Sunshine and Rainbows Card

My daughter needs surgery. I am hoping this card will brighten her day a little.

Shaker and sentiment/banner are Queen & Co.

Stamps are from My Favorite Things.

Paper is Pink Paislee Stormy Weather that I got from Tuesday Morning a long time ago. I found the Bazzill Sparkle (shimmer finish) card stock at Tuesday Morning last week.

I created the box card cutting file using the Silhouette software and cut it with my Cameo. When folded flat, it fits a 5x7 inch envelope, if you angle it slightly going in.

Stamp Organization and Storage 2021

I first started collecting stamps when a gal at church showed us how to make our own cards using stamps. Cards were expensive, so I thought that making my own cards would save money in the long run. Maybe it does for a few people, but crafting rarely saves money for many of us. We only think it will.

In late January, I decided to reorganize my stamps. It took me a lot longer than I expected, since they had once been well organized. I got a bit lax over time about putting stamps away, especially when doing the card classes and I realized that if I wanted to find things as quickly and easily as I used to be able to, I needed to do an overhaul. It took me longer than I thought, even though I kept my basic system. The sad thing is that after getting them organized all over again, I realized I am missing a few favorite stamps. I am hoping the missing stamps are in an Iris or ArtBin container with other project materials, but that organization is for another day.

Most of my stamps are stored in the Crop in Style Paper Sticker Binders (CIS PSB). The binders that worked so well for me are either no longer available, or they cost a ridiculous amount of money to buy on eBay because they aren't being made anymore.

I've been collecting stamps for at least 35 years. I have a lot of stamps, and I still continue to buy stamps, although I am a lot pickier than I used to be. I had run out of space in my PSB's, but I couldn't find anything that I liked as well. I can find what I want very fast with this storage method, and they don't take up a lot of space, especially since I took stamps off wooden blocks and use a stamp positioner. Each binder has a tag on the handle that lets me know what stamps are stored there (for example, a general category such as summer stamps, or one or more particular brands of stamps such as My Favorite Things, Lawn Fawn, etc.).

I found some zippered school binders on sale at Costco, so I bought some of them. They don't hold nearly as many stamps as the PSB's, but they work. I adhere the plastic sheets that the stamps are stored on to card stock, and slip the card stock into plastic pockets.

It took me weeks to get them all organized, but it's done.

Years ago, when I was first collecting stamps, an employee at a stamp store asked how many I had. At the time, I had a couple hundred, which I thought was a huge collection. The stamp employee told me, "If you can still count them, you don't have enough." 

I haven't been able to count them for a very long time. However, at least with the way they are organized, I can find what I want very quickly.

Thank You Card & Cheer Card w/ Queen & Co. Foundation Dies

 My husband had a "widow maker" heart attack last month. By the grace of God, he survived what should have killed him. I am grateful beyond words to still have my sweetheart. He was in the hospital for nearly 3 weeks, but is now home and doing well.

A kind family from church made us an incredible dinner, so I made a thank you card to send to them:

 

 

The card below was originally going to be my thank you card, but it seemed more like a "Cheer" type of card, so I will keep it for someone struggling with depression. The card above was actually my second attempt. I made both cards this morning.

I used Queen & Co. Foundation dies to make the cards. I used scraps left over from 2020 CARDtober projects. The scraps for the Thank You card were from BoBunny's Celebrate Freedom collection. The Cheer card was made with Graphic 45 Cafe Parisienne scraps. I found both collections months apart at Tuesday Morning, long before COVID.

 

Garden Card with new Queen & Co. kit

I am not a good gardener. My sister seems to have gotten all of the gardening genes in the family. I had no intention of buying the new Garden Party kit, but when I saw it, all I could think of was that my sister would love cards made with it. She's not a card maker, but she loves getting hand made cards from me. Here is what I hope will be the first of many for her.

Pot of Gold Card with Queen & Co. sets

Queen & Co. just released a new set called Lucky Day kit, and it's perfect with their Fish Bowl Shaped Card kit for a pot of gold. I used a small circle die from one of the Foundations die sets to cut gold coins from shiny gold card stock, as well as for the buckle on the Leprechaun hat.

Teapot Shaker Card made with Queen & Co. Dies

I bought the Queen & Co. Teapot card/die set awhile back, thinking I'd use it for a banner. My daughter has a cozy tea nook, and she loves Alice in Wonderland. I made this card for her, although I think it will have to be given to her in person rather than mailed. The card is more than 1/4 inch thick, which means it would need to be sent as a package.

I don't always decorate the inside, but it needed a little teabag for the sentiment.

All dies used were from Queen & Co., except for the tiny heart, which was a leftover from the Lori Whitlock mailbox box card project (posted a couple of weeks ago). I shaped the flowers with flower shaping tools. I prefer the Heartfelt Creations handmade flowers that I usually do, but this was an experiment to see whether I could make similar flowers with the Queen & Co. Foundation die flowers. I think I'll stick to my Heartfelt Creations stamped flowers in the future.

The paper is from K&Company. It was from my stash, a Tuesday Morning find from long ago.

Mailbox Box Card with Queen & Co. Love Letters set

 It's obvious, but this card was inspired by the Lori Whitlock Silhouette Mailbox box card that I made and posted recently. I like a little more depth to my box cards, though. I've been making my own box cards for years, so I created a cutting file from scratch that was more suited to my preference for a deeper box card.

I had ordered the last Love Letters set from Queen & Co., and was looking forward to getting it, even if it was after Valentine's Day. It was to be delivered Saturday. I wasn't sure what would happen because of the weather, and also because the ceiling caved in at our local post office. However, it came. My Valentine Mailbox box cards (referred to above and shown recently) seem to be taking their time to get through the mail system to their intended recipients. It took 10 days for my sister to get hers.

Anyway, I thought the Love Letters set would be perfect for a mailbox box card, so I created the cutting file and made it this morning.