My parents go by “grandmother and grandfather” to their grandchildren. I am always amazed at how hard it is to find items using these “titles” as opposed to “grandma and grandpa.” Fortunately the set Wonderful Favorites has “grand” in it and I can change things up a bit. So here’s a Grandfather’s Day card for my kiddos to give their grandfather! 
I used The Open Sea to make the actual card. The sentiment is from Best Dad Ever combined with Wonderful Favorites. 
The anchor was cut out and used to frame the “grand.” The thread in the buttons is really thin strips of Early Espresso card stock. 
The sailboat was stamped and punched out with the 2 1/2 circle stamp and then sponged.
Supplies
Stamp Sets – The Open Sea, Best Dad Ever, Wonderful Favorites
card stock – Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Nautical Expedition DSP
Ink – Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy
Etc – 2 1/2 circle punch, neutral buttons, Word Window punch
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Category: Summer Mini
Simple Hello
Here’s an easy card to do – and it could be done in lots of color combos. While I was making this card I stamped the image on Concord Crush and heat embossed it in white so I could punch out just the little letters. I liked the look so much that I made it the focal image of this card – 
Think of the color combos you could do!
Supplies
Stamp Set – Hello Blossoms
card stock – Concord Crush, Tangerine Tango, Pear Pizzazz
Ink – Versamark
Etc – white embossing powder, Dots embossing folder, Scallop edge punch
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Black Tie Dad
Here are two versions of a Best Dad Ever card. The first one uses all black ties and a rhinestone tie clip. 
The “handkerchiefs” (yes, that’s what they are suppose to be) down the side are punched with the 1 1/4 square punch. Then to step it up a bit, I added a red tie and some texture with my embossing folders.
I inked this one up with my Stampin Write Markers. 
Supplies
Stamp set – Best Dad Ever
card stock – Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink – Basic Black (or Stampin Write markers Basic Black and Real Red)
Etc – Square Lattice and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folders, Scallop edge punch, Word Window punch, black or red rhinestone brad
So is your dad a red tie or black tie kind of dad? Mine is a black tie 
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
On the Grow in Pink
Grab your aquapainter! On the Grow is a wonderful set in the Summer Mini for watercoloring. Here I used the scooter image and made it very girly – pink! (I love pink!) 
Since I decided it needed stitching after it was adhered, I used my gel pen. 
Supplies
Stamp set – On the Grow
Card stock – Pink Pirouette, Pink Pirouette DSP, Basic Black, watercolor paper, Melon Mambo
Ink – Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Jet Black Stazon, cork
Etc – Floral Fusion die, black brads, white gel pen, Word Window punch, Top Note die, Scallop edge die
On the inside I used the “congratulations” sentiment from the hostess set Swirls & Curls. (sorry, no pic!) It goes great with this set because it has a little butterfly. I’ll use this for a sweet upcoming graduating friend.
My desktop computer is in the shop with a dead dvd drive and several nasty viruses AND my printer just died. I think there is a black cloud hovering over my house at the moment! Guess I’ll just have to do some more watercoloring in pink to cheer me up! Enjoy – Hugs, Fran
Pretty Card Box
I needed a box for some cards so I used the Strength & Hope sample in the Summer Mini for inspiration. The box itself is fairly basic but I did something different on the band to hold it shut – that’s what I want to show you today! 
The Cherry Cobbler piece on the top of the box is adhered straight to the box. The band in the ribbon and the Top Note die. Because I used Hodgepodge Hardware and an antique brad, I wanted the back to be covered. Here’s what I did – 
Then I used Tombow Multipurpose glue to put the stamped Top Note over the ribbon/Top Note band. Now it just slides off and is still pretty on the back – and doesn’t tear up the box either. 
Just an idea for you to try! Enjoy – Hugs, Fran
Fab Florets Watercolored
This is the card that my kids gave to their grandmother for Mother’s Day. (Very loosely based on a design my Karen Barber.) It used Fabulous Florets stamped in Stazon on watercolor paper and watercolored with reinkers and an aquapainter. The centers were filled with Crystal Effects and microbeads. The Wild Wasabi DSP is soooo retired! It’s from back when Wasabi was an In Color! Feeling very guilty, I’m trying to use it up!
The card measures 5 1/4 x 5 1/4.
