Faux Linen

Before I forget, my card was inkspired by this card on Sharon Johnson's awesome No Time to Stamp blog. This lady inspires me frequently, and looking at the card that inspired me, my get well card looks a little sick in comparison. Her flower is so pretty. I'm under the impression these days that I need some realistic looking flower and bird stamps. My card is different by my standards and might have been a better card had I not combined the contemporary look of the color-blocking (which I love) with the faux linen technique. Speaking of faux linen, it's a simple technique that's been around for a long time. The directions are below.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Black, Topiary, Orange, and Holiday Red cardstock; Glossy White cardstock; Stampin' Up Oh, So Lovely and CTMH Say It in Style May SOTM sets; Black and Desert Sand ink pads; Holiday Red, Orange, and Topiary markers; Ribbon from Micheal's; Sanding block; Round sponge.

Directions for Faux Linen technique: Using a sanding block, sand your piece of white glossy cardstock, first vertically and then horizontally, making certain that you sand the entire surface. Wipe sanding "dust" from cardstock with a tissue or paper towel. Using a round sponge, apply a light colored ink to your cardstock to create the look of linen. Desert sand and Bamboo ink are my favorites for this technique. This is very pretty, too, with a script background stamp stamped onto the glossy cardstock prior to sanding. For this card, I chose to stamp my flower after completing the the faux linen.

I've had a productive day. A lot of the projects I had on my list were beyond everyday household chores, so it was a day filled with variety.

Tomorrow, Bjorn and Mathias are spending the day with me while their daddy participates in an all-day pool tournament. I haven't seen the little guys in more than a week. In the three weeks prior to his musical, their dad spent a fair amount of time away from them, enough that he wasn't willing to "share" them this week. That's OK. I get them all to myself tomorrow, because Grandpa is displaying his wares at a home show and won't be home. The plan is to go visit him and take in the show. I'm just hoping that the boys are stilling willing to ride in their stroller at least part of the time. Otherwise, keeping them both in tow might prove to be a bit of a challenge. As "hands-on" as I am in my grandparenting role, I, nonetheless, like to leave the "challenges" to their parents! How much time I will have to spend in my corner will depend on how well Bjorn and Mathias entertain themselves tomorrow. Sometimes, they prefer to play on their own, and other times, they like my company. We'll see how the day plays out.