Showing posts with label Darling Donkeys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darling Donkeys. Show all posts

Thursday, February 11, 2021

That's Amore for Valentines

As some of you may know, my 98 year old mom passed away in a residential nursing home in June of 2020 and although she didn't die of COVID19 she did die because of COVID19.  

I know that sounds weird, however when older folks like my mom who are used to having visitors and going for walks and participating in activities are isolated in their rooms and kept apart from their friends and loved ones during a pandemic it breaks their spirit, causes depression and some just simply die as a result of it.  

My mom was such a person.  Her dream was to live to be 100 and I really believed she would do it.  Her goal was to be the oldest surviving member of her family.  She talked about it all the time.  And although she was classed as a frail elderly person, she was a strong fighter and a determined woman who usually could make her way back from the brink no matter what.  She was like the Ever Ready Bunny and because of that she was my hero in so many ways.  Unfortunately because of COVID she gave up.  


So mom this Valentine's day post is in your tribute and for all the love you shared with our family.  You had so much fun and enjoyment making cards for your grand and great grand kids for Valentines and other occasions, so I know you'd be delighted to hear Heather and I made some Valentines cards for the nursing home residents where you lived, and we dropped them off last weekend.  While  we were there, we waved and blew kisses at the window to three of your very special friends - Pat, Lucille and Doreen.  

Here's Some of the Cards I Made:





For my cards I used an old Stampin' Up designer series paper called "That's Amore" which I cut using the Love It Chop It formula. This dsp was pretty muted but I liked how the mix and match worked. My card stock was a mixture of retired and current stock (Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Beautiful Brocade and Sweet Sugarplum).  

Over a three day period I enjoyed creating 46 cards including the ten I gave to  the nursing home.  

I don't know how you like to make cards but when I have a lot to do I like doing  an assembly line instead of working on one-at-a-time. I gather all my supplies such as stamps, card stock, dsp, ink, dies, punches and whatever additional embellishments or accessories I'll be using, and then I get to work.  I also like to have an idea of how many I need to make and a design. 

This is what the top of my desk looked like as I started assembling my cards. 

I cut and scored my card stock first, then mixed and matched the 5 1/4" x 4 designer paper mats (Love It Chop It).  I used all my scraps for adding layers to the front and the insides of the cards as design elements.  

I brought out a variety of retired Stampin' Up! stamps such as Bloomin' Love, My Little Valentine, Hearts A Flutter and Lift Me Up and I chose the Valentine sentiments and images I wanted and mounted them on acrylic blocks. 

I stamped all the sentiments in Cherry Cobbler ink on Very Vanilla and Pool Party card stocks. I also die cut and stamped hearts using the retired Hearts A Flutter dies and stamp set and used a retired medium sized heart to punch hearts from the That's Amore DSP.   

The inside panels were also pre-cut from Very Vanilla card stock and were all  stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink with a sentiment from Bloomin' Hearts. I used left over 3/4" x 5 or 3/4" x 4 strips of DSP to decorate the bottom or sides of these panels. 

For my main images on most of the cards, I  used the Kangaroo & Company and Darling Donkeys  animal images as well as the tiny envelopes and sentiments for embellishments.  The heart from my Dog Builder punch came in handy for punching out the tiny red, pool party and dsp hearts. I used a 3/4" circle punch for the Feb 14th sentiment and the retired Gift Bow Builder Punch and one of the stamps from that bundle for the little sentiments from Kangaroo and Company.

At the end of the day, almost every card was different because I was able to mix and match all the elements. Not only was it a fun experience making cards for the nursing home and friends and family, but it was a relaxing one. Time certainly flies when you're stamping and creating.  If  you're looking for something to occupy your time or a new hobby, keep stamping in mind it's fun and relaxing.  


The large red and pink hearts came from the "That's Amore" designer series paper pack (retired). There were two sheets with pink and red lacy heart images, that I cut out at the joints. These 3" hearts made a nice focal point for the cards and acted as a base for the rest of the design elements.

I used Stampin' Blends to colour the mama and baby kangaroos and the little heart clusters.  The Kangaroos, the heart envelope and the heart clusters are all components of the Kangaroo & Company stamp and die set which is currently in Stampin' Up!s  January to June Mini  Catalogue.


For the ten cards I made for the nursing home I used a sentiment from the retired stamp set Lift Me Up that says "Just a Note to Lift Your Spirits".  I thought that was very appropriate and meaningful for these elderly folks during COVID times.   


