Some Musical Thank-You Notes

My sister came to visit me back in October, and while she was here I helped her make 15 note card sets to give as Christmas gifts to her staff, co-workers, and kids' teachers. She tailored each set to the recipient, trying to make cards that reflect each person's interests. While hunting for appropriate stamps in my collection, she noticed that I had practically no music-related stamps, so for Christmas she remedied that situation by giving me the lovely music stamps I used in today's thank-you cards! Wasn't that sweet of her? I used them for the first time today. I sit on the Worship and Music committee at our church, and one of my tasks is thanking guest musicians who share their talents with our congregation. I was in need of two thank you notes, one for a male musician and one for a female musician, and my sister's gifts were perfect for the job! Here's the first:

The angel image is from Hampton Art, and the "thank you" sentiment is from Tradefish Designs. I loved the colors for the new Play Date Cafe Challenge (robin egg, lavender, bisque), and they immediately reminded me of my long-neglected Kioshi papers from BasicGrey. The angel's dress just screamed for some paper-piecing, so I'm playing along with the Paper Piecing challenge over at Ribbon Carousel Challenge #38. Plus, I had the perfect May Arts two-toned sheer ribbon from Jessi (thanks, my friend!), which I knotted around the top of the card base to keep this somewhat flat-ish for mailing.

Now, my more masculine card:

The music comes from an old hymnal, and I did a bunch of ink distressing on it to darken it up. The musical stamps used to create the vertical strip come from an old set from Inkadinkado (my sister found it on eBay), and the "Thanks" sentiment comes from the Everyday Greetings stamp set from DeNami Design.

Now, I just need to write my notes inside these cards and pop them in the mail!!

Hope you found a little bit of happy in your corner of the world today! Thanks for stopping by :).
Emily

I'm officially addicted . . .

. . . to making this petite-sized card! They measure 3.25" x 4.25", and they are perfect for my family to use for post-Christmas thank you notes. Here are the results of my new addiction:

for this month's Theme Challenge: Christmas over at DeNami Design. The sentiment is from the Everyday Greetings stamp set, and the sweet Christmas light is the Curly Bulb stamp (it's currently on sale for $3.98!).


more for DeNami's Christmas challenge! Same sentiment, different image--this time it's the Small Solid Holly Leaves, which I received as a free bonus stamp in my last DeNami order! What holly would be complete without some blingy holly berries? Here the role of berries is being played by some fun rhinestones and pearls.

Penguins are really big favorites in my house, so I'm already imagining the arm-wrestling matches that will result when the rest of the family spies these penguin notes as choices amongst the thank you note cards.

This trio uses some Mary Engelbreit dimensional stickers and ME clear stamps that I picked up on clearance for 90% off at Michael's last year after Christmas.


And this last set features some more dimensional penguin stickers, this time from Recollections (another bargain bin find). The sentiments are from Tradefish Designs' Attitude of Gratitude set, which I adore. I think this last set of cards may be my favorites of the bunch!

The size of these cards will be perfect for the shorter thank you notes to be written, and I finally got to use some bargain loot! But the best part of these little cards? I was able to whip up 13 of them in less than 90 minutes. For a gal who's not known for her cardmaking speediness, that's definitely something to write home about. And I was smiling the whole time. They were fun!

Thanks for checking out my little slice of bliss today!
Emily

Global View Teacher Thanks

I seem to be on a thank-you note kick here recently!
I was inspired by the Get Inspired by Home Decor Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, which has this photo as its inspiration piece.
The stamps are from TradeFish Designs (which, sadly, is closing its doors). I colored the globe using my Prismacolor pencils.

I'm also entering this in the Tangled Twine challenge over at Ribbon Carousel Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

More Thank Yous for my 9YO

I rounded out my son's collection of cards for writing his birthday thank yous with these:
The robots are from The Angel Company (which, I just learned, went out of business in August. So sad!) and the "thanks a million" sentiment is from the Attitude of Gratitude stamp set by TradeFish Designs. I'm entering this in Go Fish Challenge #6. I was inspired by the color and layout of the stockings!


Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Set of Thank You Note Cards

I LOVE the Attitude of Gratitude stamp set that I won from TradeFish Designs last month. It was perfect for the whole mess of thank you notes I made yesterday (and already five out of the six have been used and mailed off!). I'm loving the size of this card, too: 3 1/4" x 4 1/4". Perfectly petite!
I was inspired by Go Fish Challenge #6 and am entering it over there.
Here's a closeup of my favorite card from this set:

The dotted patterned papers are digital papers from Echo Park's Dots & Stripes--Metropolitan collection. I used several different punches to make my flowers, but the leaves were all drawn and cut out by hand.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Thank You, Teacher

Still having trouble getting in the groove after a {meh} week last week. So this is just a quick card today to re-insert and play along with two challenges (both new to me) that are ending today: Go Fish! Challenge #3, a color challenge to use orange, yellow, and white, and Skipping Stones Sketch Challenge #99 I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, which is an "Anything Goes" challenge.

All stamps are from TradeFish Designs' Back 2 School set, which I was lucky enough to win earlier this month.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily