I Thought of You Today

 As we continue to organize, throw out, and pack our belongings (I know it's taking forever!), my thoughts continue to center on all of you - my friends.  How I will miss our classes, clubs, military cards get-togethers, and just visits.  I've been so blessed by God to have met so many wonderful, precious ladies through the years.  Yes, some of us have been friends for more than 20 years!  So with that said, I've chosen a pretty card to share today that speaks from my heart.  

I almost didn't post this card at all.  Can you believe I've spent a bunch of time trying to figure out where I got the sentiment from?  Yup, with everything packed, I've been looking through the catalogs trying to figure it out.  At this point, I have absolutely no idea where I got it from, so who cares?  (If you figure out where it came from, please post a comment and let me know.)  Any tiny sentiment would fit in here nicely, so just pick one that works for you!

The other elements of the card are from the 'Arrange A Wreath' stamp set and are die cut using the Wreath Builder Dies.  For some reason, I like wreaths and like making them for each season.  Because it's been gray, cold and snowy too, I thought it was time to post something spring-like.   Figured it would raise my spirits too.  

The colors I chose were Soft Seafoam for the 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" card base folded in half.  Next is a 4 x 4 layer of Basic White cardstock.  The leafy wreath was die-cut from Soft Seafoam cardstock.  The little accent flowers were die-cut from Balmy Blue and Highland Heather scraps of cardstock.  These were attached using either Glue Dots or a Mini Dimensional.  I tried a couple of different options for the bow (ribbons or twine??) and ended up die-cutting it from Gorgeous Grape cardstock.  I liked that the best.

While arranging the individual pieces on the card, I realized that it needed some larger flowers to balance it.  After a few trials and errors, I ended up stamping the larger flower from the set using Gorgeous Grape ink on the Basic White cardstock, then die-cutting with the coordinating die from the set.  

But it still needed something in the centers of those larger flowers.  Now for those of you like me who save all your retired embellishments because you never know when you'll find just the right piece that you've been looking for, I did find it!  I didn't want either rhinestones or pearls, but found these cute little dots (think they're from the previous catalog).  They are the Gorgeous Grape color so they didn't pop out too much, but gave an understated bit of elegance to the card.

Hope you liked today's edition.  If you're looking for a stamp set that you can use all year around, this one really fits the bill.  Included in the stamps are of course the wreath, but there are also 5 different sentiments for 5 different seasons.  There's a partridge, leaves, flowers, hearts, pears, Easter eggs, and a 'crate' or sentiment tag depending on how you use it.  Since it's Sale-a-bration time, the 'Arrange a Wreath' Bundle at $54 would be perfect to allow you to choose one of the Sale-a-bration free items.  That's definitely a win-win in my book.  Remember that Sale-a-bration only goes through the end of February this year so don't put off getting your freebies!

If you'd like to place an order this month, please use the Host Code for January.

I'll be sending out something in the mail to each person that orders from me this month.

Thank you for stopping in again.  Looking forward to reading any comments you would like to share.  Happy stamping.

Sharon

Always...

 Here it is , the middle of January already!  Time to be thinking of Valentines, and not just for your favorite sweetie.  Valentine cards don't always have to be hearts and flowers, mushy, and all reds and pinks. What about sending out cards to those special friends that you often think about, but don't always let them know you're thinking of them.  That was the thought behind the card I'm sharing with you today.  It uses two of my favorite sets - Field of Flowers and Quite Curvy.  The first set is from the yearly catalog and the second is found in the January to June catalog.  And they both work together so well you'd think they belonged together!

The card starts out with a base of Basic White cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded in half.  The stamped layer is Soft Seafoam cut 5 1/4" x 4".  You also need a small scrap of Basic White to stamp the birds and bitty flowers.

First, I stamped the Always... on the Soft Seafoam cardstock using Misty Moonlight ink.  To get the placement just right on the words, I used my Stamp-a-ratus.  It makes it so easy to get the sentiments always on straight.  That always seems to be a problem for many of us!

Next the banner of leaves was stamped across the bottom of the Soft Seafoam cardstock piece.  For this I used Shaded Spruce ink.  I wanted to give the leaves a soft, watercolor look without being too precise.  An Aqua Painter with just a bit of water did the trick.  It just pulled the ink from the stamping to color each leaf instead of using the actual ink.

