Happy Father's Day, Ba!

Hi everyone,

Today is Father's Day in the United States and it's also the first day of summer.  I decided to make a card that reminded me of my childhood swing set in our old house in Connecticut.  I also tried to incorporate products from all my favorite manufacturers.  Wasn't able to get everyone in, but I used as many different products as possible.

I grew up in New England.  Born in Connecticut, raised in Massachusetts.  In our old house in Connecticut, we had a swing set in our yard.  We also had a pretty hilly front yard and a big forest in our backyard.  As a little kid, I remember playing on the swing set.  I don't remember exactly what it looked like, but I remember it had red and blue stripes.  I was also a crabby little kid with a very short temper, but my dad (I call him Ba - short for Baba which means "father" in Chinese) is one of most patient people I know.  He was able to put up with my random whims.  For example, I wanted a swing set both inside and outside of the house.  So my father removed one of our swings from the set and attached it to our basement ceiling... so I could swing indoors too.  That's kind of random, right?

Vintage family photo - I'm the little girl...

Materials:

• White card base: 4.25"W x 11"H, scored at 5.5" mark
• Blue card stock for sky background: 4"W x 5.25"H
• Doodlebug Designs Patterned Paper fro the grass and clouds
• Swing Set: Lawn Fawn Let's Play Stamp Set
• Crab: Lawn Fawn Life is Good Stamp Set
• 'Happy' sentiment: Simon Says Stamp Happy & Smile Stamp Set
• 'Father's Day' sentiment: Mama Elephant Happy Everything Stamp Set
• Clouds: Taylored Expressions Build a Scene Clouds Dies
• Sunshine: Sizzix/Stephanie Barnard Hello Sunshine Dies
• Hills: Simon Says Stamp Stitched Slopes and Hills
• Versamark Ink Pad
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
• Ranger White Embossing Powder
• Copic Markers
• Red: R22, R24, R29
• Blue: B12, B14, B16
• Grey: N0, N2, N4

Directions:

• Die cut the hills from the green grass paper
• Die cut the clouds from the white polka dot paper
• Die cut the sunshine from yellow and orange yardstick
• Stamp the swing set and crab using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and color with Copic Markers
• Use the coordinating stamps to cut out the swing set.
• Fussy cut the crab
• Stamp "Happy Father's Day" on the green hill using Versamark Ink and heat emboss with White Embossing powder.
• Assemble the card according to the photo.  I used foam adhesive for the Sunshine and the front hill to create more dimension.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, especially my very own Baba!