Plumber Thank You

I was in a race to make this card today. Unfortunately, my hubby discovered that one of our toilets was leaking so we needed a visit from the plumber, which was scheduled this morning. Fortunately, the plumber is a neighbor from down the block who is really cool and has a great sense of humor. As he was working, I decided that I wanted to make him a quick thank you card. I finished it, but just barely. He works fast!

I saved time by using Cathy's  really cool sketch from this week's splitcoast sketch challenge. It's a straightforward sketch which makes it perfect to make quick cards - I love it.

I embossed about half of the front of the kraft card base with the Measuring Tape embossing folder by Sizzix and added a piece of retired SU designer paper to the other half. (This scrap of designer paper is so old - it dates back to when SU sold single sided designer paper - wish I could remember what it was called). I found another scrap of retired SU designer paper for the center rectangular panel and mounted it on a mat of dusty Durango card stock before attaching both to the card front. I stamped the tools and saying form the Guy Greetings set on a scrap piece of manila folder in soft suede ink and die cut it with a framelit from the starburst assortment, attaching it to the card front with dimensionals. Finally, I stamped the sentiment form the Plane and Simple set on another scrap of manila folder and punched it out with the word window punch before mounting it on a mat made of a piece of not quite navy card stock punched with the modern label punch.

It's a pretty simple card but I think our neighbor will appreciate it, especially knowing it was made while he was working. I had fun making it and this was the best reason to make a card, even if I had to rush.

Recipe:

Paper: manila folder, dusty durango, not quite navy, SU retired designer papers, kraft card base from Neutral Smooth A2 cards and envelopes assortment by Darice
Ink: Soft Suede
Stamps: Guy Greetings, Plane and Simple
Accessories: Starburst Framelits assortment, word window punch, modern label punch, measuring tape embossing folder by Sizzix

Classic Grandpa

The Clean and Simple challenge today on SCS was to make a card with a bow in honor of National Bow Tie Day. I loved this challenge because it gave me a chance to use my bow tie die cut and embossing folder. I'm never quite sure of what does and does not fall within the parameters of clean and simple, and I worry that I may have gone a layer or brad too far for this card to fall within those parameters, but to me this is still pretty clean and simple.

I started with a basic gray card base and added a very vanilla mat that I embossed with the Darice Ties and Bow Ties embossing folder. I die cut a bow from a scrap of patterned paper and used basic gray ink to stencil the bow tie folds through the die that also serves as a stencil.  I used the same scrap as a mat for a strip of very vanilla card stock on which I stamped my sentiment from the Guy Greetings set in basic gray ink. A stamp-a-ma-jig was instrumental in helping me line up the different parts of the sentiment leaving space for the bowtie. I added three small circle brads at the bottom of this strip and sponged the edges with basic gray ink before attaching it to the patterned paper mat. I added another very vanilla layer and a basic gray layer before attaching the stack to the embossed very vanilla layer. As a final step I attached the bowtie die cut to the card front using dimensionals.

I think this will make a very snappy birthday card for a classic - and likely classy - grandpa.

Recipe:

Paper: very vanilla, basic gray, Patchwork Plaid by Colorbox
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamps: Guy Greetings
Accessories: Ties and Bow Ties Embossing Folder by Darice, Dear Old Dad Shapeabilities by Spellbinders. metallic basics mini circle brads by Making Memories, SMAJ, stampin' sponge