{Retiring} Lovely Letters

Finally...something to show.  I made this set of cards for my friend's sister and her husband-to-be.  They are getting married tomorrow, and since she was in middle school when I met her (I met this friend on the second day of my freshman year of college), I just wanted to do a little something for her to celebrate her marriage. 

I love the simplicity of these cards.  I always feel that simple is best when using a monogram.  And I also wanted these to be used for whatever purpose Sheri decides on...I didn't want to make them have to be thank you notes.  Using my Big Shot and accessories, I was able to create these simple, yet elegant monogrammed note cards.  I even monogrammed the envelopes.

In other news, the 2013-2014 Annual Catalog is now live!  Let me know if you'd like a catalog, or if you'd like to place an order for all kinds of fun new things!

I'm hoping to be back to a regular blogging schedule next week.  I know it's not good blogging practice to let over a week go by without any real updates, but life has dealt our family a series of pretty tough blows over the past 8 days, and honestly, it's knocked all the creative winds out of my sails.   So I promise that fun posts will start showing up again in a few days. :)

Button Buddies Flower

I got some sad news today.  I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I crochet a LOT.  I just need to be doing something with my hands while I'm watching TV, and that's the perfect thing to do.  But because of that, I now have a crocheting injury and have to stop for a few days.  :(  But that's the bad news.  The good news is that I have a box of stamping goodies scheduled to arrive today, and now I'll have more time to stamp!

This cute little card just makes me happy on a dreary day like it is today here in PA.  I love the flower in the Button Buddies set.  It looks great by itself, but I decided to jazz it up a bit by stamping it three times, then cutting out each layer.  Actually, the flower can be punched with the 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, so I really only had to cut two layers.  I topped it off with a button from the Neutrals Designer Buttons.  It's such a simple card, but sometimes simple is best.  This didn't take long to make, yet it's still cute.  Don't feel like you have to make an elaborate card every time you sit down to stamp.  Sometimes simple really is best!

Stamps:  Button Buddies (122735), Teeny Tiny Wishes (115370)

Ink:  More Mustard (126964), VersaMark (102283)

Paper:  Naturals Ivory (101849), Early Espresso (119686), and Very Vanilla (101650) card stock, Orchard Harvest DSP (retired)

Accessories:  Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon (retired), 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch (119854), Adorning Accents Edgelits (125595), Big Shot (113439), Neutrals Designer Buttons (119743), Paper Piercing Tool (126189), Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack (126187), Paper-Piercing Mat (126199), Early Espresso Baker's Twine (123124), Early Espresso Stampin' Emboss Powder (128980), Heat Tool (129053), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Paisley Petals

I wanted to quickly share a couple of cards that use the Paisley Petals DSP.  I love the green and brown combination...I wish I had put those together sooner.  The card stock is Early Espresso, and the green in the stamped image is Always Artichoke.  It's hard to see, but I topped that with some of the teeny tiny little pearls.  Trust me, it looks better in person than in a picture.

This one uses one of my favorite stamp sets, Just Believe.  I was so worried that it might retire, and was sooooo relieved that it made the cut!  This card uses just three colors:  Bravo Burgundy, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla.  There are pearls on these flowers, too, along with lots of Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon.  I also used the new Adorning Accents Edgelits from the Occasions Mini.  And guess what...there are more of them to come in the new catalog!