Busy, busy, busy...

I love weekends.  While they are always filled with long to-do lists, I love the change of pace they offer.  There are some weekend days when I don't even leave the house!!  Those are the ones I treasure, because they don't come around very often.  Earlier in the week this weekend was shaping up to be a nice, quiet one...I should have known better.  My parents are down visiting from Parry Sound which is a good thing...it just means I don't get as much accomplished.  Then there is my son.  He has been sick so often this winter I've lost count.  Last Wednesday he started running a fever but had no other symptoms.  We were puzzled, but thought he'd be better with rest and tylenol.  Well, he got the tylenol, but the rest...not so much.  And when your 3 1/2 year old isn't sleeping, neither are you!  The last three nights have been REALLY rough.  Up and down more times than I can count, lots of tears (on his part and mine!) and very frustrated parents!  Well, today he started with cold symptoms...runny nose sneezing, the usual.  So I guess he has the flu...fun!

In spite of my little sicky, I did manage to get some stamping in.  My dad is celebrating his 66th birthday on Wednesday and we were supposed to be going to my brother's place for a birthday dinner this evening.  My son's fever put the kibosh on that plan, but we did make birthday cards this morning.  I won't post my son's efforts (think three year old, ink and car and truck stamps) but I will show you what I did.  My dad is a big outdoorsman.  He hates being cooped up inside and even ventures out on the coldest of cold days in northern Ontario.  I wanted to make a card that reflected this part of his personality.  Here is what I came up with..

Dad's B-day card using Lovely as a Tree set.

Inside sentiment from Bring  on the Cake set

When ever I'm stumped for ideas for masculine cards, I pull out my Lovely as a Tree set.  This old stand-by is so versatile.  It is the first stamp set I ever bought and, though I don't use it as much as I once did, I still love it.  I wanted to change up the forest image a bit so after stamping it in early espresso on very vanilla cardstock, I cut it into three sections.  I made the cuts  where there was space between the trees, which meant each panel was a different size.  I thought it might be a problem, but actually like the look of the assymetrical panels.  I sponged the edges of each panel in crumb cake ink and then adhered them each to a mat in garden green.  The DSP behind the trees is from the Woodland Walk pack.  I just  ordered this DSP at the start of Sale-A-Bration and really love the fresh, nature-inspired patterns and colours in it.  I layered a 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" piece of the woodgrain patterned paper over a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of garden green cardstock.  I then adhered the two larger image panels flat and the smaller centre image panel using dimensionals.  Using my mat pack and paper piercer I added the pierced detail in opposite corners, inserting brads in the very corners.  I added a piece of hemp twine, threading it under the popped up panel, and tied it, fraying the ends.  I adhered the whole cardfront to a crumb cake card base.  The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set and is stamped in early espresso on very vanilla CS and then punched out using my word window punch.  I sponged the edges lightly and then added a brad on either end before adhering it to the card using dimensionals.  The final touch was the little library clip I added to the centre panel. 
For the inside of the card, I stamped a portion of the forest image in the lower right corner using early espresso ink.  Then I stamped the sentiment from the Bring on the Cake set on a piece of very vanilla CS, trimmed and matted it on garden green.  I adhered it to the inside of the card using dimensionals.
Since my son is sick we didn't get to have dinner with my dad.  They are going to stop by on their way back home tomorrow to bring us leftovers and allow us to wish my dad a happy birthday.  Not ideal, but such is life with kids!
If I get time tomorrow, I will have a couple of tutorials for you!  I photographed all the steps today, now I just have to type up the instructions.  Stay tuned!!