Monthly Archives: February 2015

A Happy Thing

Today I am sharing two cards that remind me of a very happy thing; my trip to Italy in 2006 with my sister.  While we were there I remember seeing lemon trees, and I even purchased a few pieces of Deruta Italian pottery that was manufactured and hand painted in Umbria, Italy.    I purchased what I would call a serving platter, pasta serving bowl, and wine pitcher that are adorned with lemons.  You can see a photo of the pattern here.  I received my inspiration for these two cards from these three pieces of pottery.  I  used the Sale-a-bration set A Happy Thing when I created these two cards.  I also used the masking technique which I will explain at the end of my post.

Gold Lemon Thanks

I have always loved the way navy and yellow look together.  I think they are classic, and the colors always remind me of summer!  The “Thanks” card is embossed in gold and colored with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities.

Lemon Friendship

The sentiment on this friendship card is embossed in gold, but the lemons are not.  They are stamped in the Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities.

What is the masking technique?  If you are familiar with the stamp set I used, you know there is only one lemon image in the set.  Masking is when you stamp the image on scrap paper and cut it out.  You then stamp the image again onto the card stock you will be using.  After stamping, you cover it with the cut out image, re-ink your stamp and stamp another image right next to the first one you stamped.  When you do this, it will look like one is behind the other.  That’s why it is called masking.

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today. Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

both lemons

Place an order with me in my online store and receive a free gift from me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Breakfast

Some of the best memories I have of my children are from when I was a single mom and struggling financially.  That’s because when you don’t have much money, you have to get creative in order to make $1.00 buy what normally would take $2.00 to get.  One way I used to save money was to use the ends of loaves of bread to make breadcrumbs.  The kids refused to eat the ends on a sandwich, and I wasn’t very crazy about them myself, so I used to set them on a cookie sheet in the oven and let them dry out.  Once dry, I’d crumble them, add seasoning, and I never had to buy breadcrumbs.   And, I didn’t waste those two perfectly good pieces of bread.  Now if it were homemade bread from my mom’s table, we would have fought over who got to eat those ends, but this was plain white sliced bread from the grocery store.  So, what does this have to do with the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten?  Let me tell you…

One of the best gifts I ever received from both my children was on Mother’s Day morning in 1993; my first Mother’s Day as a single mother.  It was breakfast in bed.  My daughter was 9 years old and my son was six.  In retrospect, my mind remembers my children as being much younger than nine and six, but still…they were pretty young. On their own, my two young children prepared and served me breakfast in bed.

I didn’t hear them that morning  as I slept soundly.  I awoke to their soft whispers of “Mom…wake up.  Happy Mother’s Day!”

As I opened my eyes, there stood my two beautiful bare-footed and sandy-haired babies in their pajamas holding a tray containing the breakfast they made for me.  On the cookie sheet that doubled as a serving tray, there was a cup of hot black (lukewarm and light brown) coffee, toast (bread that had been sitting on a cookie sheet drying out so I could make breadcrumbs) with butter and jelly, a bowl of instant oatmeal (made with a little too much water), and juice.  Everything “looked” delicious!  I made sure I ate every bite!  In addition, with each bite I told my children how much I love them. I also made sure I mentioned that this breakfast was the most delicious breakfast I had ever had.

That breakfast was 21 years ago.  Today my babies aren’t babies any more.  My daughter is 30 years old and my son will soon be 28.  We’ve celebrated many other Mother’s Day breakfasts together at some very fancy places, and I cherish those times.  I cherish any time I get to spend with my children. But, no coffee has ever tasted richer, no bread ever sweeter than that Mother’s Day breakfast in bed!

Today’s card is one I made using the leftovers from my Perpetual Birthday Calendar kit.

Perpetual Birthday Calendar Note CardAgain, this is a 3-1/2″ x 5″ notecard, but it can be easily turned into a regular size card.  Hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

Place an order using hostess code FDHBZ7W9 in my online store and receive my Painted Petals & Blooms tutorial FREE.

Be My Valentine

Valentine’s Day is just a few days away, and I want to share with you two that I made; one for each of my children.  I used the stamp from January’s My Paper Pumpkin kit on each.  January’s kit was called Filled With Love.

Both cards were created using Stampin’ Up!’s  3-1/2″ x 5″ note cards which I think is the perfect size for a Valentine, especially if you are making a bunch for a classroom full of kids..

January Paper Pumpkin Valentine-1

For the first card, I cut a piece of designer series paper from the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack.  It measures 2-3/4″ x 3-3/4″.   Then I slid one end all the way into the Sweetheart punch and punch out a heart.  I flipped over the punched out heart and adhered it to the notecard.  Then, using dimensionals, I adhered the punched piece to the notecard over it. Sooooo easy!

January Paper Pumpkin Valentine-2

On the second card, I used a piece of the same designer series paper, but it’s just a little narrower.  The black, white and red banners on both cards are about 3/4″ wide.  The silver banner on the second card is approx. 1″ wide.  Again, I used the Sweetheart punch on the second card.  These are two simple cards that probably took less than 30 minutes to make both.

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

Remember, place an order with me and use hostess code FDHBZ7W9 and receive a free tutorial for the Painted Petals stamp set FREE. 

 

Decorated Card Box Drawer with Cards Figure 23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painted Petals & Blooms

I just love this stamp set and coordinating paper!  Don’t you?  Sometimes when I get paper this pretty I don’t want to use it because I am afraid of ruining it.  But this time I decided to take a chance.  This is what I came up with.

Decorated Card Box Drawer with Cards Figure 24

Six cards made out of that  sheet of 12 x 12 card stock you could set into a frame that comes in the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper pack.  You get two sheets, so you can actually make 12 of these awesome cards!

All 6 Cards Figure 5

Decorated Card Box Drawer with Cards Figure 23

 

Decorated Card Box Drawer with Cards Figure 22

Don’t you just love these weekly deals Stampin’ Up! offers?

Feb 10 - 16

Order $50.00 in product from me and receive the tutorial for the Painted Blossoms gift set FREE.  You will also receive one item from the Sale-a-bration catalog FREE for every $50.00 you spend.  Enter hostess code FDHBZ7W9 when you order.  Or simply place an order with me and receive the tutorial Painted Blossoms tutorial as your Thank You gift from me.

Happy Stamping!

Josie2