PAPER PLAYERS SKETCH CHALLENGE -- #314

For this e-a-s-y challenge, I chose to use a burlap leaf from a packet of them I picked up at Michael's the other day.  After coating it with some Wink of Stella gold  (barely seen here) I mounted it to the card front with clear foam.  Done!

TWO MORE PASTOR CARDS

These two cards were made using a clear stamp set with matching die from Paper Trey Ink.  They have a lot of little stamp sets for $5 each, such as the splits I've posted before and this little set.  There are a variety of sayings that go with "blessed," whether you use the die or not.  (The die is also $5.)

They also had a Thanksgiving stamp set which I plan to try later on this week--so stay tuned!

SILVER STAMPERS

I've mentioned Silver Stampers several times on this blog, but I want to mention them again.  I've just received over 30 birthday cards this past week--today is the day!--and it has been so uplifting.  If you are over 50 and love to send (and receive) cards, then you would surely enjoy this wonderful group of stampers.  The annual dues ($12) cover the cost of maintaining and mailing the annual directory and birthday list. 

Membership gives you the opportunity to make some new friends by mail, or sometimes in person.  You can correspond with one or two on the list or 50 or more--it's up to you.  There are over 100 members from all over the country.  I keep in touch with about 10 or 12 on a regular basis, send birthday and Christmas cards to about 50 and receive as many back.  Some write or type long newsletters, some just sign the card and others enclose a separate note so their card can be re-used.  You could start out by picking one name from each month of the birthday list,  which would give you just one a month.

If you think this might be something you'd enjoy, you can contact the current coordinator, Gretchen King.  Her email address is gk1146@softcom.net.  (All levels of stamping are welcome, beginners to advanced.)  Just tell her Doris sent you!

DE-CLUTTERING TIME AGAIN!

In preparation for the Fall de-cluttering class I'm leading, I've been getting a head start.  After all, I can't teach what I don't do!  Starting with the Stamping Tower, I took out 4 bags of giveaways and 2 bags of garbage.

It was so inspiring to get that done, that the next place I did was the laundry room.  There were 4 overhead cabinets filled with "stuff" and 3 added  floor cabinets of more stuff.  That purge yielded 6 -- yes 6!-- large garbage bags of stuff, including some items on top of the wall cabinets that were there when we moved in 26 years ago!  I found things that were duplicates and triplicates because they had been pushed to the back and forgotten.  Thankfully, we finally found someone who is now repainting the room for us, which involved removal of foil wallpaper, installing new faucets and adding a shutoff valve in the basement just for the laundry room.  He's also putting in a new floor.  When the room is done, it will be minus 2 of the the 3 extra cabinets so that it stays neater.

Finally, last week I cleaned out the linen closet and gave away another 6 bags of extra sheets and assorted table cloths,  plus one giant bag of items for garbage pickup.  I kept 2 of each size tablecloth and 2 sets of sheets for each bed.

Here's a tip from my daughter who is on her way to becoming a certified home organizer:  Store bed linens in the closet or a drawer of the room where they will be used instead of the linen closet.  Same with guest room towels.  Other towels can be stored in the bathroom where they are used either in a basket or a wall rack like those found in hotel rooms.  The saved linen closet space can then be used for bulky seasonal items.

If you'd like to follow along on the weekly challenges of my class, the first challenge (next Tuesday) will be to de-clutter paperwork, magazines, catalogs etc. and establish a file drawer (or two.)

THREE OF A KIND--Baskets of Wishes

 For today's post, I played with my new SU set which was delivered here yesterday.  The first card I made is for an October birthday.  I stamped the basket in Walnut Stain Distress ink.  The flowers were stamped in light gray and colored with glitter pens.  The jute bow is the only embellishment.

The second card will be for either a late October or early November birthday.  I water-colored the basket and colored the squashes with markers.  I plan to add some sequins later.

Finally, I really went to town on the last one.  I white embossed the basket and filled in the spaces with a white gel pen so that it would look like a ceramic basket.  I used glitter gel pens for the succulents so they'd stand out from the dark green background.  The dsp I chose was a scrap that also had a cutout on the top left corner; but since it was the only piece left, I covered it up with the birthday banner from a Frantic Stamper set.  Enjoy!

HAPPY LABOR DAY...

...AND MAY ALL YOUR LABORS BE FRUITFUL!

ANOTHER GREAT SAVE

This card came out horrible, believe it or not.  The "Happy" was originally the same paper as the background, but it didn't show up at all; so I had to fix it.

After dusting the word with anti-static powder,  I went over the whole word with a Versamark marker.  Then I sprinkled it with gold ep and repeated the process 3 times.  Next, I gold embossed the "birthday" label and used glue dots to hold it in place.

To fill the huge expanse of nothingness above the words, I gold embossed the butterfly which was in my stash and added the black gems.  It seems to have filled the space perfectly.

...and to think this card was headed for the trash (almost!)

HUMOROUS CARD FOR A FRIEND

Today is Jackie's birthday, and I made this card just for her.

I used my computer to print the punchline inside which reads, :"The trick is getting them all on the cake.!"  I signed the back of the card also with "A one-hour card made by..."

Of course, I also enclosed a gift card.  After all, birthdays are serious business.

SPLITS--Saying Hello

This SPLIT set is for sympathy cards; but thankfully I don't need one right now, so I used the greeting  from another set.

This will be used to send someone a quick note.  The dsp was cut short, so I just cut down the size of the card and went with it.  Since this is the least ornate of the SPLITS, it work great.

This last card was the second made with this SPLIT set, "Just a Note."  I was able to match the colors in the dsp.  The yellow strip is from the reverse side of the floral dsp and made a nice backdrop for the greeting.