Not Just Any Sympathy/Thank You Card

For those of you who don't already know, didn't hear from me personally or get word through another source, on January 28, 2010, my mom entered heaven! She was a sweet, beautiful, spunky, fiercely independent 87 year old who lived life until she died, peacefully, in her sleep. You can read more at my other blog post if you care to. We will miss her like crazy, but our loss is heaven's gain! So now you better understand why these are not just any sympathy/thank you cards ... they are more than special to me, carrying a message from my heart along with a keepsake picture that was taken of her and I just this past Christmas Day! Mom's favorite color was pink, and she loved pink carnations -- which was my card inspiration.

My creative juices are still running through the shabby-chic/vintage phase, so I started with Rustic Cream cardstock, and shot it with my newest favorite glimmer mist, Vanilla Breeze (ooooh so glimmery, yummy!). The harlequin diamond background stamp, topped with PTI's Background Basics-Hearts -- just makes mush outa me. I LOVE IT! A very simple design, really!

A computer generated thank you message -- when words fail and hand-writing isn't so sure of oneself -- edged with vintage chamomile tea dye ink (PTI). My mom and I spent Christmas Day making THIS very card pouch design -- for some birthdays coming up --- namely, hers! But she didn't know that that's what I was doing at the time we were both making one! LOL A few days later, she grinned with bright blue sparkling eyes when we gathered at Red Lobster and she saw my card that "we" had made together! Two giggling girlfriends we were!

I truly believe that Karen Lockhart's stamp "...live each day on purpose ..." must have been made for my momma! No one did it better, for 87 years!

Until we meet again in the heavenlies ...

Knit Purl ... Knit Purl

Ohhh, how pretty is Karen's Lockhart's Knit Purl Basket Stamp! Me, myself, and I do not knit, crochet, or even sew ... but I know plenty of people who have those talents and this set is for one such lady. Some time ago, Carol made a lap blanket for a friend who found herself unexpectedly in the hospital, fighting an infection that threatened to take her life. Carol then asked her Sunday School class to pray over the lap blanket before taking it to the hospital. It was a beautiful thought and the gift meant a lot to the recipient. So ....

before you knew it, many ladies were making many lap blankets with many many balls of yarn! And sent them to many people who were very sick with cancer, tumors, infections, surgeries, etc. But never a lap blanket gets sent without first having 20-30 people each hold an edge and cover that person and the lap blanket in prayer. Such a simple idea. Such a big impact.

I feel so privileged to know Carol. And I wanted her to know. Enjoy!

Get Comfy, Get Rest, Feel Better

With all the flu and flu-like symptoms running rampant on planet earth right now, I thought it would behoove my card stash to have some of those kinds of cards at the ready. So I pulled out Karen Lockhart's bathrobe stamp and found some comforting paper that looked like a bathrobe that I would want to wear! Designer paper is more good stuff from K&Company's Wild Raspberry collection. I enjoyed using this new wide scallop Martha Stewart punch, and I added dots on the scallop edge with a white Ink-essentials pen. Too cute! Matches the dots around the heart from PTI Borders & Corners/Hearts set.

Sentiment is also from Karen Lockhart. So is the a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e kleenex box on the envelope. A girl can't have enough Karen Lockhart stash! Bottom of card is stamped with a Denami Design Filigree Stamp - what a neat company! Check 'em out.

Inside of card is finished with a strip of matching designer paper layered over brown cardstock, and sentiment is from PTI's Vintage Picnic Sentiments. If you are sick, let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Good Life

What does one do when you retire? Some good friends of ours threw themselves a retirement party! About 100 peoples had fun in the sun, got wet in their swimming pool, and ate hot dogs and hamburgers until it was time to stuff ourselves with frozen fruit salad. I wanted to make a gift set of cards for HER and a separate gift for HIM - what do ya get the couple who has everything? So I made three additional cards to match up with this set and it was the perfect HER gift!

If you don't have a stash of Papertrey Clearly Creative Card Boxes, you are missing out on a clearly easy peasy way to package your talents! Tie with a pretty bow and wa-la! I knew that I wanted these three cards to say "The Good Life" so I computer generated it using word art shapes, inspired by the Karen Lockhart sentiment on this post.

The HE gift didn't get photographed -- sorry! I separately wrapped three of Rick's favorite candy (Neapolitan coconut bars) and paper crimped the ends before tying the entire stack with a bow and a "Good Life" tag. But wait! The good part is that I stamped black and orange cardstock with little motor cycles and the words "Happy Place" and then wrapped and crimped them. Did I mention we ride cycles together? :) It was cute! As cute as Harley coconut bars could be!

Gardners Know the Best Dirt

A friend of mine loves to flower garden in the spring and summer months. So it gave me a chance to break out these new Lockhart stamps and make her a set of note cards. Patio Petunia's is a new release this year and it's a perfect match for the "best dirt" sentiment. You know those little plastic flower ID's that are stuck inside the plastic containers of flower flats? Wouldn't it be cute to gift a friend with a flat of garden flowers and simply add this sentiment on a lollipop stick in the dirt? Mental note for next year .... ha.

The funnest part of this stamp was paper-piercing the garden gloves. I remember having some pretty gaudy looking 99 cent ones over the years! A white ink-essential pen dots this pair of gloves and all the petunia centers. These colors worked great together for a summery flower feel, and I like the thin brown cardstock strip as a divider - just sets it off. These cards were so quick and easy. I stamped a white cardstock background with chocolate chip ink using Papertrey Polka Dot Bascis, which makes your DP papers s-t-r-e-t-c-h so much further since you are not covering the entire card front. I added a double row of two different kinds of scallop punches, and when I pop-dotted my stamped image on the card - wala it was done! "Best Dirt" sentiment was cut, embossed, and stippled with a Labels Trio Spellbinders die. I hope Donna enjoys these "dirty" cards!

