A Birthday Card and Dog Pictures

Today's card uses an old StampinUp set colored with Copics, a festive embossed panel, and a random sentiment. It made me happy...and best of all, its recipient was happy, too!

And here are some dog pictures from the last few months. 

Lily likes her chewy toy.

They do cuddle sometimes, 
but it never lasts long.

Lily loves all of us, but she has a special
fondness for Nick.

The snarling was quite festive.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Very Old and Somewhat New

Today's card features a stamp from one of the first stamp sets I ever bought...back in the early 2000s. The copyright date on the wood-mounted stamp from Hero Arts is 2000. 

The stamp paired perfectly with a falling snow embossing folder (new-ish), deckled square and rectangle dies (also new-ish), sequins (new) and a Cathy Zielski sentiment set (not new, but not used enough).

Does anyone else crave peace? I do. There's been precious little of it in my circumstances of the past six months, and I have to remind myself that peace doesn't come from our circumstances but from our relationship with the divine: the peace that passes all understanding. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty good at leaving my burdens at the foot of the cross...and then going back and picking them up again. 

I am working on this. 

A friend gave me a weekly planner for Christmas. I already had a planner, so I keep the new one by my bed. Each night, I write down at least three things I'm grateful for and at least three "Woo-Hoo" accomplishments for the day, though some days the accomplishments are quite small, such as a shower, a card, and a few chapters in my latest book. The planner has a place for monthly prayers and suggests praying to cultivate kindness in January. 

What a beautiful planner!

What do you do to cultivate peace? Do you have a daily ritual? Do you journal? Curious minds, and all that jazz....

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

The Winner Is...

 Cheryl L! Cheryl won the three Simon Says inks. Cheryl's comment was on the blog and said:

"No crafty gift, but got gift cards to my 2 favorite places...Starbucks and Aldi!!"

Now, I'm all for Starbucks, but must admit I'm not a fan of Aldi, simply because the landlord of our Barnes & Noble wouldn't renew its lease in favor of Aldi and now we have to drive a half hour to get to the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble. My husband and I fake spit every time we pass the old, more convenient location. Stupid Aldi. As Erasmus said, "When I have a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes."

But I don't hold the landlord's decision against Cheryl, who's a long-time and loyal reader of Simplicity, and am so happy to send her the ink! Cheryl, please send me your snail mail address at susanraihala at roadrunner dot com, and I'll get the inks out to you early this week!

This week's cards were both inspired by THIS PIN by Helga Hopen. Her card design is so perfect that my versions are pretty much copies with different images and colors.

To make the colors coordinate, I used an old Hero Arts red rubber shadow stamp to make a green square that was the same color as the branch (also Hero, but from a clear set). The embossing folder is new, but the sentiment is old, old, old...at least 15 years ago from Papertrey. 

Now, I really liked the above card for a masculine birthday, but decided I wanted to try for more color and pop in the design. So I added the cardinal from the same Hero Arts clear set, colored and masked it, and stamped the branch behind it. I stippled on a bit of lighter green ink to complete the focal point and used a newer Papertrey sentiment to complete the effect.

I can see myself playing around more with this gorgeous layout! Thanks, Helga, for the inspiration!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love, 

Susan

When Old and New Play Together Perfectly

My spending spree over the last few months included several (ahem) embossing folders such as the one used on today's card. I pulled out the old A Wreath for All Seasons set from Papertrey, and this is the result.

The embossing folder has an empty circle surrounded by a snow burst. The wreath fits perfectly!

This 4.25" square card is part of my birthday planning for 2023. I've made cards for everyone on my list who has birthdays through April. May is a big month in my family/friend group, so that will take a while!

It's been a bit of a rough week, and I'm looking forward to choosing a winner Saturday morning for the give-away! Don't forget to comment on THIS POST for a chance to win.

And for today, I have a crafty question. Do you usually stick with new product for your stamping, or do you mix and match old and new? Do you get tired of old stuff, or get excited about finding new ways to use the old stuff to make it "new" again? I guess that's two questions, but I'm curious.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

One Set, Two Cards, and a Giveaway

So, one of my bigger purchases in the past few months has been Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Inks. I bought three colors back in July to test them and posted about them here and here. I adore monochrome cards, as you know, and these inks will make that easier. 

Today's cards combine the graduated colors with SSS Jubilee Sentiments set. These graduated flowers were made to work with the inks...and work they do...beautifully.

The pink card was inspired by various layouts from Pinterest, and the orange card is a very ordinary, old-fashioned layout (one of my favorites!). It uses some fun giant sequins, also from SSS.

