Sweet Threads

I thought you might enjoy seeing one of the projects on which I've been working. Its my entry for the Weekly Challenge over @ Designed2Delight.  The pink ribbon butterfly was a free digital stamp from their blog. The challenge was to design a card around that stamp. I FINALLY got to use the "Spring Tote" paper in the Basic Grey "Sweet Threads Collection".
The word "HOPE" was cut by my Cricut out of Posy Pink Bazzill cardstock and stippled near the bottom with pink & burgundy ink. Then it was glued to the yellow shadow.  The punched border piece was the flip side of "Spring Tote" so it matched already!  Colored pencils & markers make the butterfly pop off the paper.  Most of the items used to make this card are available from Amazon.  They are pictured on the right sidebar.  Clicking on the picture will take you to their website.  Clicking on the picture will not commit you to purchasing it.  So click away!  That will help me pay for postage:-)  Have a sunny day!

I Can See Clearly Now

The rain is gone!  We are seeing blue sky today.  Flowers that withered from the heat have  started blooming again.  It’s been awhile since I gave flowers from my garden to  someone who was in need of some cheer.  Putting seeds from my garden into cards for friends has been more my style lately.  Now is the time for me to collect seeds for next year.  Some seed are stored in notecard-size envelopes like the one on the right.  

 Others are in tiny coin envelopes with an image of the flower hand-drawn or rubber stamped on the front.  Decorating the tiny envelopes and filling them with seeds would be an easy project. 

  For homeschoolers, you could have math, science and art all in one project!    A seed packet from your little ones would be the perfect gift to tuck in a card for grandparents:-)

Thanks for checking the response boxes.  That spreads the sunshine around for the writer:-)  My dog is snoring softly so I think it's time to say good night.

Don’t Worry Bee Happy

It’s the day before a 6.5 ton satellite is supposed to plummet to the earth.   The likelihood of it actually hitting anyone is 1 in 3200, according to NASA.  When there is only a 10% chance of something happening, I am in that 10% that it happens to.  So I’m writing this tonight so you’ll have something to read tomorrow if I’m the ONE. 

Digital stamps by Faith Skrdla.  Paper is Delight by Nancy Rowe Janitz

The song “Don’t Worry: Be Happy” has been the song in my head today.  It makes me think back to the “Happy Bee-Day” digital stamps from Faith Skrdla.  They were the February freebies on her Designed 2 Delight website in 2010.  Since the whole digital stamping thing was new to me, she answered a lot of questions.  Instead of having her artwork engraved into rubber and mounted on a block of wood, she saved it as a digital file.  The digital stamps didn’t take up any space on my over-crowded rubber stamp shelves!  They didn’t even need cleaned.  No inky fingers until I colored the images!   My computer printer  did the “stamping” for me. 

Do you have a printer?  Can you fold a piece of paper in half?  Can you color?  If you answered “yes” to 2 of those 3 questions, then you can create a homemade card!

BTW, I’m not worried about getting struck by a satellite the size of a bus; but if I do, the happy part might be a stretch.   Keep an eye on the sky tomorrow and ---Don’t worry.  Be happy!

 

Gotta Catch 'Em All

“Gotta Catch ‘Em All” applies to Pokémon not germs.  It’s only the beginning of September and I’ve got two at home with a fever already!  Did you know the word “Pokémon” is spelled incorrectly if the symbol above the “e” is not there?  I didn’t—-until my spell checker corrected me this morning!  My son is into the complicated world of Pokémon and so is Brittany, the girl @ the top of the card list.  I surfed across a free Pokemon printable get well card.  Since everyone does not rubber stamp cards, I wanted to share this link for another kind of card.  So far, Brittany and Hailley have received cards from the state of Ohio.  Only 49 more states to go! Click here to get the link for the free printable.   I hope the only things you catch today are good things! TTFN

Bunny Get Well Cards

Embossing folders and a square punch kick 

these simple cards up a notch!  Color the bunny image

with chalk or colored pencils.  (The bunny is from

Darcie's Country Folk cutesy line of rubber stamps.)

Align the rectangle with the bunny so that what you want

shows thru the window and attach with glue to the inside

of the card.  Letter by hand your greeting and you are done!

