I have fallen in love with the phenomenal artwork of the ‘Countryside‘ stamp set (see below).

The vintage effect of this Soft Suede and Black card is simply done by stamping the truck in Soft Suede on ‘Naturals Ivory’ (#108849) cardstock and gently blurring some of the edges with an Aquapainter–that’s it.  The dye ink will run easily with the water, so don’t get carried away!

The edges of each ivory cardstock layer is sponged with the Soft Suede ink  and I sparingly used the ‘speckle’ stamp in to finish the job.

I had originally envisioned an entirely monochromatic card until I added the faux newsprint (Newsprint Designer Series paper #117116).  I loved that, so I needed to work more black into the piece to justify the accent color (thank you Sr. Nishio, 9th grade art class) so I added the black medallion stamp (from the new ‘Artistic Etchings‘ set) and the scrap of torn black cardstock and of course the black speckles.

I found that it takes a surprising amount of time to make a card that looks like it was just thrown together, doesn’t it?

SETS:
Countryside
Artistic Etchings
Itty Bitty Backgrounds

ACCESSORIES:
5 ½ x 8 ½ Naturals Ivory cardstock
2 ½ x 4 inch Naturals Ivory cardstock
2 x 4 Basic Black cardstock
4 x 3 Soft Suede cardstock
2 x 3 Newsprint DSP
Soft Suede ink, Aquapainter, Sponge Dauber™
Black StazOn™, Mini library clips (black), hemp twine
Square Lattice Embossing folder (#119976)
Sizzix Big Shot, Multi-purpose platform and pair of clear cutting pads

I’ve done several versions of this card, however this year I decided to try and make the shirt without separate pieces for the collar.

The entire card is 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 Bordering Blue and three pieces of the striped paper from the new Summer Mini Catalog called ‘Travel Journal’.

The card was scored 1 1/4 inches from the top across the entire top (inside and out).  Then I cut off the entire strip that is ‘inside’ the card (see first thumbnail) and one inch in on each side on the remaining 1 1/4 inch panel.  Close the card and fold each cut side in on a diagonal.  Just a note… if it takes you 25 tries to get the two sides folded equally, you are doing fine, LOL!

I secured the ‘collar’ down with a Dimensional so that it had some height and looked more like a real collar.

The tie was simple and I did freehand cut (a pre-cut) 1 x 4 inch strip by first cutting  a point at the bottom and then from each side point to the top at a slight angle.  For the knot, I just folded a 1 1/2 x 3/4 inch piece of designer paper on the wrong side, as shown below, and cut off the points that showed over the top.  I adhered the tie to the cardfront and then the folded ‘tie knot’ to the tie with a Dimensional–again, to look like a real tie knot.

Cut dimensions and accessories:
5 ½ x 8 ½ inch Bordering Blue, scored from the top at 1 ¼ inches
Designer Paper Tie & Knot ‘Travel Journal’
1 ¼ x 4 inches (tie)
¾ x 1 ¼ inches (knot)
1 x 1 inches (pocket)
1 x 1 Whisper White square (handkerchief)
1 1/16th circle punch, Silver Brads
Dimensionals™

The colors are Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie and Soft Suede on a white card… literally takes minutes to make.

I tied the card up in a knot of natural hemp… kind’ve like tying everything up to leave!

Accessories:

Whisper White cardstock
4 x 3 inch ‘Travel Journal’ Designer Series Paper
1 x 4 inch Night of  Navy cardstock
4 ¼ x 2 ¾ inch Whisper White c/s
(for stamping/cutting)
Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede Inks
Natural hemp, Dimensionals™

I actually have some truly beautiful fall samples to share and they are easy to boot!

This card is with exactly the same set and designer paper as yesterday’s card but with different designs from it and a vertical layout.

Again, I used the Autumn Splendor stamp set from the Holiday Mini Catalog, the  Autumn Meadows designer series paper (#116769, $9.95).

The leaves were stamped in Basic Brown and sponged with Really Rust, More Mustard & Not Quite Navy and then cut out and tacked on again.

The greeting was stamped in brown on vanilla, punched out with the oval scallop punch (#114889, $15.95) and layered with chocolate chip cardstock punched from our new Wide Oval punch (#112082, $15.95)… a punch combination I am getting very fond of!  And of course I used the Eyelet Border punch (#113692, $15.95) to create a ‘chair rail’ effect as well.

