Promotion Congratulations and a Call for Cards

This card is going to an officer who just pinned on Lt. Col. in the USAF.



After twenty years as a military wife, I got to know a significant number of officers and was consistently impressed with the quality of men and women serving in our armed forces. In the Air Force, if you do a really good job as an officer, you'll likely get promoted on through Major. To make Lt. Colonel, however, takes more than just "doing a really good job." It takes serious commitment to excellence, superior performance, and a significant contribution above and beyond the call of duty. Not everyone makes it to Lt. Colonel, and even some who deserve the rank don't get it because of the limited number of slots available.

When I read that Darien Hammett had his promotion ceremony at Children's Hospital so he could be close to his 14-month-old son who is intensive care there, it tore at my heart. This family has been through so much: years of service to their country, with all the sacrifice inherent in that, plus eleven months of fighting a dreadful form of leukemia in their baby boy.

If any of you would like to send Darien a card of congratulations, email me at susanraihala at woh dot rr dot com. Their whole life for the last eleven months has been turned over to fighting Lincoln's cancer, and they have received amazing support during that battle. But something like the wonderful achievement of Darien's promotion can easily get set aside by other priorities. With help from even just a few of you, I'd like to keep that from happening.

I Got Nothin'

Disclaimer: when I compose posts before my morning mocha has set in, you can expect a bit of silliness and lots of wordiness. It's not my fault. Or it is. I don't know. I'm too tired to make sense.

Today's card was not made by me. In fact, I wouldn't even know how to begin to make something like this because my skillz don't float in the ponds of gardening or paper-making. They sink like my firstborn seeing how long he can hold his breath at the bottom of the pool until I start hyperventilating with the certain knowledge that I will have to actually jump in the cold, chlorinated water and rescue him. Lordy, it's been years since that infant-and-child first aide class. I need a refresher. Plus, my hair would get wet. I hate that.

Anyway, I got nothin' to show you today from my own craft room. Lest you think I've been lazy, know that I have been making the cards to go with the SU stamp sets I'm selling and for the RAINBOW Base-Ten Give-Away that starts on Monday. Woo-whee, it's exciting!

But today isn't Monday. It's Saturday. So here's a card made by Lois, the mother of my dear friend Liz who made this card for me. Liz comes by her talent naturally. Lois and Liz are both master gardeners, and Lois takes flowers she grows and puts them in paper she makes. Then she turns her paper into fun things like cards and bookmarks and such.

The only part of this card I could duplicate would be folding the paper. Okay, yes, I am capable of wielding deco scissors, probably as well as Lois did here (and that's hard, folks!). But I don't have these deco scissors. Hard to believe, but it's true.

I just love how Lois chose flowers with shades of purple and lined the parchment-style paper with a mint green. Purple and green together are one of my favorite combos.

I've never met Lois. Liz and I worked together every business day for three years, and I heard a lot about her librarian mother and farmer father. Then, I moved away ten years ago and haven't seen Liz since. But we are always communicating via email and the occasional card. Then, a few years ago, Liz sent me a prayer request. Her mother had breast cancer. I hate cancer. So I started praying every day and sending cards to Lois every week or so. When Lois was through with treatment and happily doing well, she started sending me cards. And a daily devotional. And a handmade book mark. And she started praying for Jack.

And aren't cards a wonderful force for good in the galaxy? They are tangible representations of our prayers for each other. I'm sure the Lord approves. And so would Obi-wan Kenobi. If he were real. Which he isn't.

I'm going to fix another mocha. Right now.

Lincoln Update: Okay, the mocha has to wait a minute. The new CaringBridge update for Lincoln is up. When I read the paragraph about Darien, Lincoln's daddy, having his promotion ceremony at Children's Hospital, I started to cry. I remember what a big deal and happy day that was when George pinned on Lt. Col. Our boys and his parents were there. The auditorium at the squadron was full, and George's commander, Rich Clark, told really funny and embarrassing stories about George's stupid drunken days as a young Captain at McConnell AFB (where we first met Rich) and when they shared a tent in the big, dry desert in 2003. George's big day was full of family, friends, laughter, and celebration. It's easy to celebrate in the good times. The strength of character and faith exhibited by the Hammett family humbles me. Please continue to keep them all in your prayers.

Now, I'm off for another tissue and a second mocha.

What to Do with the Crossword Stamp, Part 2

In this post, I showed how to use strips of the whole Hero Arts crossword stamp to make CAS cards, but today, we're using much smaller cut-outs from the large stamp to make even cleaner and simpler cards. Yippy!

First up is a very simple card I'm sending to my husband's nephew who just won all sorts of competitions in college forensics. All I did was cut out one word from the puzzle stamp.



The next card kicks the same design up a notch with a huge rhinestone. I popped the crossword rather than the sun. How do you cut out a dotty sun like that? Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt. I love using the "warm wishes" sentiment with the image of the sun, and the bling soooo makes this card!



Finally, I cut out two words and used them as a frame for a fun little flower. The stem is from a Hero Arts clear set, and I just punched the flower and added, you guessed it, bling.



As you can see, I used three different alphabets on these three cards. I have an embarrassing number of rubber stamp alphabets, most of which haven't seen use lately since I haven't been scrapbooking. It was so much fun to haul those babies out and ink them up.

