Father's Day and a Birthday in June

Yes, I know Father's Day was last weekend, but I've been busy getting the house in shape for a small family gathering this weekend and forgot to post my cards.  

The first two were for my son and son-in-law.  I used the Reflections stamp set from The Greetery and inspired by a card from The Greetery Blog.

This one was for HWNSNBP and used the stamp set and die set to make this tri-fold card with the belly band inspired by Kelly on The Greetery blog. 

Next is a birthday card that was made earlier this month.  Again, using products from The Greetery.  I just love all these baskets and flowers.  

I found a good tip in a tutorial by Betsy on The Greetery Blog on how to make coloring die cuts easier. It involves using a sticky matt that are used in Silhouette or Cricut machines.  They are pretty inexpensive and what they did with one was to cut it down in size (thereby having a couple on hand) and using that to hold die cuts in place while they are being colored.  

This is the die cut sheet stuck to the sticky matt and the shapes have been kept or put back in place.

You can then color them while they are held still and you don't have to fiddle around with trying to hold those skinny pieces in your fingers while adding color.  They easily peel off as does the rest of the negative sheet.  (Check the video in the link about for clarification.)

You can certainly cut these stem and leaf pieces out of colored cardstock but this allows you to add ink or chalk to the stems and leaves to give them a more realistic look.  I bought a set of replacement matts on Amazon that came in a pack of 3 with three degrees of stickiness for less than $10 and I can always use the extra in my Silhouette.