Happy Easter

What were you doing a month ago?  Whatever it was, doesn't it seem in some ways like a million years ago!  Because now here we are, one month into this COVID-19 quarantine.  It's been four weeks of social distancing and self-isolation.  Four weeks of disturbing and scary news.  Four weeks of trying to navigate a whole new world of working from home and remote learning for our kids AND a shortage of toilet paper at the grocery store.  Four weeks of fear and uncertainty.  Four weeks of a crisis unlike anything we've ever experienced in our lifetimes.

But that's exactly why it's so important for the sake of your sanity and mental well-being to take a step back every once in a while and just do a little self check-in.  How are you holding up?  Are you about to lose your mind or starting to find your groove?  Are you being productive or struggling?  The reality is that because this is something none of us have ever experienced, there's also no way to know exactly how to respond.  There's no rule book and no way to predict how it's all going to play out.

But, you have a choice!  You can sit there in fear, anxiety, stress and worry.  You can obsessively check the news.  And then, when it all becomes too much to think about, you can tune-out, where you stay in your pj's all day and start binge watching TV.  OR you can  take a different path and choose to focus on the things that you can actually control.  You can choose to make the most of this crazy time.

I'd love to hear some specific things you're doing to keep yourself busy and productive during this time.  What are you working on?  What's keeping you sane?  Hit "comment" below and let me know!  As you know, what's keeping me sane and busy is being creative.  I've made quite a few cards and actually mailed a lot of them.  Sonny says all the stamps I'm using are costing him money!  (I don't say anything about how much he's spending on the golf course every day!)

Enjoy your Easter!

Here are a few Easter cards I have made (and mailed!)

I used the 6x6 Gingham DSP (retired) and one of last year's Sale-a-bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice.  I used the Highland Heather Blends to color the flowers. 

Everything about this card is retired!   I went to my stash of non-SU designer paper and found this piece that I thought went well with the card.  The flowers and sentiment are from  Easter Message.  The die cut flowers on the side are from the Botanical Builder dies and the cardstock is an In-Color from last year, Berry Burst.

Another beautiful (but retired) card!  The stamp set is Oh So Eclectic and matching dies, Eclectic.

Aren't these bunnies cute?  I made several cards with this stamp.  It is really old (thus, retired) and was s single stamp that we could purchase way back in 2013  for $6.95!  Back then, we didn't have dies so I fussy cut the bunnies.  (Plus, it is a wooden stamp which tells you how old it is!)

Another beautiful card using Easter Message.  I stamped the cross in Versamark and heat embossed it with Gold powder.  I used a white pen to color in the cloak.  It is layered onto gold paper and then onto non-SU designer paper.  This is one of my favorite cards and I made several of them

March Stamp Club Cards

I am waiting for my Tuesday Stamp Club gals.  They should be arriving in about an hour.  So, I thought I would share the cards we will be making.  I am concentrating on Easter and will let them choose which ones they want to make this month.

Using the Single Stamp - Ears to You and Melon Mambo ink - easy one.

Easel Card

 The Easel Card will be the most difficult for them to make but it is really easy when you figure it all out.  I used Blush Bossom card stock (retired).  The Cross is made from the Lattice Die (Elegant Eggplant).  The leaves are punched with the Bird Punch.  I used Nestabilities for the oval and ran it through the Dotted Embossing Folder.  The flower in the center is from the Flower Trim in the mini catalog (pg. 5).  I love these flowers!  They come in Vanilla but it is so easy to die them.  You can color them with markers or reinkers or just smush them into your ink pad.  For the ones we are using today, I just cut about 12 flowers from the card and sprayed them with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and 5-6 drops of reinker.  I mixed it up in my Stampin' Spritzers (big catalog, pg 179).  They are a good deal - you get 2 bottles for $2.95.  I have several that I have mixed different colors into. 

Easter Blessings is also a Single Stamp in the mini catalog (pg 24) as are the doilies (pg  5).  Another deal!  24 doilies for $2.95!  I used a background from A Good Egg stamp (retired) on the Eggplant card.

This card makes me smile and think of SPRING!

 I am trying to make the best of the Sale-a-bration stamps - only a few more days!!  This one uses Bloomin' Marvelous.  I stamped the flowers in some retiring in-colors - Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and non retiring, Summer Starfruit.  I cut 1" of the Sale-a-bration DSP for the bottom and wrapped a small piece of ribbon around it.  My club ladies will be able to choose from the ribbon from Sale-a-bration - Pool Party, Is. Indigo or Calypso Coral.

Another Sale-a-bration - my favorite!  This one is Feeling Sentimental and I thought the That's the Ticket stamp went with it perfectly!

For this card I used the Natural Composition DSP.  Wow!  I just got this DSP - don't know what took me so long.  It's great - it is a heavy weight paper and the patterns are already embossed on the paper and glossy.  I sponged Soft Suede around the edges and sponged Vanilla on the center of the paper and made that embossing POP!