Inspired By A Postage Stamp

 Have you seen these new postage stamps?  They just came out a couple of weeks ago.  I have always been a fan of Mr. Rogers and rushed to our post office to buy these stamps on the day they were issued.  And it's a good thing that I did because they were sold out within a few short hours!  That means that there are a lot of admirers of Mr Rogers in our town and that makes me happy!

I keep several different kinds of postage stamps on hand.  I often try to match the colors or design of the card I am making to the postage stamp that I will be using. (Just a fun creative exercise for me; I don't expect the recipient to notice!)  So here is the card that I created to go with the Mr Rogers stamp: 

 Obviously there is a lot of red and blue, but notice that I added some touches of gold to match King Friday's crown.  Also, I wanted to use some sentiments that Mr Rogers would.  I looked through all of my stamps to see if I had any that said "I like you" or "You are special".  Surprisingly there weren't any!  But I made some phrases with some of the words from the Thoughtful Banners set that seemed close enough.  

By the way, I copied the design for the card right out of the Annual Catalog.  Whenever I feel stuck in coming up with a design, I open my catalog.  For this card, I knew that I wanted to use the Thoughtful Banners set, so I turned to that page and saw these cards at the bottom:

I liked the middle card the best, so I simply changed out the colors.   This is the very first tip that I shared on this blog!

SIMPLE STAMPING TIP #1 - Copy a design from our catalog.  Modify, if needed, to fit your own style or the supplies that you have on hand.

I have read many things about Mr. Rogers and an interesting thing that I learned is that he constantly was sending out notes of encouragement to family, friends, co-workers, and his many "neighbors".  That is why it seems entirely appropriate that his picture is on a postage stamp.  I hope that you feel inspired to send a card to someone today!

Delightful Daisy Cards

One of my favorite items from the new Stampin' Up catalog is the Delightful Daisy paper (Item #144137).  I have used it over and over again in just the month or so since I ordered it.  It comes in a pack of 12 double-sided sheets.  Here is a closer look at all of the pretty patterns:

Some of the patterns feature larger prints and sometimes it's hard to know exactly how to use them.  So here is a simple stamping tip to help you know what do to with those papers with large, bold prints:

SIMPLE STAMPING TIP #4:  Use paper with large patterns as the focal point of your card.

You can see that I cut a large piece of the paper to cover most of the front of the card, just as I did the card at the top of this page.  Then I stamped my greeting on a small piece of cardstock.  The words on both cards come from the Thoughtful Banners stamp set (Item #141614).  As you can see, this stamp set covers just about every occasion! 

I made this card for my sweet Aunt Dot, who recently had a birthday.  She has Alzheimer's disease and has been residing in a care facility for the past year or so.  When I saw this paper, I thought of her.  I didn't get visit her in her home very often over the years; she lived in Pennsylvania and we lived in Tennessee.  But I always remembered her yellow kitchen.  I thought it was a perfect reflection of her fun personality!  

You can see a glimpse of her sunny disposition as she is having fun with a friend in her bright, cheerful kitchen:

By the way, I also used this same paper on this birthday card for my mother-in-law.  And I used the same technique of using a large piece of the paper.  When paper is this pretty, it just seems right to let it be the "main attraction"!

If you are interested in ordering this paper or any other items, you can shop online by following the instructions in the right margin.  Stampin' Up is having a special promotion this month.  For every $50 (before shipping & tax) you spend, you will get a $5 bonus coupon that can be used August 1-31, 2017.  You will receive a coupon code via email.  If you have any stamping or ordering questions, please let me know (in the comments, on Facebook, or email godismydelight@yahoo.com).

Thanks for coming here today!  I will be back next week, sharing some scrapbook pages featuring this same pretty Delightful Daisy paper.