August 24th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday to all.

Hope your week went well.

We had a few rainy days and we had cloud cover for most of the week, which at least shaved a degree or two off the temps. That humidity tho...

😖

Today has been pretty nice so far, but the weird critter timing continues to fascinate me.

This week we are seeing lovebugs galore, when they've usually been a Spring thing.

And I don't know where the teeny tiny brown ants came from this year, but they are everywhere outside on our patio this weekend. And trying to invade the garage and the back door threshold. The Google search says they are Rover ants. Spraying a cinnamon, clove and water mixture does help, as well as sweeping them with a broom, but it disturbs the survivors and then they regroup. If the black flies return, I may go postal, lol.

On the bright side, the mosquitos have delightfully been missing when I hang outside (knock wood!). Between the huge lantana bushes lining the patio and spraying the essential oils, it has helped a lot and smells good too. But Honey says they are still around, darnit!

A few birthday guy cards for you this week:

First up, this card for a high school classmate, using a few rudimentary digital skills in Photoshop Elements.

And the sketch I used.

I cut the 6x6 card base from a very old sheet of Chatterbox Rusty Brown card stock.
Then I cut some butter yellow SU with a Spellbinders art deco nested die to frame the Lozzy@Nins Papercrafting digital paper freebie I printed out and edged with a dark brown Promarker. 

Next layer on that was more of the SU butter yellow cut with another Spellbinders nested die in the same collection as the larger yellow die cut (which is why I used it -- I thought the coordinated look would be nice). 

The top paper layer is more digital paper from Lozzy that I layered with an Angie Blom digital stamp before printing out and cutting into a triangle/flag. I edged it with the Promarker as well before adhering. I purposefully left the guy uncolored so he would stand out against that cool but busy squares paper.

Alongside the digital gent, I added the Stamplorations sentiment, which was die cut with white and orange scraps. 

Lastly I splattered some white acrylic paint to finish.

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This next one was made for my younger brother, who recently turned 60.

When I see this, I realize that on my next birthday I'll be 70!

We are 9 and 1/2 years apart.

His wife told me it lifted his spirits.

Inside, it says "Happy Birthday / The more you have, the longer you live/Enjoy the Ride"

I knew he'd be a bit down about turning 60 and "getting old".

And the sketch I used.

I used the other 6x6 Chatterbox card base leftover from cutting the first card.

And then I found some scraps of the same card stock in my stash, enough for all the mats, so I didn't have to cut into another 12x12 sheet.

The designer paper is very old Junkitz that I'm still trying to use up and almost have.

I corner punched all of the dp including the top image and sentiment card.

The car is a Stamplorations stamp and I colored it with Promarkers.
The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.

The 60 circle is an Artistic Outpost stamp from their Diesel Punk set.

I stamped it in Versamark on brown card and used some TH Distress Old Paper embossing powder on it, then cut it with a Spellbinders circle die.

I added 4 white photo corners from my stash to finish.

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Last but not least is this card for a brother-in-law.

And the sketch I used.

I used Kraft for the 5x7 card base.

And the designer papers are Basic Grey Color Me Silly.

The solid colored layers are all ink-distressed with Vintage Photo DI.

All of the sweet treats were colored using Promarkers and are stamps and corresponding dies from Stamplorations, as is the 'sweet' die cut from scrap along with the HunkDory 'Birthday Wishes' die cut.

I've had this stamp and die set for quite a while but had never used it.

To finish, I found 3 white star die cuts in my bits n bobs to accent the sentiment.

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Well, that about does it for me this time.

Thanks so much for the visit and I hope your week is a good one.

Until next time,

XOX