Hey There!

Wow....life has been good.  Life has been full and ultimately life has been crazy.  Crazy and busy and full of family, activities and everything else that would take me away from crafting for such a long period of time.  And I have missed crafting!  I have missed visiting blogs and  I have so many people to respond to with letters and cards than I have fingers and toes to count them on! To all of you who have sent me cards, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!  I really appreciate it more than you can ever know!  I will very soon be responding to you and your lovely wishes with some of my own.  I find it amazing how turned upside down my home gets during the holidays or really whenever my all children come home.  Since my crafting takes me away from them....physically "removes" me from the rest of the family it ends up being an activity that I don't spend too (any?) time doing while they are here.  Also, my main computer is in my oldest daughter's old bedroom and while she is home I like to stay out of that room to respect her privacy so.....while I do have an Ipad I don't tend to do too much surfing or commenting.  Yesterday, however, I did have time to get to some crafting and I have to say it was so much fun and so rejuvenating to get back to playing.  I had a few thank you cards to whip up and I wanted to work some of my old scraps into the mix.  I also wanted to try to work some die cutting into the cards....to make the "edges" decorative.  That is a technique that has always eluded me.  I never end up being able to successfully edge out a card and make it look nice and finished.  But I am pleased with these four cards.  I think that is because I was feeling under the weather (the flu has hit HARD in my area) and I had to cancel all my day plans and just sit home.  That gave me the time and the no pressure window to experiment with my dies and papers....something that I haven't had time to do before.  And these cards, after I figured out how to die cut and assemble, really didn't take too long to make.  And the process was sooooo enjoyable.  What a great way to use scraps of paper or even "break into" those lovely papers that we all tend to hoard.  I also found these particular gem stones at JoAnn's.  They come in a larger sheet and are very "low" meaning that they don't stand out from your paper as much as other gems.  Even though they do have dimension it is definitely less and so much nicer for mailing!  Here is a pic of the gems....they come in lots of colors.

And here are pic's of  the cards.....I hope you enjoy!  All dies are from Spellbinders and the "thanks" sentiment is from Hero Arts Live and Laugh CL520 clear sheet. I can't remember what brand the "Thank you for" is.....sorry I don't have the wrapper anymore.  The inside of those cards say "everything" though.

As I mentioned above these are all Spellbinder dies.  And some are newer and some are from years ago.  I am not a big New Year's Resolution type person but this year I did make a a quiet promise to myself to really LEARN how to use the different products that I have.  In the beginning of my crafting I often bought supplies based upon someone else's fabulous creation.....but never took into mind that that particular person might have been crafting years longer than me....or had more time to learn various skills and techniques.  So I would use the product and my creation would look like doo-doo.  And then I would put that product away and it would collect dust.  End of story.  Until now.  So, the 'fleur d' lis" die above was one of the very first that I ever got.  And, I could never figure out how to use it.  I love the pattern and am so glad that I had a day to really work with it and understand how to make edge cuts that translate into cards.  I know it sounds simple to probably most of you but I actually have to watch video tutorials to figure that stuff out.  Which takes time.  Which I usually don't have. So, for all of you out there that have LOTS of stuff that has never been used.....take some time to shop your shelves for that product that you always wanted to use but weren't sure how to....take some time learn how to use it so you are a better crafter AND are able to get your money out of your supplies!  And, thank you all for stopping by.....and I hope that each and everyone of you had a wonderful holiday season.  I cannot believe that we are into 2013 already....remember when the turn of the century was such a big deal and here it is already 13 years later!  Wow.

Be well,
Sheila