Happy New Year and Christmas Thank You Cards

 When I saw the 'germ-free' stamp set I had to get it.  Cracks me up...and so appropriate for the times, yes?  I'm adding it to the Lawnfawnatics Challenge HERE.

Another card I have to share is a quick Christmas thank you card.  I LOVE this poinsettia die!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

MFT Sketch Challenge #516

 I like to have a stash of thank you cards ready to go.  Earlier today I spotted a pack of Christmas-y looking card blanks I picked up at the store a few weeks ago.  Then I spotted the MFT blog post about the current sketch challenge.  The crafty gods are sending me a sign...let's get busy making some holiday thank you cards!

I reached by into technique vault with this one.  I dry embossed the lines using a stylus and one of my stencils.  I haven't done that in years!

Check out the challenge HERE.

Christmas Thank You Cards

Hooray!  My thank you cards are all ready to go.  :)

Merry Christmas!

Cool Friend Pop-Up Card

I'm such a sucker for interactive cards.  I don't know if pop-up cards count as interactive, but they ARE fun.  This die keeps begging to be used so I've given in again.

Like many creative types, I wander around blogtopia to get inspiration from other people.  One of the cool things about this particular die is that it folds flat to fit in an A2 envelope.  It tried my soul to leave the outside blank so I *had* to decorate it so when the recipient pulls it out something besides blank white greets them.  It was hard to find some inspiration out there - most people just post pics like the one above.  This is what I did on the front:

And on the back there's a panel to write a message:

I made a few of them to have on hand.  My little peeps 2-4 year olds) often give me gifts before the Christmas break.  I hope a card like this will make them smile.

Merry Christmas!

Thank You Cards

I'm a lucky teacher to have really sweet families in my world.  My birthday was at the beginning of December and I was overwhelmed with lots of love, handmade cards and gifts.  I made a few thank you cards for my little peeps.

 This wasn't part of my plan but I ended up using the negative from the die cut letters to create a new card.

I love this bee...it just makes me grin.

This is a very un-holiday-ish post, but what're you gonna do?! 

Happy Holidays!

Rainbow Thank You Card

I have a tendency to collect dies and then never use them.  Ugh.  I have had this rainbow die for a long time but never pull it out.  I've even purchased stamps specifically to do with it - yikes.  I was given lots of wonderful goodies last week for Teacher Appreciation Week and needed to make thank you cards so I grabbed it and got busy.

I love how it turned out.  I hope your day is happy too.  :)

Untitled

Busily working away in the studio today and I was wrapping up an order to send out and thought I'd add a little Thank You tag to it.  Started playing around and in just a few minutes came up with this one. 

 

The cool thing is that I just grabbed what was close at hand.  The butterfly's background came from a swatch where I was playing around with mixing Distress Paints.  Isn't she pretty?   

Off to enjoy a sunny (for now!) Sunday here in Seattle.  Have a great day!

Oh, the fun that got done!

My son's school recently wrapped up their production of Seussical the Musical.  Wow!  What a blast it was to be part of this wild adventure.  Months of rehearsals, hours and hours of singing and dancing, frantically racing between school and the ice rink for my little guy. So proud of my little dude for all the work he put in and humbled by the hard work of all the parents in the background as well.  Good stuff.  In addition to helping behind the scenes I was asked to make thank you cards for the department heads.  I searched high and low for Suess-ish stamps but didn't find what I was looking for.  Teachers' section at JoAnns to the rescue!  I ended up going with a simple 'Thanks' sentiment, but this one was really my favorite.

Now I just need to figure out how to get songs about Horton, Mayzie, Who's, Wickershams out of my head...

Gee Thanks!

Second post today - woo hoo!  I made this for the WMS Lucky challenge.

I'm thinking that if somebody does something nice for you you're one lucky person!  ;)  Of course the colors are St. Patrick's Day inspired as well...
TFL and Happy St. Patrick's Day (again)!

Gettin' Jiggy With Java

I seem to be accumulating a collection of coffee stamps.  Can't seem to get enough of 'em.  'Tis true enough that I really do enjoy my morning cup (or two or three) and the occasional evening one as well.  I always loved the smell of brewing coffee as a kid too.  The other day I blogged about some coffee thank you cards I made.  I ended up being one shy so whipped up another this morning.  This one I'm entering into a couple of challenges as well, Less Is More Black & White and CASual Friday Thank You. 

 The tag is made from a combo of tapes and border stamps then inked around the edges and topped with a twine/floss combo.

From the same set I made the following card for my Etsy shop; cracks me up and most days I can completely relate!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Coffee Thank You

As a mom/cheerleader of kids who choose chilly sports (nothing like standing on the sidelines of a soccer field with a strong breeze and slushy rain falling on you OR sitting in an ice rink with concrete benches...brrrr) I fully appreciate the necessity of a little Starbucks run now and again.  I have been the lucky recipient of some gift cards this holiday season so to say thanks I made several of these:

I can almost taste the Cinnamon Dulce right now...

Face Painting and Cards

Yes, an odd mix to be sure.  I teach at a preschool and we're having an end-of-year BBQ/auction/carnival in a couple of weeks.  I volunteered to do some face painting.  What was I thinking?  I don't do face painting!  But they were going to skip it if nobody offered and you just know the kidlets love to have their cherubic little  faces painted.  So today I plan on sitting down with some watercolors and working out some REALLY SIMPLE designs that my little kiddos will like.  I'm thinking stars, butterflies, flowers, snakes, lizards/dinosaurs, lightning bolts.  If anybody out there has other ideas take pity on me and please SHARE YOUR IDEAS.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart (hey, hearts!  I could do those too!).

As for cards, I recently went through my stash and realized I have a bunch that I've never photographed and added to the shop.  So that's what I've been doing the last few days.  Some I've posted about before but here are a few new ones that I've added:

While I've listed these separately they can be purchased via this great deal which applies a 15% discount when 4 cards are purchased.

I love this card.  The guy was hand-stamped 4 times on different papers and then I cut out pieces, colored them and layered them for a cool, dimensional look.  I made the background by inking up some bubble wrap (love that technique).  The text star is from a book I saved from the recycle bin.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  YOU make ME smile.  May your skies be sunny and your cares be few.

Cards Galore & More

I have a whole bunch of new items I'll be adding to the shop over the next few days.  Just have to get all of these babies photographed and ready to go.  Here is a sneak peek:

And a new mini album too:

Wishing you good tidings and a sunny Sunday afternoon.