I managed to make a few projects for this month's Papertrey Blog Hop! Whew! The hubby and I have been preparing to put our house on the market. There's been big changes in the Matthews' household but I'll tell you a bit more about that in a second... first, the blog hop!
More about this month's challenge from PTI:
Boys To Men
This month's blog hop is dedicated to all the boys and men in our lives! Now's your chance to create
Father's Day projects, boy birthday cards and more to build up your stash! Focus on masculine color
schemes, fresh pattern combinations, understated embellishments and unique uses of images you may
already have in your stash!
What a great time to make cards for the Dads in our lives :)
For this first card, I took some inspiration from my super talented blog friend, Cristina at My Paper Secrets :) She made THIS fabulous creation and I just had to make a twine frame for myself. I also CASE'd her single layer card format. Trust me, you can't go wrong CASEing anything this creative gal makes... seriously. Don't believe me, check out her blog....it's ok, you can put me on hold {cue the muzak}.......... told ya!
I started out by masking off the center of the card. Then I stamped the argyle background. Then I stamped the tree. I was trying to create the effect of shading on the tree by using the rock and roll technique... with mixed results. The grassy hills with distressed edges were added, then the sentiment and the card was finished off with the crochet thread frame. The frame is so easy and is just the perfect masculine accent. There is something so satisfying in the completion of a one-layer card. The fact that if you make a mistake, you'll have to alter the one layer plan or start from scratch. Everything has to go perfectly (or pretty near...). It's a little victory. And who can't use those now and then :)
On to the next card, which also uses the Argyle set. Yep, it's love... but I say that about a lot of things... I've got lots of love to give I guess LOL!
Pretty self explanatory. The woodgrain impression plate creates texture in the background. The sentiment (from Pond Life, same as above) is framed with the Mat stack 1 die and stamp from For the Graduate. Add buttons and twine - done. Simple and minimal - no muss, no fuss :)
So that's it for the crafty portion of our program ;) More personal info to follow so feel free to hop on - I totally understand (and will be completely oblivious - it's how I live most of my life LOL!!!!).
So we're selling our house. The house we only bought 3 years ago. The house we love. As you may or may not know, I am originally from Canada. My DH is American - we met in post-secondary school. We moved to the US about 7 years ago for work - first to Worcester, MA then to eastern TN. We've lived very happily here for the past 3.5 years and had planned on being here for quite some time - then life happened :) My DH has followed me around for the past 9 years, mostly because my work required more specific locales - now it is my turn to follow him. He has an amazing job opportunity in eastern Canada - where I hail from!!! So now we both have jobs waiting for us there. We're so excited - for the amazing opportunity and the fact we get to move back to eastern Canada. We'll be working at the very university where we met 13 years ago :) It is bittersweet, however; while we get to move back to a place we love and that holds a special meaning for both of us, we are moving away from family and dear friends here in eastern TN and NC. Not easy.... at all. So it is with excitement, tempered by very heavy hearts, that we take this next step... We'll officially be moving at the end of Aug (which is RAPIDLY approaching!!!) so lots to do between now and then.
Anywho, thanks so much for stopping by. I certainly understand how busy life can get so I really appreciate you spending precious time here with me! Happy hopping!
TTFN,
