Gratitude and Fun

What a wonderful week plus.  Time kind of got away from me, so I didn't get a chance to post.  But I've been busy.  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  We had family here for a lovely dinner with lots of good food.  But before that, I spent a fantastic pre-Thanksgiving Sunday afternoon with a group of ladies from church making cards and gift tags.  I gave each one of them a little Thank You gift in keeping with the season.  I'm so grateful for all the people I meet in my Paper Crafting.  I really enjoy giving groups something fun on their first meeting.  These treats came together really quickly.  The little nuggets candies get covered with a 1"x 3"  piece of Designer Series Paper.

For 24 treats, I used 2 12x12 sheets of the Petals and Paisleys Specialty Designer Series Paper.  Here's another picture of the different designs.

The leaves were the extras from the Paper Pumpkin cards in the October Kit.  I sponged them with Cajun Craze ink.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stamps: Season of Gratitude (Paper Pumpkin, October 2016)
Ink: Cajun Craze
Paper: Delightful Dijon, Rich Razzleberry, Peltals and Paisleys Designer Series Paper (Holiday Catalog p.47)
Accessories: 2"x 8" Cello Bags, Various retired ribbon in Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron and Rich Razzleberry, Linen Thread, Triple Banner Punch, Leaf Die-Cuts from October Paper Pumpkin kit, Mini Glue Dots

Card of the Week: Animal Inspiration

Since I was little, I have always loved Red Pandas.  I remember going to the zoo and being so drawn to what was then called the "Lesser Panda."  Turns out it's more closely related to the raccoon than to the panda, but there's no denying it's a real cute creature!  I took this picture at the National Zoo back in October when we had a particularly warm day.

When I hear that the San Francisco Zoo was doing a live stream of it's Red Pandas last week to help ease stress, I knew I needed to create a card along those same lines.

Here it is.  I sent it to my daughter for the card of the week last week.  I used the Fox Builder punch and matching Foxy Friends stamp set to create the Red Panda. (see p.56-57 in the Annual Catalog)

The sentiment showcases the beauty of Photopolymer stamps.  I was able to pull from several different stamp sets to create the exact expression I wanted and they all lined up perfectly.  "It's a Good Day" comes from the Best Birds set (so does the branch that the Red Panda is standing on, p. 53 in the Annual Catalog.)  The "for" is from Crazy about You (AC p. 70).  I pulled from Let's Get Away, a retired Project Life by Stampin' Up set for the word "exploring"  The "A"  is from Perfectly Wrapped (AC p. 159).  And, the "Happy Place" comes from a wonderful special set that came from Paper Pumpkin (I think it was called Celebrate Everything.)  Don't forget all those sentiments you have!  They really do come in handy.  Now for the recipe and one more picture from the zoo.  Enjoy!

 
Stamps: Foxy Friends, Best Birds, Crazy About You, Let's Get Away, Perfectly Wrapped, Celebrate Everything (Paper Pumpkin special set)
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Old Olive Markers
Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Big Shot, Arrows Textured Impression Embossing Folder (retired), Fox Builder Punch, Blender Pen, Sponge Daubers

Auction Christmas Card #2

Since we're on the subject of the church auction, let's post another of the Christmas Cards:  It's similar to one I did last year, but I really love the Delicate Ornaments Thinlits.  And when we pair them with the elegant Pretty Pines Thinlits and Pine Bough Textured Impressions Embossing Folder it reminds me that decorating the house and tree are not far off.  Thanks for stopping in to share it with me.

Stamps: Embellished Ornaments
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Early Espresso, Silver and Gold Foil Papers
Accessories: Big Shot, Pine Bough Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies,  Delicate Ornaments Thinlits Dies, Baker's Twine Trio Pack, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

Heading for the Holidays

As we are now into November, here's the time to jump fully into the Holiday Crafting season.  What better way to start than with a solid dose of Cute!  One of my favorite children's Christmas cartoons is the one the BBC did years ago of the Beatrix Potter story of the Tailor of Gloucester.  Not only is the music beautiful, the animation is fantastic.  The minute I saw the Merry Mice stamp set in the Holiday Catalog (p. 23) I thought of the little mice helping out the ailing Tailor finish the elegant coat for the Mayor's wedding.  They make me smile and I hope they do the same for you.

This is the first card I made with the set.  This was also one of the cards I included in the Church Auction selections.  Fun colors and that warm looking sweater.  Here's what I used:

Stamps:  Merry Mice
Ink: Basic Grey, Garden Green, Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Delightful Dijon, Garden Green, Smokey Slate, Pink Pirouette
Paper: Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon, Cherry Cobbler, This Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper (p. 172, Annual Catalog)
Accessories: Blender Pens, Baker's Twine Trio Pack, Metallic Enamel Shapes, Gold Wink of Stella Glitter Brush (on star and ornament)

It's Auction Time!

 Every November, our church has an auction fundraiser.  Those of you who have visited here in past years know that I've donated cards for this auction for a number of years now.  It's one of my favorite reasons to craft.  It also helps me use up paper and supplies that need to be moved on and appreciated.  This year, I donated 25 assorted Thank You cards, 25 assorted Birthday Cards and the usual selection of Christmas Cards.  The Christmas Cards I will share more of in future posts.  The Birthday and Thank You cards I put in a decorative box for display on the Silent Auction tables.  This year, I turned to the retired Painted Blooms Designer series Paper for decorating the box.  You can find these boxes at Craft Stores.  They're relatively inexpensive.  The 6x6 faces are pretty easy to decorate.  I paired the paper with  coordinating card stock cut with some of our current Thinlits dies.  Yes, I know the Blackberry Bliss is a retired color, too, but it's one of my favorites.  I had some extra paper and die-cuts so I made one Thank You card that matched the box.  Whoever wins the bid on this item will have a fun surprise when they find this matching card in the box!

 
Here's what I used:

Stamps: Flourishing Phrases (on the card)
Ink: Blackberry Bliss (retired, again on the card)
Paper:  Whisper White (card), Blackberry Bliss (both box and card), Blushing Bride (both), Rose Red (Both) Designer Series Paper Painted Blooms (retired, 2015 Occasions Catalog)
Accessories: Big Shot, Flourish Thinlits, Layering Ovals Framelits, Pearls Basic Jewels, Hello You Thinlits (Box)

Here's a slightly-clear close-up of the lid of the box.  I think you can get the idea.

Thanks for visiting and reading through today!