For DAD

With one month remaining of what, until now, has been a lovely spring season, summer is definitely pushing its way in.  The temperatures are quickly rising, and this is the last week of school in many areas.  For the Card A Day Blog this week is for 'Father's Day' inspiration, and I decided to go with what is always a challenge for me - CAS - or, as most of you know, Clean and Simple.  My card is the base layer only, with just a bit of dimension.  So this will be a very quick post.

I started with a basic design in mind, but while I was pulling supplies I remembered some inch-square matboard pieces I had purchased a couple of years ago and not yet used.  Knowing I had LOTS of inchie-type stamps I decided exactly how to design my card.

I chose three coordinating inchie stamps as well as a frame stamp for the center.  I played around with several blue inks before selecting the three that I would use, going from light to dark.  I used the lightest ink for the frame as a background for the center image, which I stamped with the darkest ink.  The two side images were stamped with the mid-range tone.  All three images were stamped on the inchie squares, and I used the mid-tone ink on the edges of all the squares to give them more of a framed look.

I liked the tropical feel of the stamps I used, and gave the card a simple sentiment.  Looking closely at all the stamping on the card front, you may notice a kind of water-color effect.  This was not intentional, but I quite like it.  It was merely the result of how the ink reacted on the particular stamps I used, which were all clear polymer from two different companies.

I used a simple "Happy Father's Day" stamp on the inside.  This one was rubber, and gave a nice smooth impression which I really liked for the sentiment.

Here is an angled shot where you can see the dimension of the inchie squares.

Just for fun, I took one photo of my card using a different background color.  I prefer the blue, but the new color gave an interesting contrast.  Which do you like?

That's it!  Here are your details:

     Stamps:  Inkadinkado (EK Success) 'Nautical Inchie' and 'Thoughts for the Day' sets, Stampin' Up 'Best Dad Ever' and Fiskars 'Squarely Sentimental'
     Squares:  Inchie Arts
     Inks:  Stampin' Up 'Bashful Blue,' 'Marina Mist' and 'Island Indigo'
     Cardstock:  Georgia Pacific (I think)
     Adhesive:  Scotch ATG

Sooooo simple!!  Thanks for visiting today.  I'm approaching a milestone in number of hits --- I'm really quite amazed and grateful.  It's so lovely having all of you stopping by to see what I'm doing.  When I get just a bit closer there could very well be some blog candy to celebrate.  Keep watching; I'll let you know when it's coming.

'Til next time.....

BIG Hugs!!!
CHRISTINE

Iris Fold Ornament

This was my second Iris Fold card, even though I posted the Halloween cards in between.  If you saw my earlier posts, you've seen my Iris Fold card, Christmas tree.  The DP is from Michaels and the stamps are PapertreyInk.  The card stock is generic white.

I used a corner rounder on the DP as well as my favorite Fiskars lace corner punch.  I really enjoy the process of these cards.  It's relaxing to simply follow the numbers and watch the design come to life.

Thanks for visiting.


Keep your creative genius flowing.....

Christine 

Not Nearly Enough Time

It seems I may never come to grips with the fact that time is not under my control.  As much as I would like, I cannot add hours to the day or days to the week.  That said, I now have only a few days remaining to show the rest of my Christmas cards - at least the ones I remembered to photograph.

The cards I'm showing here were made with paper from PapertreyInk and DCWV.  The reindeer is cut from Cricut Cart Very Merry Tags.  I used the hide contours feature on my Gypsy to cut just the reindeer without the tag.  The first card uses the cut-out reindeer, while the second card uses the remaining stencil.

I also used a Fiskars lace corner punch, ribbon and embellishments from my stash, Stickles  and my Cuttlebug.  I could not, for the life of me, find the stamps I used, so I can't give you that info just now, but the stamping and inking were done with Tim Holtz and ColorBox.

I'll have more up shortly.  Thanks for looking, and don't forget to let me know you visited.

Keep your creative genius flowing.....
Christine