This will be a busy weekend — my husband’s birthday is Saturday and Father’s Day is Sunday. My parents, brother, and sister-in-law will are coming by for lunch on Saturday to celebrate the dual occasions and to see the results of our recent home renovations. This will be our first picnic in our new court yard– still a work in progress because we need to add more plantings. But a garden is always a work in progress, even if it’s one that lives in a variety of containers.

With company coming, I’ll have to get the house ready. My husband asked for apple pie for his birthday — and I never bake pies — so I have an culinary adventure ahead of me. But first, I needed to get a Father’s Day card put together so that I could (temporarily) put away my Copics and get ready for company.

I love this image from Stamping Bella, but I’ll admit that the cape was an unexpected challenge for me. Initially, I tried the usual methods for shading folds (and by the way, I LOVE Sandy Allnock), but the result just looked too studied and out of place for this image. So after (literally) eight attempts, I finally realized that I was overthinking it and made my shading less technical and more casual.

So here’s the final result. My dad will enjoy the tongue in cheek humor. Hope you like it too!

SUPPLIES

Paper: Neenah Solar White, 110#; Navy Micro Dot and Red Star, both by American Crafts; Copic X-Press Blending Card
Stamp: Tiny Townie Hayley the Hero by Stamping Bella
Fonts: Bernard MT Condensed; Berlin Sans FB
Dies: Stitched Rectangles by Simon Says Stamp!
Embellishments: Signa Uniball Gel Pen in White
Copics: E000, E00, E21, R20 (skin); Y11, Y15, Y19, YR24 (cape); B01, B02, B04, B06 (suit); R05, R24, R29 (belt, tights); E29, E33, E25, E31, E50, (hair); BV20 (shadows)

Items marked with an asterisk (*) were provided by a store or the manufacturer. All other items were personally purchased.