Supplies
stamps: All Hero Arts
ink: Memories soft leaf and blue; Palette noir and dark chocolate; SU summer sun
paper: PTI white; SU pomegranate
accessories: bling, dimensionals, flower punch

What to Do with the Crossword Stamp, Part 1

Several people have requested that I play around with the Hero Arts Crossword background stamp. Apparently, it's intimidating to more people than just me! I love this stamp, but my initial playing around didn't yield much to be happy about, so I have tackled it again.

1. Using it as a whole image does NOT, in my frustrated experience, work for my clean style. I tried using shadow inks (very light), black, and bright colors, but every card I made, no matter how simple, definitely did NOT look clean. If someone out there makes a clean card with the whole image, please share it with the rest of us. 'Cause I cry uncle. For those of you who enjoy making more elaborate, embellished cards, the whole image may prove quite useful, though.

2. Cutting parts of the image works much better for a clean-and-simple style so that's where I concentrated my efforts. I had some success with strips of the image, creating a sort of border/focal point/sentiment all in one.

All the straight lines and right angles made me want to soften the image with some swirls, so I combined the crossword stamp with SU's Baroque Motif. This first card is very flat for easy mailing. Because the three flowers are stamped in a triangle around the words, the eye moves across the strip more easily, but without the added bulk of the next card.



The second card isn't as clean, but it is happy and fun. The colors are so cheerful, don't you think?



This technique works great for any short saying. Happy birthday; wishing you well; a word for you; an apple a day (with tiny apples insead of flowers!); make love not war; frankly, my dear...; Mr. Darcy Lives! Okay, I'm getting silly, but you get the idea. You could really personalize your message for a close friend or loved one with inside jokes, word association, favorite book or movie titles, favorite flowers, a Bible verse, etc. The possibilities are endless. *giggle*

Tomorrow, I'll show you my favorite use of this stamp so far. It's clean and versatile and--dare I say it?--EASY.

Footnote: ChristineM asked if I would sell stamps overseas. The answer, sadly, is no; I will only ship in the US via USPS. I will, however, be doing some give-aways starting next week for ten days in a row. Hee, hee! Can't wait for a base-ten love-fest! I will ship up to three of those packages overseas.

I Feel Weak

...because I bought these at Michael's the other day:



Okay, so I don't feel bad about the orange marker. But the punches? Do I need more? Oh, no. I don't NEED more. In fact, I recently had to expand my punch storage to accommodate my growing collection. But I saw THIS CARD on Julie Ebersole's blog and ran right out that very day and bought the grass punch. Then I saw that the heart-and-key punch was ON SALE for about $4. How could I NOT buy it? Seriously.

I knew you would agree. I'm so grateful I can always count on your kind support.

And on that note, I'm getting organized for a fun give-away--a rainbow of a give-away--to celebrate the fact that so many of you visit Simplicity and comment regularly. Y'all give me so much love; it's time to give some back! Deets coming next week.

And on an entirely different note, I will be posting a bunch of SU stamp sets (about 15) for sale soon. I'm making a new CAS card using each set, a fond farewell to much loved sets. If you purchase a set, you also get the matching card for inspiration.

Here's a quick and punchy little card for today. Martha may have spent time in the Big House, but she sure puts out absolutely fabulous punches.

The icing is punched from some sparkly paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby for Christmas ornaments. Love it!

For those who pray: Please keep little Lincoln Hammett and his family in your prayers. Lincoln is a 14-month-old who's been fighting very aggressive leukemia since he was three months old. He's in intensive care right now dealing with a nasty infection following a final, last-chance round of chemo. His CaringBridge website is here.

Supplies
stamps: PTI Birthday Basics
paper: sparkly paper from Hobby Lobby, PTI white, SU close to cocoa
ink: Close to Cocoa
accessories: MS cupcake punch, dimensional

Cleaning out a Drawer: You Never Know What You'll Find

I had a drawer on my desk that held bits and pieces of half-finished cards. (Note: I'm a card half-finished rather than card half-UNfinished girl.) In need of another drawer for ink (please don't ask; I haven't been really bad...yet), I cleaned out the odds-and-ends drawer and found a couple of stamped panels using PTI's Spiral Bouquet that were stamped, oh, six months ago. One of them was frightfully ugly (sometimes rockin' and rollin' just does not work), but the image of the outline flowers worked well.

So I made it into a white-on-white-layer card.


Love this! For anyone trying to duplicate it, it's sized a bit odd at 4 1/4" x 4 7/8" to have an even border around the panel.

Anyway, I used half of my fifth-to-the-last piece of Papertrey Stampers Select White Cardstock to make this card. I'm getting the shakes, folks. Oh! My! Gosh! What if I run out before the Man in Brown delivers my order? There are only three new packs coming. WHAT WAS I THINKING!?!?! Next order, I'm buying ten packs and will breathe easier.

For a month or two.

No, I don't have a problem. What makes you suggest such a thing?

Supplies
stamps: PTI Spiral Bouquet, Mega Mixed Messages
ink: VersaColor cinnamon (?), brown
paper: PTI
accessories: half-pearls, dimensionals

More Bright Colors on a Dreary Monday

In keeping with my user status (for background, please see this post), I used every felt flower that came with my "What's the Scoop?" clear stamp set from Hero Arts. There were only five flowers, so don't be too impressed.


I love embellishments like these. They are colorful and can stand all by their lonesomes on one-layer cards: no need for background stamps, patterned paper, or other embellishments.


Clean and simple never had it so easy.

And they make me so happy on this cold, gray, soggy day.

Supplies:
stamps: PTI simple little things sentiments
ink: Palette Noir
paper: 4.25" square white cards
accessories: Hero Arts self-adhesive felt flowers