Saying Thank You

A dear friend of mine is having back surgery next week, and she will be laid up for 6-8 weeks. She is always the person who comes to the aid of everyone she knows... taking food, taking people to the hospital, or just lending a listening ear when needed. It's going to be very hard for her to let other people HELP HER for a change. As I was trying to think of ways to help her, and thinking about all the many people who will want to bless her and help her as a thank you for all the ways she has helped others, I thought that perhaps she might need a bunch of thank you cards as she is recuperating. So I'm making her a set of 10-12 cards, and will put them in a clear banded box from PaperTreyInk. (http://www.papertreyink.com/w.papertreyink.com/ )

Here are a few of the cards. Several of them feature my favorite paper from a little mat stack I bought last year from "Die Cuts with a View." It's called Retro Prints, and it's a stack of 162 4.5 x 6.5 papers in awesome colors and prints, that not only coordinate with each other, but also with many Stampin Up colors. I love using this mat stack. This card also uses Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Tempting Turquoise Cardstock, my brand new scalloped circle punch from Stampin Up, and 2 adorable little turquoise and white brads from Queen & Co. The turquoise starburst is stamped in craft ink onto SHIMMER WHITE paper and then popped up on with a piece of foam tape. The strip of close to cocoa is crimped with a paper crimper, (something I hardly ever use anymore!) This was a very simple but fun card to make.

This next card was fun also. It uses a very old set I bought at a garage sale, called "Oh My Word." (It was a hostess set way back.) The flower pot says "Thank You" all over it, and it is stamped in Old Olive ink, then it is cut out using a marvy oval punch (the pink one). The scallop is punched from Old Olive Paper using the scalloped marvy giga punch. (the purple one.) For some extra fun, I punched a window into the chocolate layer and the DP layer, to stamp the words "From the Heart" (from the set "Simply Said" and colored with an Old Olive Marker) onto the bottom base layer of the card, which is "Soft Sky." I also used the stamp-a-ma-jig for this to get the right allighnment, stamped the words, and then put the papers on top. There is a slit punched in the side of the oval and a piece of wide brown gingham ribbon tied to the side for some extra fun.

And finally, here's one more for today... I had this image sent to me and I've been hanging onto it for a long time. It's from the set "Doodle This" from last year's Stampin Up Spring Mini. It is layered onto Saffron, then the DP Petals and Paisleys. This paper has great colors in it. To fit with the thank you set theme, I added a little circle that says "Thank You" (from the set "Fancy Flexible Phrases") and punched that with 2 different sizes of circle punches. You also might notice a little part of the big flower is cut around. This technique is called "Out of the Box" and it just adds a little extra interest to your image and in my case, it helped make the image FIT better. I need to try this technique more. It can be a lot of fun.

Well, I have SO much to be thankful for, and making these cards for my sweet friend Lori, really helped remind me of all the wonderful people God has placed in my life who minister to me, pray for me, come to my rescue when I need them. Hope you enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving Weekend. Here's a question for you...

Did you go out shopping on Black Friday?

Are you DONE with your holiday shopping?

Have you STARTED your holiday shopping?

I'd love to hear from you.