Graffiti Thanks

Hey Peoples! I got a day off today and decided it was high time I got around to making my 13 y/o's thank you cards (yeah...I know his b-day was the last of May!!! Time REALLY does fly in this household!!)

Anyhoos!! I find that the stamping world is pretty girly.  Seriously.  Lots of flowers, swirls, cutesy hearts, cuddly bears.  Even the "tween" sets tend to be girly with cute little hearts over the lettering or smiley faces.  This does not work for teenage boys.  Especially 13 y/o boys.  This is an age where one is trying to discover what is considered cool.  Edgy.  MANLY, but not "old", like all the adults in your life.  After some trial and error, I hit upon a design that got a "that's cool" from the kid himself.

This is a OLC (one layer card) with the base being Gina K's pure luxury white card stock.  I am finding that I cannot use any other paper as it just seems so flimsy!!.  I ran the top folded card through my Big Shot with T!m Holtz's Textured Fades "Bricked".  Yes, I think that this may become one of my favorite backgrounds!!  I then sponged over the top randomly with Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Vintage Photo.  I stamped the "Thanks" (name on the stamp says 1994 Annette Allen Watkins) at an angle over the brick with Archival Jet Black ink.  Then I stamped the different elements from SU's Extreme Elements randomly using Distress Inks in Faded Jeans, Barn Door and Fired Brick.  Wah~Lah!! Edgy and cool!! My youngest, who is 9, said to me:  "Mom, you are sooo creative!! You know how to think like a 13 y/o!! LOL!! Guess that means I was successful in my design! Supplies:  Paper:  Gina K's Pure Luxury.  Stamps:  SU's Extreme Elements, Thanks from LSS.  Inks:  Distress Inks in Fired Brick, Barn Door, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo, Archival Jet Black.   Accessories:  Big Shot, Tim Holtz's Faded Textures "Bricked"

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I'm off to finish these cards and the laundry!! I hope you all find the time to explore some CREATIVITY in your day!!

M.I.A.

Happy Saturday, Peoples!! I know that I've been MIA over the last 2 weeks, but when it rains it POURS!!  I thought that after all the hoopla of oldest kiddo turning 13 and the last week of school, I'd have a fairly calm week.  NOPE.  Unfortunately on Monday, my boss's mother passed away.  That meant a lot of scrambling to rearrange patients and me putting in 9+ hour days all week. Then to top off the increased stress at work, some moron decided to steal electrical cables from the main box at our other office's location, rendering no power.  But the kicker is, our charting system at our smaller office is done by remote control through the main office.  Sooooo, even though I'm miles away from all that mess, I cannot chart!!  And the final topping on this leaning tower of LIFE was the fact that I needed to get my kiddos all packed and ready to go on a 10 day vacation with their grandparents.  Let's just say that SuperMom/Woman hit her limit this week!! I found myself in a wonderful pity party by Wednesday and decided to just add the final straw and lose my mojo in the mounds of laundry and dirty dishes!!

I thought I would FINALLY share the card I made for my kiddo's 13th birthday today.  The Toad and I finally caved in a bought him a cell phone.  The kid's schedule with middle school varsity sports was beginning to need its own secretary as practices, games and whatnot were always being changed.  Add the fact that the kid gets excellent grades and doesn't get into any trouble, it just seemed like the perfect gift to celebrate hitting his teens. Here is my good looking boy on his day~

Of course, the card was TOTALLY inspired by the actual phone:

I started with a piece of 12x12 textured grey cardstock and made my uneven layers from there.  I REALLY need to get a larger corner punch!! I only have these small ones that are usually used for cards and so I had to round my corners by hand.  Which led to uneven edges!! Good news, since the kid opened the card AFTER the actual gift, he barely gave it a glance! snort!!  For the menu screen, I took a picture of the actual menu screen on his phone (after spending waaaaaay too much time trying to come up with a hand made version) and printed it out on cardstock.  The funky edge along the menu screen would be the photographer's lack of ability to take a picture without the glare on the screen straight on.  I used some copic markers to draw the ear mic at the top of the phone and poorly hand drew the at&t symbol and the other doodads, brand name on the phone using a signo white gel pen.  The little "back" button was cut out, outlined with the same white pen and then attached to give it more dimension. 

Overall, I think it will be a cool card for the kiddo to look back on and remember his first phone!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I'm hoping to do a little cleaning and see if I can find where my mojo went into hiding!! I have some new toys that I'm dying to explore some creativity with!! Cross your fingers I find mojo in the laundry basket!!

Enjoy your weekend and remember to take time for some creativity of your own!!