Masculine Birthday Card

My nephew asked me if I could make a birthday card for him to give to a friend of his - how could I refuse?! Making a card for a man I don't know is really a bit of challenge, AND since it's being given by my nephew, that adds another level of consideration....can't make anything too cutesie. Plus, the recipient of the card makes FABULOUS cards himself, so the pressure is on! I ended up going with a more graphic design and remembered these Big Candles by Hero Arts - just what I needed. The previous time I used these candles, I heat embossed them in black then colored in the candles with markers. This time, I white embossed the candles onto colored paper and like the result. The sentiment is also Hero Arts from the Life of the Party Birthday set. All stamps are mounted on top of the Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder.

Sympathy Card

A sympathy card for a dear friend. I recently received this stamp, Hero Arts Large Lotus Pattern, and the Distress Stains: Weathered Wood, Antique Linen and Walnut Stain. The sentiment is also Hero Arts, Just Because. I got the stamps and stains because of a beautiful card that Shari Carroll did on June 15, complete with a video showing how to do this watercolor with Distress Stains technique. I wasn't sure how I felt about the result at first, but now like it very much.

Summer Camp - Card #2

Here are the inspiration colors for week two of Summer Card Camp:

And here's my project:

I started with this new border die, Catalina Border, from Memory Box. At first, I was going to color the flowers, but after I found the butterfly stamp, Hero Arts Clear Design April, I decided to color the butterflies and keep the flowers white. The butterflies are colored with three colors from the Color Box Classic Queue. The stem and leaves are colored with Copics. I used Paper Trey's Edgers #3 to cut the black background, and the Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder for the white background. The sentiment is also Hero Arts: Message Circles. Plus, it's difficult to see, but I wound a very thin black ribbon three times around the middle of the black cardstock.