October Afternoon - Father's Day Card

Life has definitely been a whirlwind experience lately: wedding plans, new puppy stuff, moving and then not moving (long story). I've been so tired that I've lost my scrapbooking mojo. But now I'm back and ready to go!

What better way than to kick off with a Father's Day card? Father's Day is this Sunday and I know how difficult it can be to make a 'male approved' card. It's normally my hardest subject. But I've found that if you just follow a couple of simple rules you'll be fine.

1. Guys are just fine without flowers and ribbons. I know that you can put that stuff on a guy's card, but why? Guys don't notice that kind of stuff so why waste your cute stash?

2. Base your card around a masculine color. Guys like things that are obviously meant for guys. Ever notice what the guy's side of the shampoo isle looks like? Black, white, grey or brown with a splash of color just for a punch...and that's it!

3. Just keep it simple. All these rules boil down to a basic principle..simplicity. Trust me, he'll zone in on the fact that you took the time to make him a card but that's it. He won't know that it took you an hour to hand make those delicate roses or that you had to coat the card with three different colors of mists to get the perfect shade. Give yourself some credit and relax!

October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Button Box, October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Church Social, October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Guest Room, October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Farmhouse Word Stickers

Now, on to my card. I dug out some of my October Afternoon scraps (which is taking over my scrap space) and instantly set my eyes on their Button Box paper with the male image above. I cut it out with a pair of scissors and backed it with some corrugated cardboard. For my background papers, I used Church Social and Guest Room with the complimentary colors yellow and blue. Add a couple of cute sticker embellies from their word stickers and viola! Simple and non-frilly, perfect for any guy of any age.

When it came down to an envelope for my card, I started to make one out of plain cardstock until I spotted the brown paper bags that I keep stashed for mini albums. It just happened to be a perfect fit. So I cut off the bottom and ran it through my sewing machine. I think it looks so cute and it reminds me of the old movies where the mothers always 'brown bagged' their children's lunches. I think the envelope is my favorite part!

Hope you all enjoyed this and I hope it helps to get your mojo going. If you haven't already, make sure to click the 'follow this site' button on the right or follow me by email. I promise you won't receive any spam junk from me.

Celebrate Card - October Afternoon's Sasparilla

You'll have to excuse me for making this post so short. My entire family has been sick the past two weeks and I just now got it. So,I'll just have to make this short and sweet, then off to bed.

I loved this October Afternoon collection, but I didn't have any more pictures that I could scrap with it.  :(  But, the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to play with it. So, I made a compromise...using only scraps left over, I made a card.

One of the wonderful things about this collection is that it can really be used for anything. The colors are rich and bold, but it only looks 'western' when you use the embellishments. I absolutely love the blue polka dot pattern and I could reuse it multiple times. This card I specifically wanted to be playful and western so I used the Sasparilla 'Little Flyers' and 'Miscellany' to give a little character. The little cowboy card looked so cute. It made me think that he was inviting me to have some fun. So, I made the little flag into a celebration flag. I think this would be really cute as a kid's party invite. How 'bout you?

Day 2: Send a smile through snail mail

Today we'll be continuing with the fall fun. When was the last time you sent snail mail? You know, the old kind with the envelope and stamp? :)  Well, why not do it one more time? All I ever seem to get from the post office is junk mail or bills. Every once in a while, my aunt will send me something through snail mail and it's such a pleasant surprise. It really does brighten my day. Your challenge for today is creating a card using only scraps (bonus if it's last year's fall papers) and send it to someone you know. This will clear out some of your scrap stash while putting a smile on someone's face.

This card was made completely out of scraps. I have no clue what any of it is except the yellow paper (that's Tim Holtz's coordinating cardstock). This card is 4 1/2 x 9. I knew I wanted it to be really long to showcase the leaf paper. I inked all of the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Vintage photo. I love distress stains because it's so easy to run around the edges and more ink comes out.

The letters were cut out using my Cricut and attached using 3D dots. I seriously need to look into some fall cartridges. I'm not even sure if they have any. I use my Cricut a lot. Although, I'm considering buying a silhouette just to have both. There's been a few times that my FMIL has had some cute images.

The leaves were really fun to make and I'm pleased with how they came out. I used the Vagabond to cut out Tim Holtz's leaf die cut. I covered the paper with crackle paint in tarnished brass. While it was still wet, I sprinkled some perfect pearls antique gold on top to give a little more shimmer. After it dried, I attached the leaves to the card using glossy accents.

I hope everyone enjoyed today's card and I hope you'll stop by tomorrow to see what else I've got planned. And don't forget to follow my blog! The button is located on the right side and I would really appreciate it. :::puppy dog eyes::: See you all tomorrow!

Working with Scraps - October Afternoon Cards

First off, let me start by saying a big Thank You to all the wonderful comments and support I received from my last posts. You have no idea how wonderful that was for me or how much it touched me deeply. I hope I can continue to make someone smile. If you enjoy viewing my posts and projects, make sure to become a follower so you will immediately know when something new is posted. :-)

Now on to my current project. The October Afternoon 'Modern Homemaker' and '5 & Dime' collections are awesome! They each have such bold colors and retro style. It was so much fun creating layouts and projects from these. But after I was finished, I realized that I had a lot of scraps. So, what did I do? I used them, of course!

Since the papers have such a vintage retro vibe to them, I wanted to keep with that feel for my cards. I used the October Afternoon Sprinklers to color the backgrounds of both my cards to give a soft feel to them while staying in my color palette. I've recently been trying to learn how to sew on my projects, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. When you're doing a homespun or vintage feel, it's ok for things to be a little messy and imperfect. Things were usually made by hand back then, so mistakes are ok. I feel they add a little charm to my cards.

On the front of my first card, I used the Sprinklers mist in 'Strawberry Creme'. It was a beautiful tone of pink (not too dark and not too light). After that was dry, I created my flowers by layering circles punched from various papers. Some cute buttons out of my FMIL vintage stash added the finishing touches. While the circles were waiting on the glossy accent glue to dry, I sewed the red stems onto the card. Then I added the flowers and the stamped sentiment. One card down, one to go!

If your going for a vintage or retro feel, why not quilt it? I saw this pattern online for a simple quilt. I cut 7 small hexagons out of my scraps and glued them in a flower shape. I went around all the edges with Tim Holtz's distress inks. Then I jumped back onto the sewing machine and started sewing a rough frame around the card.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out. I'm also excited about the fact that I used my scraps so I won't be stuffing them into any scrap drawers. These papers were just too cute to hide away.  Hope you enjoyed these fun cards.