Supplies
Stamp sets – Fabulous Florets, Something to Celebrate
card stock- Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, watercolor paper, Wild Wasabi DSP, Daffodil Delight
Ink – Jet Black Stazon, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue
Etc – Big Shot Tasteful Trim, Daffodil Delight 1/8″ ribbon, pearls, microbeads, Crystal Effects
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Strut Your Stuff
This peacock is strutting his birthday stuff! Or maybe he’s just happy that he’s not in a cage! 
This card is 4 x 9 1/4 – lots of space for birthday wishes. The background is cages from Aviary and the peacock is from Proud Peacock (Summer Mini.) The coloring on the peacock tail is done with Stampin’ Write markers and the tail is topped with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds. 
I had a specific sentiment in mind so I did it in Word and printed it out. 
Stamp sets – Proud Peacock, Aviary, Curly Cute
card stock – Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink and Stampin’ Write Markers – Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant
Etc – Old Olive 1/8″ ribbon, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Scallop Circle #2 die, Circle scissors
Bright and fun! Enjoy – Hugs, Fran
It’s Called The Open Sea
And I keep referring to it as On the Sea! So whichever way you say it, I’ve cased two of the Samples from the Summer Mini and want to share my versions with you. The first is a card from the Stampin’ Up demonstrator magazine. 
Stamp sets – The Open Sea, Thank You Kindly
card stock – Not Quite Navy, Nautical Expedition DSP, Whisper White
Ink – Versamark, Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Crumb Cake
Etc – silver embossing powder, Antique brad, Baker’s twine
Next is the 3 x 3 tag on page 8 of the Summer Mini. I changed the color scheme of this tag but it’s the same general design. 
Stamp Set – The Open Sea
card stock – Early Espresso, Sahara Sand, Nautical Expedition
Ink – Early Espresso, Sahara Sand
Etc – Baker’s twine, brass brad
See the nice feathering around my tag picture? My friend is going to teach a Photoshop Elements course and I’m her guinea pig! You may end up seeing lots of weird effects in future! Enjoy – Hugs, Fran
Sailing in Color
I have been working away on a scrapbook project when all of a sudden – my printer decides that it has problems. sigh…… I hate when things don’t just work! Hopefully it will at least let me print a few more pictures so I can show you my project tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s two color variations on Sail Away. The first uses Not Quite Navy, Real Red and Daffodil Delight.
The next uses Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy and More Mustard.
On both cards I stamped the sail boat and then punched a Post It note with the 1 3/8 circle punch and sponged the color for the sun using a sponge dauber. Then I stamped the sail again and popped it up. On the Cherry Cobbler version I made”faux brads” by punching 1/4 circles of Cherry Cobbler and topping them with Crystal Effects. The light coloring on the waves was done by pulling the color a bit with a blender pen.
Here’s the inside. The boat is stamped off once (though it’s still pretty dark and could have been stamped off again!)
Supplies
Stamp sets – Sail Away, Grateful Greetings, Kind & Caring Thoughts (retired)
card stock – Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Nautical Expeditions, Whisper White
Ink – Not Quite Navy, More Mustard
Etc – Large Oval punch, Crystal Effects, sponge dauber, 1/4″ circle punch, blender pen
Have a great day and may all your technology work! Back to the printer! Hugs, Fran
Love & Care CAS
It’s May! Can you believe it? And that means the Summer Mini is live! One of the hostess sets from this mini is Love & Care (level II.) I used this set to create a few clean and simple cards. The first one I did in Poppy Parade and Pear Pizzazz.
See the Poppy brad? It’s a 1/4″ circle punch topped with Crystal Effects. You can view the video by Nicole Heady for the line frame here. Then I did the same idea in Melon Mambo and Old Olive – using Upsy Daisy for the sentiment- 
Supplies
Stamp sets – Love & Care, Upsy Daisy
card stock – Poppy Parade or Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink – Basic Black
Stampin Write Markers – Poppy Parade and Pear Pizzazz or Melon Mambo and Old Olive, Basic Black
Etc – ruler, 1/4″ circle punch and Crystal Effects (Poppy card), Stamp a Ma Jig
This technique is very addicting! It adds such a nice “punch” to a clean and simple card. Enjoy – Hugs, Fran