The little birds the Quite Curvy set are a perfect size to tuck on so many cards.  This time I stamped two of the birds using Misty Moonlight ink on Basic White cardstock.  I used Misty Moonlight and Smoky Slate Blends to color them and then used the coordinating dies to cut them out. They are popped up on the card front using Mini Dimesionals.

At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use to add a little more interest to the card.  Rhinestones, ribbon, sequins???  No, just not what I was looking for here.  That's when I remembered the tiny flowers in the Field of Flowers stamp set.  It stamps six flowers at once and has a coordinating punch so it's both quick and easy to add flowers when needed.  These I also stamped using Misty Moonlight ink.  They were each attached using Mini Glue Dots.  

If you notice, there are only five flowers on my card though.  One seems to have gotten misplaced.  After spending a bit of time looking for that last silly flower, I found it nicely attached to the bottom of the ink pad.  Hmmm...  guess I just won't use that one after all.  Five is a nice uneven number to use anyway!

Just in case you would like to place an order this month, please remember to use the Host Code when ordering.  I'll be able to keep track of orders and send you a little surprise next month as a 'thank you' for ordering.  I do love my customers and like to show my appreciation!  

Thanks for stopping in today.  Let's think outside the box for some of our Valentine cards this year and get creative.  Yes, when my order comes in I'll be making some Valentines that are a bit more on the traditional side, but today let's just have some fun!  It never hurts to be a little different.  I guess it would get real boring if everyone was just like me, so be different!

Many stamping hugs, 

Sharon

Sale-a-bration Touch of Ink

Hi stamping friends!  

Yes, Sale-a-bration is underway and I love all the wonderful stamps and pretty designer papers that you can earn for FREE!  I think that may be one of my favorite words right now - free!  It does get me excited when I think of getting stamping materials for free.  How about you?  So let's check out this card made with the 'A Touch of Ink' stamp set.

 

The 3 stamps used for this card are all part of the 'A Touch of Ink' stamp set which includes both outline and "fill-in" stamps, 6 different sentiments, and a little spatter stamp. With all these stamps to choose from, it was easy making this card using just the one stamp set.

With all the packing going on here, most of my stamping supplies are all packed away already.  Not too smart, huh?  So... I found some cardstock that had already been cut for a different project (dating back a year or two, or?   but don't tell anybody!)  So let's figure out how to use that!  The Night of Navy back layer is 4"x4" so it makes a cute little card.  There is a layer of Rich Razzleberry attached to the top of that.  It measures 3 3/4" x 3 3/4".  The next layer up measures 3 1/2" x 10 1/2" that is scored at 3 1/2" and 7".  The two sides are scored diagonally from the top left of the section to the bottom right.  These are folded back with the creases meeting in the middle.

Maybe this picture will help explain...

The images were stamped on a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Very Vanilla cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  The hummingbird was stamped on a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock that was handy.  All the coloring was done using Stampin' Blends.  Love using them for coloring - you get nice blended colors and none of the harsh lines you get with markers.  The colors used were from the 2020-2022 In Color collection.  Light and Dark Magenta Madness, Light and Dark Just Jade, and Light and Dark Misty Moonlight.  Just love how rich these colors look together!

The edges of the Very Vanilla stamped layer were also sponged with a small bit of Magenta Madness ink and a Sponge Dauber.  I also unearthed an old treasure, some enamel dots from way-back-when.  The color of these dots is Melon Mambo, but I thought they coordinated quite well.  It's amazing what all you find when you're packing to move!  Anyway, I thought they added an extra splash of color to the card.

To give our hummingbird an extra bit of shimmer and shine, I stroked on some Wink of Stella in a few areas.  Then I got out my trusty Paper Snips to cut the hummingbird out.  The very last step was attaching this little hummingbird to the card front using Mini Dimensionals to pop it up.  The special fold on this card is a bit different and fun to try, but I think the hummingbird is the real star of this card.

Hope you like this idea and it gets you itching to get your stamps out and play.  Remember, Sale-a-bration is going on right now.  When you spend $50, you can choose this versatile hummingbird stamp set for free or choose one of the many other items in the Sale-a-bration brochure.  If you don't have your own catalog and Sale-a-bration brochure yet, contact me and I'd be happy to send one out to you if you'd like me as your demonstrator.

If you'd like to place an order, please use this month's Host Code.  This way I can keep a record of your order to give you credit on your $300 Punch Card Club.

Thank you for stopping by to check out my blog.  Please leave me a comment so I know you've been here!  I love hearing from my friends. 

Sharon