Father's Day Card for My Hubby

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

My hubby is a wonderful dad and husband. He has raised 5 children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and that is the theme of this card: Thanking him for encouraging our children in the right direction, avoiding the wrong directions (and they are many), and encouraging the right path that pleases God. And I used CTMH's set Road Signs to do it.

I found a really cool card design via Pinterest which was very easy to make. I basically made the card to fit into a 6"x6" envelope, and cut it as I would normally. Then I cut it across the front part where I wanted the upper part of the opening to start. Then I took the piece I cut off, lined it up at the bottom, marked where I wanted to cut it, and trimmed it to fit up to where I wanted it to stop. The main image piece will hold the bottom piece to the top piece. 

I stamped all the black images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink with my homemade stamp positioner for clear stamps. It worked so well to ink up those solid images thoroughly. I also used it for the red background on the stop sign, which is not actually red, but clear Versamark ink. 

I had purchased some Park Lane embossing folders at JoAnn's recently (their new line, I think) and thought that the Chevron pattern would go well with the other images on the card since it looked "arrowish". The embossed image was not terribly deeply etched, but that can be a good thing, especially on designer paper which usually tears when using the Cuttlebug folders. The Chevron folder is one of the bigger folders.

I used an image from ye olde Stampin' Up! Seaside Sketches. The dad and son image works so well for Father's Day. I colored it with Copics and popped it out to add some pizazz. And I popped the whole piece out when adhering it to the top and bottom parts of the card.

Inside the card I added mini-brads to line up along the bottom of the open space. As usual, I did not do a great job of lining them up. Who cares? I had planned to put a saying in the empty space, but nothing I had fit. So that should be your #1 decision before making this card design. As it was, I left it blank and stamped Happy Father's Day inside. No biggie.

Well, that is all. Thanks for looking! Take care.

Stamps: CTMH Road Signs, Stampin' Up! Seaside Sketches, Hero Arts C1401 Happy Father's Day

CS: Black, Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, various Copic markers

Other: Park Lane Chevron embossing folder, Nestabilities Labels Two, Antique mini-brads, foam tape

Grandson Birthday Card

I can't say it enough...It feels good to be stamping again! I made a sort of new year's resolution that I wanted to start making cards for family and friends on their special days like I used to. And so far I'm sticking with it. The first birthday of the year is for one of my grandsons. It's his 17th.

I just pulled out a bunch of sort-of masculine papers and got busy. The only parts that I stamped are the car and the sayings inside and out. The rest is the way the paper came.

I did the gatefold design again (my favorite, apparently!) with the black cardstock measuring 5"x 10" and scored at 2.5" and 7.5". 

I had so much trouble trying to figure out what the front should look like. Then I looked through my punches and grabbed the Stampin' Up! Spiral Punch and edged one side with it and voila! I was inspired! It was not easy going through 2 layers of paper at once! I had to bear down hard to get it to go through!

 I then grabbed my Crop-a-Dile (is anyone still using this great tool?) and made 3 holes and added rivets. 

Then I realised that I would now have an issue with the inside paper showing through the holes to the outside. And there would be those ugly holes inside. So I made holes on the inside and then pressed 3 rivets with the Crop-a-Dile and glued them on the inside to cover the holes. It worked to fix the problem.

I used the SU Ticket Corner Punch to add some visual interest to the greeting piece. And I used black Velcro dots to help the card stay closed.

Inside the card I made a cellophane pocket to put a gift card in. I took an A2 clear envelope and trimmed it to fit the back of the center piece. I glued it down on all 4 sides and added 2 pieces of designer paper to hold it down and dress it up. It opens from the side. You can see the cellophane envelope in the picture below. The saying underneath was stamped before adding the gift card window.

It worked pretty well! I did have to trim the gift card a bit to get it to fit inside because it was too long, but otherwise there were no issues.

 And this is what my stamping area looked like when I was finished. I'm a messy stamper! But I do clean it up when a project is done!

April will be the next month with birthdays. Until then, I'll be working on some friendship cards. I hope you have a good week, and thanks for coming by!