Oh Hello!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the very, very best in 2014!!  We didn't get up to too much last night.  The girls BEGGED to stay up until midnight ... I couldn't refuse those little eyes (even though I KNEW it would bite me in the butt today!!)  We watched Despicable Me 2 and Ice Age which took us to about 10:30 pm.  Then I went to watch TV in bed (fully expecting to fall asleep!) while they played on the Wii.  At 11:00 pm Rebecca came to watch TV with me ... 10 minutes later Alicia came in toting her new Rainbow Loom.  All I could do was laugh.  I've mentioned those looms since Christmas Day but they weren't interested ... until 11:00 pm New Year's Eve.  I got dressed, turned on the lights and started crafting with them until the big count down.  Naturally they didn't sleep in (the phone rang at 8:00 am ... Auntie down East totally forgot about the time difference!) and so we've been up and at 'em since then.  I was hoping to craft alas the day got frittered away with this and that ... which is my favorite kind of day so no complaints here :)

I wanted to share my Valentine / Thank you card that I made the other day.  Yes, I know I promised it a few days ago but I DID say *ish* when I made that promise *lol*.  So ... without further adeau I give you my cards:

I really like how they turned out!  I designed them for my Kit-to-Go Club but wanted to give an option of a Valentine card OR a Thank You / love card ... hence the two different layouts.  I got the inspiration from fellow demonstrator Cindt Brumbaugh over at www.cindyLeeBeeDesigns.com - here is the card she created:

I love how the texture on her heart mirrored the striped ribbon ... alas I didn't have any of that ribbon on hand so I had to improvise!  The pieces to both of my card are the same ... a strip of 3/4" x 3" striped DSP from the Season of Style paper stack (with dovetail cut out of it), a scalloped heart in Early Espresso (punched out with the Hearts Framelits) with a Whisper White heart (punched out with the Large Heart Punch and then stamped in Midnight Muse using the Oh, Hello! Chevron stamp) ... that heart is popped up on 2 dimensionals.  I used the small heart punch to make the small heart out of Cherry Cobbler card stock ... and added a rhinestone for a little bling.  On the first card I punched out the *xoxo* with one of the framelits that came with my Circle Flip Card Framlit set - with Early Espresso card stock.  That is adhered using mini glue dots.  For the second card I stamped the *Thanks so Much * sentiment in Early Espresso - the sentiment is also from the Oh, Hello stamp set.  The card is on a Whisper White base - the Midnight Muse matt is 5" x 3 3/4" and the whisper white layer on top of that measures 3 1/2" x 4 3/4".  I love that the same pieces can make two different cards ... and that it only uses 1 stamp set!

That's it for now ... we could all use an early night!  Pop in again in the next day or two when I'll post the CUTEST little favour I popped in my club girls' orders this month.  It was a little over the top in terms of time ... and expense ... but my girls are SOOOO worth it ... and really - these little treats are the whole reason I got into this stamping gig - I love MAKING them and I love GIVING them away!  (I took one to my neighbour today - I love giving smiles!!)  Until then - have a stampy night ... and a stampy New Year!!


Tam