A Card of Congratulations

Hi everyone!  

My card for today, a card of congratulations for a wedding, an anniversary (or with the right embellishments, just about any occasion) uses a couple of sets that are featured in our current Product of the Week.  It's essentially a standard card with another backward opening slightly smaller card inside.  I've used lots of layers but it could be done more simply with fewer layers if that's your style or current mood! 

I used oval nesting dies to cut a window through the card front to allow the image from the smaller card to show through.

Here the outer card is opened with the front of the second card fully visible.  The lavender mat is actually sandwiched between the two cards, the three layers glued together. 

And finally, here's the inside card, opened in the opposite direction. There's a lot of room here for a special sentiment, some more pretty paper or another lovely image, or just plenty of white space for lots of hand-written well-wishes.  

Stamp Simply

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Wedding & Anniversary Wishes
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Love
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Craft Consortium Ink Drops Rose 6x6
• Pink silk ribbon
• oval dies
• Copic markers

In case you might be interested...I have been busy with lots of fiber arts this week, including dyeing some merino-linen yarn in a lovely pink using acid dye in a cold water bath method out on the patio in the sunshine.  (You can see the reflection of the trees in the water if you look closely!). 

I've been spinning a lot too, trying to clear the spindles and wheels in preparation for Tour de Fleece which will begin (as does Tour de France) on July 4th.  There will be a lot of fun crafting to try to keep up with over the next several months.  

Here are a couple of skeins I have finished spinning in the last week or so.  

I've started another spin thinking it might make a good partner for that green skein.  We'll see whether it works out!  

Have a great week!  

Getting Ready for Father's Day!

Father's Day is June 21, so it is already less than a month away!  It's time to make sure you've got the right stamps and supplies and get to stamping!  

My husband Patrick tells a funny story about his dad's big male beagle Skippy. He somehow got out of his pen, ran down the street to where a neighbor was storing his prize deer trophy (12 points!) in his garage, and then dragged the thing all the way down the street back home and into the back yard where he promptly tried to bury it!  So here's a "Father's Day at the hunting cabin" kinda card inspired by that story!  😜

This is a really quick and easy card to construct.  It uses a variety of masculine prints from three Craft Consortium paper pads along with stamps from our featured products of the week which are currently on sale for just a few more days!  

I'm hoping this is close enough to "buffalo plaid" to convey that woodsy outdoorsman feel!  

Stamp Simply

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - A Godly Man Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - A Man of Knowledge
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Farmhouse Pierced Nested Hearts
• Craft Consortium Scorched Wood 6x6
• Craft Consortium Brick Textures 6x6
• Craft Consortium Tartan Plaid 6x6
• Spellbinders classic ovals sm and l

In Remembrance

Hi friends!  Today is blog hop day for Coffee Loving Paper Crafters, so welcome!  It's the start of the weekend and our special coffee hop celebration but it is also the start of a very important US holiday.  But before I share my project and the inspiration behind it, let me share this.  If you're here for the Coffee Lovers' blog hop then you'll want to be sure to visit the Stamp Simply blog for more information when you're finished here.   

Stamp Simply

Today is National Poppy Day 2026, the Friday before Memorial Day, a day that Americans are encouraged to wear a red poppy to honor those military members who gave their lives in the service of our country, and their "Gold Star" families.  My card is meant to be both a tribute to those we've lost and a comfort to their remaining loved ones.    

Hopefully for most of you there are no particular names or faces that come to mind in remembrance on Memorial Day but for most military families including ours, there's at least one person whose life and loss is quietly remembered over these next several days.  (Our friend was killed in a training accident that occurred on 5-28-92 after he'd returned from the first Gulf War, Desert Storm).  We truly will never forget, and we reverently acknowledge the precious price that has been paid for our freedom.  We solemnly pray for God's blessings over every Gold Star family, for their comfort and strength in the wake of their loss.

I tried to incorporate that Gold Star symbolism and into today's project.  I really love that it's a coffee card, since having coffee (or tea!) is such a simple everyday mind and body "fortification" that includes the opportunity to slow down and connect with the ones you love.  What could be more important?!  It is truly mind-boggling to think of how coffee and tea have sustained humanity through the major and minor challenges of life!    

I was going to include a pocket for a gift card on the inside of my card but then I had a mishap!  The back of my card ended up smeared with ink, so I opted for some creative camouflage.  

I covered the ink smudges with designer paper, and then adhered the gift card pocket to the back of the card.  Here's a little printed tag from the designer paper pad for the front of it.

