Lighthouse Sunset

Hey Everybody!
Have you seen the new color challenge on the DRS Designs Blog? I love it!!!! Here's the inspiration photo:

 

Maybe it's because I'm the Mother of 2 boys and I see colors like these all the time, but they inspired me to create a masculine card. I coordinated them with DRS Designs Lighthouse stamp (461G) and thought the yellow, orange and blue would make a gorgeous sunset.  I think I was right! ;-)

 

 

I colored the image with Copic Markers and then used Nestibility dies to cut it out and layer it with coordinating cardstock. I embellished it with a spiral clip and tied some twine in a knot around it.  The A2 size cardstock base was made from Navy cardstock and I layered half of it on a diagonal with orange and light blue cardstock as shown.  I stamped the Small Birthday Wishes" Greeting (020B) at the bottom and adhered the embellished image in the center.

 

Too bad I don't have any masculine birthdays left for this Summer.  This beauty will have to wait until next year! ;-)

 

Have a great day!

 

Smiles,

Jennifer

 

 

 

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Seaside Birthday!

  One of the things I love about where we live in Michigan is that we are close to the water. Growing up as a little girl, it wasn't uncommon for us to spend the weekend on my Grandfather's boat. Swimming and picnic lunches were what the Summers were all about! This Seaside Dock image (1111K) by DRS Designs reminds me of those times. If my Grandfather was still alive, this would have been the perfect birthday card for him.

 

  

I colored the Seaside Dock and the Anchor (434G) with Copic markers. Both of them were matted in red and then with blue. I stamped the first line of the Beach Birthday Greeting (480G) just above the Seaside Dock image. The remaining portion of the greeting was stamped inside the card. I simply embellished this card with two red brads in the bottom right corner, and my card was complete!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today, and have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

  

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Fishing Rules

Today I'm sharing a little fishing humor with you. This could be easily turned into a man's Birthday card or Father's Day card for next year if you needed one, simply by changing the sentiment or verse on the inside of the card. All of the stamps I've used here are by DRS Designs.

Making the background was a little tricky, but so worth the effort. I prefer unmounted rubber stamps and I was able cut the word border away from the image on the Fishing Square (1093L) stamp. I then arranged them on my acrylic block, one line above the next, and stamped it repeatedly until it was the size I needed for the background. I distressed the edges to give it a rustic kind of look. The Jumping Fish (325L) was colored with Copic Markers and then fussy cut. I popped it up with foam tape for some dimension as shown on the card front.  Below it, I fussy cut out and adhered the Fishing Rules (315K) in place.  It was colored with Copic Markers as well.  A decorative corner punch, some gold brads and beige raffia made this card complete.

Well, that's it for today. 
I hope you'll be back soon to see more of my work! 
Have a great weekend!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Lawn Mower's Broken!

It's Thursday already and there's a new challenge on the DRS Designs Blog. The theme this week is The Great Outdoors!

This is the card I made to knock out 2 birds with one stone--the DRS challenge and Father's Day. My Father-In-Law hates to mow the lawn so I thought this would be perfect tor him. I know he'd much rather be sitting in the shade on a sunny day with a nice cold drink in his hand.

For the little scene I created on the card front, I stamped the Brush Lawn Mower (866K) off to the right and stamped the Easy Grass Background (059E) along the bottom. Then I shaded in the area using Copic Markers creating a grass texture. I sponged blue ink around for the sky background, and then I stamped, sponged, and matted the Broken Mower Greeting (863G) in the empty space to the left of the mower. I adhered the card front to a 5.5" x 4.25" red cardstock base and then stamped the On Father's Day (034D) sentiment at the top to finish it off.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this card as much as my Father-In-Law appreciated it! 
Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Fisherman's Birthday

Hello Stampers! 
Today I have a Clean and (rather) Simple Masculine Birthday card to share with you. I've used the Jumping Fish (325L) and the Tiny Happy Birthday (1081A) sentiment.

I started by stamping and coloring the image with Copic Markers.  It was cut out using a decorative Nestie Die that fit the image tightly and then I sponged light blue ink along the top edge of the image to create the sky. 