And now for the giveaway. When I first ordered the inks, I didn't think I would need all the colors. Once I had my chosen ones, I figured that while I might not need them, I wanted them. Unfortunately, I mistakenly ordered three pads that I already had. 

So I'm going to give the new-in-wrapper pads away to one random person who comments by sharing one gift you received for Christmas on this blog post or on the Facebook post before midnight EST on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. 

The giveaway is open to anyone with a U.S. mailing address. If you want to comment but want to be EXCLUDED from the give away...some of you may want to share but not be in the U.S. or may already have the inks...or perhaps more inks than you can handle. Sort of like I do, now. Please share one of your gifts anyway!

I'll go first. My husband, who knows me so well after 36 years of marriage, got me a pilgrim cross pendant that dates from between 7th-10th centuries. This period of history is one of my favorites, and to have an actual pilgrim cross (refurbished) that may have gone to the Holy Land or Rome from someplace in Europe over a thousand years ago just thrills me no end. 

So tell me what you got!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Cheers to All the Years

This year...what can I write about 2022? 

Let's focus on gratitude. There's already so much complaining going on.

I am grateful for a chance brush of my thumb on the lump in my breast at the end of June; for the surgeon, oncologists, radiologists, infusion nurses, and radiology technicians who have cut, injected, and irradiated me in the past five months; for my family, especially my husband and sister, who have gone above and beyond; for my friends and all they did, especially the prayers and driving Jack around; and for my stamping friends, who made sure I felt supported and loved through this mess. Check out these hand-made with love beauties:

Some of you may recognize cards you contributed to Karen's Card Shop. People from church bought cards from the Shop and sent them to me. I stole one card from Joan B's contribution to the Shop because it says, "There's not enough Xanax for this sh*t." I felt that in my bones. Plus, the little old ladies at church might have had an attack of the vapors reading that sentiment, even with the asterisk. 

Thanks to each and every one of you who sent me a card, prayed for me, or sent positive vibes my way. 

I bought a LOT of stamping stuff over the past few months (retail therapy!), and in the last week, some of that stuff has been used. Yippee! Today's card was made for our friends who have a formal New Year's Eve party every year. 

Stamps by Papertrey, embossing folder
unknown

We're going to the party tonight (tenth or eleventh year), bearing a bottle of red wine and this card, and I'm looking forward to wearing my awesome velvet dress and a wig. I even painted my nails, which I never do. 

Thankfully, the dress covers all my radiation treatment marks and the tape covering them. The fifteen high-dose treatments will be finished Jan. 19, weather permitting. 

And speaking of a wig, my hair is growing back at a great pace. It is, however, still salt-and-pepper colored and still straight as porcupine quills. No chemo curls for me. A minor disappointment, all things considered. 

I wish you all the very best in the coming year and pray health, happiness, and peace for us all. 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Acts of Kindness

Chemo infusion number three happened on Tuesday. 

Chemo is unpleasant, and one way to cheer yourself up is to do something nice for someone else. So I've made cards to send to some college students who are facing the end-of-semester crunch. The cards will include several gift certificates. 

To make the cards, I used an adorable set from Ellen Hutson called Voices in My Head, designed by the uber-talented Julie Ebersole and given to me by the incredibly generous Joan B. 

Acts of kindness lift us up, don't they? I had a vivid reminder of this three weeks ago while sitting in an ER for a possible small brain bleed. That sounds mighty dramatic, but I am convinced until proven otherwise that the doctors were over-reacting. Follow-up will be at the end of November. I'm not worried. 

While waiting in an uncomfortable ER bed for 22 hours, I texted out the situation to my posse. One friend, Stephanie, immediately texted back, asking what she could do. My first response was to say, "Just pray." But then I remembered how much Stephanie loves flowers...and loves to give them. So I texted her a picture of my ugly ER view and told her that I'd love to have fresh flowers for a better view when I got home. 

Stephanie came through! 

A few days later, my friend Zandra told me how happy Stephanie was that I'd ASKED her do DO something specific, something related to what she loves, something that filled her with joy. Zandra has driven our son Jack to classes a few times now when his regular ride could not. I get a single rose delivered every Monday...no name, just the words "Keep looking up...He's got you." George's employer has dropped Kroger on us three times, and others have brought sweets, soup, lasagna, cakes, flowers, tea, and other lovely gifts. 

Too often, we put people off. "I'm fine." "No, we're good." But we are not fine, and we are not good, and we need each other's acts of kindness. There are no small acts of kindness. Even the most humble dandelion flower handed to us by a child fills our hearts up and makes us feel better.

Don't hesitate to ask for those small things that might help. Don't steal someone else's blessing by saying, "We don't need anything." 

Ask for those small acts of kindness. You might even get a HUGE rose and hydrangea arrangement!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,

Susan