Celebrating 13 FABULOUS Years and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Hello and welcome, friends! Today is a very special day...it's the 13 birthday of my blog! Can you even believe it? I can't! LOL! I'm so HAPPY to be here, all of these years later! There were years when I really thought that it would be the last, but my creative spirit has kept me going, even during those difficult "baby raising" years! The most wonderful thing about these past 13 years are ALL OF YOU! I have made such wonderful friends through this crazy paper crafting adventure and I wouldn't trade it for the world! 

So....in celebration...how about a little GIVEAWAY???? I'd like to give one lucky blog reader/Instagram follower a $100 gift certificate to the stamp store OF THEIR CHOICE!!! (U.S. currency only) You can enter BOTH places, but you MUST be a follower of mine on Instagram (please no follow and then un-follow later). I will be drawing randomly from ALL entries on both Instagram and here on my blog. Simply leave a comment letting me know what you have enjoyed here most over the years! That's it...easy, peasy! I won't be posting to Instagram until later in the morning since I am on MT, not ET, but it should be up around 7-8 a.m. The deadline for entries will be Sunday at 12 noon MT. 

And now...on to the cards!

I've created two almost identical cards that would be perfect for Valentine's Day. These cards actually had me thinking of all kinds of 4 letter words. NO, not those 4 letter words, silly! I'm talking about words like LOVE, HUGS, BABY, etc. I thought this design would work perfectly for a card for a baby girl, or a sympathy card using HUGS.

To begin both cards, I heat embossed the Enchanted Blooms Cling Rubber Stamp using white powder and then added the Passion Fruit ink over the top. It's been a while since I've done the emboss/resist technique and I felt it would be perfect for these two Valentine's Day cards. Once that was done, I die cut them using the Diagonal Stitched Rectangles dies. I love the polished, professional edges that it creates.

I die cut the frame using the gorgeous Fancy Oval Frame Die and then adhered it directly to the embossed panel using liquid glue with a precision tip. This set the stage to add the beautiful floral image from the Sending Love and Hugs Stamp Set. I stamped one with the lighter Fresh Pear ink and one with the darker Emerald ink. I layered two die cuts together for a more sturdy piece. This was the perfect platform to add the die cut silver metallic letters and a die cut bow. 

The letters were die cut twice; once from thick white cardstock and once from the silver specialty cardstock. I glued them together with liquid glue. The bow is secured with hot glue and then I added some glitter to it as well. I warned you about glittery bows, didn't I? ha ha!

The sentiment, which is from the Simply Sentiments Hello stamp set, is heat embossed in silver onto a strip of vellum. I secured it around the focal panel with tape in the back.

I thought I was going to like the one with the lighter green ink, but now I just don't know. This one has such a dramatic feeling with the dark foliage.

I added a few Jewels here and there. I reached for the pink ones, which you would think would be the obvious choice, but in the end I settled on the white ones. They pick up the pink beautifully, while the pink ones were giving this particular design a yellow look! Go figure! That's why it's always nice to play around with different options and don't get to "married" to a certain idea...let yourself enjoy the creative process and scrap an idea if it just isn't working! 

Once again, thanks so much for 13 fabulous years and thanks for fluttering by!