The background panel was matted with green trim and I used an embossing folder to give it texture.  The image was adhered in the center and I added 3 Copper brads to the circles on the far left side.  I embellished the bottom of the image with some natural twine that was wrapped around twice and tied in a knot. Next, I created a tag using the Birthday sentiment as shown and it was adhered just under the twine knot.  The image panel was adhered onto a blue cardstock base that measures 4.45" x 5.5." 

Does Dad like to fish? Don't forget that a card like this could easily be turned into a Father's Day card by just changing up the sentiment. 

Thanks for visiting here today!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Golfer's Birthday!

Even though St. Patrick's Day and Easter are right around the corner, I'm taking a break from creating cards for those holidays at the moment.  I'm thinking Spring and Summer right now, cause they're right around the corner too!  Today's weather inspired me to create this Golfer's Birthday card.  It was a rather Spring-like day with temperatures about 60 degrees and with this kind of weather, I know many of my family members are eagerly thinking "GOLF!"

 Since it was so nice out, I kept things CAS so that we had time to go outside for awhile.  Both stamps are by DRS Designs.  I stamped the Silhouette Male Golfer (038G) on the pennant.  The inked frame was created by masking off the edges with Post-It Notes and sponging blue ink around the image and I inked the edges of the white card front as well with the same ink.  I used a border punch for the decorative layers in the background and once the layout was in place on the card front, I stamped the Back Nine Birthday Greeting (658F) in the space next to the pennant.  Finished card size is 5.5" x 4.25."

Are you inspired by this card, but want to make it more feminine?  No problem! Use pink cardstock instead of the blue and stamp the 

Silhouette Female Golfer (1149G) on the pennant instead of the male! 

Have a great day! 

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Masculine Pines

Hi Stampers! Happy Wednesday to you!

Today I'm sharing a masculine Birthday card that I made over the weekend. I know many Stampers struggle with masculine themed cards since many of us are so used to embellishing our cards with lace, ribbon, flowers, and bling! Unfortunately, those embellishments don't work well for the guys, but when the Double Tall Pines (741P) came out in DRS Designs latest release, they immediately screamed "masculine" to me. I challenged myself  to give a masculine themed card a try and I love how this one turned out!

This was fairly easy to create.  More or less, the most involved part was all of the coloring and shading...Time consuming, but not difficult.  To start, I stamped the pines on the far right side of a piece of white cardstock and colored them with Copic Markers. I used a Post-It Note to mask off the bottom so that I could sponge the ground with brown ink and then distressed the edges all the way around with the same ink. Next, I stamped the Buck Bust (319K) on a separate piece of white cardstock and colored it with Copics as well. I used an oval Nestabilities die to cut it out and sponged brown ink around it while it was still in the die.  After matting the image, I adhered it in place as shown, slightly overlapping the pines.  The Birthday Sentiment that I stamped above the Buck image was part of the Birthday Multi Greeting (219P).  I matted the card front on brown cardstock and embellished the bottom with some natural hemp cord (used for jewelry making) that was wrapped around twice and then tied in a knot.  It was finally adhered to a green cardstock base. 

I hope I've inspired you to get creative and stamp some masculine cards. I find they are easier to make when I'm not under the pressure of actually needing one. 

I challenge you to give it a try!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Grill Master's Birthday!

Posted By Jennifer E.

If your Summer's are like ours then your grill is out all the time and we grill it up daily it seems!  How about making a Birthday card for your Grill Master?  I created this one with stamps from DRS Designs.  

I colored Grilling Guy (820K) with Copic Markers.  I masked him and then stamped the Easy Grass Background (059E) to the area around his feet.  I split up the Grill Master Birthday Greeting (145G) so that it fit above and below the decorative panel.

  Although it's hard to see, I also used a Glaze pen on his eyes to give them a realistic look.  Ribbon and brads finished off this 4.25" x 6" card--had to make it a bit bigger than an A2 size to fit the width of the image and the sentiment together. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Sports Fun!

Woo hoo! I was able to play with another Splitcoast Sketch Challenge!  Here's my take on last week's SC343.

