Cajun Hardwood Birthday

We've had a busy weekend cheering on all the Olympians in the various sports.  It's so fun this time around as both boys are a little more interested in the competitions and sports that they aren't as familiar with.  We even moved the kitchen table into the tv room the last 2 nights to eat dinner and watch some of the events.  The boys thought that was pretty cool...I told them not to get used to it!  =)

  The card I'm sharing today is the one I made for my father-in-law's birthday which was last week.  I kept it pretty simple but did use my new Hardwood background stamp available in the Occasions catalog.  It hadn't seen ink yet and I really love how detailed it is.  All the knots and growth lines look very realistic!

  My layout came from a Just Add Ink sketch challenge from a few weeks ago.  The base is Crumb Cake and then a slightly smaller piece of Crumb Cake stamped with Early Espresso and the Hardwood stamp.

  Next I cut some circles, one out of the retired First Ed. Specialty and another out of Cajun Craze cardstock.  The First Ed. was stamped with the tree from Serene Silhouettes in Crumb Cake.  It ended up just looking like a splatter which I didn't hate so I went with it.  The Cajun Craze circle was embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder.

  The smaller sentiment circle was stamped with Early Espresso ink using the birthday stamp from Petite Pairs and layered on an Early Espresso circle.  I added 3 retired Cajun Craze (or maybe Really Rust???) brads to the sentiment.  I used my favorite man ribbon (linen thread!) to go around the middle and then punched a little banner just because I can't resist!

  I hope you and your family are having fun watching all of the fabulous athletes from all over the world compete and show their love for their countries!  I'm thinking there might be less stamping than usual here at my house due to the fact that I don't have a tv in my stamp room!  =)

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hardwood, Serene Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Paper: Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, First Ed. Specialty DSP (retired), Orchard Harvest DSP (retired)

Accessories: linen thread, brads, Woodgrain e.f.,  Circle framelits, circle punch, banner punch (SAB)