Being Thankful: The thankful receiver

Happy Sunday, Crafty Friends!

It is that time of year when many of us are taking time to celebrate all for which we are thankful.  An extra special way to thank a loved one or friend is to create a thank you card.  The card I am sharing today has a beautiful thankful quote that is perfect for a thank you card.  The stamp is from the A Bit of Fragrance stamp set from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

The instructions and product list can be found on the Elizabeth Craft Designs post.

Thank you for stopping by!  Have a happy, crafty day.

Big Hugs,

Kathy Jo

CHA Sneak Peek- Elizabeth Craft Designs "Merci"

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I am sharing another sneak peek of a soon to be released Elizabeth Craft Designs die "Merci":

"Merci" is one of fourteen new ECD dies designed by Suzanne Cannon.  The new release dies are Oh-la-la lovely!

The die was cut twice using white card stock and silver glitter stock.  It was mounted on a tag sprayed with Dylusions sprays in Postbox Red and London Blue.  

Brett Weldele's Star Stencil was used with Ranger's Texture paste and Tim Holtz' Clear Rock Candy glitter.

The patterned paper is from Tim Holtz' French Industrial pad.

Seam binding was dyed red and tied with silver twine and jute twine.

The card base was made with Kraft card stock and voila!- the card was complete. The card was fun to make and it had glitter.  We all need some glitter in our day...and I had glitter on my fingers and clothes for most of it.  :)

Thanks for popping by to see the new die!  Have a great day!

Big Crafty Hugs,

Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create, AG

Word Art Wednesday, AG

Love to Create, Mixed Media

Inkspirational Challenges, Thank you with something new (Merci die)

Really Reasonable Ribbon, Look what I got (Merci die, Star stencil)

Aud Sentiments, Thank you

Dies R Us, Something new (Merci die, Star stencil)

Emerald Creek, Something New

Scrapy Land Challenge card- "Thank You" using ECD and Graphic 45

Hello Crafty Friends!

For months I have wanted to tell you all some exciting news and today I can finally announce it: I am the newest member of the Scrapy Land Design Team.  Woo-who!  Last year I was lucky enough to be picked on the Guest Design Team and I had the best time.  The ladies on the team are not only talented but exceedingly nice.  I was a little sad when the Guest Design stint ended but ecstatic when Anne asked if I would consider staying on the team permanently.  I could have hugged her!  Today is my first challenge as a permanent design team member and I hope that you can participate.  The challenge is easy: anything goes as long as you use a brand of die that Scrapy Land sells.  Scrapy Land has over 40 brands of dies and you find find their list here.

For my card I used the soon to be released "thank you" die from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  Such a pretty die set!  The lovely doily is Cheery Lynn's French Pastry and the butterflies are from Sizzix' Butterfly Frenzy strip die.

The bold and beautiful papers are Graphic 45's Artisan Style.  The inside is a few more butterflies and more of the patterned paper.

The triple scrunch bow was made with white seam binding that I dyed using Distress Stains in Tumbled Glass and Broken China.  Liquid Pearls in gold was added to the butterflies to create their sparkly bodies.

Thank you for stopping by!  I do hope you enjoyed the card and that I will see your creation at Scrapy Land this fortnight!

Big Crafty Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Thank you and Goodbye Sweet Ella

Crafty Friends-

I usually do not share personal items on my blog but if you don't mind I would like to share on this post.  

Many of you may know that my husband and I do not have children so we share our home, lives and love with our furry family members.  Our Saint Bernard, Ella, was the center of our home and our hearts.  She was a beautiful girl inside and out.  She loved everyone.  She was always happy.  She filled my heart with joy and, most of all, love.  We took the best care of her to ensure she would have the best of health.  Giant breed dogs have short lives and we wanted our Ella to live as long and healthy a life as possible.

Three weeks ago we took Ella to the dog park.  It was a typical dog park day: she took a dip in the lake, had a little walk and wanted to play.  She was in her usual good mood and was enjoying the day.  However, my husband and I noticed that she started to bleed from her nose, then her eyes, then her mouth.  We took her to the vet and after numerous tests it was determined that she had a very rare immune disease called immune mediated thrombocytopenia with anemia.  Our vet warned us that some dogs do not even make it overnight after diagnosis.  It is a horrible, fast disease and big dogs do not survive it.  We were devastated.  Our vets did everything they could for her.  We did everything we could for her.  In a short amount of time she went from an energetic, healthy Ella to an Ella that I care not to ever remember.  On a Monday she was healthy and happy and by the following Thursday she was gone.  She was only seven.

