John's 32nd Birthday Card

My son-in-law, John, is so witty and hilarious....he never fails to make everyone laugh. 

So he is definitely worthy of receiving an "embellished" joke card for his birthday :)

I was looking for a typical 'son-in-law' birthday card and then THERE SHE WAS....a little Calico BEAUTY that resembles their cat, Marcy!  Disappointment set in because the card is for a TWO YEAR OLD GIRL!  But luckily I was "SAVED" by being a scrapbooker and my mind went into automatic click-click creative mode! LOL!

So, let's start from the beginning shall we.... 
When I started scrapbooking years ago, I loaded up on every sticker that I thought was cute because I was scrapping my daughter's life.  I still have most (if not all) of my old stash, so low and behold I find these puff alpha stickers in my stash and the "B" is exactly the same striped colors just like the '2' on the card!!!!   So......

I cut the 'B' into a '3' - LOL!

 

Now - check out their cat, Marcy!  Green eyes and all!



 

The best surprise for John is what I did to the inside of the card! 

 

The entire left side is decorated with stickers & rub-ons!

I had to stop several times and laugh until I cried!  Look at the puff sticker of the skeleton fish jumping into the fish bowl!  And the rub-on bird saying 'here, kitty kitty' - LOL!!!

Funniest of all is the puff sticker of the gray cat because their other cat, Harvey, is gray.  They sometimes call him "Buttstein" when his rear end stinks - LOL!

 

The right side as you can see is marked through and wording changed a bit.

Rub-on paw prints, a 'meow' sticker and the #3 glittered with Stickles "Spiced Marmalade" added a little fun.

The real 'kicker' though is the awkward fire hydrant rub-on in the corner - LOL!!!!!!!!!

This is something John would pull in a joke because it doesn't fit at all with cats!  LOL!!

 

The poem on this card is hilarious!  I keep laughing myself into "lung hurt".  LOL!!!

 

I created this post on July 13th and have just been dying to publish it!!  But, now I'm able to because John received his card and he & Brianne had a good laugh. :) 





Hope you got some laughs because I know that I sure did!

Happy 32nd Birthday (July 31st) to our wonderful son-in-law!

Claude Monet's Lily Pond - Giverny, France (6-15-2000)

Welcome!  This is my second of three layouts featuring photos that I took of Claude Monet's gorgeous property in June 2000 during a European tour with my daughter.  I was using a 35mm Minolta X-700 camera at the time.  I'm not sure if even a digital camera today can capture the peace and tranquility felt at this wonderful place. 

This layout shows Claude Monet's lily pond. 

You know the infamous lilies, lily pads and green bridges he so frequently painted.....

I picked the three best photos to display. It was hard to get really good photos that day because the workers were in their boats cleaning up the pond, plus there were very few water lilies in bloom. 
Let's start with close ups of the photos.
 
Photo-top left:

Truly shows the lusciousness of Monet's fabulous trees and plant life that make such a picturesque scene!!! 

No wonder he loved painting his lily ponds! 

Far off in the distance is one of several green bridges.  

One thing is certain, at least when I was there 16 years ago, is that Monet loved not only green tones, but also tones of purple, red, pink & white. 

All of the trees, plants and flowers on his property reflect this.  I don't recall seeing very much yellow.

Photo-top right:

A closer view of one of the green bridges.   I had to walk into the foliage to snap this one!

The bridges really are not remarkable, but just the fact that Monet painted them makes them so special!

Photo-bottom:

Such a serene photo, in my opinion. 

The water is absolutely crystal clear and reflects the beautiful plant life that lines its banks. 

I chose paper to compliment the prominent green in the photos. 

I also stayed with the red, pink and purple tones as described earlier.

The rose colored resin lotus flowers represent beautiful water lilies in bloom.

Cute white Heather flowers were colored using Lindy's Flat Fabio color Queen of Hearts Red.

There are red flowers similar in structure in the photo.

I cut a piece from The Dusty Attic Grass Border #1 and heat embossed it first with Blue Fern Studios Imagine Ink color Summer Leaves.  Although quite gorgeous, it was just too 'blingy' for this layout.  So, I toned it down a bit by topping it with Lindy's EP color Tannebaum Green Gold - perfect!

The tops of the stems are heat embossed in BFS Imagine Ink EP color Auburn.

  I decided to adorn them with pretty flowers.

Tiny fuchsia open roses bring out the fuchsia colored flowers in the photo.

Along the pond were strategically placed black benches.  Some were simply placed in a well shaded area with no view at all of the pond.  My daughter & I did relax several times on a bench to enjoy the silence and get relief from the heat.

The Dusty Attic Park Bench chipboard is heat embossed in Lindy's Stamp Gang EP color Midnight Violet . 
Looking straight down at it, you see mostly BLACK color... 
Look to the side and there is that GORGEOUS purple that I FAVOR so much!
Thanks so much for taking time to visit and I hope that you have a wonderful day!  Lisa : )

Products used:

Blue Fern Studios - Tranquility collection - "Peaceful"

Bo Bunny - Garden Journal collection - "Post Card"

The Dusty Attic chipboard -

Grass Border #1

Park Bench

Tattered Lace dies - Ornate Leaves

Webster's Pages - Resin Whimsies - Lotus Blooms in Rose color

Blue Fern Studios Imagine Ink embossing powders -

Summer Leaves

Auburn

Wild Orchid Crafts flowers -

Fuchsia Open Roses - 10mm

White Heather

Red Mix MINI Sweetheart Blossom

Fiskars corner punch - Rounder

Lindy's Stamp Gang - 

 Embossing powders - Midnight Violet & Tannebaum Green Gold

 Flat Fabio spray - Queen of Hearts Red

Claude Monet's home- Giverny, France (6-15-2000)

