Love

Here is another card from my Box of Unsent Cards.  I think when I made it, I intended it to be an anniversary card.  What was I thinking?  If I don't remember send Birthday cards, what makes me think I'm going to send Anniversary cards?  Yeesh!  Anyway, it's still a great card and the whole layout makes me smile.  Again, the pictures are crummy, but I think you can still get the idea.

The torn edge with the contrast behind makes me smile.  I also like the way the word LOVE is scratched upward along the side.

This was one of the first time I used Bazzil paper.  I have been hooked ever since.  I stamped the rectagle background first in a brown slightly darker than the paper, then colored the flowers with markers and stamped it on top of the rectangle.

Yep, even with the bad picture color, this card is a keeper.  (Apparently literally)

Bouquet of Gratefulness

This size card, with the rounded corners on one side has become a favorite for me.  It makes super cute cards very quickly.  I have used this stem and flower stamp numerous times.  I love the shading you get from a two-step flower.

You can never have enough Thank You cards, in my opinion.  And this one is like sending along a sweet bouquet of flowers tied up with a little string.

Paisley Wishes

This is one of my favorite cards; that's probably why it's still in my box, I can't bear to send it off!  I love the simple colors and the clean lines.  The pictures are terrible and do not do it justice.  What can I say?  I'm just getting this photography thing figured out and these were taken before I even STARTED trying to figure it out.

I think the simple little sentiment, wish, says it all.

With a photo on my blog, maybe I'll send the card out now.  Who will be the lucky Birthday Girl?

Happy Birthday Good Friend

I dug into my card box and found some cards that bring back sweet memories of stamping with friends.  Someday, I will get to stamp and play again, in the meantime, I will look back at what I've done with fond remembrance and share some pictures with you.

I'm pretty sure I cased this card from a stamping magazine, but it was quite a ways back and I have no idea where I found it.  If it's yours, let me know and I'll be sure to give you credit!  I love the three little flowers nestled together in the corner with the antique brads. 

I think a Good Friend would love to get this card on their Big Day!

Branching Out

I saw a card similar to this in the back of a stamp catalog, I think it was Stampin' Up!, but I'm not sure.  I just had to try it out.  This card is an odd size, it's a bit larger than the usual 4 1/2" x 5 to accomidate the size of the tree trunk and the circles.  

I used various sizes of circle punches on different papers I pulled out of my scrap bags.  It took me a bit of shifting things around until I had a layout that I liked.

From there, I pulled out my brads, buttons and other embellishments.  The white velvet bird is {PERFECT} perched on the branch.

I used a ribbon instead of paper across the bottom and a Sharpie Fine Point Marker to outline the white layer.  My friend Lark was with me when I made this card and conned me into making another one for her ;).  Now I need to make one more to keep so I can send this one out.

It's All in the Details

Those 5 little words say so much about how I think!  Making this card was SO fun!  I haven't spent time on cards like this in a long time.  When I saw this set in the Stampin' Up! catalog, I just HAD to have it.  This is the only card I've made with it so far, but I've used bits and pieces on other projects. 

The paper clip tied with a snippet of ribbon is so whimisical!  I keep borrowing the Notebook border punch from my sister-in-law, I think I'm going to need to get my own soon.

This is BY-FAR, one of my favorite cards that I've created in the last year or so.

A Quiet Joy...

I love to watercolor when I am stamping.  The Aqua-Painters from Stampin' Up! make it super easy and mess free.  This simple stamp set is such fun to color.   I was very pleased with how the card turned out.  I wonder if I'll ever mail it...

A Stamping Pear

Last October, I drove my mom to Washington for her birthday.  I left all five of my kiddos at home with my AMAZING hubby and we spent a glorious 9 days with my sister.  While I was there, I got to spend a WONDERFUL afternoon with my friend Shalyn, stamping.  I have talked about Shay in a few of my earlier posts.  We had such a wonderful time.  In addition to palying with paper, we chatted and ate and she taught me to make REALLY yummy White Mochas at home.  I didn't have any of my own stamp paraphanalia with me, so I had the chance to stretch my imaginantion and play with all of HER fun stuff.  

This is the first  (and my FAVORITE) of the two cards I was able to create that day.  I love PEARS.  Not to eat...blech...but to STAMP.  Aren't the cozy and friendly looking?

I love the colors on this card.  The golden yellow and that deep red just make me feel like Autumn.  I didn't have a brown waterproof stamp pad with me, so I just used a regular one.  It bled a little on one of the pears, but I fixed it with a brown pen.  I think it turned out pretty good.

