A First Job

Hi everyone! We are finally enjoying a nice day here in Buffalo, NY! It's been unusually cool and we are aching for some hot weather! It's sunny and warm today, so let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way for a while!

Some of you may know that my DH has a "little brother", Brad, that he came in contact with through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. We met him when he was 7 and he is now 16! (I say "we" because I'm as much a part of this as my DH is!) He's like our adopted child and he's a great kid! Well, Brad just got his first job and started on Monday. He's working for a country club in the area and will be fetching golf carts, cutting lawn, and doing various odd jobs that only a 16 year old can do! I was so proud of him that I had to make a card for this accomplishment! I was at my LSS last week and picked up this Riley stamp that I thought would be cute for this card.
I colored the tractor in true John Deere colors with copic markers. I don't know what type of tractors they have at the country club for cutting grass, but I thought this was appropriate. Brad knows how to operate these machines, as we have a huge one at the cabin that he has used to cut the grass. I used summer sun and always artichoke cardstock and ran them through two different cuttlebug folders. I actually started to make this last week for the SCS Ways to Use It challenge. The challenge was to use corrugated cardboard. I had been keeping a Starbucks cup sleeve (the one that keeps your hands protected from the hot cup) for months. I think I remember Dawn Easton using it as an embellishment once, and I have kept one handy ever since. I punched a star from it with my large SU star punch. It was a little tough to punch, but it did the trick! On top of that, I placed the "Way to Go" sentiment from PTI's Star Prints set and punched it with a circle punch and sponged some close to cocoa ink around it. I added three brads to the bottom, and I was done! Very simple card...nothing fancy!

I think Brad liked the card...he smiled, gave a little chuckle, and thanked me. Boys are so stingy with their words! Thanks for stopping by today! I really enjoy your comments!
Recipe
Stamps: Tractor Riley Moose (Hanna Stamps); Star Prints (PTI)
Paper: Neenah white, kraft, summer sun, always artichoke
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, close to cocoa, various copic markers
Accessories: Star punch, circle punch, rectangle nestie, Starbucks cup sleeve, brads, cuttlebug folders, dimensionals

Exciting News...

Have you seen the blinkie proudly displayed on the top left of my sidebar? I was chosen as the Featured Stamper for last week's Color Throwdown Challenge for this card! You can also click on the blinkie and it will take you right to the post on the Color Throwdown blog! I even have a chance at being a Guest Designer on one of their challenges! How cool is that? I was so excited when I received the emails and posts on my blog from the girls informing me of this! If you've never played their challenge, hop on over there. These talented girls have some fabulous color challenges every Wednesday. Today's is a great one and I can't wait to play again...the colors are pink pirouette, chocolate chip, and riding hood red. Lucious Valentine's colors! Take a hop on over by clicking here!

On another note, today is the last day for my One Year Blogoversary giveaway. Go to this post and leave a comment. I'll chose a comment tomorrow using Random.org. Good luck to all of you who have left such nice comments! I love reading them! I will post the winner on the original post, so stop by again tomorrow!

I also have a card to share that I haven't posted yet. I think I made this last week, but forgot to post it.

I had been surfing the blogs last week, and saw different shades of purple and yellow together and loved how pretty they looked together. I also saw this sketch on the Hanna Stamps forum on SCS and thought I'd give it a go. I started with PTI's Plum Pudding cardstock and ribbon as well as their white. I stamped this image from SU's Kind Thoughts, colored it with copics, and mounted it on a plum scalloped nestie. I placed a flower brad from SU's stylized hardware in the middle. The dp is SU's new one from the Sale-a-bration catalog called Delicate Dots. I stamped the sentiment from (PTI's Simple Little Things) in Plum Pudding as well, but was not satisfied with the way it stamped...too light! I thought it was darker. There needed to be something in the upper right-hand corner for balance, so I placed three purple dew drops there. For the inside, I took a piece of the dp and scalloped it, stamped the sentiment, and stamped that little flower (also from Simple Little Things). That's it! Hope you enjoyed your visit and if you haven't already left a comment for my blog candy giveaway here, please do so until tonight at midnight (EST).
Recipe
Stamps: Kind Thoughts and Best Yet (SU), Simple Little Things (PTI)
Paper: Plum Pudding and White (PTI), Delicate Dots dp (SU)
Ink: Adirondack black, Plum Pudding, copic markers
Accessories: Stylized hardware, round and scalloped nesties, Plum Pudding ribbon, dimensionals,scallop edge border punch