This isn’t very *me*

but it’s very much my dad! He’s celebrating a birthday tomorrow (Thursday), and this will be waiting on his desk when he rolls into work in the morning. I love that we can pull stuff out from piles and stacks and create something that’s just right for the recipient. This card is much dirtier and darker than I usually make, and is one of the ideas I had in my head when I saw this stamp. Without the glitz and ribbon from my last entry, it’s much less Christmas-y and looks to me like the foliage of a Texas Mountain Laurel, one of my favorite trees and one that will probably always make me think of Dad. When I was younger, we’d go out in the early summertime and collect the fallen seed pods from under the trees. He would pay us generously for the hard and dirty work of shucking the hulls to get to the red seeds inside, and it was work we were willing to do for that extra spending money! Now my kids pick up the seed pods and say, “I’m going to give this to Popo so he can pay me!”. . . it just cracks me up! It’s kind of weird to me to see my kids growing up like I did, toodling around a nursery, surrounded by plants and seeds, but that’s what I get for basically marrying my dad (they’ve worked together since ’90 and that’s where I met Mike!) .  .  . we laugh about it a lot, but it’s something that I love.  I’m so happy that my kids can experience many of the same things I did growing up, and I’m so happy that they have Dad as a very active part of their lives.  He means the world to all of us.

This time around, I stamped using Palette Burnt Umber ink on a Fabriano card. It’s watercolored with reinkers in Bordering Blue, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, and Sahara Sand. I went a little too heavy on the Glimmer Mist (Coffee Shop) and ended up using a sponge to spread it over the wet cardstock. I liked the look, and sprayed more of the Mist on a sponge and hit the edges of the whole card to make it more grungy. Other details: Card base is Always Artichoke stamped with Linen Background in Chocolate Chip, layered on that lovely Stardream Metallic Bronze cardstock and the reverse of some Basic Grey Figgy Pudding from my scrap bin which was overstamped with Paisley background. To tie in the metallic cardstock, I sewed on some antiqued copper photo turns with linen thread after attaching the panel to the card with dimensionals.

I have an appointment tomorrow and hope I’m out in time to surprise my Dad with a lunch invitation. We haven’t had lunch together in ages, and it’ll be sooo nice to sit and talk with him without hearing, “POPO!  Look at this!  Popo, did I tell you about my spelling words? POPO! Look at the board I broke!” . . .  I can’t wait!

Hope y’all have a great day, and I’ll see you tomorrow with another sketch from Beate!