And here it is, opened.  I tucked in a little card stock place holder inside since I still need to purchase a gift card, but this gives you an idea of how it would look. 

I'm so happy that I finished my flag shawl in time to wear it this weekend.  I followed the pattern instructions "to the T" except for making my stripes wider...including starting with a white stripe as the pattern directed which of course is WRONG!  Our flag's stripes start and end with red, but in having made this mistake (and I was especially frustrated that I made it because I *knew* better!) I learned about the 1776 "Bennington" flag, so I'm just gonna pretend that it is a mistake that I made on purpose! ❤️

Stamp Simply

If you've made it this far, thank you for your attentiveness and perseverance through this sad and somber heart-felt tribute.  I hope you have a great weekend!  Enjoy your freedom, your family and your friends!  Go with grace, peace, and gratitude!  God bless you and God bless America!  

American Eagle

I love making cards that can be displayed alongside holiday decor and I was excited to find this "simple but fancy fold" on Pinterest.  

It is made from a half-sheet of card stock (11.5 x 4.25 inches) with some "zig zag" scoring but it still folds flat and fits into a standard A2 sized envelope for mailing.

After scoring the base layer, mats and pretty designer papers are added to embellish each section.  (You'll find the method/measurements here).  

I used a combination of stamps and Copic marker coloring, heat embossing, and printed panels from the designer paper pad to construct my version of this project.  The front features the eagle from this week's Product of the Week along with the fish from one of the sets in our Michigan series.  

The center section has a printed panel with some heat embossing.  

The last section has a printed flag and a floral print from the designer paper pad along with a stamped sentiment and the smallest of the spellbinders stars cut from a scrap of gold paper.    

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The American Eagle Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Old Glory (small USA stamp)
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Michigan Facts (fish, fussy cut)
• Echo Park Stars & Stripes Forever 6x6
• Spellbinders Stars Five (50% off!)
• Luxury Pearlescent Metallic 105# Cardstock - Gold 6 ct
• Versamark ink
• gold embossing powder
• Copic markers
• punch for pull tab

Patriotic Pocket Book

Hi friends! 

I'm back with another patriotic project!  It was so much fun to make and super easy peasy!  

Many of the restaurants in our area use these little paper sleeves for their flatware and for ages (obviously!) every time we would eat out, I would save them thinking they'd come in handy for something fun ever so often! They're perfect for little books, gift card pockets or countdown banners.  (I'm sure you'll see them again at some point in time!).

For this project, I only used two sleeves folded in half.  I trimmed them down so that they would form a "cascade" of pockets and decorated them inside and out with pretty papers, stamps, tag inserts, and cute little printed images and sayings from this patriotic designer paper pad.  

An old punch or a circle/oval die works well for a thumb hole for each pocket edge and pull tab for each of the tag inserts.  I alternated Stars and Stripes designer paper for the pull tabs and I love the way it turned out!  

 

This is double-sided paper so there are lots of options for cute, colorful coordinating prints to mix and match.  

I added stamped stars in various sizes and colors on each of the tags, along with a sprinkle of patriotic sentiments here and there.  I really wanted to use several more of our patriotic sentiments from our other sets but decided maybe it was better to just keep it simple. There are so many possibilities...I encourage you to look through all of our patriotic sets to see which images and sentiments speak the most to you for your patriotic project! 

For this page I stamped our patriotic word collage directly onto the sleeve using distress oxide ink.  It was a perfect fit!

The patriotism stamp used for this tag is from our Pledge of Allegiance set.  American Pride is from The Red, White, & Blue, so altogether this used only three stamp sets and right now the Pledge set is free if you order any other patriotic set!

This designer paper pad has lots of cute ready-made tags that made such a project really easy.  Just cut 'em apart and glue 'em in place!  

  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The Red, White & Blue Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Patriotic Sentiments
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The Pledge of Allegiance
• Echo Park Stars & Stripes Forever 6x6
• punch or die for thumb holes and pull tabs
• Copic markers
• distress oxide inks
• cording for binding

Patriotic Apron Card

Hello friends!  

I have been knitting up a storm lately and one of the projects on my needles is a flag shawl.  I dyed the yarn myself and cast on on April 12th just after our astronauts returned from space and as our troops continued to patrol the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.  Every stitch has been a prayer.  I'm currently on stripe 9 of 13 so I still have quite a bit to go, especially considering that the shawl gets wider the further you knit. 