Somewhere Out There

Wouldn’t it be great if our kids never got sick?  They would never sneeze or throw up.   (and you would not have to clean up after them:-)  They could get the perfect attendance award every year!  Unfortunately, kids of all ages get sick.  We want to make them as comfortable as possible for the duration of the illness.  Because of this, we have our cabinets stocked with cough drops, fever-reducers, and chicken soup to comfort their bodies.   When the illness does not go away quickly, they need comfort for their hearts too.  A simple note or card will do.  I was fortunate to have a  grandma that sent lots of cards when I was growing up.  Not everyone has a grandma like that.  Knowing that someone somewhere cares about you is a comfort and an encouragement.  I’ve started a Cards 4 Kids drive because kids do get sick.

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

Does anyone even care?  I’ve been listening to music samples @ Amazon.com  again.   If you think you know the group singing the songs in my head tonight,  write it in a comment @ the bottom of this post.  We hope you are feeling stronger every day and ready to play with stamps, stickers, paper and glue.  What time is it?  It is time to share a card! 

 

This card was the first card that I ever sent to a complete stranger.

Dustin Pike had drawn some cute little owls and offered them for free if we would use one of them on a card for Delia.  (After reading about her, you would want to send her a card anyway.)  Dustin’s drawings of the owls are digital stamps.  I colored the owl with alcohol-based markers and colored pencils.  Odorless Mineral Spirits on a Q-tip helped blend the colored pencils.  The patterned paper is from Basic Grey.  The tiny purple brads are from Crafts 2000. Thank you for writing comments and for sending emails.  I like getting happy mail.   

Now I KNOW what time it is-— Time for me to go to bed!  Goodnight:-)

Let the Sunshine In

Good morning!  Can you guess what song is in my head today?  I absolutely love music.  The sad truth is that I can’t sing or play an instrument:-(  If you can do either one of those things, then you are blessed!

Let’s meet the kids @ the top of my Cards 4 Kids list.  First, there is Hailley who is 10 years.  She had just made the school’s basketball team  when she started having severe headaches.  They found the brain tumor shortly after that.  After her chemo sessions, Hailley is not able to do her favorite things like ride 4-wheelers or play ball.  Cesar, Daisy, and Rosey, her dog and rabbits, are never too far away.  Reilley, her big sister is there to help her on the computer and to watch movies with her.  Hailley loves getting letters and cards!  Second, there is Brittany who is 16 yrs. old.  She is home-schooled and enjoyed playing in Pokémon tournaments before she was diagnosed with leukemia this summer.  Brittany attended elementary school with one of my boys. She loves Nancy Drew mysteries and has a good sense of humor.   She enjoys receiving cards and letters that can be read any time of the day or night. 

 

For privacy, I cannot publish Hailley’s or Brittany’s mailing address.  Please put your letter or card for Hailley or Brittany in an envelope with her name on the front, your return address in the upper left corner, a postage stamp in the upper right hand corner and place it inside of a bigger envelope addressed to me.  (To get my address, email me @ SusieQStamps4U@gmail.com)  Then I will take it out of the big envelope and write her address on your card and pop it in the mail!  If you have a group or organization where many different people want to send cards to the girls, then you could send them all in one manila envelope addressed to me to save money. 

My goal is collecting mail from all 50 states for each of the girls.   It might be fun for the girls to track.  (That’s just the teacher in me coming out:-)  I’ll be looking for a map that can be posted on Creative Chaos so you can see how many states we have yet to go.  Hopefully, we will end up needing a world map!  Thank you for spreading some sunshine out to these girls.  Enjoy your day!

It's Blogging Time...

The tune in my head is Crying Time by a smooth country crooner from years gone by.  The lyrics are “It’s crying time again. You’re going to…”  I thought the missing words were “wake up.”   In the early days of motherhood I would not have believed any differently.   When those newborns woke up they were crying or I was.  My newborns are all grown up now.  For all you Twilight fans: No, they aren’t vampires.  lol  Hopefully, this blog will make you laugh and sometimes cry.  The words in my head tonight are “It’s blogging time again.  I hope you’ll read me.” (tomorrow, that is)  Good night.