Grand Finale, pt 9

Part nine of the Grand Finale was this card. It used the Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper, which has a little bit of texture to it. I really like the new papers that have this feature! There were a few different choices on the larger piece of patterned paper. The flowers in the background were stamped with the Versamark pad. The border was punched with the Eyelet Border Punch. One more class card to go!

Man Card!

"Man cards" are always a challenge! As stampers, we tend to want to pretty them up a bit, no matter what. For the most part, I think this one would qualify as a man card. I used the Big Shot to get the neat texture on the olive and navy papers. I roughed up the edges of the olive paper (which comes from an old pack of Designer Series paper called Bali Breeze) with the Cutter Kit. The stamps sets I used are Lovely Labels, On Your Birthday, and the So Swirly wheel.

Grand Finale, pt 8

On this card, I used the greeting that comes in the set we used, Fifth Avenue Floral (a favorite!). Everyone was able to choose a greeting that they liked, however. The colors I used were Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac. I felt like the colors blended together too much, even though they are very different. I ended up misting the vanilla card stock slightly with a spray bottle filled with water. It made a big difference and separated the colors and made them stand out from each other a lot more. After it had dried, I layered the pieces together. This ended up being one of my favorite cards from the class...probably because of the colors!

We used the Tearing Edge of the right side of the Lovely Lilac card stock. If anyone needs one of these great tools, I happen to have a new one for sale. I can't remember how I ended up with an extra, but I'd love to sell it to you!

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Also..... for those that use Blogger, have you been having problems with the Posting Options lately? Everytime I've gotten something ready to post ahead of time for the last couple of months (for a future date), it never posts. I haven't had that problem until lately.

Grand Finale, pt 7

This is the seventh card we made in my last class. We ended up making the pink one in class. I had planned the red one and then realized we were using the red ink pad on another card and had to switch. That always happens at the last minute! I think I have everything planned so precisely...oh well!

We used heavy duty tin foil and ran it through the Big Shot to get this look. We used one of the Texturz Plates. It is a neat and impressive look. Once in a while you get a hole through the tin foil (which is why the "heavy duty" is necessary), but you just use a little creative layering at that point. When you layer the foil to the black card stock, it is important to put your adhesive onto the black card stock, rather than the foil, because you will push out all of the impressions. Just place your adhesive about 1/8" in from the edge of the card stock and you'll be fine.

We watercolored the flowers. They come from the Echoes of Kindness set, which was a hostess set from the last catalog. The Rhinestone Brad added just the right touch to top it off.

Grand Finale, pt 6

This card was one of the easiest cards from the Grand Finale class, but definitely a favorite! Many ended up ordering the Branch Out set after seeing and using it. It includes a few other stamps than what you see here. It is a cute one, and pretty versatile for the different seasons of the year.

Scout Camp

Brandon and I left around noon yesterday to spend the evening with the other three boys and Richard at scout camp. I really look forward to "family night" each year. It is a three hour drive to get there, which I really don't look forward to at all. One of the families always stays overnight in a local motel, so we did that this year. What a great idea! We got there around check-in time and he had time to swim with another family for a while.

We went to dinner with the scouts, visited their camp for a bit, then watched their skits. This is always my favorite part. They did a great job! It was one I had seen before, but you never get tired of them, and each troop does them a little differently. I'm so impressed with how this particular camp handles everything. The volunteers that are there each year are just wonderful.

Afterwards we went back to their campsite for a while and OOPS! - - no "s'mores" supplies! That could be my fault. It's a tradition, and I think maybe I've brought them every year. ??? Well, I forgot them this year. I did make cookies though. Not a good substitute when all the little kids (and little and big scouts) just want to roast marshmallows. Mental note for next year!

We had a good night's sleep (sort of....a baby screamed for much of the night close to our room) and got up and swam for a couple of hours again. I got some reading time in. I *finally* started reading The Work and The Glory books. I know I'm the only person that hasn't read them. It took me forever to get into the first one, but now I'm half way through the second. My grandma gave them all to me as they came out.....well, up until she passed away. I think I ended up not having the last three, which I've already purchased because Richard read them all one summer. Her inscription in the first one says something like "Thanks for giving us those two cute little boys!" It was in 1992, I think! You have NO CLUE how happy she probably is that I'm finally reading them! :)

Grand Finale, pt 5

Card five from the Grand Finale class came from my sister's brilliant mind. I actually combined the inside and outside of two different cards of she had made to make one card. She did it in blue. I was trying to use a wide variety of colors and already had some blue planned, so I used the Tangerine Tango and Apricot Appeal.

The "spring" on the inside is the 1 3/4" circle punch cut in a spiral. It is attached with Glue Dots, and each of the flowers and the butterfly are also attached with a Glue Dot.

Thanks to Teri for taking pictures of my cards for me!