IN MEMORIUM

This past Thursday my dad died at the age of 96 after a rapid decline that started only a month ago.  Up until then he had been doing well with Assisted Living, well loved by the residents and staff there.  He was truly amazing!

All who knew him will remember him most for his sense of humor, constant smile and friendly personality.  Wherever he went, he looked for ways to be helpful and positive, with never a complaint.  I consider it a blessing and a privilege to have had him in my life for so long.

We are all sad, of course; but the one who is feeling the loss most is our youngest grandson.  He was recently bragging to his friends at Kindergarten that he had a great-grampa who was 96.  My dad was here for Christmas, walking into our house on his own and eating dinner with all 12 of us around the table.  I'm so glad he was able to be here for one last family gathering, leaving a happy memory of that special Christmas, especially for his youngest great grandchild.

We look forward to the day when God "will wipe away every tear from (our) eyes, and death shall be no more..."  (Rev. 21:4)

FROM THE SCRAP DRAWER--Danish Heart Valentine

After making Danish Heart cards in Mothers Class this week, I had some left over pieces and scraps from other cards.  So I put them together in this smaller version for someone special.

Enjoy!

CRITTER CHICK

This set of Cheerful Critters makes happy cards!  This one is for a birthday.

The image is layered over a scrap of white cs cut to size and edged with a yellow marker for a perfect match.  The orange embroidery floss was wrapped around the top 2 layers before being mounted with dimensionals onto a small piece of dsp.  The green textured cs is from a pad I purchased at Hobby Lobby.

Using this set is super quick!

FISHY VALENTINE

Since I'm not in school (as a student, anyway) I plan to send this to one of my students in the Mothers Class.  I also made a bunch of shaker cards with this design for my youngest grandson to hand out in his Kindergarten class.

What a cute set this is!

DE-CLUTTER DE HOUSE--Low cabinets

Just the lower cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms...  You know the ones I mean--like the one that has the  _____(fill in the blank)_____ that fall(s) out when you open the door.  For me, it's the tupperware cabinet!  Time to straighten them out and store things more securely and/or more reachable in the back of these cabinets.

If you don't have cabinets in the bathrooms, then hit the linen closet!  Rise to the challenges in this year's series, and you'll be ready to enjoy the great outdoors come Spring!  Remember, clutter is not something to organize--it's something to give or throw away.  Once the clutter is gone, cleaning is soooo much easier...

Go for it!

SALE-A-BRATION GOODIES!

WOW!  Did I clean up with my SU! party!  Here is what I got:

2 pkgs of cardstock and 2 of designer papers
2 pkgs of dimensionals
the coordinating embossing folder
the tag punch
1 pkg of twine
1 container of silver embellishments
and SIX! stamp sets

With my hostess benefits, the Sale-a-bration freebie and the Christmas gift certificate from my favorite DIL, this whole assortment cost me less than $40, including tax and shipping--YAY!

I'm ready to start stamping!  (understatement...)

TIME TO DE-CLUTTER DE HOUSE AGAIN!

With all the winter storms badgering our area this winter, forcing us to stay inside waaaay more than we would like, it's time to put some cabin fever to good use!

HERE'S THE CHALLENGE:  Start with purging the paper piles in the house.  We don't need those Christmas catalogs any more, do we?  File what needs filing, shred what needs shredding, and do some purging and tossing.  Then brag about your accomplishments here where it might give someone else a boost.

Next week will be a new challenge, so let's get started!

Here's a tip:  I've cut down on the space used for white cardstock scraps (I use them for small greetings on cards) by following my rule of keeping only those pieces that are larger than a business card.  When the scrap drawer gets too full, I just go through it and toss the smaller pieces (or give them away.)

TUXEDO CAT CARD

This will be going to a special friend who also happens to like our two cats, and this card features one of them.  The cat is a die cut, and I used a cloud die to accent the purring.

Inside, I signed it from our family, "both human and feline."  He will definitely laugh when he reads that.  Our cats befriended him when he was here doing some work for us.  If you know anything about cats, it is not common for them to be so friendly toward a "stranger" but for this person they made a delightful exception.

MONOCHROMATIC DESIGN

For this card, I started with a scrap of fern dsp.  This gave me the color, stamp and die cut I would use.

First I stamped the fern twice from a set by Papertrey Ink, then cut them with the matching die.  The greeting was also part of the same set.

The light colored panel is green parchment paper from my stash, and the card base is SU! Always Artichoke.  After mounting the ferns with dimensionals, I stamped the greeting with Versafine Olympia Green ink and added some tiny white pearls for a soft finishing touch.

It really is a challenge to stick to one color family!

THREE OF A KIND--DANISH HEARTS

These (Simon Says Stamp) Danish Hearts were fun to die cut and weave two different ways.  Each Danish Heart was mounted on an embossed hearts cardfront with dimensionals.

After using the Love die, I glued the message to the heart and added some smaller hearts and gems to finish.

