Worst/Best Cards to Send

 

Sympathy cards are my least favorite card to make. I try to tailor make them for each recipient instead of using ones I have on hand. It's hard to come up with just the right colors and images and sentiments that honor the person. And it's just sad. Sending a sympathy card means that someone is hurting a lot and someone I cared about it no longer here. 

This card was particularly sad. I sent it to a very dear friend of mine whose husband (also a very dear friend) died of cancer. He was the same age as me. He and his wife were in a prayer group with my husband and me for a very long time. Our kids played together. 

He was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago, but some of the symptoms were present many, many years ago and we prayed about them together. He was diagnosed a few years after we moved across the country. His prognosis was bleak, but he outlived the doctor's predictions. We got to see him more than we expected. 

I chose the Butterfly Brilliance Bundle for this card and stamped "Sometimes there are no words..." from the retired Comfort and Hope stamp set. The butterflies seem like an apt metaphor for transitions. 

I say that sympathy cards are my least favorite card to make, but they are also quite possibly the cards that have the greatest "paper hug" impact on friends and family who get them. I know cards had that effect for me when I was grieving. So I'll keep on sending them. 

Birthdays, birthdays. birthdays

July is the month of my daughter's birthday. My daughter is an only child and proud of it. She uses that as an excuse to (jokingly, I think) claim that she should be the center of everyone's world. She believes July is HER birthday month and she is loathe to share it. So, I had to make her a one of a kind birthday card. She loves purple (as do I), so I decided to make it purple!

I wasn't sure how Blackberry Bliss, Highland Heather, and Gorgeous Grape would look together, but I think they worked! I also decided to use the Best Plaid Builder dies, which were a love-at-first-sight item for me. I incorporated the retired Stitched Nested Labels dies, which make any image or sentiment an interesting focal point. The sentiment is from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set, which I had just gotten delivered, so it was staring at me while I was crafting. 

Speaking of the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set, one of my very good friends also has a July birthday - 8 days after my daughter's. In non-COVID years, we visit each other over the summer - she and her family come here and then we invade their home. Since we haven't seen her since 2019, this was the paper hug I sent to her this year. The Ice Cream Cone Builder punch made it so easy to get those perfect ice cream cone shapes. 

My daughter also shares a birthday month with my brother. Who also loves purple, and whose birthday is coincidentally the same day as my friend's. So while the card my daughter got was one of a kind when I made it for her, I made another one for my brother. Shhh...don't tell! 

What is your favorite type of birthday card? Do you like to share your birthday or would you rather have it all to yourself? 

So Many Cards...So Little Time

I'm a paralegal, so one of my key job functions is organizing things. But for those of you who have ever seen my desk or my stamping room, you know that organizing physical objects (e.g. papers, cards, stamping supplies) is not my forte. Despite my tendency toward clutter, I can usually find things pretty quickly. I also excel at organizing electronic files, which makes me good at my job. But my stash of cards without a home was building on my desk. 

Now mind you, I have a card holder for handmade cards to send to people. It was full. This is the overflow that was sitting on my desk for quite some time until I finally found another container for them. 

But the best home for them is the homes of friends and family members who could use a paper hug! I'm hoping this photo inspires me to find homes for them all. Except the sympathy cards. I don't want to need to use those. They can just stay in my stamping room forever! 

I also hope this photo inspires me to continue to blog about my attempts to create a kindness revolution.

If you are inspired, current products to make cards like these can be found in my Stampin' Up! store. Check there to contact me if you would like to learn more. 

Sometimes the Card Comes First

Sometimes, I come up with the card idea before I have a person in mind to send it to. This was one of those cards. I kept seeing "floating" image cards on acetate and I just had to try one. I had the So Happy Bundle and The Right Triangle Bundle and I thought they'd be great for this card. 

I made this card by cutting a piece of our Window Sheets to 4 1/4 by 11 and scoring it at 5 1/2. The HAPPY die does most of the work on this card. I thought about using the star and balloon die cuts as accents on the card, but I decided instead to make them a confetti surprise inside. 

Confetti Surprise

One note about constructing this card...I needed to consider your adhesive carefully so it didn't show through too much on the window sheet. Our Mini Glue Dots work well for this. 

So, I made this really fun card and I held on to it for a few months because I wanted to give it to someone special. When my goddaughter's birthday came around, I thought it would be perfect for her! I hope she enjoyed receiving it as much as I enjoyed making it! 

Christmas Thank You Notes

 

When I was young, the day or two after Christmas was always reserved for writing thank you notes. Although I used to grumble (because I'd rather be playing), my mother succeeded in instilling the practice of expressing my gratitude for the kindness of others. And while my daughter also grumbled as a child, I'm happy to say that she has continued this practice in her life as an adult.   

I definitely am not as prompt as I was in sending these as when my mother was in charge, but this is what I am sending this week. I was inspired by the Stampin' Up! Shaded Spruce cardstock and ink from my Christmas cards. This card uses a Crumb Cake card base, a Soft Sea Foam mat, and a Very Vanilla background panel. I stamped the background using the Today's Tiles stamp set in Soft Sea Foam and Shaded Spruce. The focal image uses the coordinating Field Tiles dies, cut from Shaded Spruce and layered over Soft Sea Foam. The sentiment comes from the Many Mates stamp set and is on another Field Tile die cut piece. 

Does writing thank you notes bring up memories for you? Let me know below! 

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog,

I've thought about doing this blog for a while and I'm finally here! My vision is sharing the projects I make and the inspiration behind them. I mostly make cards, but I started papercrafting as a scrapbooker. I also make the occasional 3-D gift packaging. So most of the projects will be cards, but you might see a scrapbook page or two, because after all, they are acts of love, too - preserving family memories for us to share later. 

My original thought was to share a card a week and the story of who I sent it to, which would also make me send a card a week. But I often send cards in bursts, so instead, I'm sharing projects as they come to life. I like the flexibility of this, and, quite honestly, it will be easier to maintain when I have a crazy week. 

As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I mostly use Stampin' Up! products. My Stampin' Up! store is here: https://luciastamps.stampinup.net/. But this blog is less about sales or "how tos" and more about examples of how I try to use my crafting to connect with others. I do hope to inspire people, but the biggest inspiration I hope to share is ideas about spreading kindness. 

So, I'm glad you are here and I hope you enjoy! 

Lucia White