Welcome Home

I had one more "baby" card base leftover from my last post, so I put together a Welcome Home card for my sister who will soon be returning home from the Asia, Africa, and Europe regions. Our cell phones miss each other! I'm nuts over Karen Lockhart's chair stamps because, for one thing, they offer such sweet nostalgia. This wicker chair reminds me of our front porch when I used to sit on the wicker bench while the kids waited for the school bus! And I changed the bench cushions often! So I paper-pierced a pretty pink set of "pillow cushions" for this card, and stamped a sentiment from Papertrey's Vintage Picnic Sentiments. Sweet way to use a leftover card base!

Baby Gift Set

1. My very good friend Eleanore is going to be a first-time grandma in August. Today is the baby shower so I stamped a set of baby thank you cards for the sweet mommy-to-be, Molly. Very simply cute! Sentiment says "it was so nice of you to be so nice to me" which I curved onto my glass block before stamping. Isn't Karen Lockhart's Sweet Pea stamp adorable? Vintage button and sweet blush Swiss polka dot ribbon by Papertrey.
   
   Inside of card has a matching strip of SU dessigner paper, thank you stamp is from Vintage Picnic Basket, Papertrey. Baby shoes stamp by Stampabilities, is stamped with versamark ink and I love the way it looks like a simple water-mark!
   
   
   
   Baby Bottle stamp is one of those great $1 bin finds, and it made the envelopes so stinkin' cute! Grandma Eleanore, Mommy-to-be Molly, and Aunt Kay were tickled pink with the results! I bagged the set of cards and clipped to the outside of the gift box with a decorated clip clothespin. Aren't babies fun!?
   
   
   
   

Grab a chair ...

My honey got a brand spankin' new shiny motorcycle and to make the first ride extra fun, my honey took me an hour and a half away to a fabulous stamp store called Papertrix! They have thousands of stamps (but who's counting!) and the owner, Cindy, knows me by name (okay, so I've been there a few thousand times!). But the point is, she recently had Karen Lockhart teach a class in her store and even though I wasn't able to attend, she let me in on the "deal" which was buy 10 Lockhart stamps, get 1 free, and get 10% of all of them, and (yes, there's more) ... all stamps signed by Karen Lockhart herself! So, grab a chair and let's visit my first set of cards!

I have wanted this beach chair stamp for like-ever and it did not disappoint! Karen likes to color with Prisma Colored Pencils, but I prefer Copics and boy, did I have fun with these shades! I just gathered up all my favorite Copics and went to town! The flowers are highlighted with a White Inkessentials Pen by Ranger.

Get a load of these kites on the envelopes! Flying by to say "you've got mail" - how cute is that?! {Note: the kites are from a Unity KOM}

Each Kraft card is stamped with PaperTrey's Polka Dot Basics in Fresh Snow Ink, then I chose assorted sentiments from various sources, just whatever struck my fancy. If you're interested in a particular one, just let me know! I particularly like the inside of the cards below:

Everyday has the possibility of a miracle! (Like when your honey gets a shiny new motorcycle and you get an unexpected trip to the stamp store! "R-e-l-a-x" is on the inside of the "Summer Days" card ... to remind me to enjoy the lazy hazy days of summer! I'll be sending these out to friends this week! I hope you had a beautiful Sunday!

Oh Baby! (ssnotime52)

Sharon Johnson of No Time To Stamp has been throwing THE biggest party! She has been issuing stamp simply challenges for 1 year now, and as part of her continuing anniversary celebration she issued a challenge to all the creative peoples of the Internet to Cuddle Up With Tammy ... Tammy Hershberger at Stamp Happy. {Tell me, is there any other way to stamp but happy! Giggle Giggle} Tammy's cards make you feel warm and cozy, like a quilt. So I designed two baby cards to cuddle up with!

After cruisin' Tammy's Blog {and I suggest that you do, there is SO much to admire!}, I noticed that she often uses beautiful papers cut on a diagonal and she also makes good use of her sewing machine. Since I struggle to sew on a button, you will notice a faux sew-line that is hand-drawn around my perimeter card edges. Wa-la - now I can sew! And I even added Foofala buttons without using a needle and thread! The base cardstock is SU Confetti Cream and I used designer papers from K & Company's K-ology Collection, Hannah's Scrap Pad To Go.

The detail in Ellen Hutson's Lockhart Stamps always give me a warm, cozy feeling. Sweet Pea is the baby girl and Snips and Snails is the baby boy. As many of you know, I love to color with Copic Markers, and I have provided a color list at the bottom of this post. {Debbie Olson of Thinking Inking shares the most beautiful Copic colored work on her blog, if you ever need a little inspiration and tutorial - she's fabulous!}

I am a big fan of Tim Holz Antique Linen Distress Ink. Talk about warm & cozy! It's my go-to technique to add a hint of warmth ... just use a good stipple brush and dab dab dab around any stamped image. The Cuddle Up With Tammy challenge was especially fun for me because I rarely do 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 cards. So much room to work with! So I couldn't resist adding the embellishment of SU Photo Corners punch to balance things out.
Baby Girl Copics: R81, RV11, RV14, YG03, Y28, E37, W1, 0 Colorless Blender
Baby Boy Copics: BG10, B21, B34, Y28, E37, W1, 0 Colorless Blender

Get thee to No Time To Stamp and party down!