A Wallet Card for Dad for Father's Day

Earlier this week I came across a neat Wallet Card on the "You're Filling Dad's Wallet?" post on the Chaos Served Daily Blog. I loved it, but I didn't have the clear embossing powder that she used. I mulled it over a bit and decided to combine her wallet design with the Faux Stamped Leather technique I shared on my "Leather Look for a Man or Woman" post earlier this week. It makes a great Father's Day card, and it can hold money, gift cards, or photo cards, or all three.

First I cut a piece of 3 x 8 1/2 piece of Early Espresso card stock and scored it at 4 1/4. I stamped a stamp from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set and a stamp from the April 2015 Love You a Lot Paper Pumpkin kit using Memento on the card front. I placed the cardstock on my Stampin' Pierce Mat and, because I don't have a stylus yet, I used the point of an empty mechanical pencil to trace around both images.

Next I lightly sponged over the card front with the following four colours in this order - Hello Honey, Pumpkin Pie, Tip Top Taupe, and Baked Brown Sugar.

I rounded the corners with my Envelope Punch Board.

I decided the edges of the card front needed more definition so I sponged around them with Early Espresso, but because I don't have an Early Espresso ink pad, I used my Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker and scribbled over the top of a clear block, before using a Stampin' Sponge to pick up the ink and sponge it around the edge of the card.

With the card front still on the Stampin' Pierce Mat I used my Paper-Piercing Tool and a stencil from the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack to pierce all around the edge of the card front. I free handed the piercing on the card I featured a in the Faux Leather post earlier this week and it's okay, but I like the look of the piercing with the stencil better.

Next, following the instructions on the blog I linked in the opening of this post, I cut more pieces of Early Espresso for the inside of the card
- one piece 2 1/2 x 8
- 2 pieces 2 x 3 3/4
- 2 pieces 1 1/2 x 3 3/4
I sponged all around the edges of these pieces with Baked Brown Sugar, and did some extra sponging in the middle of the smallest pieces.

Using Memento ink and stamps from the April 2015 Love You a Lot Paper Pumpkin kit, I stamped greetings on the smallest pieces, giving them more of a leather look.

Using my 2-Way Glue Pen I adhered the stamped smaller pieces to the bigger pieces just around the sides and the bottom, making little pockets.

I scored the 2 1/2 x 8 piece at 4 with my Stampin' Trimmer scoring blade.

Then I adhered the pockets to this piece, just along the bottom and sides, making more pockets.

I decided to pierce around the edges of these pieces before adhering the whole thing to the inside of the card, once again just along the bottom and the sides, making one big pocket, like the bill pocket in a wallet. I left a small space on each side of the middle bottom without any adhesive so that the wallet would open and shut right. When I adhered it I folded the middle piece and placed it just on one side of the inside card and folded the card over the middle, instead of placing it flat out, to help it fit right for opening and closing and putting things in. (I hope that makes sense). I left it a while to let the glue set.  This is what it looks like opened up.

Sadly I adhered the inside part up from the bottom a little too much so bills stick up over the top a little when you put them in, but it's not too bad. If/when I do it again I will adhere it down a little further so bills fit better.

I am planning to get some gift cards to put in the other pockets, and I made some photo cards of our children to fit in them. I used my Pages program to get the photos the size I wanted, 2 1/4 x 3 1/4, printed them on cardstock, cut them and rounded the corners with my envelope punch board.

It was a bit of work, but I really enjoyed working on this card. It is a great card to make for a male any time of the year.

Simple, functional bookmark

I made these bookmarks tonight to give to my guests at Stampin' Up! Open Houses across Newfoundland this week. It's going to be a busy week!

At the events, guests will receive a copy of the 2015-2016 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. I heard that demonstrators often make bookmarks to give to their customers along with their catalogues, so I set of to research what these bookmarks might look like. I've seen some beautiful bookmarks during my research.

I've been debating with myself for weeks about the design of my bookmarks. Should I go for function or beauty? Should I feature the new In-Colours? Should I feature a new stamp set, maybe the RMHC stamp set? Should I use some punches, dies, layers?