This could possibly be a birthday card for a boy by adding a happy birthday sentiment like the Birthday Boy Greeting (590E) on the inside.  I used the Four Corner Sports stamp (734G) from DRS Designs to create the background design.  I colored each of the sports icons with Copic Markers and cut them up into strips to fit the sketch.  The sentiment, also from DRS Designs is the All About Fun Greeting (1042E).  I cut it out with a scalloped circle Nestability die and sponged it with orange ink before I took it out of the die.  The finished card size is 4.25" x 5.5" and I finished it off with some chocolate brown ribbon and brown brads. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I appreciate your visit!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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For a Man's Birthday!

Is this the perfect Man card or what!?!?!?

This Beer is the Answer (G486) sentiment and the Large Beer Mug (H557) are from DRS Designs.  That sentiment just makes me laugh!  I only used the beginning portion of this stamp, but the other half reads "Now I just have to remember the question!"   I added the small one line Happy Birthday sentiment (B250) and added a single rhinestone on either side of it.  Yep, those are rhinestones! I colored them with my black Copic Marker.

 What man wouldn't love this card on his birthday? I"m so used to heavily embellishing my cards that this looked too plain to me.  So, I dressed it up a bit by adding Stickles to the foam part of the beer and then I created the look of real glass by putting Diamond Glaze on the mug. Now, if only there was a way for me to make it "cold!"  ;-)

Smiles,

Jennifer

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I'm Hooked on You!

One of the new sentiments recently released by DRS Designs is this "I'm Hooked on You!" sentiment. Perhaps a little pun on the word, "hooked," but I immediately thought about this fish image to go with it. Does your Hubby like to fish? This would make a fun anniversary card for him!

This card was pretty simple to make: image colored with pencils, layered, embellished, adhered to embellished card front, then adhered to dark blue cardstock base! Viola!

Stamps: DRS Designs- Jumping Fish (L325), I'm Hooked on You Sentiment (D1103)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink French Blue
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Nesties, Brads By Joann's Scrap Essentials, Ribbon By Michael's Special Value, Metal Ribbon Slide-unknown
Finished Card Size: 5.5" x 5.5"

Looking for some Freebies???

There are 3 ways to win some new & fun free stuff right now...

1. Free rubber from DRS Designs for submitting your stamping & paper crafting Tips and Tricks to Sue at submitdrs@yahoo.com. If she picks your idea you win!

2. Vicki still has some free DRS Designs Cutie Pie Kid Stamps up for grabs in her blog candy package. Click on her name to read all about her give-away & how you can participate. Blog candy ends Sunday July 26th 8pm (CST).

3. Beth from Sunflowers and Dragonflies Creative Designs is giving away a Nestability set for your participation in her blog challenge. Click on the store name to see this week's "For the Birds" challenge and what you need to do to participate.

Good Luck in trying to win all of the freebies out there right now!

Thanks for visiting today!
Smiles,
Jennifer

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Happy Father's Day!

I'm pretty sure that all of the people who read my blog are women with interests in stamping and scrapbooking, but in case there are a few dads out there lurking, Happy Father's Day to all of you out there! (and if you are a lurking dad, please leave a comment--I'd love to hear from you!)

Do you have plans to visit dad & family today? We'll be spending time with my dad later tonight for dinner. Here's the card I made for him.

This stamp is new to me. We just had a Hobby Lobby open in our area & all last week the scrapbooking area was 50% off! I couldn't resist a sale like that and had to buy this stamp! I inked it up right away and just knew that it would make a great Father's Day card!

Overall this was a pretty quick and easy card to make. I started by coloring the light house, sand & water with Prismacolor Pencils and blended the colors with Gamsol. I created a Post-It Note mask & sponged blue ink lightly around the light house. I used last weeks CPS Sketch #120 for the layout using my Cuttlebug, brads, ribbon and twine. The ribbon and twine were left over from Christmas gifts we received--I love recycling things like that! The sentiment was 3 separate foam stamps that I had in my stash from a scrapbooking lot I won on eBay a while ago. I can't believe in all of my stamps I don't have a single Father's Day sentiment! Guess I'll have to put that on my wish list, and maybe now that Father's Day s practically passed I'll find one on sale for future use!

I'm very happy with how this card turned out! After my last bout of "lost mojo" which was so severe it was scary, everything about this card fell perfectly in place, just like it was all meant to be. Now, if everything happened like that all of the time, I'd be so much further ahead in creating cards and typing up blog posts ahead of time. But, since it's not, I'm going to continue to strive for it!

