I had so much fun designing these cards for our granddaughters and I love sending them Happy Mail.
I used Unity Stamp Co’s Spring Mouse for the focal image & colored with Prismacolors and stenciled with My Favorite Things raindrops with glitter paste. The background paper is Lawn Fawn’s Flower Market. The flowers were created with Taylored Expressions Buds & Blossoms dies that we received in our Crop & Create event kit and the sentiment if from Catherine Pooler Designs. Nothing like combining all the companies to create a card.
I loved this winter stag card tutorial I saw over on Lavinia Stamps Youtube channel and knew it would make the perfect birthday card for Matthew.
I actually had very little Lavinia stamp supplies on hand for this card so I recreated the main background in the same style but had to dig in my stash for stamps I thought would fit the design. The deer is from Sweet ‘n Sassy’s Scene Silhouettes Woodland, the foliage is from Lavinia Swirl set, Taylored Expressions Bold Branches & Catherine Pooler Beautiful Beginning. The sentiment if from My Favorite Things Fabulous at Any Age & the script stamp is from Catherine Pooler Birds of a Feather.
When you see a card or design you like, you don’t have to go out & but all the product, just shop your stash for similar items you already have.
I hope you have an enjoyable relaxing weekend planned. I’m knee deep in my 4th Crop & Create event, so much fun but probably not going to get it all finished with 8 main classes, 8 mini classes & 2 make & takes. Whew!
Back to Angel Retreat sharing. I usually do a gifty for everyone on retreat. This time I gave them the Catherine Pooler Designs Life in Full Bloom stamp set with this “class” I designed.
A really fast & easy card set with white embossing the florals onto die cut shapes, I little ink blending, a quick sentiment and layered onto an embossed background. These make great gift sets.
Today didn’t go quite as planned but that’s okay I still got a few things done including this Faithdex card.
I didn’t have any ideas for what I wanted to create so I looked through some of my newer supplies and decided I wanted to do something with the origami cranes from Catherine Pooler Designs Origami Cheers stamp set. In this design I have used them as doves of peace. I then searched out a Bible verse that would relate to my one little word ‘one another’. Hebrews 12:14
Pursue shalom with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. TLV
The “cathedral” window is created with Brutus Monroe Chapel stencil and a soft blend of Distress Oxides. I outlined the window, drew in the bricks using My Favorite Things Slimline English Brick Wall stencil and colored the “doves” with a Sakura Clear Stardust Pen which actually comes out a beautiful silver glitter. The verse is hand lettered.
It was my usual cleaning Monday, although I did sneak out afterwards for a quick pedicure and then settled in to create. I also took a few minutes to add an extra gift for some of my favorite rescues for the #bettywhitechallenge in honor of her wonderful life.
Today’s sweet encouragement card is sure to brighten up someone’s recovery time.
I used Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps Bear Hugs set and colored with Prismacolors. The tiny hearts are from Catherine Pooler Designs Hello Amazing set I used a couple of days ago. I forget how difficult it is sometimes to stamp such tiny stamps but they just add the little extra touch. This card would be really easy to make multiples of.
I have really been enjoying the quiet & slower pace of this first week in January after the holidays.
The 4th quarter of my calendar design features whimsical owls, leaves & Christmas trees. I used Taylored Expressions, an old FSJ stamp set & Catherine Pooler Designs to complete the year.
I hope you enjoyed this tour through the quarters of my calendar design. I’d better get busy on some new projects to share. I started one today so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Don’t forget to share some kindness along your daily path.
I got Christmas put away today. I purged a few things since I added a couple new items this year and eliminated one whole bucket. I’m hoping to do a lot of purging/organizing this year to fit our lives at this point in time.
Here is the 3rd quarter of my calendar design. This calendar is going to bring a whole lot of smiles this year.
I used stamp sets from Brutus Monroe and Catherine Pooler Designs.
I’m spending a quiet week in reflection of some of my plans & designs for the new year now that my guys are back to work. Starting to lay out some art projects and some things to work on around the house. I think January will be a good month for a slower pace of life while still accomplishing a bit on my lists.
Enjoy the simple joys of life & share a little kindness along the way.
I have enjoyed designing a calendar class for many years now using Taylored Expressions 6 x 6 downloadable calendar. This will be the last one designed in this style, I may or may not design a new calendar for next year.
I had about 3 ideas for this calendar & they just would come together then someone shared a card with ink blended die cut shapes & it greatly appealed to the desire to just play a bit. So I did several quick blends and added to them as I decided on each calendar page. This was the final grouping all on 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 cardstock.
These were just fast blends with Distress Oxides, not a lot of time spent because they were going to be stamped & die cut. I did 2 sets and recorded the color combo on the back so they could be duplicated for class. I then selected a variety of stamp/die combos from my collection and started creating. Only 2 months had stamps with no dies that were fussy cut.
After decided on the color combos for each month based on the stamp sets I selected, I then did a lighter blend on the calendar page itself, stamped some coordinating background images & dug into my sequin stash for some bling.
They are much more vibrant in person, my lighting wasn’t the greatest today. These months feature all Catherine Pooler Designs sets.
My best advice when ideas don’t come together or your muse had gone on vacation it to just play with background techniques. You are still creating & there’s no pressure or stress when you are just playing & experimenting.
Handmade calendars make great gifts to share some kindness & love. You might want to plan on creating some for next year to give away.
It’s been a long 2 busy days but my one week eye check-up went great and my other check-up went well too.
I designed this card as an alternate version to the tree card I shared a couple days ago. The tree I shared as a shaker was supposed to have strips of vintage washi tape so I tried the red and white but it didn’t go with the tree. As not to waste such a pretty background, I did an ornament instead.
The ornament shape is cut from Memory Box’s Drop Ornament die. the background is Pine Forest from Catherine Pooler Designs and Joyful is CZ Designs from Simon Says Stamp.
I hope you’re listening to lots of Christmas music & enjoying the holiday festivities. Share a little holiday spirit with those around you too.
