Farewell Gifts

My DH's boss's wife is one of those special people. And I totally mean that in a wonderful way. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Well, they will be leaving soon for their next assignment. MG Gould will become the next Air Force Academy Superintendent. That is good news for them, but sad for us. For Paula's farewell we brought gifts to fill a basket and I decided to make her some cards that she will be able to put to good use. I made three each of these two designs. I stamped the envelops to match, but unfortunately I was in a hurry to wrap them and leave for the party and didn't get a picture of them with envies. Oh well, at least I was able to scan one of each.

The first uses a new background I received from Rubbernecker called Flourish. I loved it's playful elegance, (is that possible?) The sentiment is from Verve called Jeremiah 29:11. I wish I could see Paula's face when she sees these cards, as I am sure she will appreciate them. I used my Clear atyou Spica pen to highlight "plans", "the LORD", "prosper you", and "hope and a future". The edges are all distressed. You know my thinking was that this card would be great for someone in distress, thus the distressed edges. . . . Yes, that is the way my brain works sometimes.
I didn't get a picture of the inside, but I added a layer of Lovely Lilac, distressed edges and masked a rectangle in the center and stamped the background in VersaMark.

Stamps: Flourish background (RubberNecker), Jeremiah 29:11 (Verve); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Clear atyou Spica pen; Paper: Basic Black, Lovely Lilac; Accessories: distress tool (SU).

This next card uses Cornish Heritage Farms' Hometown Pride from their Thomas Kinkade line of stamps. (Thank you so much to CHF! I won this stamp during one of their release parties!) I do wish that CHF would offer this line unmounted. *sigh*

I do want to state upfront that this is pretty much a complete CASE of this card on SCS by stampwithkristine. She has a beautiful gallery! The sentiment is by A Muse from a set called Hero Mail. This is an awesome stamp set!! I used my oval & scallop oval Nesties for the sentiment layer. I used my T!m Holtz ruler for the paper piercing. TIP: I used my Onare paper piercing tool and it worked so much better than my piercing tool from my Crafter's Tool Kit (SU)! I also added just a couple short strips of Herma Dotto Removable onto my Ruler to help keep the paper in place. Truth be told, it was so much easier after I started using the Onare piercing tool. I used my Copic Markers B24 and R29 for the flag. I used my double rectangle punch (SU) to punch the bottom to weave my ribbon along the bottom.


Stamps: Hometown Pride (CHF), Hero Mail (A Muse); Ink: Rich Cocoa (Momento), Real Red, Copic Markers B24 & R29; Paper: Ballet Blue, Real Red, Whisper White; Accessories: Oval & Scallop Oval Nestabilities, double rectangle punch (SU), Grosgrain Ribbon (SU), Tim Holtz Ruler, Onare Paper Piercing Tool.

TK Monochromatic

Just a quick upload. I made this for the Thomas Kinkade blitz challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms. The blitz begins tomorrow. This also incorporates this week's CPS card sketch. The green is Almost Artichoke and looks so much better IRL (of course!) The sentiment is Love of a Friend by Sweet N Sassy Stamps and I used my Clear Star Sakura gelly roll pen on the "friend" and "Jesus" to help them pop.

Stamps: The Forest Chapel (CHF), Love of a Friend (SNSS); Ink: Almost Artichoke; Paper: Almost Artichoke, Whisper White, DP (DCWV); Accessories: Circle scallop Nestie, 1 3/8" circle punch (SU), Sakura gelly roll pen; distressor (SU), sponge dauber.

Errr, Merry Christmas. . .

Yes, too much time has passed since I have posted anything. Rather than give excuses (we've heard them all) I thought I'd just post my Christmas card for 2008 and share a couple of other Christmas cards that are special to me.

