365 Cards - Day 100 & D2D for a man

Aaaaaalooooooooohaaaaaaa and E Komo Mai (welcome) to another wonderful Wednesday with 365 Cards and Designed2Delight! Grab a drink and sit back cause this is probably going to be a long post!

Although technically it's not summer, it definitely feels like it (well, it usually does in Hawaii!) so I was inspired by it for both my cards this week. First up at 365 Cards the challenge is to be inspired by your "Happy Place" (i.e., the place in your home that makes you feel happy). Well, my "happy place" is sitting on my couch and looking out on my little backyard that was expertly landscaped by my parents and I several Christmases ago. Although it's not the exact scene on my card, I'll show you how it inspired me and I have to show off all our hard work!

This is what it looked like when I moved into my townhouse 4 years ago...

Here it was just after we landscaped in December 2009...

And here it is last weekend (with Malie sunbathing!)!

Obviously, it has grown in a lot since then and reminds me daily why I'm "lucky I live Hawaii!" Although I wish I had the view that I depicted on my card too...but I just imagine that big beautiful ocean (btw, ever heard of tsunamis?!? I don't really want to live that close!).

I can't take the credit for coming up with the scene for my card...I'm a follower of Michelle Zindorf who is a master brayer and scene creator. She provides almost daily toots on how to recreate what she does! I've been following her for almost two years and I remembered this one which is one of her earlier tutorials which was perfect for what I wanted to create. Specifically that palm in the back corner of my yard inspired my card and I knew I wanted those at the top and it just went from there...

Here's the other challenges I was inspired by for this one:
1. A Spoon Full of Sugar - here comes summer
2. Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog - use more than 1 image: I have two - the glass and the palm leaves
3. Crafty Ho’s Challenge Blog - summer: let the fun begin
4. Crazy 4 Challenges - inspiration photo
5. Eat Sleep Stamp - sketch
6. Fairy Fun Friday - summer fun
7. Lollipop Crafts - inspired by some type of song: my sentiment is from a Jimmy Buffet song of the same title!
8. Meljens Design Team and Challenge - coastal fun
9. Paper Cutz Challenge - beach or travel theme
10. Paper Pretties - summer
11. PaperPlay Challenges - summer citrus splash
12. Pear Tree Designs - summer delights
13. Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - here comes summer
14. Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - sunrise sunset: this is my interpretation of a sunset...
15. Sentimental Sundays -  inspired by a song
16. Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - playin in the summer sun
17. The Corrosive Challenge Blog!! - summer colors
18. Craft your passion challenges - anything goes
19. Papertake Weekly Challenge - anything goes


Next up is my creation for this week's D2D Saturday Challenge which is to make a masculine card with no flowers. Again, my card was inspired by a Zindorf creation which you can see here. I've had the Windsong image by Faith for awhile and instantly knew I wanted to use it to re-create Zindorf's creation! I meant to add the white "waves" but forgot but I think it's a pretty good interpretation using a digital image and copic markers to color!

To get the reflected image, I copied, flipped (right to left), rotated (upside down), and faded the original digital image (all of this was done in a Word doc). To color the reflection I laid down a blue layer, used the lightest colors from the original image to color the corresponding reflected part and then went over again with the blue maker. Wasn't sure if it would work but I was very pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. I wanted to continue the sailing theme and use some of the rope twine I had, so I found this tutorial on-line to make the sailor's knot and attached it with some sand dollar brads. I was originally going to put a father's day sentiment, but decided to just leave it as it is...at least for now!

Here's the other challenges I was inspired by for this one:
1. CPS-Card Sketches - sketch
2. Craft Your Days Away Challenge - father's day/special man
3. Creative Inspirations Challenge - father's day
4. CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS - for dad/man in your life
5. Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - masculine card
6. digital tuesday challenge - in the garden or outdoors + digi
7. Do it with Digis - it's all about the boys + digi
8. Easy Craft Projects - Challenges - for dad
9. Freshly Brewed Challenge - it's a guy thing
10. Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - for a man/boy
11. Hand Stamped Sentiments - celebrating dad or special guy
12. Karens Doodles Challenge Blog - brads/eyelets
13. Lexi's Creations - father's day/man's card
14. Simply Create - all about you dad
15. Stamp Something - digi day
16. The Crazy Challenge - father's day
17. There's Magic In The Air - male/masculine
18. Bearly Mine Challenges - anything goes
19. Catch The Bug Challenge Blog - anything goes

Whew...you made it! I hope you enjoyed and were inspired just a bit by my creations today and I can't wait to see what you come up!!!
Aloha,