Some Cards are Planned . . .

. . . and others evolve. This is one that evolved. It's not that I didn't start with a plan. Having stamped a dozen or so "extra" owls when making graduation cards last night, I decided to color three of them before putting my colored pencils, which were still laying on my desk, away. My plan was to use them along with the "Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age" sentiment from CTMH's Card Sentiments set. Mixing up the brands tonight, the branch and leaves are from the Birds of a Feather set. Once the focal point image was done, however, I couldn't' figure out how to incorporate it with the sentiment. I would have had to have layered the sentiment over part of the focal point image, and I didn't like the way it looked. About the time I was going to reach for another birthday stamp, I had a light bulb moment, thinking to do the "card on top of a card" thing. The idea was with the exception that the shape of the cardstock I was going to stamp my sentiment on didn't lend itself very well to the shape of the stamp. That's when I decided to create a "background" with the branch and leaf stamps. Liking the way it turned out, I deemed to create the same "background" on the inside of the card where I stamped the second part of the sentiment - "Sometimes age just shows up all by itself." The little ribbon loop on the front serves as a "handle" to open the top mini card. I don't know if that explanation made even the smallest amount of sense. Hopefully, the photos will tell the story. The bottom line is that I like the way it turned out, which is a good thing. After all that work and all that thinking, I would have hated to have tossed it in the trash. Been there, done that before!

Materials & Tools: Colonial White and Cocoa cardstock; Basic Grey Archaic paper pad; Black, Chocolate, Cocoa, and Olive ink pads; Prismacolor colored pens; Cornish Heritage Farms U R A Hoot, Impression Obsession For the Birds, and CTMH Card Sentiments stamp sets; Garden Green mini brads; Cocoa Designer Ribbon Rounds; Gamsol mineral spirits; Paper blending stump; Sanding block; Sponge dauber.

The little boys are with us tonight. I can't get enough of them these days, and I don't think their parents can either. Becoming more self-sufficient by the day, they're just fun to have around. They say the darnest and sweetest things. Sometimes you laugh, and sometimes you just want to wrap them in your arms and never let go. Mathias fell asleep early tonight, and Bjorn is still awake, enthralled with the movie, "E.T." He has obviously seen it before, as he can tell you what's going on and what's next. I'd forgotten what a beautiful story it is. They will be with us until noon or so tomorrow when their daddy is coming to take them home. Marv's playing in a golf tournament tomorrow afternoon, which should give me ample time to get my stamp club preparations taken care of. I've got the ideas and just need to put the projects together. On Sunday, we've got a 90-mile trip to attend my nephew's confirmation planned. I hope the weather is nice all weekend, as I'd love to spend a little time outdoors, too. While the temperatures have been wonderful the past few days, it's been very windy, too. Whatever you do this weekend, I hope it's fun. If you have a moment, stop back!