Sending Christmas thanks

 

Today I made a couple of these thank-you cards for wonderful Christmas gifts - one for my kids' grandparents, and the second for the lady I help out. I started with a Whisper White card (4-1/4" x 5-1/2") and added a layer of Pool Party card stock. You might recognize the designer paper even though it's retired. The only stamp set used is also retired and called Four You. I used a tag topper punch on a 2" x 3" piece of Whisper White for the tag and added the ruffled ribbon and button with twine.

 

I find there's always someone to thank and something for which to be grateful. I'm excited to start my family's Good Things jar - a jar where we'll write a weekly good thing that happened to us, date it, and put it in a jar. Then on New Year's Eve 2016, we'll sit down and go through our Good Things.

 

Here's wishing you a wonderful 2016 full of your own good things.

Create a pretty little flower with scallop punch

 



It's amazing how different card stock can look when you moisten it and squish it. This Cherry Cobbler flower is made using five 7/8-inch scallop circles.

 

 

One of my club members saw a card very similar to this in the new catalog (page 178) and asked to make it, adding that she wanted to learn how to make the flower. I started with Baked Brown Sugar ink and card stock (new In Color) and the big French background stamp, En Francais. Using the Stampin' Trimmer, I made the rectangle in the card front, and added a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock inside the card.

 

The flower stem is a piece of Old Olive card stock. The "leaves" are made using a knot of 1/8" Old Olive taffeta ribbon, and the flower head is made by wetting and stacking five 7/8" scallop circle together. I used a mini silver brad to hold the layers together, then started by squishing the top scallop circle together as tightly as possible, then each layer up around the one before it. After doing this to all of the layers, you fluff the flower to look like you want it. Here's a free tutorial I made with a different punch (same concept): http://goinovertheedge.blogspot.com/2011/07/paper-rose-tutorial.html. The thank-you stamp is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.