Super Dad...on the road

I was thousand of miles of away from my dad for Father's Day (my folks travel every summer), but we spent a lovely day with my father-in-law. We went to an East Coast favorite, Silver Diner; the food is so fresh and delicious, and of course the company was great!

I made him this card using a KennyK image, a CTMH paper, and the last of my cityscape die cuts:

Funny story about the CTMH map-patterned paper: by pure coincidence, it's a map of the Bethesda, Maryland area, where is where my FIL lives! He noticed immediately, and we all had a laugh about it.

The cityscape is heat-embossed in Kaleidoscope/glitter powder. I inked the pieces with SU! Barely Banana. The ribbons were both purchased at CYDI.

I used the opposite side of the CTMH paper for the inside, and added a simple pop-up message:

The sentiment reads "Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad," and is by Paper Makeup.


Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays #105: "Mapquest" (I know this is on the edge of CAS, but it's about as CAS as I get!)
Catered Crop: Masculine Card
There She Goes: Anything Goes


Thank you for visiting, and best to you & yours,

Final March challenge at Heart 2 Heart

Happy Easter! Here's the Easter card I made for my husband:

If you follow this blog, you know that I've had a lot of fun participating in all the March the challenges at Heart 2 Heart and playing with Close To My Heart (CTMH) products. Here I used CTMH papers (card base, background, circles) and one of their cute clips. I stamped the image onto kraft paper and colored it with SU! pencils and Sakura glaze & glitter pens.
(Sorry the photo isn't great; I took it really quickly without natural light).

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cards for Men Challenge 6: Easter
Heart 2 Heart: Easter
Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet: Chicks Rule + Kraft
My Craft Spot Challenge #92: Strings & Things
There She Goes Challenge #200: Sketch

Update: Wow, I was the March monthly prize winner at the Kraft Outlet!

Thank you for visiting,

More Fun with Close to my Heart

I'm having fun catching up on the March challenges at Heart 2 Heart, as they are having a special March Madness promotion with lots of prizes. You can see all my cards, featuring CTHM projects, here.

The papers and key & keyhole stamps are from CTMH, and the keyhole chipboard piece is by Graphic 45 (see the text inside the keyhole? that's a sweet CTMH stamp!). The polka dot digital paper is by Mel Stampz, and the sentiment is by {ippity}/Unity.

Inspiration/Challenges:
I {heart} Card Sketches #10: Sketch )Oops, missed the deadline!)
Heart 2 Heart Challenge: Go Green + CTMH products (paper & key stamp)

Thank you for visiting,

From One Mustache to Another

I really like the mustache trend that keeps coming back, so I'm eager for any opportunity to participate in a Mustache challenge, like the one this month at Heart 2 Heart; plus, it's also a chance to use more of my new CTMH products!

My father-in-law's birthday is coming up, and when I asked for ideas from my husband he said, "Clean & simple style with a Mexican theme." Oh he's so sexy when he talks crafty lingo! Anyhoo, this wasn't what I first thought I'd end up doing, but I'm very pleased with the result: 

My husband's dad's family is from Mexico, and actually he, his dad & his uncle have pretty impressive mustaches, so I gave myself the theme of "From One Mustache to Another". These CTMH papers reminded me of a certain type of Mexican tile, and I love using my Dilo en Español stamps. I used 3 stamps from their Queremos Pastel set (the original version; I see they have a lovely new version), heat-embossing the top in gold and the bottom in silver.

The mustache cut file is from Bea Original. I cut it from a brown CTMH cardstock – which cut beautifully by the way – ran it through my sticker machine & covered it with black Shiny Fluff/flocking (Our Craft Lounge).

I matted the pieces with a simple black cardstock, and made the border on the white cardstock with a PITT small-tipped pen.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Creations #214: Embossing
Creative Card Crew #33: Masculine
Heart 2 Heart: Mustaches + CTMH products

Thank you for visiting,

Fun with Close to my Heart

I had a lot of fun participating in the Spirelli Technique challenge at Crafting by Designs, and was so excited to learn that I was their February prize winner! Let me tell you, I've been eagerly awaiting my Close To My Heart goodie package from CTMH consultant Cindy Leek! And boy, I wasn't disappointed. I received lots of yummy paper of different weights, a book of sketch ideas, some adorable metal clips, and a set of clear stamps. Oh CTMH, you had me at "paper"!

Anyhoo, I was very excited to be able to participate in the challenges at Heart 2 Heart, as I've never had enough CTMH products to meet their requirement (I have some flocking and bottled ink). They are having a special month-long prize challenge going on, so I'm hoping to enter a few more of their March challenges if time allows [by the time I posted this, I had made all the cards for March!].

Speaking of Time... I had actually wanted to enter their "Spring Forward" challenge when it was posted back on March 4, but I couldn't figure a good way to use said flocking & inks. So imagine my joy when I received a Time-themed stamp set! Whoop! I inked up that bad boy and made a quick card using a sheet of CTMH's My Reflections DP.

All the stamps are from the CTMH set, except the sentiment which is from Stampendous. I stamped the watch frame in bright yellow and heat-embossed it with yellow, so it's really yellow! I inked the inside with a little SU! Barely Banana ink and stamped the sentiment in black. Everything on the blue band is heat-embossed in white; I colored the sentiment with a marker.

Inspiration/Challenges:
ColourQ #181: Color
Heart 2 Heart: Spring Forward + CTMH products (Time + paper & stamps)
Seize the Birthday #11: Feminine Birthday + Sketch (This isn't exactly girly, but I think it's pretty feminine)

Update: Whoop, I was the random Grand Prize Winner for the Heart 2 Heart March Madness challenge!

Thank you for visiting,