Four Ways Friday #88 - Four Ways To Say Happy Mother's Day

This week's Four Ways Friday is a bit different than usual.  Instead of using one stamp set to create four different looks, I decided to share four ways you might say Happy Mother's Day to your mom or a special mom in your life :)

This first Mother's Day card began with a Baja Breeze card base.  I then added a piece of Twitterpated paper and did some machine sewing around the edges.  A label was die cut using the Framelits Labels Collection.  The banner was hand cut after stamping a greeting from a retired SU! stamp set.  The flowers were made with a combination of Twitterpated paper and card stock punched with the Boho Blossoms punch and the flower in the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack.  I did a bit of edge sponging on the flowers and added some adhesive rhinestones.

 

What mom doesn't want to be queen for a day?!  I began with a Whisper White card base and added a piece of Twitterpated paper with some machine sewing around the edges.  Next I heat embossed the crown from Artistic Etchings on a Whisper White piece of card stock.  I added a layer of Basic Black card stock and popped the piece on the card with dimensionals.  I added some adhesive rhinestones at the top of each point of the crown.  The greeting is from a retired SU stamp set.  It was stamped on Whisper White card stock and layered onto Basic Black.  The piece was added to the card with dimensionals and then a few extra adhesive rhinestones were added.

 I decided to stick with one a simple layout for this third card.  I stamped the Sunflower background stamp onto a corner of the Very Vanilla card layer and then colored it in using a combination of ink with my aqua painter, some acrylic paints with a touch of water and a paint brush, and then some dazzling diamonds with a bit of 2-way glue.  This card really sparkles in person!  The greeting was stamped with Jet Black Staz-On and the whole panel was layered onto a piece of Jet Black card stock before being adhered to the Very Vanilla card base.

I decided to pull out the Pennant Parade stamp set for my last card.  I stamped the different pennants in multiple colors (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive).  I then punched out the pennants with the pennant punch.  Next I drew a white line on the Crumb Cake card base with a white gel pen and then added the pennants with dimensionals.  You could sew the pennants to the card as well.  I stamped the letters for "mom" with the Calendar Alphabet & Numbers stamp set and then punched the letters out with the circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack.  Next I punched Daffodil Delight card stock with the 1/2" circle punch and layered the smaller circles on top.  I added the circles to the pennants and added a few adhesive rhinestones.  Finally, I stamped the greeting on the bottom of the card.

I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!!!!  For all of you who are moms, I hope you have a very wonderful mother's day!!!!!!  May you all have a loving, creative and fulfilling weekend!!!!

Nature Walk Bird With Birthday Hat

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Language Is Interesting...

I was going to make today's lesson from the craft room something about losing my senses...and then it struck me...senses, scentses...language is definitely interesting!  I have had a cold for almost 2 weeks now and I have been struck by how much I miss my sense of taste.  Did you know that our sense of smell is actually responsible for about 75 percent of what we typically think of as our sense of taste?  I had no idea until I started doing a bit of researching online.  How funny that our sense of taste is really our scents of taste :)  That smell, our sensitivity to scents, is what gives us most of our ability to taste.  So yes, I miss it.  I actually made a corn soup with a whole bunch of chilies in it.  I usually am not a big fan of spicy food and I was able to eat the soup without a blink since I couldn't taste or smell a thing.  I almost cracked up when Michael took a taste and his whole face turned red! :)  I'm hoping I have some sense soon...or should I say "scents" :)  Language really is interesting :)
Today's card was inspired by a new stamp set that is coming out in the new Stampin' Up! catalog called Papaya Collage.  The stamp set has a bird in it and also an image of a little birthday hat.  When I saw the images I immediately knew I had to use a set that I already had to create a similar look!  I grabbed the Nature Walk stamp set and some Confetti card stock and stamped the bird in black ink.  Next I stamped the greeting from On Your Birthday.  I then cut a small triangle from the First Edition Specialty paper and sponged the edges with black ink.  I then brushed some Stampin' Pastels over the paper to give it the yellow look (I think it was More Mustard pastel).  I cut a thin strip of Baja Breeze card stock, ran it through the paper crimper and glued it to the bottom of the "hat."  I added an adhesive rhinestone to top off the hat and attached the hat to the bird with half of a dimensional.  I also used the pastels to color the bird - a combination of different shades of blue and a little orange and yellow for his beak.  I hope you like it! :)

Out On A Whim Wednesday: A Blue Door

 

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Remember

Today is the anniversary of my father's death.  It is hard to believe it has been 26 years since he passed away.  Did I really just type that?  26 years?!  Numbers are so bizarre to me - I can't wrap my head around them well.  I still have to count on my fingers when people ask me how old I am - somehow I stopped counting in my later 20s and I haven't budged since :)  I don't seem to relate to numbers well - at least those that mark age or time.  My dad feels as much alive today as he did 26 years ago.  Not a day passes that I don't think of him.  I also feel he sends me signs that he is still there - a part of my daily life - and it makes me smile :)  Having a day like an anniversary does give us pause to remember - to focus on that event or occasion or person - maybe a bit more than we would otherwise do in the business of our day-to-day lives.  So on this anniversary I want to say thank you Dad - thank you for being such a loving father and for sharing that love with me.  I wish those of you reading this could have known him - such a charismatic man with a twinkle in his eye - like he knew something you didn't and you couldn't wait to find out!  Today, I take special time to remember.
For Out On A Whim Wednesday I thought it would be appropriate to share our new blue door :)  As you know, we have been painting the house and garage.  It's been a fun process (some people think we are crazy doing the painting ourselves, but we are really enjoying it - brushstroke by brushstroke - listening to the birds cheer us on as we paint :)  We decided to paint the door to the garage blue - Athens Blue to be exact.  And, I love it!  Every time I see that door, the pop of color makes me smile :)  What could you give a pop of color that might make you smile????

