Very Simply Susan

Today’s card was created in the spirit of thankfulness. I am thankful for a lot today. But this card celebrates all of you who read my blog. I appreciate you take the time to look through what I create. And I am especially grateful for all my loyal readers who take some of their valuable time to leave me a comment. Your comments mean a lot and it it is so nice to have some feedback and know people are noticing what I create! I wish all of my readers a very Happy Thanksgiving!

For this card, I used the last of my stash of Come to Gather DSP and the Painted Harvest set. I love the striped paper in this DSP set and I thought it worked well with the gingham pattern. The sunflowers are two step stamping and I think they create beautiful sunflowers. I left the centers unstamped because I liked how the open centers looked on the striped paper.

The hardest part of this design was where to put the sentiment. I did not want to cover up any of the sunflowers! I finally settled on a space in the middle. The sentiment was die cut with a Stitched Rectangle. The design really didn’t need the bow, but I added it because I liked it!

Product List

This is the week many of us will be “gathering together” to feast, visit with family or just relax and watch a lot of football! This card will be sent to those I won’t see this week, but who I will be thinking about as I list all the things I am grateful about!

The card today is CASED from a beautiful card I got recently in a Demonstrator swap I was in. My Upline, Nancy made the card and it featured the Mercury Glass Designer Acetate you see on this card. I loved the look so much I had to try a version!

I started out with several colors under the Mercury Glass, but I really liked the Cajun Craze. It seemed to work well with the Come to Gather DSP, which I also wanted to use. After that, I really just started layering “stuff” on top of the Mercury Glass piece and the DSP that featured Cajun Craze and Merry Merlot. Because the Acetate is such a rich, elegant look, I embossed all the layering pieces with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. Its hard to see in the photo, but the embossing adds a really rich look to the card, especially on the Gray Granite punched Leaves and Springs.

If you are going away this week, safe travels. If you are lucky enough to stay home,  have a peaceful holiday!  But most of all, enjoy stuffing yourself silly!

Products Used To Make This Card

I know it’s ’tis the season to be jolly and I should be showing you holiday cards. But, I had a recent demonstrator challenge swap and Seaside Notions was perfect for it! The theme was “by the sea”. My card is more “in the sea”, but it definitely has that coastal look and colors. It was a nice break to stop holiday crafting for a moment and do something different.

The card is really just a collage of the stamped images colored with Stampin’ Blends. To make  it look more realistic like the sea, I used multiple colors on each stamped image to give them a watery look. The coral pieces were more than I was ready to fussy or scan & cut, so I stamped those in Smoky Slate on the background. The “sea” was created by stamping off Balmy Blue using the Birch background stamp. After stamping all the images, I embossed the background with the Subtle Textures folder. It gave everything that watery look I was after.

I loved the way it turned out. I am now encouraged to use this set and make a holiday card with it! We’ll see how that turns out!

Products Used To Make This Card

_{Don’t forget that right now through Friday is the Online Extravaganza at Stampin’ Up! You will find super values on bundles, card stock and ink!  My Host Code for this event is PP42Y3B7. Anyone placing an order of $75 or more will receive a Memories & More Night Before Christmas Card Pack from me after the sale!}

Bundles Included in the Extravaganza Sale!