What has Danielle been up to?

I have really been remiss in posting things on my blog lately, I know!

Gee, you would think that I haven't stamped OR cooked in over a month.

Not so!

I have oodles of pictures I have taken of delicious food that I have cooked! I promise to share recipes with you! (crab Alfredo, cauliflower "mashies", chicken thighs in a lemony butter sauce...)  BEWARE - it may just happen in a late night, no-sleep bombardment!

And, stamping....

I have been busy!

I'd like to share with you a few projects that I have been working on over the last few weeks:

A gift of thank you cards for a friend that just retired.

One of our wood mount stamp cases worked perfectly to house all cards and matching envelopes! The silver foil paper really added extra elegance to the envelope liners!

St. Paddy's Day treats....

At the end of the rainbow you will find a pot of gold…

Aren't  these just darling?

I made about eight of them (punch art at its best!) Besides giving them to my own boys, they were handed out to their friends (all high school-aged boys) and they were well received. The Skittles did not last long!

A gift for a student going abroad....

This one is a work in progress.

 I am meeting this friend on Sunday of this week so I have just a few more days to finish!

I bought the scrapbook kit called So You from the Stampin' Up! Occasions mini catalog. 

I did take some creative liberties with the front cover using a stamp from Adventure Awaits (also from Occasions mini).

The album itself shouldn't take me much time to complete, however. The kit is designed with acetate/transparency overlays for each picture page. You stamp on it with white Staz-on ink, and simply place a picture behind it!

Here is one  page I made with a piece of DSP behind it (from the Adventure Bound pack).

(Love this paper, especially for masculine purposes!)

I can't wait to complete this gift and give it to him!

I've already ordered a second one intended for my younger son who's going to Costa Rica this summer.

Perfect gift!!!

Masculine cards

My oldest brother's birthday is this week. 

 I searched the stash for card that I could send.  As usual, I have a shortage of masculine cards on hand. Sometimes masculine cards are so challenging for me - no flowers, no glitter, no fancy stuff. I tend to make cards that are more geared towards sending them to my lady friends.

But I needed something to send out soon, so it was easier for me to CASE something that I liked than to spend a long time creating it.

 I found these two cards in my picture files. One is a recent pin on Pinterest, the other has been in my computer files for some time. 

This is one I found on Pinterest just last week.

It uses the Wetlands stamp set and also the Dictionary background stamp. The card was originally made by Janine  Tinklenberg. 

The card base is Soft Suede, with a layer of Old Olive. I used Soft Suede ink for the background stamped on Very Vanilla card stock. The sentiment was stamped in Cajun Craze ink. The image was stamped in Soft Suede but colors were added with a blender pen (Old Olive, Crushed Curry and Sahara Sand).

I added twill tape, burlap ribbon and a bronze button with linen thread.

That was great, but I needed to have another choice! So I looked in my picture files and came up with this one:

I'm sorry but I don't know who originally made this card, but I love the way she used Designer Series Paper to resemble books!  

What a great way to use the scraps of the Well Worn DSP I had on my shelf! Using the Simply Scored tool and stamps on the "book spines" helped to achieve a realistic vintage-book look. Can you see the details? I hope so!

The "books" were glued to a piece of Newsprint DSP. The card base is Night of Navy card stock.

The sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy ink and punched out of Very Vanilla card stock, using the Modern Label punch. It's popped up a little with Dimensionals.

I added a cute mini library clip to complete the look!

He's getting this one, since he likes to read. 

With a houseful of guys I think I had better start making more masculine cards and stock up!