Mend A Broken Heart, You Are Amazing & Miss Your Smile

Hello everyone!  I'm popping in real quick to share a few more creations that had made their way to Arts Plus Gallery in Collingswood for sale, before the coronavirus quarantine took over.

Unity Stamps Mend Your Heart thimble, needle, sentiment stamps; Gina Marie Designs Eyelet Elegance Rectangle die; Kat Scrappiness Wonky Wavy Stitched Rectangles die; buttons; doily; Spellbinders oval die

Stampin' Up! A Little Smile sand dollar, sentiment stamps; Impression Obsession Starfish stamp; Golden Acorn Scallop Shell stamp; Hero Arts Canvas Stripes Background stamp; pearls; L'il Inker Designs Stitched Rectangle die

Papertrey Ink Happy Hydrangea flower and frame stamps, matching dies, and Pen & Ink sentiment stamp; Sizzix/Tim Holtz Bricked embossing folder 

Since my last post, a lot has taken place here at home.  I cleaned every item in my china cabinets, and shined up the glass shelves and polished the wooden ones.  That is a HUGE undertaking.  I rarely do it because it is so time-consuming.  But, it's finished now, and will hold me for a while. 😀  I am also polishing some silver items like baby cups, a few special spoons we have in our kitchen drawer, and water pitchers.  Again, time-consuming, but worth it to me.  Also I cut a lot of fabric on Sunday, to make face masks for me and my family.  GOSH that took a lot of time!  Next I need to sew the straps, and then the masks.  It's slow-going, because I am still working.  And finally, we had a pretty bad water leak under our kitchen sink early Sunday morning.  It flooded the cabinet, and then across the kitchen floor, under the refrigerator and stove, and seeped into the basement and SOAKED floor joists, board games, cabinets, storage tubs...it even got into our dryer!  Unbelievable.  That was not a good way to wake up Sunday morning.  I had plans for a relaxing day, but that was not to be.  Our insurance company sent a clean up team right away, and we've got big loud fans and dehumidifiers in the kitchen and basement.  Our kitchen Pergo floor is a little buckly (I made up that word), so we may need to get a new floor.  And we just had that installed a year ago.  OH WELL.  Could be much, much, much worse!  It's just an inconvenience, after all.  😏

Other than that, this is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!  Psalm 118:24

We are here, we are healthy, and that counts for so much. 💖

For the bride, a topiary, seashells and farm animals - an eclectic mix of cards

Yes, today's grouping of cards don't have a whole lot in common with each other, hence the strange blog post name. 😜

The first card is for a bride-to-be.  The intricate swirly rose die-cut panel was in a Stampin' Up! scrap bag I got; I am unsure of the name of it.  It's great, though!  I topped it with some white Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch blossoms, and a couple of leaves from My Favorite Things 'Layered Leaves'.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's 'Happily Ever After'.

The next is super simple, a note to say hello, along with a potted plant.  For the pot I used 'Flower Pot' from Close To My Heart, and the greenery is a die cut from Papertrey Ink's 'Topiary Trio'.  The sentiment is from the stamp set of the same name.

A woman at church asked me if I could make a birthday card that had a beachy feel, after she saw this card of mine.  I also had this card in mind as inspiration.  And, this is what I came up with:   

sand dollar, starfish - Blockhead Paper Arts 'Seashells with Round Frame' stamp set - tiny shell from All Night Media - scallop shell - Golden Acorn 'Scallop Shell' - My Favorite Things 'Happy Birthday' die - background stamp - Altenew 'Snowing'

The last card has a story.  When I visited my mom in Texas last summer, I met her lovely neighbors and we were invited over for dinner.  This neighbor really, really loves to cook, and she makes homemade meals for her husband and herself, but also gives my mom a couple of servings to take home, every week.  My mother does not cook often and eats a lot of frozen meals.  When she and her neighbor became close and the home-cooking started to flow towards my mom's table, I stopped worrying whether Mom was eating well.  I know she is!