Stamps: Stampabilities Beacon of Light, sentiment unknown
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in French Blue,
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Divine Swirls Embossing Folder, ribbon unknown, twine unknown, brads by The Paper Studio
Finished Card Size: 4.5" x 6.5"

Thanks for taking time out today to stop by and see my work. I hope you've enjoyed seeing this card today & that you have a wonderful day with family and friends, or just relaxing at home!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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Golf!

Hope your all having a great Saturday! My hubby & I are getting together with friends today for a BBQ--the girls are getting together to stamp, the guys are getting together to, well you know, do the stuff guys do! LOL! I'm so excited!

Today I want to show you this card I made earlier this week that features the new Graphic Golf image from DRS Designs.

Have you noticed the detail in each of the letters in this image? You can click on either of these images if you need a closer view. The "G" is textured with grass patches, the "O" has golf balls on it, the "L" has flags on it, and the "F" has golf tees on it. Cute & clever I must say!

I colored this image with both Prismacolor Pencils and markers. I also used the SU! Photo Corner punch to add some color and the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder to make the background look like the texture of a golf ball.

Stamps: DRS Designs- Graphic Golf
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Bic Markers, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles Embossing Folder, SU! Photo Corner Punch and Ticket Corner Punch, Ribbon-Unknown, Brads by Making Memories
Finished Card Size: 5 3/4" x 4 3/8"

Well, sorry for the quick post today, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on the computer today. I have to get ready for the BBQ & finish getting ready for Father's Day too! I'll be making my Father's Day card later today--nothing like waiting til the last minute! I hope to be able to show you it tomorrow. I already have an idea in mind, I just need to sit down & create it!

I hope you have a wonderful Summer Saturday filled with your favorite things!

Thanks for visiting today!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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Cute Card Thursday Challenge-Quotes!

DRS Designs is this week's sponsor on the Cute Card Thursday Blog. The challenge is "quotes."

I thought it was only appropriate to use an actual quote & what could be better than this one from Ben Franklin? The image & sentiment are from DRS designs and I attempted last weeks SCS sketch challenge #232 for the layout.

I colored the beer mug image with marker...


...and used lots of black grosgrain ribbon, some brads, and a spiral clip to decorate it!

Stamps: DRS Designs- Large Beer Mug (H557), Franklin's Wisest Words (E1101)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Georgia Pacific, Colored Cardstock by The Paper Company, American Crafts
Accessories: Bic Markers, Nesties, Brads by Joann's Scrap Essentials, Ribbon by Bobbie M. Designs, Spiral Clip by The Paper Studio,
Finished Card Size: 7.5" x 5"

Feel free to participate in the quote challenge too. You have a chance to win some great rubber designs and quotes from DRS Designs for doing so on the Cute Card Thursday site. Make sure to post your challenge card on their site for a chance to win.


So, do you have a favorite quote?

Smiles,
Jennifer

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"Beer is Proof that Gods loves Us!"

In my new package of rubber from DRS Designs the other day, I received this fun quote from Ben Franklin. "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." I can see myself using this quote over & over for all of the masculine cards I need to make over the next year!

Here's my first one, using this week's CPS Sketch 111 for the layout. What guy wouldn't love getting a card like this for his birthday?

This sketch was pretty easy to work with. I colored the beer mug image with marker and painted the "foam" with Shimmerz. Then I added Diamond Glaze to the mug and handle giving it that real glass look.

Stamps: DRS Designs- Franklin's Wisest Words, Large Beer Mug
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by The Paper Company and Bazzill
Accessories: Bic Markers, Nesties, Diamond Glaze, Opal Shimmerz
Finished Card Size: 4.25" x 6.5"

My Husband doesn't really understand my card making addiction. Regardless, I always show him my cards and ask him what he thinks and I usually get a response like "Oh It's perfect!" with tons of sarcasm. However, when I showed him this card, his face lit up & he said that he "liked this one, now only if you could make it a scratch and sniff!" Little does he know that we can actually make scratch & sniff cards, but how would you create the beer smell? Do they make beer flavored Kool-Aid???

I guess to some, beer and happiness go hand & hand. Maybe Ben Franklin was right, but all I do know is that boys will always be boys!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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