happy birthday patrick

I had this idea for a "wallet" for my brother in law's birthday card, and I know I've seen a few in the past, but this morning I sat down and built one from scratch. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. I love it with the croc embossed look, and since I used textured cardstock, it actually has a really nice feel to it, sort of like leather.

I used chocolate chip textured cardstock and a small piece of the medium weight window sheet (now on sale in the Stampin Up! Occasions Mini Catalog) for the inside, and for the outside I added Versamark and clear embossing powder, then drew lines through it before heating it.
The completed "card" has a couple of fast food restaurant gift cards, some cash, and my sentiment in the ID section. Pretty fun to make, and very easy. I'll add the Sonic gift card tomorrow when I'm driving down to their place to enjoy the Clovis Rodeo and celebrate Pat's birthday. The dogs are coming too, so you know they'll have a blast!

just beachy

This is a card I made for a recent swap from the SU! Occasions Mini catalog, which has some great items available until June30. I used the Just Beachy stamp set, as well as the Lazy Days jumbo wheel, and the new Jumbo Grommets. I used a jumbo uninked cartridge, and added drops of reinkers so the whole thing was covered, then wheeled it onto cardstock to get the rainbow effect. It worked out well, I was worried it would give a "muddy" effect, but the colors didn't bleed too much, and looked pretty good (I thought). I also used the SU! texturz plates on a couple of the circle punches, and although it's hard to see, I used one of the "leftover" acrylic circles from the build a brad kit on the fish in the upper left corner. It looks like a pool of crystal effects, but no waiting for drying time!!! To keep the ribbon from buckling, I did flatten 2 of the teeth on the grommet, so it wouldn't pierce through and wrinkle the ribbon. I hope you like it, I thought it was bright and summery.

Jason is 18!

If you spend any time on Patty Bennett's blog (doesn't everyone), you'll know it's been a very traumatic week for her. Her son Jason just turned 18! I can't believe Patty has an 18 year old son, but I was fortunate enough to be invited to his birthday party and there were a bunch of nice kids celebrating so it must be true. I gave Jason a gift card, and knew I wanted it to be in a skinny tin, since I took a class where his mom showed us how to use them for that (and I still have a bunch of skinny tins), but they were pretty girly, and I know that wouldn't be appreciated, so I used the Stampin Up! Tailor Made Simply Scrappin Kit to make it as manly as possible.
I also used the now retired Form and Function background stamp to stamp the front of the tin with Not Quite Navy craft ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I haven't found anything that will keep embossing powder off the rest of the tin (I cleaned it with alcohol and used the embossing buddy), but since it's clear, it looks fine. Using the heat tool on metal gets really hot though, so be careful if you attempt it.

For my final attempt to make it as guyish as possible, I die cut Jason's initials using the tag shaped self adhesive die cuts in the Tailor Made SS kit with the Serif Essentials alphabet and also in kraft cardstock, so I could float the letters on the belly band. I was happy with how it turned out. Not girly at all.

matchbox bunny

I've been having a great time making matchboxes with the new die available from Stampin Up! on April 1st. I had to make a bunny version. Ellen and I were making a 3 high chest of drawers and she found these bunny heads that were from a kit I had years ago, using pom poms and pipe cleaners, all of which are still available. After constructing 3 matchboxes and sticky stripping them together, we made a band to go around the three, and a handle to make it more like an easter basket.

We decided to add the head, and of course, a tail.

Here's what you can put inside:

Fun addition to Easter projects!

another purse

I found this tutorial on Becky Roberts site, http://www.inkingidaho.blogspot.com/, and Ellen and I just had to try it while we were creating this past week at her house. I think we duplicated it almost exactly, we used non-SU! ribbon for the handle, since Ellen didn't have anything that coordinated, but I think the polka dotted pink is great! We also used the kiwi kiss corduroy button for the closure (love those). Check out Becky's blog, and follow along to make your own!

scallop envelope purse

I was going through a lot of email the other day, and I saw something like this, but when I went to recreate it, I couldn't find the post, or remember exactly how it was put together, so I made it up from there. I started with 2 scallop envelope die cuts, cut the bottom tab down to about an inch, then added a strip 1 1/2" wide along the sides. I used sticky strip on the envelope tabs, and it came together easily. I added the word window punch to the front of the purse with 2 brads, and then added another word window punch to the center of the back of the purse with a mini glue dot and another brad. I pinched the sides in to get a crease, but in the future, I'd probably try to do that before putting it together. I think it would look neater. The purse was a little bulky and wouldn't stay closed just by tucking the tab through the front, so I added another brad so it would catch on the cardstock. It stays together nicely now. I want to try this in a few more colors and a couple of other textures and probably in some DSP as well. I'll let you know what I come up with. I attached the grosgrain ribbon (from SAB) with a couple of coordinating brads. Too cute!

dog days 2

During our walk by the creek at Ellen's, the dogs got a little fresh water bath. Louie was herding Ella from the far side of the creek back to the side Ellen and I were on. They had a blast!
Ahhh, success! Those were 2 very wet dogs, and why is it that when they are soaking wet, they choose THAT time to come and give you kisses???