Friday Folds Ornament Punch Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  I Am Having A Hard Time With This New Reality
I walk around my days with a sense of being incomplete.  The sense of space - of void - where something so meaningful - something so full of love and life used to be.  The reality of Willow no longer being here, walking through my days with me, is a reality that I am having a very hard time with.  I am not used to being a family of 3.  I know that was the reality before Buddy walked into our lives back in 2005, but once he was here we adjusted quickly to being a foursome and four was a number that fit us like a glove - surrounding us with love and warmth.  And now that we have experienced the fit of four, three is like missing a finger - a palm - a whole hand.  I miss my beautiful Willow.  The tears come and go.  The pain waxes and wains as I walk through my days.  But the feeling of being "less than" of being incomplete is with me all the time.  Yes, I am having a hard time with this new reality...
You may be wondering why I am sharing this card with you for a Friday Folds posting...Well, the folds aren't on the outside, they are here...on the inside!

I punched about 7 ornaments using the ornament punch and then folded each of the ornaments in half.  I then glued them to one another and glued the end halves to the inside of the card.  I think I could have added a few more folded ornaments to have made it look even more round.  The ribbon was then attached to the card using a glue dot.  Here is a view of what the card looks like when you open it:

The greeting is from Wacky Wishes and I inked up the stamp using markers.  Of course I am now thinking about all the other folds I can make in punches...owl punch, here I come!!!!  I hope this card inspires you to think about folding your punches in new and exciting ways!  I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend!!!!!

Broadsheet Alphabet Stationery

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Sometimes You Need Less Than You Think
I thought I would be taking a few days off, but for some reason I decided I wanted to post something tonight.  This blog has become quite a little part of me and I feel a bit at a loss when I'm not posting.  It helped that I remembered that I had taken a photo of one of the personalized stamped cards I made to take with me to London to give to my friend Emma who lives there :)  I thought I would need more days than I actually needed...of course I still reserve the right to be tired tomorrow...so we'll see if I make it back tomorrow with Friday Folds.  Sometimes you need less than you think!
Personalized stationery is so easy to make using the Broadsheet Alphabet!  I used Cherry Cobbler ink to stamp the initial on Very Vanilla card stock and then punched it out with a circle punch.  I then punched a Cherry Cobbler circle 1/4" larger and layered the two together.  Finally, I used the Finishing Touches edgelit to create the Cherry Cobbler strip that I adhered across the card.  The envelope was also stamped to personalize it.  I created a set of 8 of these cards and boxed them as a gift for Emma.  The best part was seeing her smile when I handed her the box :)

I'll be back in a few days...

Just a quick note to let you know that I will be back in a few days...maybe Thursday or Friday.  It seems my travel took a bit more out of me than expected and I have decided to give myself a few more days to recover :)  Hope you have a wonderful few days and I'll see you soon!!!!!

Lovely Little Labels Thanks Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  It's Good To Be Home After A Long Journey!
There is so much I want to share with you - hopefully I'll be able to share experiences and some photos with you this week.  I just got home late Saturday night from a work trip to London.  I did my best to take a little extra time to have some fun and I succeeded!!!!!!  One of the big highlights was risking meeting an on-line friend in person for the first time!!!!!  I'll share more about that tomorrow after I have a chance to download a photo or two :)  It was WONDERFUL!!!!!!  The flight home was long - 8 1/2 hours from London to Washington, DC, then a 1.5 hour layover before getting on the 3.5 hour flight to Denver.  I tried to keep myself from falling asleep so that I wouldn't be all upside down with my schedule.  I had a good night's sleep Saturday night, but as I write this on Sunday in the early evening, I can feel myself fading a bit.  Hopefully another good night's sleep is in store for me :)  Yes, it's good to be home after a long journey.  It's also nice having found a bit of home while I was away :)
Today's card is a simple Thank you card.  I punched three 1" circles of Wisteria Wonder designer series paper and adhered them to the Pool Party card base.  Next came a bit of stamping from Lovely Little Labels onto Very Vanilla card stock with Wisteria Wonder ink.  I punched the images with the Little Labels punches and added a vintage faceted designer button with a small piece of Pool Party baker's twine.  I hope you like it :)