Our home feels empty without her.  When I think of her my heart aches and I feel sadness beyond words.  Ella was sweet, innocent, loving.  She will always hold the most special, dear place in my heart.

After weeks of not crafting, I decided to make the veterinarians and staff a thank you card for taking such good care of Ella, my husband and me during this time.  Admittedly, it felt strange to return to my craft room and I was at a loss for what to create.  One of the favorite parts of my home did not feel the same and I thought that maybe I was returning to craft room too soon.  I decided to look at sketches and challenges for inspiration.  JustRite had a challenge to create something nature inspired and a nature theme was perfect for the thank you card as Ella loved the outdoors and her trips to the dog park.  

Below is the completed card.  Products and techniques are also listed.

All of the stamps used were JustRite stamps.  The roses are from the Rose Postcard Background stamp.  The roses were watercolored using Distress Markers and were fussy cut.  I applied Distress Stain in Picket Fence to soften the rose colors.

The Upcycled Woodgrain Background was covered with black archival ink, stamped once on a piece of card stock and then stamped again (did not re-ink).  The second stamped background was used on the card.  "Thank you" from Fancy Frames was stamped in black and then die cut using the smallest die from Spellbinders' Romantic Rectangles Two.

Thank you very much for stopping by.  Thank you to everyone who left comments on my blog, emailed, messaged, contacted me during this time.  I appreciated all of the kind words and hugs sent from near and far.  

Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Quietfire Design Thank You card

 

Hello Crafteteers!

It has been over a week since my last blog...call me a slacker!

Yesterday was a great day: I received my winning stamps from Quietfire Design.  Woo-who!  You should have seen me by the mailbox: I was so happy it took all I had not to do a dance. 

One of the stamps in the package was this lovely Thank You stamp.  It seemed appropriate to make a thank you card for everyone that voted for me and for Quietfire Design who kindly give all of their awesome stamps to me.  Can't wait to use the rest of the stamps!  :)

Thanks again for your votes, to Quietfire for the stamps and for stopping by!

Have a good weekend and stay crafty...

If you are interested in seeing more Quietfire stamps, go here (http://www.quietfiredesign.ca/home.php?cat=115).  You will be happy you did!  Plus, their Spellbinder selection is fantastic!

Quick and easy rose thank you card

A new stamp has been added to the collection: Inkadinkado's Rose Flowers Photo #60-00612. Talk about a beautiful stamp! I had to use it right away but lacked a lot of time so I made this Many Thanks card. I stamped the roses on plain ivory card stock with Versafine's Crimson Red ink. After it dried I applied pink chalk across the entire image and spritzed it with gold glimmer spray. The background sheet is from Prima's Madeline 6x6 paper pad and I embossed it with Cuttlebug's roses embossing folder. The tag was made from Spellbinder's Fancy Tag (S4-235), stamped with "Many Thanks", more pink chalk around the edge, Patina Stickles applied on the ends and two pearls adhered on either side of the text. All of this was assembled on kraft card stock and then a shear bow was placed on the upper right corner of the roses. A quick card but the roses stamp does not make it look so! I will definitely use this stamp again and see what I can do in more time. Oh the possibilities!

Brianna's Thank You card

A wonderful friend of mine, Brianna, made a lovely stamp for me.  That's right, she made it and I absolutely love it!  For her thank you card, I made sure that her homemade stamp was accentuated on the front.  Her lovely "Ex Libris" stamp with teapot was stamped twice: once on plain ivory card stock and another time on Cosmo Cricket's Odds and Ends paper.  For the card, I used not only the previously listed paper but also Spellbinders Marvelous Squares S4-383.  Two of the corners were blinged up with black gems and Martha Stewart's Flourish Lace edge punch was used on the bottom edge of the striped paper.  Lovely black flower lace ribbon was the final addition.

I hope I did her stamp justice! 

A close up of the stamped image.

Mom/Thank You card

This week my mom sent a "craft care package" containing stamps, embossing folders and a new Cuttlebug C plate (yeah!).  I am sending her this card to thank her for the sweet care package. 

For the card front I cut and embossed two Spellbinders Scalloped Circles (S4-250) and one Ironwork Motif (S5-059).  The black flower ribbon is from The Cutting Garden.  Inside each flower I placed a pearl (Dollarama).  The inside of the card contains more Scalloped Circles and another Ironwork Motif.  Tim Holtz Black Soot was used on the edge of the card and Stickles was used at will!