...and a little help from friends :-)
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!
I've been listening to The Beatles all of the past week while making and writing cards and I must say, I'm in a really good mood! Also this past weekend has been super relaxing (because it was freezing cold and we couldn't do anything besides staying in...) and that might be another reason.
Also today's headline is key and I'd like to announce, that this post is special in two different ways.
My Dear Friend
“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.” - The Beatles
At first I'd like to announce that I've had a young co- designer for today's cards - my neighbor Lilly Stephenson. I could win 13 year-old Lilly over to marble some card stock for me. When I got a glimpse of her work three weeks ago, I knew that I wanted to use those masterpieces as backgrounds for today's (16!!!) cards!
Yeah, I know... You're probably shaking your head...
But it's for a good cause and if you read my December post, you already know what the second special thing about today's post is: GlamourGal's #MyDearFriend notes to seniors (https://www.glamourgals.org/program/my-dear-friend)!
At the beginning of January I pledged to make Valentine's cards and as of this past weekend I have mailed those cards to a senior living home in Worcester, MA.
After having more than 20.000 cards in total sent for Christmas, GG already broke the goal of 5.000 cards for Valentine's easily -if I'm correct they’re counting more than 12.000 cards / letters already! Isn't that amazing?
Sending Love and Hugs and Kisses
With Lilly creating those absolutely perfect marble backgrounds with the crisp colors I knew, that the card base or the layer in between had to be a perfect color fit.
For the "Paper Hugs" card I decided on a red card base because I wanted the red and the light pink marble design to pop. The "You are loved" card on the other hand I wanted to tone down a bit. So with the tiny purple speckles in the marble design, I found a white card base in combination with the dark purple layer in between very fitting.
Products used:
"Paper Hugs" card: red and white card stock from Michael's, Heart punches (that I still had from years ago... Thanks Lois :-)), "sending" stamp from a no-name stamp set that I either got on amazon or at a craft store, "Paper Hugs" die from Simon Says Stamp! (sssd112267), white gel pen (Sakura, Gelly Roll)
"You are loved" card: white, extra heavy (110lb) card stock from Neenah, purple card stock from Michael's, ALTENEW "You Are Loved" die, "Detailed Rose" die from Simon Says Stamp! (sssd112273), white gel pen (Sakura, Gelly Roll), Pearly embellishments from amazon.
For the next set of cards I used the ALTENEW "Circled Greetings Dies" (Hello / Hugs). Cutting out the marble paper and having either white or colored card stock shine through, I found it didn't need a lot in addition to make a pretty card. A friendly and loving sentiment and some embellishments for finishing touches absolutely did the trick here.
The marble paper is simply a looker and didn't need much highlighting! Well done Lilly!
Additional products used: "my friend" stamp from Gina K.'s "Enjoy Today" stamp set, "Sending Healing Hugs" stamp from ALTENEW's "Sentiment Strips 2 stamp set, "Friend" stamp from a no-name stamp set that I probably bought on amazon some time ago, also embellishments from Studio Katia and a set from amazon.
Oh, and do you remember the Bee-cards? I had one colored flower leftover and it matched Lilly's background perfectly!
For the last two set of cards I concentrated on two Birch Press Design elements that I had for a while and wanted to use again - the "Fiori Heart Layer" and "String Art Frame" dies.
They're both just so effective - in combination with the lovely marble background - they also didn't need more than a greeting / sentiment to be finished.
I used a couple of stacked leftover "hello's" from the Circled Greeting die (cut out) and the Simon Says Stamp! "I love you" die in combination with above mentioned sentiments for the heart cards...
... and more stacked "hello's" as well as the Cas-Ual Fridays Stamps, LLC's "Sweet Friend" die for the String Art cards. For the finishing touches I added some hearts, flowers (those are actually the cut outs from the "Fiori Heart" die) embellishments and also a little sparkle with the help of the Nuvo "Aqua Shimmer" pen.
I hope you liked today's long (sorry again for that) post and the cards I shared.
I'm not one for mass-producing cards - you probably already figured that out.
I thought it would be nicer to have more individual cards for the seniors, just in case they show them around and share them with each other.
I'm happy to be part of the GlamourGals #MyDearFriend movement and I hope those cards (and the messages inside) will bring some smiles and love to the seniors in Worcester.
Thank you for reading this (seriously!) and for your interest.
As always, make sure to like and comment and let me know if you have any questions :-)
Love,
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