I was so very lucky to be able to go on a European tour in the year 2000 with my daughter!  I was recently inspired to scrapbook some of those travels, starting with Claude Monet's home in Giverny, France.  My desire was bolstered by a nice lady that I friended on FaceBook, Gail Hunt of Gail Hunt Photography, who recently commented how much she wished that she could see Claude Monet's property in person and be able to photograph it.  Seeing her work, I have no doubt that her photography would capture much more feeling than my 35mm Minolta X-700 did when I was there.  But, even though this photo seems a bit mediocre, it certainly brings back memories for me of the peaceful silence and cool temperatures that surrounded Monet's gorgeous lily pond.  During 2000, Europe was experiencing an unprecedented heat wave.  Perhaps it was the luscious trees that line Monet's gorgeous lily pond that offered this peace and reprieve from the heat.  My daughter and I sat for a while on one of the benches overlooking the lily pond and just soaked it all in - so enjoyable!  I hope to scrap a couple of decent photos of Monet's lily pond in the near future.


I think that the sun must have been shining just right to make the top floor shutters of Monet's home look a bit turquoise in color.  You can see the bottom floor shutters (bottom floor is now a gift shop), as well as the hand rails, are the true green that is identical in color to the green bridges in Monet's lily pond that he painted numerous times. 

Now how perfect is this Blue Fern Studios paper and their wonderful chipboard piece for this photo?!  I heat embossed the chipboard using Stampendous Fran-táge color "Shabby White", so it has gold flecks in it.  I also added BFS Imagine Ink EP color "Cotton Candy" for some pretty pink.

I stenciled wild roses design just to the right side of the photo using white modeling paste.

  These pretty two-toned white roses with dusty pink centers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. 
  I've had them 'forever' and am really happy that I finally had the right setting to use some of them!  I settled on a make-shift 'climbing roses' design since Claude Monet's home is so full of climbing ivy and flower boxes over flowing with flowers! 

Of course, the Tattered Lace Ornate Leaves dies always bring life to floral arrangements!

 Mini prills were added in random areas.  I absolutely LOVE those little beauties!

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope that you can come again. 

Have a great week!  Lisa : )

Products used

Blue Fern Studios paper - Tranquility collection - Hushed

Blue Fern Studios chipboard - Flourish Medley

Blue Fern Studios embossing powder - Imagine Ink - Cotton Candy

Stampendous Fran-táge embossing powder - Shabby White

Prima 6x6 stencil - Wild Roses

Tattered Lace dies - Ornate Leaves

Kaisercraft - Key to my Heart collection - Charmed (backside) for the leaves die cut

Wild Orchid Crafts - White/Dusty pink centered Wild Roses 30mm

 Michael's - Recollections rhinestone rose sticker
Liquitex - Professional Flexible Modeling Paste
US Artquest mini prills - Spring Bling collection - Minnie Pearls & Tu-Tu Pink

A Special Card for Rocky

I created a double fold card for my dear friend Rocky back in May

and we were finally able to get together for a long, relaxing and very enjoyable lunch today! 

She & I worked together for many years and developed an enduring friendship.

Through the tough, demanding times at work, we helped each other survive with

 friendship, lots of laughs and understanding.

Special sentiments were computer printed and adhered with foam tape for dimension.

I don't use the skeleton leaves from Wild Orchid Crafts often enough.  They fit beautifully on this card!

To keep the card closed, I used white eyelets and glued on pretty pearl brads. 

The ribbon is tied to one side and then wrapped around the other eyelet. 

As you can see, I covered the eyelets inside the card with filigree metal squares positioned in diamond shape. 

A touch of bling in the center was added to dainty it up.

The card will stand on its own when fully opened up. 

The chipboard quote inside the card is heat embossed with Aged Rose and Aged Ivory. 
"Soul Sisters" is so representative of what she & I share....being 'partners in many crimes' at work. This became one of our "survival" techniques.  We were always the ones assigned projects by management because they knew that we would get the job done right the first time...that's called reliability. 

The butterflies are punched using the same paper as the card; each with handmade antennae. 

The rhinestones are all colored with Cranberry colored alcohol ink.  

Here is the card fully opened up. It measures 5" x 8" when closed; 12" x 8" fully opened.

After finishing the card, I created a custom sized box envelope to fit it perfectly.   
It measures 9" long x 5-1/4" high x 1-1/2" wide.
I embellished the box so that it would look good whether it is hung by the lace strap 
or standing freely horizontally or vertically.

A close up of one of the flower arrangements and the pearl flourish.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!!  Lisa : )

Products used:

Maja Design papers - Vintage Autumn Basics collection - No. II (main card)

Maja Design papers - Crea Diem collection - Fylld Av Kärlek (envelope)

Want2Scrap - chipboard quote

Want2Scrap - White Pearl Frilly Flourish Swirl

Stampendous Fran-táge embossing enamel - Aged Rose & Aged Ivory

Martha Stewart punches - Large Monarch Butterfly & Monarch Butterfly







Wild Orchid Crafts :

Lg. Baby Pink Wild Rosebuds

Skeleton Leaves

Baby Pink/Ivory Rosebuds 6mm

Green Hip Rosebuds

Green Trellis Roses

Pink Open Roses - 10mm & 20mm



Tsukineko Versa Magic Chalk Ink - Perfect Plumeria
ColorBox Pigment Ink - Dark Moss
Hobby Lobby/Michael's - Antique Gemstone Brads; Lace Ribbon; pink ribbon; eyelets
  clear rhinestones (recolored with Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Cranberry)