Giving Thanks

My family was not big on thank you cards. It was a small enough family that gifts were usually given directly by the giver, and the thanks was verbal, usually followed by a hug. 

This was a good thing for me, because I've always struggled with getting letters in the mail in time. From the time that I could write a full sentence, I wrote letters to my sister and to my friends, and if they could be handed to the person directly they got there fairly quickly. However, I must have been frightened by a mailman in my previous life, because I struggle with getting letters into the mail on time, even when they are already in the envelope and stamped. Eventually I would put 3-4 of them in a manila envelope (why are they called manila envelopes? Were they invented in Manila?) and send them. My best friend once told me that I should call them journals instead of letters; when we were in college she could get several months of musing in one envelope.

When the price of phone calls became less obviously expensive than they were before cell phones, letters started to decrease. I think that we express ourselves differently in a letter than we do on the phone. Even more, we have stopped calling people and started focusing on texts, which are more utilitarian and short than a letter, or even the writing on a greeting card. When is the last time you texted "Thank you for being my friend; your friendship has helped me get through some difficult times lately"?

These are some of this year's Thanksgiving cards. Some have been more humorous and used CZ Design Sassy Thankful set for the interior messaging, while others used CZ Design Chunky Thankful Greetings. Send a few Thanksgiving cards and let someone know that they have made your day better.

These two cards were made with the leaves embossing folder from Gina K designs on the debossed side, and inked with Fairways ink from Simon Says stamp. The stamp set is called Two Step Simple Leaves, the colors are Mandarin, Dew and Cabbage, the Thanks die is "fancy thanks" and the gems are the Warm tones, all by Simon Says Stamp.

This is a one layer card using all the greens, browns and oranges available in the Simon Says Stamp ink line and the Simon Says Stamp Set of 2 Stencils Autumn Frame (ssst221719) which at (9.99 is a great value). The Thanks is embossed with Brutus Monroe Rose Gold embossing powder and is from CZ Designs Sassy Thankful.

This is from the Chunky Thankful stamp set by CZ Designs. I used the Rose Gold again on this card and the Warm tones gems. The colors are Dijon from Taylored Expressions for the wheat, Peachy, Grapefruit, Dew and Cabbage from Simon Says Stamp.

This one is from the Waffleflower Postal Collage series, and I think I have all of them that they've made so far. This one is the Waffle Flower Postage Collage Fall Stencil (421553) and the background is from something I got in my Simon Says Stamp monthly box. The Hey There is done in Simon Hurley's Guppy Lunar paste. I love the look of the paste, but I find it super hard to get off my stencil, my sink, my nails....

Same blog, new stuff

 I'm really not certain how to make this interesting or exciting to anyone else, but I am a cardmaker and like entering my cards in challenges, so this is my attempt to make that easier. I also quilt, embroider and cross stitch, so I'll probably be putting those things on here too, even though they aren't always on top of a card.

My first love in stamping is Simon Says Stamp, because that's the first place I saw stamping that wasn't about rules and copying to a particular standard. I first started with Stampin up, but they always seemed to have rules about how many layers and which things went where. SSS is all about expressing myself and my own creativity. This week's Monday prompt was Anything Goes, so I did just that. They featured My Favorite Things stamps, and I have a lot of them, so I will add one of those too.

This card uses the Color Blend cardstock from Simon Says Stamp to frame their Out of this World die, and I used Simon Hurley Lunar pastes in Guppy and Shooting Star with a SSS star stencil. The ink blend is Dusk and the little Alien is from an old set by Unity Stamp Co. called Little Outer Space. The gold glitter dots are also by SSS. The card is a bit washed out, because I don't really know how to take a good picture, but I'm trying.

It's amazing what a different background can do. This is almost the same, except I used gold for the background and black for the die, and used a piece of Cocoa Daisy washi as the backdrop. Still pretty cute.

This is a thank you card I will have for sale at the Northwest Fountain Pen Show in Portland in July. The background is a SSS stencil and it is done in pink Brutus Monroe paste. The Thanks is another SSS shadow and die in their Color blend cardstock. The cuties at the bottom are from My Favorite Stamps and I bought everything else to be able to cut out tiny cups of coffee and put them in their little hands. I am more than slightly obsessed with coffee, and have to physically restrain myself from buying all things coffee related.