I finally decided that I would make my bookmarks functional. The purpose of the bookmark is to mark pages and help you find your favourite things, so I decided to go with a "These are a few of my Favourite Things" theme.

I decided to make one side of the bookmark a wish list with space for customers to record their favourite things, along with the pages they are found on.

The other side of the bookmark contains my contact information so that they can easily contact me with any questions.

Using the word processing program on my printer, I played around with textboxes and placement until I had something that worked. I printed that on Whisper White Cardstock and then cut the bookmarks. They measure 2 x 8 1/2. Then I used the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch on the top and rounded the bottom edges using the Envelope Punch Board.

Stamps from two of my favourite stamp sets (Butterfly Basics and Lovely as a Tree) were used in the design of the bookmarks, and I also used one of my favourite techniques - sponging. I tied a 6 inch piece of my favourite colour lace to the top of the bookmark for the final touch.

The 2015-2016 will go live online tomorrow, so be sure to check it out. If you would like to have a paper copy of the catalogue, along with one of my bookmarks, let me know.

A Birthday Card fit for a man, or woman.

Today is my firstborn's birthday. He came into the world six weeks early at just barely six pounds, and now he's a strapping young man with a family of his own. I intended to give this card to him today for his birthday, but I forgot to take it with me when I went to visit him. I confessed in an earlier post that I'm not good with posting cards. Truth be known, I'm not good with giving them, period. I need to work on that.

While browsing pinterest the other day, a card by Michelle Zindorf caught my eye. She featured the card, with instructions on how to make it, on her blog post titled Lovely As a Tree Sympathy Card: Stampin' Up! Tutorial #565. I had to give it a try.

For my card I took a 5x4 piece of whisper white cardstock and smeared my Daffodil Delight ink pad all over it.

Then I used my Pistachio Pudding ink pad to create the idea of mountains in the background.

Using a stamp from the Lovely As a Tree stamp set, I stamped trees all across the foreground in Mossy Meadow.

Next, I sponged Wild Wasabi all over the trees. I didn't think it was making any difference but when I look at the pictures here I can see it definitely did.

I really didn't see any difference when I sponged some Old Olive over the bottom part of the trees, but Michelle had sponged two different shades of green so I decided to do the same. 

Lastly, I smeared the Mossy Meadow ink pad across the very bottom. I liked it much better without that step, but it was too late now.

I decided to make my card a Birthday Card, so I stamped the sentiment with one of the stamps from the Butterfly Basics stamp set, once again using Mossy Meadow.

I really didn't like the bottom part of the design, so I decided to cover it up a bit by tying some Hello Honey twine, which was part of a Sale-a-Bration item, across the bottom.

I matted the piece onto a 4 1/8 x 5 1/4 piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock and adhered the whole thing to a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card base made from Crushed Curry cardstock.

I think it makes a nice masculine card, but could also be used for a woman.

Sympathy Card inspired by a Special "Aunt's" Promotion to Glory

Late last night I found out that my Aunt Joan had received her promotion to glory. Aunt Joan is not my actual aunt by blood or family relation, but she is one of those special aunts of the heart. My parents were actually renting Aunt Joan's basement apartment when I was born, and Mom looked after Aunt Joan's boys whenever Aunt Joan went out. She had a house full of boys, no girls, so I was a bit of a fascination to them. We didn't stay with them long, but my parents remained good friends with them and I remember visits to their house over the years.

Aunt Joan was a very special lady with a heart of gold. She was such a great influence on everybody she ever met. She will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.

Thinking about her today, I decided to make a sympathy card. While browsing pinterest I came across a beautiful card by Heather Telford. She featured it in her blog post OLW 16 Stamp a Scene. After reading on her blog about how she created the card, I decided to give it a try.

I took a 4 1/4x 5 1/2 whisper white card base and masked off a section of it using post it notes. Then I sponged on Pacific Point, Mossy Meadow, and Wild Wasabi, to create a background.

Before removing the post it notes, I stamped a stamp from the Lovely As a Tree stamp set a couple of times in both Mossy Meadow and Wild Wasabi. Then I removed the post it notes and stamped the same stamp another couple of times with Memento.

I stamped the sentiment using Memento with a stamp from the Thoughts & Prayers stamp set.