The Joys of Stamper with a Teenage Son...

So, what do you do when you have a son who's about to turn 17 and he feels he's too cool for a handstamped card?  Lately, when my son is getting ready to go to a friend's birthday party and I offer up my services to make a card, I get a "nooo, that's okay... you don't have to..."  I usually persist and say, "No, really! I want to!"  That usually proceeds with a rolling of the eyes and a "...whatever."  Perplexed, I head to my craft space and try to come up with a masterpiece that I hope will change his mind when he sees it.  Only, to get a "hmmm, thanks..."  Since I don't get to go to the parties with him, I have to trust that he actually gives the kid the card.  It's difficult to know, since when I ask him what his friend (or his friend's mom) thought of the card after the party, I get another rolling of the eyes and a "ugh!"  Oh, the joys of the teenage years!

Soooo, now that it's my son's 17th birthday tomorrow, I had to come up with some sort of card that will hopefully get a "cool" or "nice" or some other positive response.  Don't worry, I won't be passing out from holding my breath.  But I do hope it makes him at least a little bit happy, even though he may not show it on the outside. 

My goto teen card stamp set right now is Grunge Rock.  Here's what I came up with:

I dug through my designer series paper stash to find some "masculine" paper and found this retired pack from a couple minis ago.  Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Crumb Cake were all pulled out of the designs in the paper.  I just LOVE how everything matches with Stampin' Up! products--paper, ink, ribbon, etc!

Here's a peek at how the gate fold card looks:

The base of the card is a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of card stock, scored at 2 3/4" from each end with the sides folded in to meet in the middle.  I then built the front of the card on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Crumb Cake card stock that is only attached on the left side.  Aside from the Grunge Rock stamp set, the U is from the Jayne's Type Alphabet set.

I don't think my son will be as impressed as I am with how this card turned out, but 20 years from now he won't be able to say I didn't care enough to make him a birthday card for his 17th birthday (or any other birthday for that matter)... yes, I am a stamper!!!

I hope you're Happy Stampin too!
Brenda

Snazz Up Those School Photos!

I'm guessing many of you get those silly school photos of your kids and wonder if there's a way to actually make them look good. Well, I had some of those silly pictures of my sons to send to my hubby in Kuwait and had to do something to snazz them up. So I made this:

This is the front and I just stamped directly onto the blank coasters, as I would a card. The saying is from the Service & Sacrifice stamp set (115992), it's punched out with the Wide Oval Punch (112082) and layered with a curly label cut out from the Movers & Shapers Curly Label Die. The background is stamped with the Medallion Background Stamp(115223) and swirl from Baroque Motif (113490).

There are 3 coasters tied together with ribbon. The holes were punched out with the Crop-A-Dile (108362). To get them all lined up, I punched 2 holes on one coaster to start--using the movable edge guide to make them the same distance from the edge. Then I laid that over the other 2 coasters (one at a time) and punched. For the middle coaster I flipped the coaster over, lined it up with one of the other pre-punched coasters and punched again. The grosgrain ribbon is simply tied into knots to hold them together. I used the Tailor Made Simply Scrappin' Kit (114326) to decorate the inside.

The pictures are attached with clear corner photo tabs (from my stash) so that my hubby can remove them and put them in his wallet if he'd like.

This would make a great gift idea for grandparents. If you don't have a stack of blank coasters sitting around, you could use the On Board Book Basics Small (110712) or scrap cardboard cut to size with a craft knife. Don't forget! Christmas is coming and this would be a quick and easy gift! Go to my website or contact me directly to place an order for the supplies you need to get started!

Happy Stampin!

Special Tri-Fold Card

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a week since I last blogged! I guess I've been busier than usual. I want to share one of the projects we made at my card class last Monday.

Here's a side view:

And an inside view:

As you can see, there are 2 different pieces of card stock making up the tri-fold card base. The bottom (Riding Hood Red) piece measures 5 1/2" x 6 1/2" and is scored 2 1/4" from the shorter edge. The Very Vanilla layer measures 5" x 8 1/2" and is scored 1 1/2" & 5 1/2" from the shorter edge. Then you lay the Very Vanilla layer inside the Riding Hood Red layer with the shorter flaps together. The larger flap of the Very Vanilla layer is punched with the Eyelet Border Punch.

The oval stamp is from the Oval All set in the Occasions Mini Catalog and is punched out with the Large Oval Punch and layered with a Scallop Oval Punch (which is also available in the mini).
Happy Stampin!

Final Farewell to Moose You!

In 2 short days (at the end of the day January 18), the stamps on the retired list will be gone forever... The set I'm most sad to see go is Moose You. Perhaps it's because I'm from the "frozen tundra" (northern Wisconsin... really close to Minnesota) where moose are like a mascot. I'm actually surprised there are no sports teams named after them... ;-)

Well, here's my final farewell Moose You card post:

It's not your typical card. Instead of the usual fold, it has an accordion folded layer that is held closed with some ribbon. Here's what it looks like opened:

If you haven't already ordered your very own Moose You stamp set, hurry to my website right now and place your order!

Happy Stampin!

Sparkly Snow Swirled Tri-Fold Card

Even though it's 90+ degrees outside and winter doesn't even seem possible here in Texas, I have been having fun with the Snow Swirled stamp set (don't forget, it's on sale until the end of this month). Being from northern Wisconsin, I'm partial to snowflakes of any kind. Believe it or not, I actually miss the snow... well, sort of... just not the cold that usually comes along with it!

Here's one of the sparkly cards I was making when I learn my valuable lesson about embossing powder and ceiling fans not working well together (refer to Sept. 1 post):


I believe this is my favorite card so far. The colors used were: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Sahara Sand. The center snowflake was stamped with Not Quite Navy craft ink and embossed with Iridescent Ice EP--I love that look! The strip of Not Quite Navy cardstock was crimped to add texture and then cut in half. I wrapped two pieces of the double sided Satin Ribbon around the two card stock strips and then attached them to each side of the card front. After attaching the center front layers to the left side of the card using dimensional adhesive, I tied a shorter piece of ribbon on to create the faux bow. Be sure to click on the photo to get a closer look at the sparkle!


Hurricane Update: Ike is on the way to Texas and he's huge! From the satellite pictures, he looks just as big as Texas. I wanted to let you know that the area I live (near San Antonio) is looking safer than it did yesterday, as the projected path keeps moving more north/east of here. We are expecting some rain and possibly some high winds... but nothing too serious. The rain will be good for the area, as we are in a drought--although, flooding would be bad. Many people from the Galveston/Houston areas have evacuated, as that is where Ike is expected to make landfall early Saturday morning. Please keep them (and the people who have stayed behind) in your prayers.