This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hi friends! I have a Man Card Monday project to share with you today featuring some new and old products from Simon Says Stamp. With Father’s Day coming up, my thoughts invariably turn to my sweet grandfather, my Papa, whose patient, loving manner, sweet smiles, and constant support were one of the best parts of my childhood. He passed away suddenly right before I turned 17 years old, and I often wonder what he would think of my family and what words of wisdom he might have for me as I navigate parenthood. I frequently see traits of my Papa in my husband, in his tireless efforts to care for our family and his gentle and loving care and support of me, in the way he knows how to fix just about everything, and in the way he will always sacrifice his own comfort to help someone else.
One of the things I remember most clearly about my Papa was the care he took in cultivating the backyard of their house. Grammy and Papa had a huge backyard with enormous shade trees that, while providing lovely cool breezes in the hot Midwestern summers, also gave him no end of grief because their shade prevented grass from growing in the majority of the yard. His solution was to cultivate ivy plants in the sparse spots, creating a lush green visage while also providing haven for huge amounts of mosquitoes. As usual, one solution begat another problem! Their backyard was always a flurry of activity with critters, and he and my Grammy both loved sitting in the screened-in back porch (a necessity thanks to the mosquitoes) to watch the birds visiting the bird feeder (and thankfully eating mosquitoes!). I pulled out some graphic foliage pieces along with the Standing Whirl Bird die to create this little bird in a “garden.” Let’s get started with the details!
I started my project by stamping the images from the Leafy Cluster product suite using Altenew Obsidian black pigment ink, then sprinkling those sticky black images with Hero Arts Iridescent Green embossing powder. The iridescent green embossing becomes a deep hunter green when paired with the black embossing. I then used blending brushes to blend Artichoke and Cabbage from Pawsitively Saturated Ink Trio 21 using the stencils from the Leafy Cluster product suite. I also die cut a few sprigs of “ivy” with the Eucalyptus Leaves die and Simon Says Stamp’s Midnight Green cardstock.
For the background, I ran a panel of Hammermill white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Wooden Planks embossing folder. I also die cut the Standing Whirl Bird die from some pearlescent white cardstock. I popped up the wooden plank background with some foam adhesive, then arranged the foliage around the little bird, adhering everything with liquid and foam adhesive to add varied heights to my card front.
For the greeting, I stamped a couple of the sentiments from the Papa stamps and dies (I adore the multitude of possible names in the Papa and Mamacita sets!) using the same Obsidian and Hero Arts Iridescent Green embossing powder combination that I used on the foliage stamps. I die cut the “Papa” with the coordinating die, then trimmed the strip using my trimmer and tucked it next to the bird die cut. Finally, I added a bit of sparkle with a few Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems!
Well, that’s all for my Man Card Monday project today! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous week!
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