Just for Dad

A belated Happy Father's Day to all those supportive Dad's out there.

We were fortunately enough to be able to bring Dad to our home for Father's Day and have a BBQ with the kids and his Great Grandson.

With Dad now at the Waterford, a Retirement Community with three levels of specialized care our worries have been definitely reduced.  There is always someone around and he has met some great new friends.  When he was living in his own home he was being left alone for long periods of time and living in the country there were few people around to talk to so this new level of socialization has been great for him.

I don't have a card today, instead a have a wreath that my husband and I made for Dad.  Everyone has something on their doors to indicate that it is their room.  If they can't remember the room number at least they remember the wreath or door embellishment.

Dad being and old salt of the sea guy we thought it only fitting to make his wreath a nautical themed one.

The flags spell out his nickname in nautical terms  The anchor is a cookie cutter that I found at Michael's

Love you Dad, Enjoy!

Nancy

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TST #122 Celebration of Life...

Last week was a busy one for me and I didn't get to stamp at all.  You see I had my Dad living with me and trying to help him through the transition from his own home to a Retirement home. He did great with us.  We were able to bring his blood sugars into line and he was getting exercise and healthy meals.  Now he has moved into a Retirement facility just minutes from us. This facility is the best of the best.  My take on the place is that it is a Cruise Ship that never leaves port!    We weren't too sure how he was going to receive it all, but to our amazement we went last night, his first day there, and he was so excited.  He even told us that he would not even think about leaving!  Big sigh of relief for us, and now we know that he is safe and going to be looked after in the manner that he should be.

Now back to business.

Today at Try Stampin on Tuesday we have another great sketch challenge for you.

I decided to make my Dad's new surroundings a Celebration of Life.  With Lovely As a Tree I used the tall evergreen to represent my Dad.  Trees take so long to grow and mature and at 87 years, he has definitely grown!  Then rather than using the black around the entire piece to accent it I used two small strips.  These strips represent my Brother and I.  We are the ones that are here to look after him.

The sentiment was one from Cloud 9 Design called Simple Thoughts - Happy Birthday.  Even though it is an overall birthday stamp set I though that the sentiment was perfect for my Dad.

I finished off the inside of the card with the pine tree again stamped just to the bottom off the card.

Dad you mean so much to us and we are all so glad you are happy with your new surroundings.  See you soon...

Now it's time for you to show us what you can do with the sketch.  Do you have a special person that you would like to celebrate?  Need more inspiration?  Hop on over to TSOT blog and check out the other great Designers.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Nancy

Your comments mean so much to me, so please remember to leave one.

House of Cards

A deck of cards has 52 in it and there are 52 weeks in the year.

A deck of cards has 4 suits in it and there are 4 different card making styles in the House of Cards Challenge site.

Week 1: Fun & Cute
Week 2: Clean & Simple
Week 3: Classic & Elegant
Week 4: Shabby & Vintage
Week 5: Your Fave + Photo

Therefore we would like to introduce to you House of Cards!

Today the Team for the Clean & Simple cards for the House of Cards Design Team were announced and yours truly made the list.  Thank you very much!

I enjoy making all types of cards, but especially love the Clean & Simple look.

Our challenges start July 1st and we look forward to having you join us on our weekly challenges no matter what you card making style is.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

TST #121 Open Sea Father's Day

Welcome again to another Tuesday and time again for a great sketch from Try Stampin on Tuesday.

Today I have a Father's Day card for you.

Using the Open Sea DSP I started by majorly distressing the edges and then layered each piece on top of each other and also allowing the DSP to come through the circle to the front layer.

The card was finished off with an anchor embellishment and the Happy Fathers Day from the Plane and Simple stamp set.

I hope you like what I have come up with.  Now it's your turn.  Need more inspiration hop on over to the Try Stampin site and see what the other Great Designers have in store for you.  Don't forget to link up your creation for all of us to see.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me to please remember to leave one.

TST #120 Take a Letter...

Today at Try Stampin on Tuesday we have a simple yet challenging card sketch for you to have fun with.  I say simple because at first glance it is a simple sketch.  However, once I started to think about it it became a challenge as to what to do.

I decided, after going through all my stamp sets to use Postage Due.  This set gave me everything that I needed to complete the card front.  

Using markers I inked up the largest stamp from the set and stamped it.  By using the markers you are able to colour different sections without blending the colours.  Using the same technique I made the little stamps as well.

The background stamp was from Classic Borders.  I first cut my green DSP and then marked where the stamp should go.  Using a Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the border so that it would go under the DSP as well.

I am hoping that I will be able to take part in the colour challenge over at The Play Date Cafe fingers crossed that I am able to get my card in on time.

Hope you like what I have come up with.  Now it's your turn.  Join in on the fun, and see what the other Great Designers have in store for you at Try Stampin on Tuesday.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me, so please remember to leave one.

Blue Flower Birthday

Todays card started with a sketch from Clean and Simple, just love the sketches they come up with.  Then I always check out the colour combinations over at The Dynamic Duos  and then finally a new one that I found over at Feline Playful Stampin For the Weekend which was to create a Monochromatic card.

  

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I started by taking a scrap piece of CS and punched out a 1" circle.  I used this as my stencil to create the sponged circles on the card front.  After marking out where the circles were to go I punched a circle part way down the top layer.  Once I had all the circles coloured in with the light blue I took the darker blue and stamped the flower from the Punch Potpourri using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get my positioning just right.  

Once the card front was complete I positioned it over the card base.  By holding it up to the light I could see where the circles were and I again punched a circle but this time I punched it on the inside of the card front.  

The flower was again stamped inside the punched out area, but with only using the dark blue.  Using a scrap piece of CS I stamped out the sentiment and adhered it using  glue dots to give it a little bit of a wave.

This sketch challenge was a lot of fun and it truly is Clean and Simple.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me, so please remember to leave one.

Butterflies Galore!

Today I have a card that was inspired by a sketch over at Inkspirational Challenges, along with a colour challenge over at Party Time Tuesdays.  I have never taken part in the Party Time Tuesday challenges but loved the colour combination that they had going for this week.

       

I wanted to make a card with Butterflies on it and make that my focal point.  Then I found another challenge over at FlourishesTimeless Tuesday that had the subject for the week being Butterflies.  This is another new Challenge site for me.

I had originally thought of doing a white on white card, but once I had the butterflies stamped I knew I needed to take it up a notch so I went with the orange cardstock for my base.  

Starting with the butterfly in the centre I worked my way around the card using the four different colours and a rock-n-roll technique for the stamping.  

 

For the bling portion I didn't want to be too flashy so I went with four small deep red pearls.

 

The inside of the card uses the "Celebrate" stamp from Outlined Occasions and once again I added the little butterflies to accent it.  

Hope you like what I have come up with.  I know it's just a matter of time before I see the real thing in my backyard and can't wait.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.