a lot simpler?  (I know... stay with me for a minute!) Find some manly paper, slap on a sentiment or image, and the embellishing is minimal. I usually do embossing on my cards anyway so really the only difference between the card below and a girly card is what I DIDN'T put on it!  This partially explains my blog title today.

The other explanation of my title lies in the paper.  I used Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP for this handsome card!  Yes, Halloween colors on this paper!! But don't you just love the manly prints in this pack?!  They remind me of some blazers you might find in a second hand store!  I adhered the alternating vanilla and patterned strips onto black cardstock, then embossed them with the houndstooth folder.  The chevron folder added some texture to the basic gray strip, and the brad (from antique brads collection) was the perfect finishing touch.

So no more excuses! Repeat after me-"Masculine cards are NOT scary!" Now go make something manly!  Have a great rest of the week and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, very vanilla, basic gray, basic black, tangerine tango, Ink-stazon black, Stamp Set-Word Play, Accessories-houndstooth & chevron folders, decorative label punch, antique brads