So, how’d I do?

Don’t you just absolutely love the Autumn Splendor stamp set from the Holiday Mini Catalog?!

#116503, $20.95

This card is almost entirely made from three designs featured in the Autumn Meadows designer series paper (#116769, $9.95).

The leaves were stamped in Basic Brown and sponged with Really Rust, More Mustard & Not Quite Navy and then cut out and tacked on again.  The greeting is also a Holiday Mini Catalog set ‘Wandering Words‘

This card was a lot of fun to make, not to mention easy!

I used the new ‘Nature’s Nest’ stamp set (click on the thumbnail for a larger image) and you can be sure I will be sharing more.

The colors are the new Soft Suede for both the card, a torn layer and the feather stamped image. The cardfront is Mellow Moss and there are torn layers of More Mustard and Chocolate Chip.

I ‘texturized’ the torn layers with the Texture Plates Kit #4 for the Sizzix ‘Big Shot’.  The Texture Plates kit came with three plates, each double sided and one side was a rough bark like texture which was perfect!  The nest was stamped in Black StazOn and colored in with the watercolor crayons and an aquapainter.

CLICK ON THUMBNAILS for larger detail

The tree and deer silhouettes are separate stamps and were stamped in black and the sky was sponged (using a sponge dauber) with a *tiny* bit of the following colors (from the top down):  Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Blush Blossom & Mellow Moss.  How easy is that?!

The designer series paper is ‘Prestwick’ (from the Fall/Winter 2008 catalog) is the exact same patterns (different colors) as the current (and retiring next week) Manchester DSP.  Love those plaids!

I have included my ‘quick card’ template for making a super-fast card with Designer Series Papers.

The dimentions are as follows:   standard sized card turned ‘landscape’ , the bottom layer is 4×4, the next layer is 4 x 3 1/2, the top (focal stamped image) is 3 x 3 1/4.

Okay, so what are you waiting for?  You know this won’t be Tony’s card (he’d say ‘another roadkill card’ remember?)

The box is small, but good things sometimes do come in small packages!

Also, the links to the discontinuing sets were incorrect in June 1st post have changed, you can download the list of discontinuing sets (first two downloads) and the Decor Elements Catalog below:

CLICK HERE for the list  in Alphabetical Order
CLICK HERE for the list in Page Order
CLICK HERE for the Decor Elements “Last Chance” List.

Isn’t this adorable?

My husband doesn’t really like nature scenes (deer, wolves, etc.) for Father’s Day cards… he refers to them as ‘road-kill’ cards (niiiiiice… he’s so lucky he still gets one with that attitude!).

Since he dresses up for work (well, he doesn’t wear vests, but he does wear a tie), I think that this is more appropriate.

Accessories:

Close to Cocoa cardstock
To the Nines Designer Series Paper
Mini silver brads
Close to Cocoa ink, sponge daubers
Vanilla taffeta ribbon, ¾ inch square punch
1 1/16th inch hole punch, ¾ inch hole punch,
Dimentionals™

In advance to the requests, I have included the PDF template (left).  Have fun with it! I really love the Designer Series Paper ‘To The Nines’ and the ‘Wanted’ set paisley stamp *just* coordinated!

*NEW* I have created a shortcut key in my sidebar to pull up all of the current and past Father’s day ideas that I have done, they only show four per page, so be sure to go back in the history (previous page) to see them all!  CLICK HERE to see current & past Father’s Day Ideas… in the future use the button in my sidebar!

And in anticipation of 1000 requests… I have included a PDF with the recipe and the dimentions and template.  Just quickly though, I used the Manchester Designer Series paper, Twill Tape ribbon, and you can’t tell by the photo, but the collar is Always Artichoke which is the same as the darkest stripe in the shirt.

This is my gift to my wonderful followers for being patient with me for being an inconsistent blogger lately.

I am very excited to be a presenter at Josee Smuck’s Stamping Girls Convention in Ottowa, Canada starting tomorow.  I’m a bit nervous as well and am hoping to impress!

As you can see by the detail shot (below) the top of the card is cut so that the collar doesn’t go above the standard sized card/envelope.

The knot for the tie is a trick… check out the PDF download for more information!  I have some fabulous Father’s Day & Masculine card ideas coming… when I get home from Canada!