March Calendar

My goal is to have three blog posts a week... and I have been doing a pretty good job. Until the stomach bug hit our house anyways! I was off work sick a couple days last week and so everything was just a mess. We had a busy weekend so everything stayed a mess. On Monday instead of getting to work on a Mojo Monday challenge, I was doing laundry and cleaning. Tuesday was more laundry including rewashing clothes that came out with pink spots because some kind of reddish pink paper found its way into the washer and all over our clothes. Luckily, I added a bit of Oxiclean and rewashed the load and it came out nice and clean. So, all the cleaning and laundry left little time for papercrafting of blogging.

I shared with you my February calendar that was inspired by Linda, a featured guest on Mary Fish's blog. I had tweaked it a bit to make it my own. Now, I want to share my March calendar with you. It is an almost exact case from Linda's except I used Chocolate Chip card stock and she used Early Espresso. I think hers opened up but that Sizzix die is still on my wish list so mine does not open up. I had taken my Early Espresso card stock out and misplaced it. I thought I was out so decided to just use Chocolater Chip instead so I could finish it and get a few mailed out. Of coarse, when I cleaned my desk off I found my almost new pack of Early Espresso so at least I didn't have to order any!

A Bright and Cheery Thanks

I decided I was not really happy with my entry for the Thank You challenge over at The Paper Players so I decided to create a new card. I was trying to use a sketch and the sketch just wasn't working for me very well. I am much happier with this card!

My card base is Whisper White and then I added a layer of Marina Mist. My DSP is from last years Occasion Mini and it is called Sunshine & Sprinkles. I am a bit of a paper hoarder and never use it because it is so pretty. And then I run into the problem that colors have been retired and it makes using my paper that much harder... so I am really going to be trying to use my DSP and not just let it sit on a shelf and look pretty.

Back to my card... I tied a knot in some Daffodil Delight ribbon and added it to one side of my card. It is really esy to add it- I just folded it over my card front and added a strip of adhesive to the back to tack it down. I used a thank you stamp from my collection. I want to say it is from the set So Very Thankful but I can't be sure. I converted most of my woodmount stamp sets to the clear and grouped like sets together. I have all my thank you sets in one case and I can't always remember what set each one came from. I figured I am never getting rid of thank you stamps so in a case they all went. I would rather store like sets together to have them handy at a glance and it really saves a lot of space! On one card I used Marina Mist and the other I used Melon Mambo to stamp my thanks.

I used the new and very awesome Banner Framelits to punch out my sentiment. I then used the next size bigger banner to punch out my background for my sentiment. I punched out my butterfly to match my sentiment color and then popped it up with a Stampin' Dimensional. I did pop up the entire card front, so the Marina Mist layer, on dimensionals also.

Happy Easter- Adorable Bunny Style

I love, love, love these bunnies from last year's Occasions Mini Catalog. So, they are reappearing in time for this year's Easter crafting projects. I played along with one of my favorite sketch challenges, Mojo Monday. It is contest week so be sure to play along!

I used Daffodil Delight as my card base and then added a strip from the Watercolor Wonder DSP. It has such great colors for Spring! I wanted to stay with more Spring colors so I went with Pool Party as my sky in my meadow scene. Instead a adding another layer, I used my paper piercing tool and added a double border to my Pool Party piece . To make it super easier to line up your piercings and keep them straight, use the Paper-Piercing Pack Essentials. I then added a sun using a 1 inch circle punch and I cropped it out of Daffodil Delight. I popped this up with a Stampin' Dimensional. To make it look lke my bunnies were playing in a meadow I used my scissors to add fringe to a piece of Pear Pizazz cardstock. I have the new Fringe scissors on my list but they are on backorder last I heard. I stamped my bunnies twice, once in Strawberry Slush and the other on Calypso Coral. I fussy cut them out and used two of one color and one of the other on each card. The first two are sitting behind the grass while the third one is popped up on dimensionals in front of the grass. I added a Calypso Coral bow. I tied the bow using a fork...here is the video. You can also use scissors in pretty much the same way. I can see that my bow tails aren't the same length on the two cards! I stamped my sentiment "Happy Easter" from the stamp set Teeny Tiny Wishes. On one card I used Calypso Coral and the other I used Strawberry Slush. I punched them out using the Word Window punch. If you do not have the set Teeny Tiny Wishes, I highly recommend adding it to your stamp set. It is the most versatile stamp set I have ever owned. It has so many different stamps and seriously has a sentiment for every occasion.

I am super pleased with how my card turned out. I had it created in my mind ever since Monday and couldn't wait to actually create it with paper and stamps. These cards will go to my daughter's teachers in a few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Is There Such a Thing As a Simple Thank You?

I don't know that there is such a thing as a simple thank you. Even if the card has a clean and simple design the feelings of appreciation mean so much. I designed this card with two challenges in mind. The first was a sketch challenge by Freshly Made Sketches that you can see here and then a thank you theme challange by The Paper Players that you can see here.

I kept trying to use a rectangular piece of DSP in the center and it just wasn't working for my card. I ended up pulling out my Labels Collection Framelits and cropping my Sycamore Street DSP that I got during last year's Sale-A-Bration. I used Pool Party as my card base. I colored one of the flowers from Posy Punch using my Summer Starfruit Stampin' Write Marker and then the petals with my Rich Razzleberry one. I punched it out using the Fancy Flower Punch. I did pop it up on dimensionals. My thank you sentiment comes from the set Wishes Your Way.

You're the Icing on the Cake

My sister has a birthday this week so this card is on its way to New York, the place I called home for many years. I used this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts to help me design the basic layout of the card. Then, I sent a random text to my sister telling her to give me a color. She texted back purple but surprisingly didn't ask why I was asking. So, I turned to Rich Razzleberry in my Color Coach and it had it paired with Old Olive and Pumkpin Pie. I had my colors! Using a sketch and the Color Coach really does half the work for you. I used Rich Razzleberry as my card base and then layered some Pumpkin Pie DSP onto the card front. I used Old Olive for the vertical strip. I stamped 2 of the gift bixes and the cake slice in black StazOn onto Whisper White card stock. Both of these stamps are from the Best of Birthday set. I punched the cake out with a 1.25 inch circle punch and then the presents with a 1 inch circle punch. I colored them using my blender pens and Classic ink pads. I then stamped my sentiment, wish big, onto Whisper White card stock using Rich Razzleberry ink. This is from the stamp set Word Play. I punched it out using the Decorative Label punch. I punched another label out in Rich Razzleberry, cut it across the center and added a little edge to each side of my stamped image. I have had the Candy Dots for a while in the Brights family but never used them. I thought this was a perfect time since I wanted to add a little more color into the Decorative Label. I added three along the edge. I didn't get them even but what are you going to do. I adhered this to the front and I was done. I added a message to the inside and I was ready for the post office. I hope she likes it!