My first share is from my darling 5 y/o son. He proudly made it himself while I was out shopping (and DADDY supervised!!) Yes, I was shocked! Daddy usually steers away from my craft room so to have him supervise Troy was quite the surprise. Yes, they used my Tonic guillotine cutter and my ATG gun!! Yikes! That is some serious crafting, hehe! It is probably difficult to see, but he stamped the Santa and tree from Crayon Christmas (SU) and scribbled colored them in. This lavendar layer is actually adhered to a white base, hence the ATG need. I do believe that my DH suggested they go buy me a card but Troy wanted to make one. That is how David got sucked into "supervising".


This is the card that ended up going out to friends and family. My first version was stamped onto acetate, colored on the back with COPICs, vintaged the Very Vanilla layer under the acetate and distressed the edges, used brads to adhere the acetate to the top two layers. This photo is actually the second version. I stamped onto Very Vanilla, aged and distressed, added brads, mounted on burgundy. The background stamp is SU's Antique Background using Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink. About a 1/3 of my Christmas cards looked like this one. The final version just omitted the brads. I didn't want to add more to postage because of the thickness. I was reminded by Lisa Somerville that simplier is usually better (or something along those lines). Thanks Lisa! :D Oh, you really can't see in this scan that I colored the windows with So Saffron. It was the only coloring I did, sponging not included.


Stamps: The Forest Chapel (CHF), Antique Backgrounds (SU), Season's Greetings (SU), Ink: Basic Brown, Basic Black, Glaxy Gold (Brilliance); So Saffron Marker (windows), Antique Linen & Brushed Corduroy (Distress Ink); Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip; Bravo Burgundy; Accessories: brads, Cut-N-Dry (Ranger), Distress tool (SU).

The next card is the O-N-L-Y card that my DH has ever said "Let's keep this!" Yes, after stamping for eight years those were the first words out of his mouth when he opened his card from me this year. Here's why:
I got this stamp, Miss Crystal, from RubberNecker.com. I used one of Tim Holtz' 12 Days of Christmas 2008 ( Day 2) for her dress and paper pieced the dress. I used stickles for the white rim of her hat, the stars she's holding and the "string" so it all sparkles. I used the snowflake CB folder for the white layer. I used the scallop punch from SU for the opening base layer (Elegant Eggplant.) I also scalloped a white layer inside the card and offset it so when it is closed you can see the white peeking out. It really helped add to the card without adding any more embellishments. Oh, this card was inspired by Linda Duke. I used some CB snowflake dies for the last embellishments. Whew! So what do you think of Miss Crystal??

Stamps: Miss Crystal (RubberNecker); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Momento), COPIC: Skin White (E00), SU Markers: Real Red, Close to Cocoa; Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White; Accessories: CB snowflake embossing folder and snowflake dies, Tim Holtz Day 2 Technique; Stickles, Paper Snips (SU).

Thank You

My next door neighbor is a medical doctor. A couple of weeks ago I sliced my finger at the knuckle (pointer finger, left hand) and I showed it to Hyatt and he told me it would need stitches. He'd have done it for me but didn't have a suture kit at home. The next week he did remove the stitches for me and has checked up on me about my finger. What an awesome neighbor!! I say all this because here is the thank you card that I made for Hyatt.

I won this Elvis image from Lori Craig's blog candy awhile back. (You have just got to check out her blog if you haven't already!) The image is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Elvis line. Thank you so much to both Lori and CHF! This image is so incredible that one of my girlfriends was amazed that it was a stamp!

I drove into St. Louis earlier this summer and stopped at The Ink Spot in Kirkwood, (awesome little stamp store!) There I purchased a couple of sayings to go with my Elvis Portrait. I only inked the first "thank you" for this diamond and inked the rest of the "thank you very much" for the inside. Can't you just hear Elvis' voice in your head saying that? LOL!

This stamp has been sitting on my computer desk since it arrived. I've wanted to use it but have been intimidated. What better way than a masculine thank you card?! The layout is from SCS SC184. I kept it simple. Okay, I wanted to add something but really couldn't think of anything bling related to add. What more do you need with that gorgeous face??? Yes, I {heart} Elvis! *sigh*

Stamps: Elvis portrait & Thank you very much (CHF); Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Basic Black (SU Marker for sentiment); Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White, Victorian DP (SU); Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, various square punches.