Hello, Lovely

When I have been in a creating or stamping slump, the best thing to do is to CASE another card, or to Copy And Share Everything.

This card was inspired by Stamp with Heather, and I love the simplicity and color combination.  I've used Stampin' Up Basic Gray and Crushed Curry cardstock, tag-a-bag gift tags, the Hello, Lovely stamp set, which includes the cheery sentiment, "you make me happy," stamped in Crushed Curry ink. A tool used was the Big Shot for embossing the Honeycomb textured impressions folder, and stunning Basic Gray two-tone 1-1/4" wide ribbon, that I wish were never-ending, accented the card.  I just used more of that gorgeous ribbon to wrap a gift that will go with the card.  I'm a sucker for beautiful ribbon.  The mini clothespin and baker's twine were also part of the tag-a-bag bundle.  Looking for my stamping mojo!

Love notes and 2013 Christmas card

Hi, everyone!  We managed to get a family photo taken with five out of six of us, and I asked my daughter living in Hong Kong to email a picture, then I ordered Christmas cards that got here about ten days before December 25.  I got most of the cards sent out on time, using my usual system of sending one to the person who sends us a card, which isn't the best method, but it seems to work well enough.  A few cards arrived after my initial mailing, and I got side-tracked with the kids home from school, etc., and finally decided that I should at least send a mini love note with the remaining cards that I send this week since Valentine's Day is only a month away.

I dug though my card stash and found one that I made years ago, and created something similar, even using some mulberry paper from years ago before all the textured cardstocks were the rage.  It's a bit old-fashioned, but it was fun to whip up a little something for the last few Christmas cards I had to send out.  Also, I tried to make it not clash with the colors of our annual card.  This was the first year that I didn't include some kind of letter with an update of our year.  With Facebook and Instagram, texting and more, I feel like the majority of my loved ones have a clue what's been happening.  Plus I just didn't really feel like writing one!  Here's the front of our family card.  The inside has individual pictures, including one from our missionary daughter.

 We are all going to be together next Christmas, so we can have all six of us in the family photo.

This is the card that I unearthed from my past stamping efforts, then recreated.  I used real red cardstock and gingham ribbon in red and also in black, and I ended up using the "love you" sentiment from Stampin' Up! A Light Heart, and the main image is an oldie but goody called Festive Four and the love you sentiment is from Sweet Talk.  I haven't used it in ages until today.

Happy new year!

Baby girl mini gift card

This quick and simple card features the Big Shot, using the Bigz Scallop Envelope Embosslits Scalloped Heart of Hearts, and the small heart punch. The "hello little baby {welcome home!}" sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! Sweet Little Sentiments wood set.

 I like how you can essentially use scrap pieces of paper and ribbon to make this handy little creation.

Eight months of neglect, seriously?

I admit that I've been tremendously preoccupied lately, but didn't realize how LONG I've been ignoring and neglecting this blog.  I have a really good excuse though!  At a rather advanced maternal age, I got PREGNANT in July and am expecting a baby, for the first time, next month, and I'm so excited.  Let me clarify, my husband and I have three children, all whom were adopted, but this will be my first time to experience giving birth and I'm grateful for this miracle, which is a very nice 25th anniversary gift to us. In the meantime, I'd like to share some pictures of my most recent family Christmas card design.

I love the red and white baker's twine, which I bought at Crate & Barrel.  Here are more details:

• Stamps: Pennant Parade, Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Ink: Real Red, Green Galore
• Punches: Petite Pennants, 1/8 inch handheld circle punch, handheld rectangle punch
• Cardstock: Whisper White, Green Galore, Real Red, Patterns Pack II Designer Series Prints

The family photo card that we inserted inside the card was created by Tiny Prints and featured our newly adopted 8 year old daughter, whom we brought home from Taiwan--the best souvenir ever!   So we've basically doubled our family size in the last year, and went from two kids, 20 and 14, to FOUR kids (almost).  The baby will be here by March 23 and I hope to continue card creating and blogging.  Happy new year and happy Valentine's Day!

A Flower for All Seasons

Here are some cards I designed and created using my stamp set, A Flower for All Seasons.

 Thanks, Julie for the cute card below!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Clearly for You

How fun this new Clearly for You stamp set is!  I really enjoy designing 3x3 cards because they are so simple and compact.  I'm elated that my new stash of stamps and supplies arrived from the United States and I can create some cards and share with others.

• Stamps: Clearly for You
• Ink: Basic Black, Baja Breeze
• Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
• Accessories: crochet thread, black gingham ribbon, mini library clip, brad
• Tools/Techniques: Small Heart punch, Word Window punch, 1/16" handheld circle punch, Crop-o-Dile Corner Chomper (1/2 inch), sewing machine stitching, sponging

Crushed curry crush

Since Crushed Curry cardstock has been on clearance at Stampin' Up!, I have been having a heyday with it.  My Chinese New Year cards were crafted using this lovely golden yellow paper, and this week, I've been crushing on curry by cranking out about 50 invitations for an upcoming Relief Society event where we will make three-tiered ruffled skirt aprons.  So fun!  The fabric swatches are above, the black polka dots, black floral, and crushed curry print are what inspired the design for these invitations.  I used the Elizabeth stamp for the image, then hand wrote Relief Society in the centers.

When I ended up with two extra pieces of crushed curry, I whipped up a quick Mother's Day card and an Easter card and can't seem to get enough of the color combination.  And since I live in Taiwan, I have to make the majority of the invitations in Mandarin, so here are the foreign texts.  Sadly, I am not talented enough to read these Chinese characters, but fortunately for me, I'm surrounded by wonderful, smart Taiwanese friends who can translate for me. Hopefully I will add more posts before Mother's Day and Easter.  The Happy Mother's Day and Easter Wishes sentiments are from Stampin' Up's Something to Celebrate set.  And in case you are curious, the little heart stamp is from Stampin' Up's Filled with Love set and the darling square medallion image is from Stampin' Up's Cute by the Inch set.