I’ve been wanting to do this for some time now. Actually, since January - ha.
One of the most requested things I get here on the Blog is to see more masculine cards, and cards for Boys. So I decided I would feature a week (5 days) worth of cards that are great for the man or boy in your life! And because I’m a busy lady, when I say a week, I mean Mon-Fri so really only 5 days 
Here is today’s card:
Designer paper is from the “Mr. Campy” collection by Cosmo Cricket. (they have lots of great patterns for masculine cards). I decided to try my hand at paper piecing & put this paper together to look like a tie. I used some twine to add interest, and inked the edges to give more definition.
I love this sentiment. It’s from this set by PaperTrey Ink.
This card could easily be turned into a Father’s Day Card. All you’d need to do is replace the “Happy Birthday” sentiment w/ a “Happy Father’s Day” sentiment!
Cards
I just realized that I forgot to include what I shoot with in that last post. For those of you who asked, I have a Nikon D40 with just the 2 kit lenses:
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
55-200mm f/4-5.6
so far these lenses are great & I’m getting a lot of use out of them. (I’ve been fussing around with the camera on my own for about a year now - but just started taking formal classes a few weeks ago). The Nikon D40 is a WONDERFUL camera for me as it’s my first DSLR and it can do oh-so-much, and it wasn’t very expensive. Some day I’m sure I will graduate to a more beefy camera body - but for now I’m very happy with it. Nikon discontinued the D40 this past January, but if you’re looking to get something similar, I recommend going with the D5000. (by the way, that site I just linked to is amazing & full of SO much great info about DSLR’s & Photography in general).
I am in the market to beef up my lens collection, and I think I’ve set my mind on a new 50mm f/1.4 lens. I am drooling over the potential photos I shall get with this lens - I hear & see amazing things.
I would love to someday own an 85mm, Fisheye & Macro lens…but they all cost a lot of $$ and I suppose I have to be patient
Photography
but it’s for good reason!
I’ve been spending a lot of time on Photography. I started a class & I’m really enjoying it. The fact that it’s Spring & we have daylight, green trees, grass, etc. - has allowed me to play a lot more & get more photo practice in.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to have a photo session with this wonderful couple:
They were so much fun to work with. They are HUGE Red Sox fans (WOOT!) and they had great idea to use a onesie in some shots.
Jess made these blocks herself, using some designer paper & Modge Podge. That’s right - she is a paper crafter like me! LOVE IT!! If you’d like to see more of these or perhaps order some custom blocks, you can to check out her Etsy store. The stuff she makes is amazing - and it would make a great addition to your nursery, or a wonderful baby gift!
A big THANKS to Jess & her husband for letting me shoot your maternity photos!
In my class this week, we focused on shooting still life. Given that I’m still figuring out my camera, I shot almost ALL of my pics last night with incorrect exposure. (Somehow I had modified the exposure compensation setting on my camera. WOOPS.) So yea…they didn’t come out all that great, but hey - that’s why I’m in a class, right? Once I figured out what the heck I was doing, I managed to get this one nice shot of a weed.
HAHA. All the flowers & I chose to shoot a weed. Yep.
It’s a pretty weed, no?
Photography
More scrapbooking for me, can you believe it? I had this photo lying around of Matthew & Catie and I wanted to use it in a layout. It’s one of my fave photos of these guys.
Those butterflies were all stamped with this stamp from Hero Arts. I colored them with Copics & added some shine with Perfect Pearls. (you can’t really tell in this photo but they look awesome in person!) I created the title with 2 different sets of Thickets from American Crafts.
Scrapbooking
remember how I said that I wasn’t able to get any actual scrapbooking in on NSD?
I LIED!!
After I posted that blog entry, I found this photo of Pete & I are on our 2 year Anniversary. It was taken by the waitstaff at the Capital Grille (YUMM). I really like the photo & wanted to be sure that I scrapbooked it. So I put together a quick 8″x8″ page (something new for me).
