Friendship is my Favorite Adventure

It's funny how effortlessly this next card came together because the person I made it for became a friend just as quickly. I tend to think the older you get, the harder it is to make real, genuine friends. And that's still true but sometimes, life surprises you! I sat down to make this and usually, I spend hours deciding on what to do, but this card just came out in a little more than an hour and I haven't worked on a card that quickly in ages. It was really calming and fun too which is how I would describe my new friend as well. 😊

I wanted to try some stamps I haven't touched before and these from Hello Bluebird were still in the original packaging. I wanted to make the bear resemble a polar bear and I'm pretty proud with how the coloring came out. For the background, I wanted to create a darkening sky so I blended Salvaged Patina, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet but that top layer looked waaaay too bright still so I mixed some Speckled Egg to darken it a bit. Then I went in with my MFT cloud stencil and with Chipped Sapphire, I blended all the way down. 

Once I adhered the images and stamped the sentiment, it still looked a bit too plain so I made a border with an MFT diecut and tried to trim both sides equally (I failed) But looking at the finished product, I am so happy with how this thank you card came out.

Heart Shaker

For Valentine's Day, I was only able to make one card. However, I forced myself to FINALLY sit down and create a shaker card. I should preface this with every SINGLE Christmas, I buy all the supplies to make a holiday shaker card and I always get too intimidated to do it. My fear is that the recipient will open the card only for the whole thing to fall apart. 

But I told myself to just try and worse thing I just throw the whole thing out (you'd be surprised how many times THAT does happen)

I bought the heart cover from Waffle Flower which if you are going to create shakers, they are the folks with the most idiot proof supplies. The insides were a Recollections glitter palate from Michael's. I used the Waffle Flower heart background stencil and kept the pink and purple color theme throughout. I was really happy with how it turned out until I realized I adhered the whole thing onto the card crooked. I did let out a few expletives there, but overall, I decided this was really good for a first try! I decided to send this to my close friend Rachel who is always encouraging me to craft and try new things. She would always tell me shakers are totally doable so I knew my first one should go to her.

And what do you know- it arrived all in one piece.