Thinking of you

I haven't used my embossing tool in a long time and I saw this card by M Zindorf.  Love her technique! Although, instead of brayering I sponged.  Sponging for me is a little easier than brayering.  I will have to keep practicing. I embossed the stamp from Just Believe first and then sponged the colors.  I didn't like the way the Basic Black from SU came out (kind of a purplish color) so I used black soot from Tim Holtz's distressed inks.  It was fun and think I will do more of this technique.  I should have taken a picture of my fingers!

Punch art Asters

It has been hard to work in my craftroom since my family has gotten back from California.  It has been hot and I don't have air conditioning in my room.  I do have a fan which helps but some days it just isn't enough.  But we have had some cooler days and since we are heading into fall, I will be making more cards because September is another big birthday month in our family. From the book Paper Bouquet by Susan Tierney Cockburn I have made the Asters which are fun.  Same technique as the Echinacea (which was on a previous blog post) which is cupping the individual flower and layering them together.  The bird is from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders colored with copic markers. For the background it is the cuttlebug embossed folder and then I used Tim Holtz distressed inks peeled paint to color the Sizzix Top Note image.   Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Happy Birthday Hal!

My brother has a big birthday coming next week and he is a big time Yankee's Fan!!  He has been a Yankee's Fan since elementary school and that is a long time ago since he will be turning 55!  So to celebrate his favorite team, I made him a pin-stripe game shirt for his card.

The "v" neck of the shirt is made from Stampin up's photo corner punch and the triangles for the raglan sleeve is from Stampin up's tag punch which I cut to make triangles.  Again the tag punch was used for the pocket and sizzix for the numbers and letters.  Nestabilities for the ball and sentiment.  I used Tim Holtz distressed inks to make the ball a little "used" and outlined the stitching on the ball with red marker.  Just added some buttons to finish off the shirt.

Since we are in Red Sox country, just couldn't resist a little teasing for the inside of the card.  But I figured by the time Hal got this card, who knows, probably the Yankees will be in first place and Hal's birthday will be perfect!!  Happy Birthday brother!!!

Family Vacation in San Francisco

Hayes Mansion

Golden Gate

I have been away from blogging and cardmaking for about 10 days and I have missed it.  My family and I took a trip to California last week during the east coast heat wave to visit my son.  My son, Eric, lives in Berkeley which is just outside San Francisco.  My husband, Mark and our daughter Lindsey and I stayed at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose.  Beautiful place and the grounds were exquisite! We were about 1 hour from Berkeley and 45 mins from San Fran.  We rented a car and saw the sights of San Francisco!  I love playing tourist but I found out we weren't the only ones vacationing.  San Francisco is definitely a tourist city in the summer!!  Lots and lots of people!!!  The weather in San Fran was around 68-72 degrees each day so a jacket was sometimes necessary.  The fog would roll in during the morning hours and would lift by noon. In fact, our flight into San Francisco was delayed 2 hours because of the fog in the city.  Eric took us to Mirren Highlands to get a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and then over to Muir Woods.  We took a ride on the cable cars in San Fran.  It wouldn't be a trip to San Fran without a ride on the cable cars!  The wait was about 1 hour so be prepared if you go!! 

Cable cars

We took the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf to Hyde Street Pier which was a lot of fun.  We saw street performers there and sidewalk cafes.  There were plenty of stores to shop.  We headed toward Pier 39 which is a popular destination for shopping and eating also which we did!  I loved that there was a Merry-go-round right in the middle of all the action.  We were able to see Alcatraz from where we had lunch but were not able to take the Ferry over because they were booked 2 months out!  Next time we will remember that you need to book Alcatraz first then your trip!  Very popular place!

Pier 39

Alcatraz

An alley in the Mission District

 Eric took us to the Muir Woods which was amazing! You couldn't see the top of the trees.  Lots of trails.  We walked 2 miles and we still could have kept going!  Just a beautiful place!  These are just some of the pictures that I took that were the highlights.  We also went to Sausalito, (another busy but beautiful spot) the Mission area of San Francisco, (great places there to eat) Painted Ladies and we also went to an amusement park called Great America.  Love those roller coaster rides!  Can't wait to go back if my son stays there.  I have already planned what to do like the wine country, either Napa or Sonoma.  So much to do there and such beautiful weather!!

Muir Woods

The Petersens

Painted Ladies

Sunset Wedding

Groom's Cake

Last weekend my husband and I went to a friend's wedding which took place on the Casablanca Cruise boat in the middle of  Casco Bay.  Todd & Linda had a beautiful evening to become man and wife. We cruised around the islands, Little Diamond and Great Diamond Islands, Peak's, Chebeague Island and House Island. The ceremony took place around 6 pm with about 125 people in attendance.  Todd lived on Peak's Island in summer growing up and he had a groom's cake in the shape of Peak's.  Very clever!! Dinner and dancing followed.

Todd & Linda's entrance

We had a wonderful time and felt very privileged to be there as witnesses to Todd and Linda's marriage.  They are both lovely people and we wish them both best wishes for a wonderful life together!! Congratulations Todd & Linda!!!

Mark & Andy

Entrance to Peak's Island

Cute favors!!!!

Trellis Birthday

Another birthday card for July. I have seen this trellis card on SC but haven't seen a tutorial on it.  After I made the card I did see that Valita's had a tutorial on her blog for a trellis card that you may want to see.  I haven't seen it yet but I will because I kept thinking while I was making this that there must be an easier way.   I just flew by the seat of my pants on this one.  Cutting out 1/8" strips and weaving them and then gluing them diagonally on the back of a top note cut out.  The flowers are what I am most proud of!!  I have to thank my sister, Connie, for showing me this book.  I know she has used it too and loved it.  The flowers  are Echinaceas from my new "Paper Bouquet" book by Susan Tierney Cockburn. The flowers in her book are so authentic looking, amazingly beautiful!  The flowers did take a while to do because you have to pinch each petal  and then cup the centers. The stamen (centers) are the little suns that you need to cut in half and then cup and place with tweezers in the center.  Punch 3 flowers and 5-7 suns depending how you like the stamens to look. The sentiment "Happy Birthday" is from JustRite stamps.  The leaves along the side are sizzix "little leaves". 

These are the punches I used!

My next project from this book is going to be Asters.  I just love, love, love flowers!!!

July Birthdays

July is a big birthday month so here I am getting the jump on some birthday cards.  This one might be for my sister who will be turning 41 this month!  I wanted to use my new SU sizzix tulip border EF.  It is a pretty simple card with prima flowers and a JustRite sentiment. It needed some rhinestones which I think give it a fireworks kind of feel. How appropriate for the month of July!! Happy 4th everyone!! God Bless America!