As a thank you for having me over, I made this farm and food inspired card.  I used Papertrey Ink's 'On The Farm' animal silhouettes, and stamped behind them the sentiment 'homemade with love' from Inspired By Stamping's 'Mason Jar Add-On I' set.  The fork/spoon are from Hero Arts and the rolling pin from Stampabilities.  The striped ribbon is a snippet from Stampin' Up! found in a scrap bag, and it reminds me of a tea towel from grandma's kitchen.

Hey, thanks so much for coming by and reading these little card stories.  I hope they give you a smile!  God bless you!

Custom Seashore Love anniversary card

Summer approaches, and here in New Jersey, we think of trips to the Shore (not the beach, it's the shore!).

A friend asked me to make a seashore-themed anniversary card for his wife, because they were married on a beach.  Aww, isn't that romantic?

I pulled out some shell stamps, sequins, a flourish die, inks, sequins and pearls, and set to work.
There's also a bit of wax paper on here, from the kitchen drawer. It's barely there, but it represents the foamy edge of water on the sand.

The seastar (starfish) and sand dollar stamps are from Blockhead Paper Arts, the scallop shell is from Golden Acorn.

The sentiment is from Wplus9's Mehndi Medallions set. Beneath the sentiment, I inked sandy colors, swirled on with a sponge (Distress Inks - Ranger), and stamped with Stampin' UP's Itty Bitty Backgrounds to look like grains of sand.

Can you see the wax paper 'foam' lapping at the shore?  The white flourish die cuts are from My Favorite Things, and they too represent the foamy water.

I love making cards like this!  I am glad you stopped by to take a peek at it.

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Shells for a bridal shower

Hello there!

This is a card I made for my sweet niece's bridal shower.  She lives along the Gulf Coast in Florida, and I was unable to attend the shower (but we did go to the wedding!).  Her wedding theme was all about the beach.  So, I made something very reminiscent of the shore.

A tumble of shells, and a "sandy" background, a sprinkling of sequins....
and a simple tag tied on with hemp cord.

There's even a "wave", made with Pool Party cardstock and a Memory Box die called Elegant Scrollwork (I use that one a lot).

I'm pleased as punch (er, or a die cut!) with the way this turned out. :-)

Stamps: Itty Bitty Backgrounds - Stampin' Up!; Seashells - Blockheads Paper Arts; Scallop Shell - Golden Acorn Paper: Pool Party, Crumb Cake - SU; white - Papertrey Ink Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Close to Cocoa, Crumb Cake - SU; Walnut Stain - Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Fibers: hemp cord Accessories & Tools: Marshmallow and Sand sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; Elegant Scrollwork die - Memory Box; Lots of Tags Sizzlit - Stampin' Up!; Copic markers; pearl - Queen & Co.

Seashore Thank You

Hey there.  :-D  A short while back, a longtime friend of mine asked for a custom set of thank you cards.  This is one of the designs she received, since she is a fan of all things nautical:

It is quite simple, with some repetitive stamping of a starfish (Blockheads Paper Arts) and a nice, big sentiment (Papertrey Ink).  I also added a scallop shell (Golden Acorn), another starfish -- both trimmed out and popped up -- and a couple of pearls.  The images received a coat of clear glitter, too.

My youngest daughter had oral surgery a week ago today, in preparation for braces.  Sure would be nice if she could just have braces put on her teeth, with no issues to fix beforehand.  Poor kid had a couple of teeth grow in sideways, and some extra-heavy layers of gum tissue covering some teeth in the back, where the brackets/anchors for braces go.  The doctor dug holes into her gums to give a clear view of the teeth in there (ew), so the orthodontist can attach those brackets.  It's been a painful week for her.

When her smile is finally picture-perfect a couple of years down the road, she'll be glad.  Right now, she is having a hard time imagining that!

Stamps: starfish - Seashells with Round Frame - Blockhead Paper Arts; scallop - Golden Acorn; sentiment - Think Big Favorites #5 - Papertrey Ink Paper: Sahara Sand - SU; white - Papertrey Ink Ink: Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand - Stampin' Up!; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko Accessories & Tools: Crystal glitter - Martha Stewart; pearls - Queen & Co.