Springtime Flowers Appreciation Creation

Happy April and end of tax season! 

Do you ever need to thank so many people you seem to lose count? Has somebody done something nice for you and you are past due thanking them? Past due showing your appreciation?

We are challenging our designers this week to make a card with Springtime flowers showing their appreciation to someone. The kicker...telling us the recipient and why they appreciate that person and lastly, PUTTING IT IN THE MAIL TO SAID PERSON.

So, to participate, share your appreciation creations on our Mountain Plains Crafters FB page here. You have until Thursday, April 23rd, at noon EST to upload your creations there. The winner will be picked at random and will receive a Unity Itty Bitty~Undies in a Bundle and one other little surprise.

A friend of mine who also happens to be my boss will be retiring next month. She is an amazing person and has helped us implement many positive changes in our department. Penny goes above and beyond to be fair and kind to everyone.She is looking forward to spending much more time with her family. And although I will miss her, I wish her all the best... I used a Sizzix Alterations "On the Edge" die by Tim Holtz for the border and a Spellbinders "Laurel and Bee" D-Lites die. The floral and woodgrain papers are from the My Mind's Eye "Howdy Doody" collection. I finished the card with a sentiment from the Stampin' Up "Pursuit of Happiness" set after sponging the edges of the stamped image with Color Box Turquoise ink. I will be sending this card to Penny to tell her how much I appreciate all that she has done for us in our department.

dEb

Trying to decide who to send my card to?  A tough decision.  But, I finally chose a friend and her family who are dealing with the medical needs of their sweet child on a daily basis and recently found out that on top of everything else, this precious 2 year old girl was just diagnosed with cancer, as well.  I appreciate all the loving mothers and fathers in this world who are granted the task of raising up the children that the good Lord has given us.  I especially want my friend to know how appreciated and loved she is for being such a wonderful mother in spite of the circumstances that have been handed to her.  We can take nothing for granted in this one life that we are given.  I've created my bracket display card using Graphic 45 papers and my Cricut Explore.  You can see all the details with additional photos, plus a link to my file to create your own bracket shaped card, which is FREE (to Cricut Design Space Subscription users) or a nominal fee for non-subscription Cricut Design Space users.  Click on my name to visit my blog with details.

Terri

I have several thank you cards that need to go out. This one will be given to my best friend's daughter. She watched our pooches while we were out of town. I need to make one for my gf, too. She stayed the night one night. Our Nike is afraid of coughing and Jayme was coughing like crazy. So silly. I used Unity KOTM from January 2014 for my flowers. To see more detail, click on my name below and it will take you to my blog. 

Pam

Quilling takes a long time and therefore this card will go to someone truly special in my life, my Aunt.  She has filled the void of the loss of my mom and I don't know what I'd do without her.  She gave me advice that, at the time I thought was wrong, I have learned to appreciate and accept and understand...I and told her that she was right all along.  I love you Auntie Pat.

Sheryl



 I'm not mailing my card! Nope, I'm gonna drive 2 hours to see one of my best friends and hand deliver this to her. You see I was planning on driving up there to teach a Fund Raising Art Class (money goes to my son's trip to Italy) and she is the hostess serving light snacks & wine! Now doesn't that sound like the best fund raising plan you've ever heard? So she truly does deserve this Appreciation Card! You can go check out my Blog (trust me you REALLY want to do that)

Paula

I made this card for my friend Brenda. She is an amazing lady who always brings a smile to my face. Like Paula, I am not putting mine in the mail, but I am planning on giving it to her at church on
Sunday. This isn't for any specific reason, Just because she is my friend kinda card. You can read more about my card on my blog.

MariLynn

With spring finally happening around here, I'm on a flower kick! I pulled out these gorgeous Altenew stamps to make a CAS card for my Gram simply because she is awesome. Even though she lives close by I'm going to mail it, because who doesn't love happy mail?? You can see closeups on my blog!
Jennifer

Over-sized Shaker card

This cute shaker card was made from the plastic packaging from an embossing folder.  Some crafters make shaker cards look so easy but for me, I tend to struggle with it.  Totally not my thing!  But I really wanted to give this a shot.  I think it turned out alright.  What do you think?  

If you want to see more details, check out my personal blog here.

Fall Leaves and Friendship

Hi there everyone; Jennifer here to share the details of the fall card I created for our Fall Card Challenge. You have until September 29th to enter, so I expect to see lots and lots of pretty fall colors!

When I think fall, I envision pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, boots, and leaves going crunch under my feet. One of the joys of living in the Northeast is that we actually get all 4 seasons, and leaf peeping is one of them! With that in mind, I set to work and came up with this:

Here's the layer breakdown:
Base - kraft paper
Background - my own creation with Distress Paints and watercolor paper. Colors used: Fired Brick, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Forest Moss and Spiced Marmalade.
Sentiment layer - natural ivory linen, Unity Stamp Co. sentiment from a Stamp of the Week in Memento Espresso ink.
Leaves - these were FUN and MESSY! Vellum embossed with a crackle embossing folder from Darice, die cut with the Tim Holtz Textured Leaves die, and rubbed with the mini Distress Inks in Barn Door, Squeezed Lemonade, Olive, and Spiced Marmalade. I tacked them down with my Tombow Mono glue by 'hiding' the glue drops with the inked bits of the leaves and the twine bow up top.
Final touches - twine bow and a scattering of Pretty Pink Posh 4mm sequins in Sand and Forest Moss.

I tacked the leaves down to the ivory linen paper, the linen paper to the background paper, and then used 3D foam tape to attach the whole shebang to the kraft base card. Add on the bow and the sequins and this baby was done!

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for the contest!