Happy Bank Holiday Monday to all my UK readers today and to all those in the USA - Happy Memorial Day. I hope you've all been enjoying the long weekend and perhaps have even been able to squeeze in a little extra crafting time too. Today I'm sharing a couple of cards - the first one using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I still need a couple of Father's Day cards so decided to use up a few more retiring products and 'go masculine' - perfect for the challenge over at SUO Challenges too. Here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Best Dad Ever - This sentiment is from the 'Everyday Tags' stamp set, whilst designed to co-ordinate with the Cheerful Tags Framelits Dies, also makes a great focal sentiment for my card. 

Layered Squares - I can't seem to put down my Layering Squares lately! Here I adapted them slightly to create a rectangle that would frame my sentiment better and used a piece of Urban Underground Specialty Designer Series Paper for my background. 

Nailed It - I paper-pieced three tools from the 'Nailed It' set for my embellishments and cut them out by hand as I didn't want a border around the edge. I also used the 'Happy Father's Day' stamp inside my card.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. Is your Dad a tools man into DIY or would you choose an alternative theme for your card? Do let me know in the comments below - I would love to hear your thoughts.

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Everyday Tags Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Nailed It Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Layering Squares Framelits Dies	Urban Underground A4 Cardstock Pack	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
Basic Black A4 Cardstock

I've had a busy day - we have today welcomed 4 new additions to the James Family - yet still managed to find time to photograph this little number that I made yesterday for this week's challenge over at The Global Design Project. Thank you for to the GDP team for choosing my card last week as a GDP Winner  - I'm honoured. If you missed it, you can see that card here. This week the challenge is to case one of their design team, the lovely Michelle Last, and this is her inspiration card:

I liked the way Michelle embossed the whole front panel, as this isn't something I do on a card often, and combined it with the focal point frame and I wanted to retain these elements. I considered using butterflies but a quick glance at the gallery showed lots of other examples so I went through my box of embossing folders for inspiration and this is what I came up with:

Here's the lowdown on today's card:

Pick A Pattern - I chose to use the Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for my background and that formed the basis of the masculine theme for my card. This folder creates such a deep impression with wonderful dimension it makes a great background.

A Creative Frame - I decided to create a frame shaped like a nut to tie in with my masculine hexagonal theme. The hexagonal shape in the Build It Framelits was too small for my card, so I just punched a 2" circle into a piece of cardstock and freehand cut my hexagon around it. It is not perfectly proportioned because I needed a larger hole in order to accommodate my sentiment, so a little creative licence used.

Nailed It - The real feature of my card has to be the tools from the Nailed It bundle. I was so surprised and disappointed to see that this set and the Build It Framelits were not carrying over into the new annual catalogue. It's a great set and I haven't used it much on my blog yet as I was building up to Father's Day in June. The framelits have unfortunately already sold out but at the moment the stamp set is still available. I would really recommend it as it makes a great masculine set and the main tools can be easily fussy cut my hand. I watercoloured my tools with ink and an aquapainter to reflect the style of the card I was casing - a quick and easy way to add a splash of colour.

The fun thing about casing someone else's card is that you can take lots of basic elements that are the same - the embossed background, fancy frame and watercoloured image - yet make them your own to produce something completely different. My card is a completely different theme to the challenge card, but similar in many other ways and it's clear to see where I did a 'Copy And Selectively Edit' of Michelle's original. Thanks Michelle for the inspiration this week!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a new project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Nailed It Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Aqua Painters	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch