Sympathy Card

My dh George has to go to the funeral of a co-worker this afternoon and he asked me to make him a card to take along. I didn't know this man but George has known him for many years so I really tried to put some thought into it. I used a 5" square ww base layered with Night of Navy and So Saffron and then another ww layer. I stamped the large image from Essence of Love with Versamark and embossed it with a garnet colored ep that comes out exactly the colour of Bravo Burgundy. I added the butterfly from Essence of Love in the upper right corner, the sentiment from the same set in the lower right and a piece of burgundy ribbon on the upper left. I used Bravo Burgundy for the stamping and I also put one of the Close as a Memory sentiments on the inside. I had some nice 5 1/2" square white envelopes to use that worked well for this card. It's never great to have to go to a funeral but I also had to go to one yesterday, of a co-worker's husband who died far too young due to cancer. Making a card for her and for dh's friend today brought home how fragile life is and how we shouldn't get so caught up in the day-to-day of it all that we forget. Hang on close to the ones you love!

Fresh Cuts Birthday Card

I cased this card by Kerin Sylvester, at http://www.kerinstamps.com/. She has some great ideas for using the Fresh Cut stamp set and the cards that go with it; this one really caught my eye and I knew my sister-in-law would love it. The iridescent ice embossing doesn't show up that well but it sure looks pretty IRL. All the supplies are SU except the ribbon which is a spool from the M store. I love ribbon and can't resist buying ones I like. Take a few minutes and check out Kerin's site, she really does some great cards.

So Much Designer Paper!

Since I seem to have so much designer paper on hand, and with a new catalog soon upon us, I thought I better use some of it up. I got four of these lovely tea tins from a lady at work which are perfect for this use. They're about 8" tall with completely flat sides which makes it super easy to apply the paper with SU glue sticks. Some grosgrain ribbon at the join with a little bow and punched scallops on the lids, and voila! Done. Both tins took less than half an hour which makes them great for a class. The paper is Jersey Shore, ribbon is SU Pumpkin Pie. I think I might do the other two tins with Christmas paper as I have lots of that, too! Hope you like them, I'll be back soon.

Scalloped Notes and Holder

Here is a set of scalloped note cards and box I made from a tutorial by Andrea Walford. You can see her great ideas and tutorials at http://www.sunnystampin.com/ . As she pointed out, this is a great way to use up any left over dp and you don't have to make the box. I did but I wanted to try it out just so I could say I did it. I used up some of my Afternoon Tea dp and a little Soft Sky, Choc Chip and ww cs too. It's a great idea she had, using the slit punch to scallop the little cards, and her note about reinforcing the fold with a punched out word window is important. There's not much holding front and back together so making the fold stronger just makes sense. Anyway, it took about 1 1/2 hrs to make it all and then take and upload the picture so that's not bad. Hope you like it and please visit Andrea's site the next time you're looking around the stamping world.

Bon Voyage!

This is me and the other couple that went with us on our Alaska cruise, on the day we left, May 25th. George is taking the picture of the three of us and, like a good wife, I'm holding his glass of Alaska Amber beer so it didn't fly off the railing! (This is 6:00 p.m. by the way) We were supposed to depart at 5:00 p.m. but what with late arrivals and such we didn't sail under the Lions Gate bridge until almost 6:30. What a sight that is. People stand on the bridge and wave at the passengers on the cruise ships because you're so close to the bridge deck.

No, I'm Still Here!

Wow, what a long time since I last posted! So much time has passed I don't know where to begin. Let's see if I can pick out the highlights......our house is up for sale so we're hoping to find a bigger one with room to accommodate my stamping. We did have one offer but it fell through when the buyers couldn't sell their house. It's a waiting game for sure. We went on an Alaska cruise in May and had an absolute blast. I highly recommend it as a way to relax. You're almost forced to take it easy because everything is done for you. Waaaaay too much food, you have to be really careful or the pounds pile on. We went with Celebrity Cruises and couldn't have been more pleased. The service was great and we really enjoyed it. It's so beautiful up there, the coast of B.C. is amazing, the air is crystal clear, eagles are common as grass, whales and sea otters and seals, oh my! Go if you can, you'll love it. My granddaughter got engaged, getting married next summer. Another granddaughter is graduating this summer. They grow up so fast, it's hard to remember them as babies. George is swamped with Union business because of school closures and layoffs here, so that's keeping him in his office almost daily. And now......the new retired list is out and this new Decor Elements promotion has appeared. I want to start planning classes for the fall but I don't know if we'll be moving or not so I feel like it has to be on hold. On the other hand, if the house doesn't sell then I have to plan classes for here so I can't wait too long. And then there is the new catalogue launch in August to consider. Plus working 3+ days a week. No wonder we get stressed. I'll try not to let so much time go by before my next post.

Thank You Card du jour

This is another of the thank you cards I put together for my co-worker in the Activities Dept. where I work. This time I used the new DP called Bali Breeze. Wow, it's so colorful, lots of turquoise and orange, so that's what I pulled in with the ribbon, scallop-punched detail and the base of the card. The flower, if you want to call it that, is 2 layers of DP and 2 layers of cs, one Purely Pomegranate, one Pumpkin Pie and then two layers of Bali Breeze DP. I cut into the scallops to make "petals" and then punched through all four layers, adding a brad from the Pretties kit. Then I put the ribbon on, one strip each of orange and turquoise and then a little knotted piece, the "Thank You" from Artfully Asian ( I adore that stamp set) and it was done. I tried to fluff up the petals but I was afraid of tearing them so I didn't go crazy with it. I added a line of scallops from Purely Pomegranate that I punched out with the slit punch. I like the effect from that punch since it's quite large, moreso than the corner rounder punches. I ventured into rub-on territory on the turquoise half of the card and I think it looks great; finishes it off sort of. All in all not a totally shabby effort, she said!