I am looking forward to finishing my shawl in time for Memorial Day and the 4th of July...thinking of those holidays brought the idea of the typical holiday gatherings to mind...so often, they involve the grill and some sparklers and fireworks and so the idea for an apron shaped card took hold.  

This card is a standard 4.25 x 5.5 inch card with oval "armhole" shapes cut into the top (easy to do with oval die cuts or even with a pair of scissors).  The card front actually has two pockets.  One is formed by the baby bib with its strings snipped off, and the other is made from patterned paper glued across the card bottom.  That one is a wide, deep pocket that could hold some tags or a gift card standing on end to peek out from under the pocket's top edge.  If the person isn't into cooking, maybe a BBQ dinner gift card would be fun to share.   

The inside includes more patriotic stamps and shapes along with the Pledge of Allegiance.  I love this version of "Old Glory" and truly loved including the Pledge alongside.  I remember standing with my hand over my heart to recite the Pledge every morning at school (pretty much the entire 13 years of my before-college education!), and it makes me sad to think of how rarely the opportunity occurs to publicly renew that commitment in this day and age.  I love it when the anthem is played at sports events as a "sing-along" rather than a performance.  It is always so moving, and makes me feel so proud! God bless America!  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Patriotic Stamp Bundle DUO
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Welcome Baby Basics (top apron pocket, stars, hearts)
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The Pledge of Allegiance
• Seam Binding Sampler - Vintage Neutrals - 40 yards
• Echo Park Stars & Stripes Forever 6 x 6
• Luxury Pearlescent Metallic 105# Cardstock - Gold 6 ct
• Copic markers
• distress oxide ink

Stamp Simply

Graduating Class of 2026

 

Hi y'all!  

It's amazing to say, but this year marks 50 years ago that I graduated from high school!  1976 was America's bicentennial year, and I remember feeling so proudly patriotic.  I hope that this class of 2026 who will graduate during America's 250 will be filled with pride and patriotism too.

I have been reminiscing about our graduation ceremony, how we all moved our tassels from right to left after receiving our diplomas, and then after all of the pomp and circumstance was over we joyfully tossed our mortarboards into the air!  All of that is what inspired today's project.       

Tim Holtz's Countdown is such a great diecut set for making grad cards and pairs so well with our graduation series, and this year it just made sense to add our flag as a backdrop for the numbers.    

I kept the inside simple with a few stamped stars and an absolutely perfect sentiment!  I still believe in dreaming big (American) dreams and diligently pursuing them!  One of our stamps says it perfectly:

Dream BIG!

Greet the future with anticipation.

Work hard.

Remember your roots, your manners and your way home!

God bless you, and God Bless America!

Stamp Simply

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Graduation Bundle TRIO
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The Red, White & Blue Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Patriotic Sentiments (stars)
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Countdown
• Craft Consortium Scorched Wood 6x6
• Copic markers
• various distress/oxide inks
• gold cord

Taste & See

Hey y'all!  Happy to see you! 

We have had a little swarm of bees outside our back door...it's supposedly peak season from February/March til May here, but because of our year-round warm climate it can happen pretty much any time here in Florida.    

I had so much fun sitting up in my studio playing with papers and inks to make this card.  What can I say?  Mardi Gras colors 💜💚💛 make me happy and this particular designer print is like Mardi Gras colors and more!  It was early morning so I sat there with my second cup of coffee just enjoying the moment.

These prints (with the exception of the green background print from Craft Consortium) are all from our very own Stamp Simply Coffee or Tea paper pad.  So many fun designs!  I love them all and it made me happy to use several on this one card! 

Here's a peek at the inside.  Makes me think of sitting at the family table topped with a plaid "fleece-backed vinyl" table cloth, a lacy doily and fresh flowers adorning the center.  (In reality there is indeed a fleece-backed vinyl tablecloth, just not purple plaid, and the doily is not Battenberg but crocheted lace and HUGE, made by Patrick's cousin Connie's husband Mel).  

Stamp Simply

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Coffee or Tea?
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Have a Cup on Us
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Vintage Peony Bundle (bees)
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Stamp Simply Paper Pads - Coffee or Tea 6x6
• Craft Consortium Over the Rainbow 6x6
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Mixed Media #1
• Seam Binding Sampler - Rich Pastels - 40 yards
• Dritz Cheesecloth - 36" x 3 yards
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Two Sprigs
• Flowers
• Gems
• distress oxide inks
• tea dye distress ink
• white acrylic paint (splashes)
• gold thread