Father’s Day is June 15th! Being the crafty person I am, I wanted to make my dad a special card for the occasion. I found these really cute accordion cards at Oriental Trading Company and bought a pack to make one. Chica liked the look of the cards so much, she decided to make one for her dad as well. We used two very different techniques to decorate our cards. The hardest part was actually deciding how to start!

For my card, I decided to go with an antique travel theme. First, I used a wadded up paper towel to blot the card with some tan paint. Then, I took a world map rubber stamp I already had and used brown ink to stamp the image over and over on the card. I made sure to put scrap paper underneath my card so I wouldn’t stamp on the table! After the ink dried, I used another travel stamp and stamped directly on top with gold dye ink. I then used gold embossing powder to make the gold parts stand apart from the rest. Some of the brown ink got embossed as well but that added to the effect. For the final touch, I stamped Happy Father’s Day across the card.

Chica’s dad loves to golf so she went with a golf theme for her card. She painted each letter a different color. Then, she came up with an interesting new technique with used dryer sheets. She cut the sheet into the general shape she wanted and placed it (without using any glue or tape) along the bottom of the card. Then she used a brush to blot green paint down onto the dryer sheet, using enough for it to soak through to the card below. After the whole thing was dry, the paint had adhered the dryer sheet to the card and she was able to trim off the excess. The result was a textured grass effect using something she normally would have thrown away! The final touches involved making clouds in the sky (made by dabbing a cotton ball into a little white paint then using it for a “brush”) and adding a putting green at the end of the course (for a pole, use piece of wooden skewer with a small red flag cut out of scrap paper).

My three-year-old went with a variety of media for her card! She painted, glued, stickered and stamped all over her daddy’s card. She had a great time picking out things from my scrap pile to glue to the card and we let her use paint which is one of her favorite types of “messy art” as she calls it. I have to admit, I think hers is the best of them all and I am certain my husband will love it as well.

When I purchased the blank cards to work with, they came in a pack of 24. This is way more than we’ll need (and probably more than you want to buy), so if you would just like to have just one or two, I can sell you some of my extras. See our store for details.

More Father’s Day gift ideas:

• Wii — if you don’t already have one, this is something dad will love as well as the rest of the family. If you already have a Wii, consider adding Mario Kart to your family’s game playing time. The wheel really does make it more “real” to play!
• Nintendo DS Lite Cobalt / Black — my husband doesn’t leave home without his, much to my chagrin! We both enjoy playing it and one of our favorite games is Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
• Carcassonne tile placing game — one of our favorite board games. Check out our listmania list for more great board games dad will love.
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel — a fantastic summer read sure to suit the tastes of any type of dad who enjoys a good novel with an unexpected ending.
• Nuvi — for the man who is perpetually lost! I don’t think my husband could find our mailbox without this handy gadget!
• iTunes gift certificates — a great gift for music, books, television, or movies
• Sirius satellite…Save$40 on the Starmate 4 — my dad takes his Sirius radio with him on his boat fishing. Now, he’s gone even longer and catches even less but he loves it!