I’ve finished all the Father’s Day cards on my list, so guess what I’ll be posting. This one’s for my brother John. He’s an oiler, climbs into those big ol’ mining trucks like Ukes and gets down and dirty.

 

I took a page from a pad of paper with grunge/steampunky-ish images on it and attached a few gear-cog-type embellishments. Silver lettering spells out his name. I used a simple gold brad on the inside. You can’t see it, but I traced around the images on the inside with a sparkle-silver pen to give it a hint of a glint. (I digitally covered the mushy hand-written sentiment, so there isn’t actually a weird grey box.)

Even though I tell my big brother how much he means to me, I don’t think he realizes just how much. He’s one of the funniest, hard-working, loyal, most endearing guys you’d ever want to meet. I love him a lot.

 

I threw my hat in the ring for this give-away for a corrugated-looking ceramic dish and won!

One of the corners crumpled in shipping, but the cool thing is it actually looks like it's meant to be that way. This happy accident just added more character to an already unique piece of pottery.

Thank you, Storage Geek and Greyslater for being awesome!

Gibbs

Hey, Gibbs, ya have a little somethin' on your mouth.

Mother's Day, Happy Birthday & Get Well Cards

 

Although my mother is no longer of this world there are still many important women in my life. This year I let them know how much they mean to me.

I picked up a giant art book at Savers with the most beautiful images specifically for the purpose of using them for cards and scrapbooking. As soon as I saw this image I knew it would be for my sister. It reminds me of her and her daughter when she was about this age as well as our love of the ocean. I cut out the image, ran it through my die cutting machine, attached it to a piece of card stock after punching the corners with a frilly corner punch, and added a bow tied from vintage ribbon.

For the inside I cut 2 more pieces from the image (it was quite large), put strips of matching card stock at the center and stamped “Happy Mother’s Day.” I cut out the description of the painting located along the sidebar of the book and enclosed it with the card because sister likes stuff like that.

This is for my best friend. She's a do-it-yourselfer, so I chose this image of a woman doing some plumbing. It's cut from some wrapping paper I've had tucked away for eons.

I used an oval die, ran it through my Vagabond and stamped "Happy Mother's Day" at the center.

 

For my best friend's mother. She's like a second mom to me.

 

This one is for my awesome mother-in-law. I recently made her a birthday card and she was so thrilled with it she said she was going to frame it. For now on I need to live up to that expectation. No pressure. haha! I cut the ladies from a post card that came with a scrapbook order, used the lady button (one of several packages my daughter gifted me) and threaded it with twine. The polka-dotted paper was cut using my die cutting machine and then layered it with other papers.

I used the polka-dotted pieces left over from cutting the piece on the front to border the inside. I find it difficult to throw pieces like this away, so I'm always trying to use them up to justify the paper hoarder in me.

 

 

This is for my mother's best friend who is now in her mid-90s. My mom is gone now and so are her best friend's children. She's lost most of her family and friends, so I'm happy I can send this to her.

She'll love the buttons.

For my sister-in-law. I fussy-cut the edges of the card stock then applied it to the plaid. I used scraps from the 2-sided plaid card stock for added interest, fabric flowers attached with a pearl brad, and stamped the greeting.

She called me when she got it. One of her son's dogs got a hold of it when it was delivered through her front door and chewed a corner. I told her next time I'll hand-deliver it.

 

I made a couple more after I took the group photo. This was made for my sister's mother-in-law who used to sew up a storm. She's in her 80's now so she doesn't sew as much as she used to. The button portion of the card was cut from my daughter's Silhouette.

She's one of the sweetest women I have ever known.

 

This card was a challenge because it's going to someone who has lost both of her children. Mother's Day is bittersweet for her and I just wanted her to know I was thinking of her.

I also made a birthday card for one of my closest friends (I am blessed to have what I consider several life-long best friends!). I used one of my Sizzix alphabets for the first time. I cut her name out of a shimmery blue sticker-backed card stock.

I borrowed my daughter's banner punch, it's adorable! I used baker's twine to pull it together and a couple of tiny brads to attach the parchment paper sentiment. Another punch was used in the corner to cover up an uneven cutting. Another punch borrowed from my daughter, clouds, punched from silver reflective sticky-backed card stock.

 

The other night my daughter texted me and said one of her friends had surgery and would be off of work for a few days, so she was putting in an "order" for a get-well card. She said she liked purple. I had it finished by the time she got off work. Go me.

Father's Day cards next. My dad has been gone for eons, but there are still special men in my life and I want them to know it. Crafting for men can be challenging, but I'm up for it. I think.

Chair-i-Tea

We decorated a table for a "Chair-i-Tea" event hosted by the Salinas Valley Community Church, a fund raiser benefiting a few worthy causes in our community. Our table was for our city's Animal Shelter. Lots of photos and more about our table on my flickr.