Nouveau Dad

Hi again!  I hope all you moms out there had as beautiful a Mothers' Day as I did.  And today's card, for the current theme of Fathers' Day at the Card A Day Blog, is for a first-time dad in our family.  I decided to combine the CADB theme with the current CDAC Progressive Challenge.  One of the images in this challenge is a sweet baby face from Glitterbabe, which I decided would be perfect for my card.

Since this card was being made for a man, I decided to start with a black card base (standard A2 size) and kraft cardstock for the mat.  I ran the mat through my Cuttlebug and inked it a bit to enhance the embossing.  I colored the main image with Copics and used stamps from two different sets to add some fun.  The digi image, as well as one of the stamped images, were cut with dies, and the other pieces on the front of the card were cut with decorative edged scissors.

I created my own sentiment, and inked all the pieces around the edges.  I used two sizes of foam tape to layer the different images.

For the inside, I added a kraft liner and brought in the dot pattern with a cute border stamp.  I printed my sentiment on the same white stock as the outside, cut it out with another die, and inked it as I did the outside pieces.

 I took some time deciding what to do for my card, but once I had the design in mind, creating it was really fun and easy.  I hope you have lots of fun creating cards for all the fathers in your life.

Thanks for joining me today.  Here are the details:

The dies are Spellbinders Deckled Edge Rectangles and QuicKutz Nesting Eyelet Circles.

Stamp sets used:  TCP Studio 'Baby' and 'Dots & Stripes' and Paper Studio 'Nursery Icons'

Do remember to always keep your creative genius happy and well-fed!

CHRISTINE 

Thoughts and Prayers

So glad you decided to visit.  I'm the designer again, today, for the Card A Day Blog, and we're starting a new month, with a new theme, and new opportunities for prizes!!  Our new theme is SYMPATHY, not usually the favorite type of card for most of us to come up with.  Personally, I like to keep them simple, and I think I've succeeded in doing that with my card.

I decided to feature one of the images from the current Crafter's Digital Art Center Progressive Challenge.  Do check them out; it's a great way to sample digi images from various designers, share your projects and have a chance to win more great prizes!  The camelia image I used here came from the Wax Fruit Company, and was just perfect for my card.

I began by coloring the image in a paint program with two shades of yellow, after checking to be sure that there actually are yellow camelias.  I printed the flower on bright white card stock, and did a little color enhancement with colored pencils.  I then over-stamped with a script stamp.  I used the same script stamp as a background for my sentiment, which was stamped in black.  Both pieces were layered on black cardstock, and mounted with foam tape to the kraft base card.  Here is a slightly closer shot:

I kept the inside of the card very simple by adding a white liner with the stamped sentiment.

  

As you can see, your sympathy cards can be made very simply, but still be very elegant.  Thanks for looking today.  Here are the other details:

          Stamps:  My Favorite Things 'Clearly Sentimental About Sympathy' and Clear Stamps by Kaisercraft 'Script'

          Inks:  Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger 'Mustard Seed' and Versafine 'Onyx Black'

Have a fabulous day, and keep your creative genius happy and well-fed!!!

CHRISTINE

2012 GRAD

Hi everyone!!  As today's designer at the Card A Day Blog I have another fun, and fairly quick, graduation card to show you.  I used my Cricut and the Cricut Craft Room online design software to make this one, but you can certainly make something very similar using scissors, paper punches or stickers. 

The card base was cut at 9" X 7 1/2" with the finished card fitting into a #10 business envelope (9 1/2" x 4").  The white liner was cut at 9" X 7 1/4" and inserted to leave a bottom border.  The letters of the two words were welded, and then cut at 1 5/8" (real dial size off).

As you can see in the photo, the graduate's colors are purple and gold.  I chose a vibrant purple for the letters, a softer lilac for the base card and a pretty gold ribbon behind the letters. The ribbon was wrapped to the inside before attaching the liner so the ends are covered nicely. This card is for a young man, so I wanted to give it a masculine look.....no bows, no flowers.....you know the drill.  I decided to use white numbers (with just a bit of glitter) to coordinate with the white liner.  The words were applied with foam tape to give dimension.

Here's the full front view:

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out.  I hope you like it, too.  Here is the short list of supplies:

          Paper:  words-Core'dinations, card base-Basis by Leader Paper Products, liner-Wassau
          Ribbon:  The Ribbon Boutique (JoAnn's, I think)
          Cricut Cartridges:  words-Blackletter, card and liner-George and Basic Shapes plus Elegant Edges
          Numbers:  Thickers 'Delight' from American Crafts
          Adhesive:  Tombow Mono, generic foam tape

And that's it!!

Over at CADB we have challenges running all month long based on our themes for that month.  Please join us; we always give prizes!!!

See you again soon, and remember, always keep your creative genius happy and well-fed.

CHRISTINE

Here's to Grandmom

Hi everyone!  I do hope you and your family enjoyed a beautiful Easter celebration.  Our Easter service was so joyful, and filled with glorious music.  I'm here, today, to bring you a Mother's Day inspiration for the Card A Day Blog.  I really enjoyed making this card, using images from one of the Crafter's Digital Art Center Progressive Challenges.  The girl in the image reminds me of my daughter, so I decided to make this card for her to give to her grandmother.  Here's the first peek:

The girl is a digi image from Back To Paper.  I colored her with copics, and paper-pieced her dress using a matching blue marker to color the trim.  The flowers are another digi, this time from Glitterbabe.  I printed the flower in the yellow paper in three sizes and cut them out for dimension.  The stems are just cut from a scrap.

The card stock I used is a nice weight, and I wasn't expecting the color to bleed through, but it did!  Since I needed to cover the bleed on the inside, I printed the sentiment directly onto a matching blue card stock and used it as a liner.

And a closer view so you can see the fonts used:

Of course, I had to get daughter's approval every step of the way.  She chose the outside sentiment, which comes from Sarah Hamer of 'My Pink Cricut.'  Here is the full front view:

As you can see, I rounded the corners.  I cut the liner just a bit smaller and rounded those corners to match.  And of course Grandmom needs a little bling, so rhinestones were added to the flowers.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today!  Think about joining the CADB challenges.  Please do remember to keep your creative genius happy and well-fed!!

CHRISTINE