Kangaroo and Company is a 20 image stamp set and has a coordinating 11 piece die set.  It's certainly a versatility and fun set that can be used for almost any occasion.  I love that the die for the mama kangaroo cuts the pouch opening so you can insert a variety of the images like the flower or heart bundles.  Besides the kangaroos I stamped the envelope, some of the sentiments and the bundle of hearts for my Valentines Day cards.  Love it!  


Darling Donkeys is a Sale-A-Bration 21 stamp set and is available for FREE with a $60.00 purchase from any of Stampin' Ups Current Catalogues until the end of February or while supplies last.  I can't get enough of these cute little donkeys.  So much fun! 

Thanks for dropping by today and taking a look at my Valentine's Day cards.  I hope you liked them.  If you could leave a comment that would be wonderful.  

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin Up Demonstrator 

HOSTESS CODE FOR FEBRUARY: 




Sunday, January 17, 2021

CAS Color and Sketch #401 Weekly Winner.............Yeah!

What great news today!  I'm proud to say my Donkey Birthday Care was one of the three Weekly Winners of Challenge #401 at the CAS Colour and Sketch Challenge last week.  How awesome is that? 


Click here to see my post and details on this card

I'm very proud to display my Weekly Winner's badge:  

 Click here for Announcement

Thanks so much to the CAS Colour and Sketch Team for choosing my card along with Stephanie L. and Lucie's.   Made my day!  




Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot


Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

JANUARY HOSTESS CODE:

Monday, January 11, 2021

First Challenges for 2021

Hi everyone, Happy January and here's to new beginnings and hopefully a much, much better year ahead.

January is such an opportunity for fresh starts and I'm happy to say that I'm planning to do more paper crafting challenges this year.  This week I'm entering two challenges - a colour challenge with CAS Colours & Sketches and a sketch challenge with Freshly Made Sketches #467.

Colour Challenge: 

Challenge #401

Sketch Challenge: 

Here's My Slimline Card: 

My finished slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 4".  I cut a piece of Bermuda Bay for the base that measured 8 1/2" x 8" and then scored it at 4".  I added a layer of Pool Party that measures 8 1/4" x 3 3/4".  This was followed by the Whisper White layer which measures 8" x 3 1/2".  The inside Whisper White panel measures 3 3/4" x 8 1/4".


I fell in love with the images and sentiments in the Darling Donkeys Darling Donkeys  stamp set featured in today's birthday card. I don't know about you, but they put a smile on my face.  I knew they'd be perfect for this birthday card. 
This 8 piece red rubber cling stamp set is available in the newly released Sale-a-bration brochure and I got it for free when I ordered $60 in Stampin' Up! products.   You can too!



I stamped the donkey for the card front in Momento Black ink on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and coloured it with blends (see details below).  I fussy cut out the image and mounted it over the splotches with mini and regular dimensionals.   

The donkey inside the card was stamped directly to the panel and coloured in the same way.

The splotches beneath the donkey were inspired by Tashanda Lundy,  and are created using two images from the Painted Poppies stamp set.  

I stamped the center one in Pool Party and the two outer ones in Bermuda Bay ink.  I like the way they anchor the donkey and provide a great backdrop and, I think the colour contrast of Pool Party and Bermuda Bay really makes this card special.   

There are 3 splotch images in the Poppie Parade stamp set.  I used the flat one which created the background and stamped it off once (2nd generation stamping) in Pool Party.  The two pebbly splats were stamped in Bermuda Bay and were first generation stamping so you get a darker look.  I didn't use the smallest splotch although I contemplated it for the inside of the card.  


The sentiments on this card are from the Happiest of Birthdays stamp set in the Annual Catalogue.  There are only 4 cling stamps in this set, but they go the distance, in terms of great birthday greetings.  I stamped both sentiments with Cherry Cobbler Ink.   
I stamped both sentiments in Cherry Cobbler ink.  Unfortunately I did not use my re-inker on my ink pad or my Stamperatus to stamp these sentiments so they are not as robust as I would have liked them.  
 



Details:
Stamps:    Darling Donkeys (155264), Happiest of Birthdays (152539) and Painted Poppies (15382)
Card Stock:  Bermuda Bay, Pool Party and Whisper White
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Pool Party and Momento Tuxedo Black
Blends:  Gray Granite (Light/Dark), Light Crumb Cake, Light Petal Pink, Light/Dark Cherry Cobbler, Light/Dark Granny Apple Green.


Well that's it for today's card and challenge.  Hope you liked it.  If you need any information about Sale-a-bration products or the new January to June Mini Catalogue, please contact me. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot


Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator


January Hostess Code: 




Zany Birthday FMS#628

Well another week has flown by and there's a promise of Spring between the rain drops.  I'm thrilled to see all the cherry trees sta...