Cheers & Wishes

Hello there!   Today's two cards were fun to put together, using up scraps from around my work desk. It's my favorite type of card-making challenge! 

The grape stencil looking stamp is an old one from Stampin' Up!, but I sold the set and can't remember the name of it.  I colored the stamp with markers so I could achieve a three-tone look to it.  I stacked it on top of green, light brown, and shimmery gold squares.

The next card is, well, not exactly a 'Colleen' card, but the scraps were calling to be put together, and this was the resulting design.  Both stars are golden, punched from mirrored cardstock.

Before I sign off, I want to share a quote from Mother Teresa that I recently found.  It's thought-provoking. 

“These are the few ways we can practice humility:

To speak as little as possible of one's self.

To mind one's own business.

Not to want to manage other people's affairs.

To avoid curiosity.

To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.

To pass over the mistakes of others.

To accept insults and injuries.

To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked.

To be kind and gentle even under provocation.

Never to stand on one's dignity.

To choose always the hardest.” 

― Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living

Easter Bunnies

Did you ever hear of the superstition of saying "rabbits, rabbits, rabbits" on the first day of each new month, when you first wake?  My sister and I try to remember to be the first each month to text this to one another.  Whoever is first, "wins".  LOL  We do it for fun. ;-)

Easter will fall on April 1st this year, so it feels right to share a couple of bunny cards with you to kind of uphold that "rabbits" tradition.

The card above uses the  L'il Inkers Bunnies & Bows die, and the 'Easter Blessings' sentiment stamp is from Wplus9's Easter Blessings set.  I bent the clear stamp a bit to fit along the curve of the die-cut scalloped border (My Favorite Things Stitched Scallop Basic Edges).

The last card uses a Memory Box Chocolate Bunny die, and I cut him from dark brown damask patterned paper, to look like a real chocolate bunny!  Used the same sentiment stamp again from Wplus9, and some grass dies (My Favorite Things Grassy Fields).  The "sun" is a stack of circles and a scalloped circle, all scraps found in a Stampin' Up! Scrap Bag from my demo.

Thanks so much for coming by here today!  God bless you!

Friends are Family / Eat Cake

Hello there!  I've got a little bit of time to blog today, so I want to share a couple of birthday cards that helped me use up patterned paper scraps.

The first card uses products from Kaisercraft's Lady Rose collection, plus a few silk flowers from my stash.

The next card gave me a chance to use my Memory Box Petite Cake and Scalloped Cake Stand dies.

I die-cut the cake stand from white cardstock, then went over it with a Krylon Gold Marker.  It's got such a beautiful shimmer in real life!

The sentiment stamp is from the Inspired By Stamping Just Because set.

That's it!  Short and sweet, like a piece of cake!  Hope you have a WONDERFUL day, and thank you for stopping by!

Ice Skates for Christmas

Close to our house, there is a really nice ice skating rink that the parks department sets up in winter and runs through late February. You can buy hot cocoa and other delectable warm treats while you are there. It's been decades since I put on a pair of ice skates, and I think I'll leave it that way. ;-)
I like my feet on solid ground!

This is as close to putting on a pair of ice skates as I'll get:  the stamped version, on paper.

I used some already-stamped pieces that I found in a Stampin' Up! bag of scraps, which my demonstrator has from time to time. (love those!) I used bits and pieces of die cuts, punches, ribbons and trim to round out each design.

merry & bright sentiment: Papertrey Ink 'Tag-Its #8 Mini' 

Thanks so much for coming by here today!  God bless you!

Masculine New Home cards

Hello there!  Last year, I made two 'New Home' cards for gentlemen who were each moving into their own places.  As always, designing masculine cards is a challenge for me.

Here they are, and I'm personally favoring the first one...

house stamp:  Papertrey Ink 'Spring Hills'; background stamp:  Stampin' Up! 'French Script'; copper circle clip, jute braided ribbon, cork patterned paper, note card die cut - Colorbok 'Flea Market'

house stamp:  Stampin' Up! 'Holiday Home'; sentiment stamp: Flourishes 'Garden Fresh'; stitched rectangle die:  L'il Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles'

The Type B Flu made it to our house last week.  My youngest daughter missed an entire week of school, and she still didn't feel quite right this week, and missed two more days of school (ugh).  I'm getting over a bad cold, and am on my second round of antibiotics.  Man, the germs are really going around everywhere right now! 

Hope you're healthy and feeling good!  Thanks for your visit today. :-)