Although they look clean and simple, there were many steps involved.  The weaving took the most time, but I think it was worth it for such a special card.

THREE OF A KIND--ORGANIC GRACE

I'm making up for lost time with this old SU! set.  There are four wooden stamps in the set, but this one seems to be working best for me lately.

I think I'll  just let the cards speak for themselves.

MORE PASTOR CARDS

The sentiments on these two cards are from the SU! set, "Trust God" which has some really nice sayings.

While waiting for my SU! order to arrive, I've been going back to some of my old sets and using them in new ways.  This first one uses the fern from Organic Grace, stamped three times without re-inking, and the splotches from French Foliage which is still one of my all-time favorite sets.  I also still enjoy the Butterflies Sizzlit, especially the tiny butterflies.


The second card started with a retro design panel mounted to a light blue card.  Because of the glitter already imbedded in the dsp, no further embellishments were needed.

The envelope of flowers is one of the stamps from "Send a Celebration," and I colored them with my colored pencils set.

I just hope these aren't too feminine for our pastor.

ARE YOU A CHEESE?

If not, then don't let your age bother you!

With my warped sense of humor, I thought the dotted swiss strip was the perfect accent for a swiss cheese image ;)  The plaid background was in my drawer of 12x12 dsp sheets, and very Spring-y.  This card will go to an Irish lady this month.


NOTE:  If you haven't taken advantage of the Sale-a-Bration promotion going on at Stampin'Up, take a look at what they have to offer.  I was a hostess last week with 10 guests.  Not only did we have a good time (lots of laughs!) but I also received over $100 worth of free products plus one free set from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  When the shipment comes in, I'll photograph what I got so you can see.  The new Occasions catalog is the best they've come out with in awhile, so be sure to check it out.  (BTW, I'm not a demonstrator--just a happy customer!)

FROM THE SCRAP DRAWER--#43

I can't believe how many cards have been made just from leftover pieces from other projects!

This one started with a strip of dsp applied to the left side of the card and trimmed to fit.  Next I added the embossing on the right side.  The fern was already water colored on a piece of watercolor paper, so I fussy-cut it and used it as a background for the flower I stamped on vellum.  After stamping the flower and heat embossing it with clear ep, I colored the back to coordinate with the colors in the dsp.  Then I mounted it to the fern with a glue dot.

I stamped the sentiment on white cs and taped it across the top at the same angle as the printing in the dsp.  Finally, I added some Stickles to the flower and put it on display on my window sill...another easy card!

ANOTHER SPRING FLORAL CARD

I discovered this strip of leftover dsp and the coordinated flowers in my stash and made use of both on this one card.

After attaching the strip down the middle, I embossed the borders and added the embroidery floss on the left.  The flowers had been pre-stamped in purple (not a match!) so I went over the image with colored pencils to change the shade.  The oval was then mounted with dimensionals.

With this card, I discovered that I could stamp something in a soft shade of ink and then add deeper shades with colored pencils later for a nice combination.

IT MAY NOT BE SPRING OUTSIDE, BUT...

...IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE SPRING IN THE TOWER!

With record cold temps outside, I've been pulling out lots of floral stamps to brighten the days.  This one is from a hostess set I earned a while back.  I think the secret of making cards that look "together" is to resist the temptation to over-embellish.  A few coordinated sequins was all this card needed for a little sparkle.

After coloring in the leaves and flowers with colored pencils, I fussy-cut the image and mounted it on the die cut panel with foam tape.  The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of the same paper as the card base and applied to the front with ds tape.

Easy!

SOME THINGS OLD ARE NEW AGAIN

Now that Christmas card-making is over, the tree punch has become a flag punch just by cutting off the trunk.  This gate card made use of some of the many scraps in my collection.

When open, the dark blue cs inside provides contrast for all the white on the front.  Below the greeting, I added "Just think, you're not as old as you will be next year!"  This card will go to someone with a good sense of humor.

Next time you want to make a banner, just pull out your tree punch!

A HAPPY RAINBOW

When I saw the resist paper in the SU Sale-a-bration catalog, I had to try the same technique on some similar dsp in my stash--and it worked!  (SU will not be happy about that...)

I kept the card simple to let the colors take center stage.

SIMPLE SATURDAY #38

(A little early!)

STAIR STEP BIRTHDAY CARD

Today is my son's birthday, and I made this card using some argyle dsp, a Greenhouse Society stamp of winter branches and 2 sentiment stamps.  Since I colored the berries orange, I carried the same color through in the cs, gems and ink for a masculine look.

The base is white cs cut at 4 1/4" x 11" and scored at 1&1/4", 2&1/2", 4&1/4", 8&1/4" and 10&1/2" to form the steps and a half inch piece at the back to keep it upright.  For mailing,  I used my enveloper to make a 5" square envelope.  (To fit into a standard A2 envie, just trim the top square slightly.)

Star Dust Stickles was added for the "snow" on the branches and also on the bee's wings.