I used this collection by October Afternoon for all paper on here. The stickers are felt letter stickers from Making Memories. They are tricky little suckers let me tell ya…! Getting them to stick to the page just right was…interesting to say the least.(please ignore my horrendous hair in this photo. UGH)
I used a few punches - one from Martha Stewart, one from Marvy & also the Stampin Up Hearts punch to make all those fun little hearts. I popped most of them up with dimensional adhesive.
I like this page, I really do. But I have to say, I feel like I’ve totally lost my “touch” with scrapbooking (or perhaps I never had it??) It’s just that I started this whole obsession hobby way back in the day with scrapbooking my photos of college. I was pretty much an exclusive scrapper until I started getting into cards, and then it just took off from there.
I look at all the scrapbook stuff that’s out there now & I’m just in awe. There are SO many talented people out there who make AMAZING layouts. I am envious because I just don’t think I have it in me to crank out layouts like that. I am hoping that one day I will have a plethora of photos to scrap & maybe I will get “into my groove”, but for now I like focusing on cards & other fun projects. I’m not sure why I am rambling on about this…it’s just what I’m thinking I guess? So you might see more layouts from me, but you might not. They will likely be random.
Anyway, thanks for listening to me babble…!
Scrapbooking
Hi, my name is Kerry, and I am a PUNCH ADDICT.
Those glorious 40% off coupons are like crafting-crack for me, and lure me into buying more & more punches. My latest purchase was this number here by EK Success. Just LOVE those candles for a Birthday Card.
The base of the card is Old Olive from SU! - I used a Hero Arts cling stamp for the background. Designer paper is from Cosmo Cricket, ribbon is from PTI.
In other news…I started a photography class last night and I’m PSYCHED!! I am finally learning how to really use my DSLR camera. I have done a lot with it so far, but I’m not 100% comfortable with shooting in full manual mode. So I am very excited to learn in this class. So far so good! I’m hoping as I learn more, my pics here on the Blog will improve.
Cards
errrr….
here’s a card that I made today. LOL!
I wanted to try & do something for NSD - but in all honesty, I have no (printed) pics to really scrapbook at the moment. I’m unprepared 
We are off to my parents house soon for the rest of the weekend, so I won’t have much time to be crafty today, but I did manage to create this card with my new favorite Martha Stewart punch:
It’s a monster punch. But I love the butterfly detail. I figured it would make a really nice silhouette against a bright background:
I used all distress inks & my foam blending tool to create that background. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Super simple card with minimal supplies. Love! Oh, and the dimensions of the card are 9″x3.5″
Have a great day everyone!
Cards
I posted a few weeks ago about a fun technique with emboss resist, using distress inks. I decided to use up some more of those stamped images that I had created on this card.
All stamps are Hero Arts. I used some chalk ink and the woodgrain background stamp on the Kraft cardstock to give it some texture. Those flowers are some primas that I had lying around, and I stuck a button from PTI in the middle. The ribbon is Old Olive from Stampin Up. (Old Olive is one of my all time fave colors!)
Cards
Last weekend I was on the “I NEED to use up some of my scraps” kick.
What do I do to use up scraps? I make bookmarks! They are the perfect way to use strips of paper. These ones here below are 7″x2″. I have LOTS of designer paper scraps. WAY too much. This is my way of using them up & creating something fun.
Can we discuss how CUTE this robot fella is? He was from a piece of designer paper. ADORABLE.
More fun boy-themed bookmarks…
I also tried to use up some colors of cardstock that are not my traditional style. (AKA bright SHOCKING pink). Stampin Up is retiring a bunch of colors so I figured I better make room for the new…! Here are some girly themed bookmarks…
You can find another post of mine with full video tutorial on making these bookmarks HERE. (I laminate them.) I sell them at my craft fairs for $2 each, and I can tell you they sell VERY well!
Craft Fair
I had changed the format of my Wedding Invite “How-To” guide a few weeks back. Apparently the link didn’t work & I just hadn’t gotten around to fixing it.
It should be all set now!
Other