The little bronze hanger is from the Hodge Podge set from Stampin' Up!.  I have never had a chance to use these before; I may have to add these to my wish list.

This is the second card (REMEMBER: you can click on the image to see it larger).  It's actually the FIRST card I made that day.  I really llike the paper, but am not in love with the over-all card.

 

I was going for that really rustic grunge look...I'm not convinced that this card pulled it off.  Something about the checkered ribbon is a bit too country.  I also thought I was being clever by tying the bits of twine to the ribbon, but when I look at the card, it makes me think of stitches.  I don't HATE the card, it's just not my favorite. 

I do love ALL of my fond memories from that October Journey with my Mama.  I think it's about time for another road trip!

Stay tuned...I plan on posting more of my cards throughout the next few days.

Happy stamping!

Taste Tea

Our church held a Gourmet Potato Bar Fundraiser to benefit our Women's Ministry last Saturday, where they raffled off different items that had been donated. I told the coordinator that I would love to do a Tea Basket, if she was interested, filled with some homemade goodies. She said yes, and so I spent Friday and Saturday creating a basket filled with tea, scones and love. What I pictured in my head, turned out to be way better in reality. I LOVE it when that happens.

This post will be pretty long, because there are a ton of pictures. Go make yourself a cup of tea, grab a cozy chair and get comfy.

I used a yellow, brown and white color scheme that just seemed to say RELAX. I picked up these cute little containers quite a while back at our local Dollar Store. They came in packs of three and because the Dollar Store was running a promotion on Tuesdays, they were only $0.88 a pack. You get can't better deals than that. I bought something like 5 packages. Now I wish I had bought more! I filled each little jar with loose leaf tea from a cooking store downtown. I spilled them all over my crafting table, but it smelled divine as I worked!

I used my scallop circle punch and the Pocket Silhouette stamp from Stampin' Up to create all my tags.

I found these cute containers at Wal-Mart and bought a bunch to organize my spice/baking cupboard. Isn't it SO great filled with the Strawberry Freezer Jam?

The Shortbread Cookies were one of the first baked goodies I packaged up and they set the stage for everything else.

The ribbon going around the cellophane bag was the perfect touch!

Next were the Mini British Scones. I mistakenly wrote ENGLISH scones on the package, but who cares? They still taste delish! I have been making the scones for our daily tea time, but decided to make these bite size. They are the perfect size to smear on a bit of jam and then pop them in your mouth. They have a little bit of a crunch to them because before you bake them, you top them with some sugar in the raw.

I had never had Irish Soda Bread before, but have wanted to try it for years. I watched Ina Garten make this recipe on her T.V. show The Barefoot Contessa. It seemed so simple, I had to try it! It's to die for yummy. I think it looks sort of French tied with the knot and the label off to the right.

The last baked goodie that I added to the basket, were the first scones I ever learned how to bake and the ones I have been asked to make for the last 4 or 5 ladies teas at our church. They are a Whole Wheat Scone from the Taste of Home series of recipes. My stamping friend Shalyn gave me the recipe to try and every time I make it I think of her.  My friend, Lark, suggested the brown paper bag for packaging.  Can I just say, "genius"?

My mind often comes up with ideas that I really don't have time for.  While I was gathering things for the basket I had the idea to make a little book with some different facts about tea and a few recipes. I titled it Taste Tea...do you get it? No? Say it out loud, "Taste Tea", ahhh, see? Tasty! He-he-he, it took my family a little while too, and they were not nearly as impressed as I was. *sigh*, oh well.

In my opinion, this book is what sent this basket over the top. It turned out fabulous! I've never made anything like this before so I was a little nervous. My husband got me a Zutter Binding Machine for Christmas and it came with this huge stack of Chipboard Coasters. I had no idea what to do with them, but they seemed perfect for this project. Now I'm pretty sure I will find ALL sorts of uses for them.

When I put everything together and got it all arranged in the basket, I almost called and told Kim that I changed my mind. It was TOO adorable to give away! I did fill the Lemon Curd jar, but not until right before I left to take the basket to the church, by then I was done taking pictures. I'm sure you can picture the jar filled, it was yellow, and it was pretty!

  

I was so glad to hear that my friends the Graff family won the basket. They are another family with a passion for tea parties and all things pretty and yummy. From their Facebook posts, it sounds like it was much enjoyed! Mom and Oldest Daughter each have blogs for you to enjoy.

Creating gifts like this, is my absolute FAVORITE thing to do with all my paper and ink.  This makes me SUPER happy!

NOTE:  I rearrange the pictures in this post because I noticed some were stacked under others.