Birthday Season

This begins the family and friends Birthday season. Between September and January I have about 15 birthdays that call for hand crafted cards. Having finished the "manly" cards, now I'm creating the "girly" ones. Each with their own personalities.
The pattern papers on this card are so old we can probably get away with calling them vintage. The print is Anna Griffin and the stripe I believe is Melissa Frances. The papers and the image have been distress with Tim Holtz "Old Paper" distress ink. Old buttons were sewn onto the May Arts ribbon. I'm trying to get a good back stock of card. Because before you know it, life as we know it will come to a screeching halt and we will be making Christmas cards!

Born to be Wild

Nothing is more "manly" than a motorcycle.
This third card isn't exactly Wild Hogs"...but it is a cycle all the same. I found this great advertisement image posted by angelandspot on Flickr. The ad was suppose to be for bicycles, but with the wonderful font and frame it is impressive enough for a motorbike. I inked up the image with Versa Color "Split Pea"...
I was in a "green mood" while designing these cards.
My motorcycle image is from a old family photo. Two of my great uncles, one holding my aunt as a child. Okay...so it's not a "chopper", but it is still a motorbike...even if it has a sidecar. I had bought the green felt trim originally for this card, and liked it so well I used it on the "Cowboy" card too.

So bring on the "manly" celebrations...I'm ready !

Thank you Angel and Spot!

We Salute You!

This is the second of the set of three "man" cards I made. It was mailed off last week to my nephew graduating from college. On the inside was the message...
"We Salute You"...to congratulate him on his big day. I wanted something bright and festive for this card. The stripe patterned paper had great colors, teal blue, a fun "not quite" red and a deep maroon. I pulled more of the teal and maroon out with the harlequin paper. A gray blue ribbon tied in a knot...and grandfather in his WWI uniform, giving a big SALUTE! Nothing is more manly than a man in uniform.

OBTW...
This Wednesday the 19th of August is my Heritage Scrapbook Workshop
runs 3:30 to 5:30, you can come and play with us by giving Mystic Paper a call and signing up.

Hot Hot Hot Garden

Not everything in the garden is brown this time of year. With temperatures over 100 (last week over 110!) your would expect every flower in the backyard to be a burnt to a crispy brown. These beautiful Rain Lilies have been blooming despite the heat.
On the other side of the yard we have hot pink Lantana. Now this is a flower that does well in the Arizona heat...as long as it gets watered!

When it gets this hot in the Valley of the Sun we stay inside during the day with the Air Conditioning and admire the flowers in the early morning.

OBTW-

I'm gathering all my "toys" together for my Heritage Scrapbook Class this Saturday August the 15th at Mystic Paper. If you have been waiting for "someday" to get all those old family photos in a scrapbook, but aren't quite sure where to start, this is the class for you. We will talk about how get organized, copy photos, what kind of patterned paper to choose... all this and much more. You will leave with a note book full of information to get you started.

It's not too late to call Mystic Paper and sign up.

Yippie!

I enjoy making cards...I can whip up a card for just about any occasion to send to family and friends. But when it comes to making cards for men I have a real creative block when it comes to ideas. Why it should be any different, I don't know, but it is. So in my portfolio there are very few masculine cards. I have some birthdays and graduations coming up in the next few months that are going to need "man" cards. Now was the time to overcome the block! I went through my images, paper and ephemera with the goal of coming up with at least three cards that could be sent to nephews, brother, sons, uncles or dad.

I have paper that I have collected over the years in my stash so there was a lot to choose from. I found an image of a great uncle dressed to the hilt in his cowboy duds, I cut him out and inked him up with Versa Color "Split Pea" ink.

The galloping horses patterned paper is from K&Company that has been around for a while. I sanded it and added the "Split Pea" ink and some "Old Paper" distress ink. The brown background paper has the texture of leather, just the thing for a cowboy. The green trim made everything pop. I found the frame in Dover, cut around it and inked it up. What else would a cowboy say on a special occasion but...Yippie-Yi-Yo-Ki-Yay?

What do you think, is it "manly" enough?

Friday Night Post

Looking at this picture you would think the ladies at the Wednesday night Heritage Scrapbook Workshop didn't get much accomplished...actually I forgot to take photos until they were all cleaning up. They have all accomplished a lot with their projects. Lisa has posted some of the pages from the recipe book she designed on her blog...House of Hullabaloo. Ann has great old photos and family stories and her layouts are wonderful. Mary is working on a book with a few photos and a lot of poems written by her mother-in-law. I'm impressed with each book these ladies are designing.

If you are ready to get all your old family photos out of a box and into a scrapbook and aren't quite sure were to begin, call Mystic Paper and sign up for the Heritage Scrapbook class on Saturday the 15th of August. This class will break it all down for you and help you get started.

Did you notice something was missing from my blog? There is no Design Team project for this month. It has been a year since I joined Mystic Paper Design Team and our term is now up. Mystic has a call out for a new design team.
I have had so much fun with each and every project that Fearless Leader...Design Team Captain Sheri pick out. I got a chance to play with all the fun toys at Mystic and the opportunity to met some very talented designers while hanging out there.
Earlier this year Kim and Jennifer asked if I would be interested in teaching classes at Mystic. I have appreciated the offer and it has a great experience to be able to share thoughts and ideas with so many people.

Playing with Butterfly Wings

I've been playing...
It started with the flowers, outlined with a black pen. I had cut the flowers out for a long ago project...that I ended up going a whole other way and didn't use them. I remembered a wonderful background that Debrina Pratt had shared on her Flickr...Spark*your*imagination. I needed an image so I sorted through my collection of vintage photos and came up with this lady in an Asian costume...check out the high heals.

She needed some butterfly wings, but it had to be the right color, a bit of red and some orange...I couldn't resist the blue in these wings. Digging through my treasures, I ran across some VERY old gold sealing wax and a "sun" seal...the goal was to not burn the house down. The edges of the card were stamped with flourishes and rubbed in gold ink. At this point the lady had to have a crown...gold Dresden Borders to top her head and a bit more for a border on the bottom of the card. I'll add a message inside and send her off to a friend for a birthday card.


An "OH BY THE WAY" class schedule...

This Wednesday August 5th at Mystic Paper I will be teaching the Heritage Scrapbooking workshop 3:30 to 5:30. Come join us and bring a project to work on.

On Saturday the 15th of August from 10:30 to 1:30 I will be teaching Heritage Scrapbooking class at Mystic. You will leave with a notebook full of information to get you started creating your own family album.

Wednesday the 19th of August 3:30 to 5:30 will be another Heritage Scrapbooking Workshop. With ideas to move your project along. Call Mystic Paper to sign up.