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Trust Your Inner Knowing

The weather had gotten warmer again so we were back outside painting our house over the weekend.  We had already chosen a bright blue color for the door that leads in and out of the garage.  The house color was also chosen - a bright yellowish color that we began painting last fall before it got too cold and we had to wait 'til the warm weather returned.  So now that we are back outside painting we had some new decisions to make.  In particular, we needed to decide what to do on the patio.  We wanted the posts to be painted some type of wood color.  My internal knowing was leading me toward a particular direction and then we went to the paint store.  There was a woman at the paint store - she sits back by all of the paint chips - and helps advise customers on color choice.  She came over to us and started to talking to us about the house.  She made a comment about how painting a surface to look like wood often doesn't work and she began to pull colors that she felt would compliment the other colors we had already chosen.  Long story short, we ended up leaving the paint store with a few samples that were definitely not in the direction my inner knowing had been heading.  Can you tell that I'm still needing to learn my huge lesson...to trust my own inner knowing?!  I guess I'm just a slow learner!  You know what happens next - we put up those sample colors and yuck!  Totally not what we wanted.  Then the fun began.  I started walking around the house to find an item that was the color that I really wanted.  I grabbed an antique camera stand that was made of wood and proceeded to carry it outside.  Too funny - when I got outside Michael was walking out of the garage with a wood box!  He had had the same thought to find an object that had the color :)  Great minds think alike :)  Well, back to the paint store he went.  He came back with a color that was pretty - but it was missing the look of wood.  So off to the craft room I went and in all the bottles of craft paint in my "stash" I managed to find a maple stain that I had bought ages ago and never used.  Out I went with the little bottle and a woodgraining tool (have you ever tried one?  totally fun!).  When I played around with the stain and the tool - voila!  It was just what we wanted.  We went back to the paint store one more time to find a top coat that could mimic the stain from the little craft paint bottle.  My inner knowing was finally at peace :)  Now if I could just learn to trust it from the start! :)
Today's card is a Mother's Day card for my mom :)  I started with the Twitterpated designer series paper and a Baja Breeze card base.  I attached the two together with a little machine stitching.  Next came the Elements of Style stamp set - I was pretty happy with how I was able to mimic the look of the paper with the stamp and a bit of painting with my aqua painter!  The greeting is from a retired hostess set (had to keep it - LOVE that Mother's Day greeting!).  The hummingbird is also from Elements Of Style.  Finally, I used some dazzling details to add a bit of bling!

85th Birthday Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Know Where Your Main Shut Off Valve Is

I was in the kitchen yesterday afternoon when there was a knock on the back door.  It was our neighbor coming to say he had a real problem.  The upstairs washing machine was leaking and water was running down the walls to the main level!  Yikes!!!!  He said he tried to shut off the water but wasn't having any luck so Michael ran over to try to help.  It took a little time - I'm sure it felt like an eternity - to locate the main water shut off valve, but Michael finally found it by process of elimination.  The minute he came back to our house he looked at me and said, "If that happened in our house, what would you do?"  I immediately said that I would go downstairs into the utility room and turn off the main shut off valve for the water.  I'm not sure when it was that I learned where our main shut off valve was, but somehow I remembered.  So today's lesson is partly literal and partly figurative...Do you know where the main shut off valve for the water in your home is?  If not, now is a great time to learn - since you never know when you might need it.  On a figurative level I realize that it is not as easy for me to identify where my main shut off valve is.  I need to figure that out.  When I start to flood myself with negative thoughts and criticisms, I need to be able to quickly get to the shut off valve and turn it!!!!  My figurative valve may be more of a mantra - or maybe just a quick thank you to my inner critic for sharing and then an invitation for that inner critic to leave and shut the door behind him :)  Yes, figuring out where my internal main shut off valve is is just as important as the literal one :)
Today's card was made for a friend to give to his mother.  She is turning 85 and they are celebrating next weekend!  I love that he asked me to make a special card for her :)  I hope he likes this one.  I used a combination of Pool Party designer paper and Very Vanilla card stock.  The numbers are from the Timeless Type sizzlits.  The word "happy" from one of the stamps in the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and "birthday" from Fabulous Phrases.  The "th" is from a stamp in the Bring On The Cake stamp set.  I used the Calendar Alphabet & Numbers stamp set to stamp the letters for her name.  A bit of sewing, a touch of seam binding and an adhesive rhinestone finish the look.  I hope she likes it :)