Scrapping for dad

Even the toughest and roughest of men can be touched by memories. For Father's Day, Southeast Missouri scrapbooker Sue Stephens offers these ideas for homemade, memory-provoking gifts for dad.

'Daddy's Little Girl' Scrapbook

Supplies needed: Acid-free cardstock (your choice of color); acid-free ink; assortment of rubber stamps; dad-inspired phrases, quotes; 1 piece of paper (copier weight); calligraphy pens or computer for lettering; photographs/color copies (may need enlarged or reduced to suit your page size).

This technique will teach you to "mask" your pages. The mask is placed on your page to cover the area you do not wish to stamp on, leaving you with a bordered page.

How to make it:

• Choose a poem, greeting card, a segment from a book or your own original words.

* Decide how many "verses" you wish to use and match up with your choice of photographs.

* Cut cardstock to fit album page.

* Hand letter or use computer to put wording incenter of your verse pages.

* Making a mask: For example: If your page size is 8.5-by-11 inches, cut a plain piece of copier paper 6.5 by 8.5 inches . When you lay this centered on your cardstock it will allow a 3/4-inch border around the outside of your page.

* Using a mask: Center your mask on the page and stamp across the cardstock that is showing. The image should run off the edge of the page (onto scrap paper) and also run onto your mask. After stamping around entire page, remove the mask and your border will be revealed.

'Daddy's Little Girl' Accordion Card

Supplies needed: an accordion card; assortment of rubber stamps; acid free ink; calligraphy pen; ribbon embellishment; metal charm embellishments; photo copies or small photographs; paper photo corners.

How to make it:

• Start with a ready made accordian card from or make your own. Adjust to the desired length. Add the lettering of your choice. Stamp various images in a random pattern across all pages using desired ink color. This piece was done with brown dye based ink and accented with gold pigment ink. Add ribbon and charm embellishments.

* Stamps used in both pieces: Paper Garden, Magenta, Carmen's Veranda, Stamp Francisco, Gumbo Graphics, Hero Arts, Rubber Stampede, The Stamp Mill, Holly Pond Hill, PrintWorks, All Night Media. Accordion card is from Papers By Catherine.

Sue (Mills) Stephens resides in the Southeast Missouri region. She has taught rubberstamping, scrapbooking and calligraphy in retail stores and at conventions in the Midwest and on the East Coast. She has been a published artist and calligrapher in Somerset Studio, The Stampers' Sampler, The Rubber Stamper, Memorable Impressions and Design Originals.