{shades of pink}

Masculine Birthday

Wow, I have to admit that I have really turned into a blog-slacker! All I can do is try to be better. I think part of it is that I'm outside during most of my free time during the summer. The last thing I want to do when I leave work is sit at my computer!

Today I have a very simple masculine birthday card. It's been so long that I made it that I honestly don't have the card details. The main image was colored with pastels and the card colors are Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green and Naturals Ivory.

Thanks for looking!

I'm back!

 Wow, I didn't quite realize how long it's been since I posted. Life seems to be moving at warp speed these days. To recap since the last post, both Cody and I played in the 2008 Summer Badger State Games golf tournament. Cody is the 2008 Championship flight winner! He had 9 competitors in his flight and he won in a sudden death playoff, so I'm very proud of him. I also got a silver medal, but since there was only one other lady in my flight, it doesn't seem as great. I did play very well on the second day though, so I was happy with that.

After that we immediately left for a week of camping and outdoor excitement in northern Wisconsin. The highlight was a combo 3.5 hour kayak/9.5 mile bike excursion. Hopefully we can do more of that in the future. The week after that we spent working on a home remodel project. We have (had) an unfinished enclosed hot tub room that we now have almost finished. I'll post some before and after pics at another time. Now I'm back at work trying to get back into the swing of office work after two weeks off!

The card I have today is pretty simple, as always. The colors are vintage violet, creamy caramel and naturals ivory. I used the Toile Blossoms. The image is watercolored and the bottom two layers have images stamped color-on-color for some texture and interest. I finished the card with a little bit of brown ribbon.

That's all I have for today. Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, I'll be blogging with a little more regularity. But maybe not until after I see Dark Knight!

Father's Day Cards

I've got two Father's Day cards to share. The top card with the fish paper was for Cody's dad, who is an avid fisherman. The card is extremely simple, as is the next one. I'm finally seeing the beauty of simplicity in card making. The colors of this card are True Thyme and River Rock, and it was finished with a little bit of hardware.

The second card was for my dad, who likes birds. The colors are ballet blue, basic gray and naturals ivory. The bird image was watercolored for a soft look and the actual bird was cut out and raised on dimensionals.

Gardening

   I'm the very first to admit that I know nothing about successful gardening, but I'm giving it my best try this year for sure! Last fall I planted tulips in my whiskey barrels, and sadly, only 2 plants came up out of all three barrels! Very depressing. So yesterday, I dug up all of the  rotten bulbs and planted some annuals. I don't k now much about annuals, so I just picked a wide variety and planted them at random. I figure something will survive and if I'm lucky, I'll get an idea of what I'd like to do next year. I think all told I had close to 100 individual flowers that I divided between 3 whiskey barrels and 5 pots. I know that's probably way too many, but oh well, we'll see what happens!

I'm also doing a garden in pots that I have mostly completed. I couldn't decide on a spot for a vegetable garden this year, so I thought I'd see if I could grow anything in pots before committing the time to a big garden. My past record at growing plants hasn't been so good.

Buckaroo Thank You

I really like how this card turned out. The colors are Buckaroo Blue, Chocolate Chip and Naturals Ivory. I used the Flannel Plaid and French Script BG stamps and the flower silhouette stamp that I got from Paper Wishes. The edges of the inner layers are colored and distressed and that layer is raised on dimensionals. The card was finished with a large copper washer tied with blue grosgrain ribbon.

Guava Elegance

This card is a bit of a copy, but I don't remember from where. I copied the basic layout, but used different colors and stamps. My colors are groovy guava, close to cocoa and naturals ivory. I used the floral & french script BG stamps and a stamp from the Garden Silhouettes set. This card is very heavy from all of the layers, and I'm sure the hardware also adds to the heft. I really like how this card turned out. Thanks for looking.

Quilting

I'm still stamping, but I've also taken up a new hobby...quilting, and I have to admit that I am hooked! I have actually finished a full-sized quilt and will post a picture once I get it on the bed it's going on. It's filled with mistakes, but I'm proud of it regardless. I learned a lot from that one project.

These are a couple of pot/plant holders that I did to work on my technique. I've come a long way already and I'm now ready to start my next big quilt project. I still love to stamp, but I really like quilting too!

 

Simple Anniversary

I wasn't sure if I liked this card when I first made it, but it has grown on me. It's very simple and clean, but cheery. The colors are Green Galore, Bashful Blue and WW. The only stamping involved is the sentiment. I used my cuttlebug for the background, and the rest is pretty self explanitory. Thanks for looking!

Bright Silhouette

Another of the silhouette stamps. I really like using that stamp with silk flowers. And this color combo is so cheery I just love it - Summer Sun, Basic Black and Whisper White. I also used the print pattern stamp on the card base, color on color. Very simple, but I like it.

Thanks for looking!

Plum Paisley

I used another of my new Cuttlebug folders for the BG here - Paisley. The colors of this card are Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Naturals white. I used silver eyelets on the corners, and used Heartfelt Thanks & Polka Dots & Paisley stamp sets. I finished the card with a little paper piercing in the corners of the main image and connected the dots with my white gel pen.