Stamping with the GS seniors

Blogging live from the Girl Scout Gold award function for STC.

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Not Just Cookies

Greeting Blog Readers!  Hope your week is starting out well.  Last week was quite busy with February requests for Stamp to Cope events. I am so excited that Stamp to Cope is becoming recognized as a service in our area.

One request came from a beautiful young lady who is working toward the Girl Scout Gold Award.  The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouts and is quite an honor to achieve. Part of her project is Breast Cancer Awareness and she has asked if Stamp to Cope would do an event for her troop and adult leaders. We are thrilled to be a part of her goal and to share important breast health information with such a fine group.  As some of you may know, my Mother is a life long Girl Scout and is still extremely active in her local area.  My personal contribution to the scouts is the large amount of support I give to the cookie sales each year :).  


To prepare for the Gold workshop, I spent the weekend planning and prepping supplies for the event. Ultimately, I created these sample cards that the scouts will be able to make for themselves. The festive style patterned paper, hearts, and layering will focus on Breast Cancer pink and a Valentine's theme.  I decided to go with three possible looks so that each scout can make a set.   The event will be held February 6, 2012 in Lexington at 6:30pm.  Please check out our website for more specific details.


STC is so excited to team up for such a worthy event. In talking with the young ladies of the troop, I am reminded that Girls Scouts are so much more than cookies.  Blessings,
Jeannette

Stamp To Cope: Time Change

Stamp To Cope: Time Change: Hi all, Based on the title I gave this post, you are probably thinking I should save it for the Spring when the clocks are changed. But th...

Time Change

Hi all, Based on the title I gave this post, you are probably thinking I should save it for the Spring when the clocks are changed. But this time (no pun intended)  it is really all about putting important things in our life into a new perspective. I believe that is one way to bring new life back into old favorites. So, I gave it a try.....

When I starting stamping in 2003, I focused on making my own coloring books for entertainment during chemo. I was quite content and did not anticipate any other use of my stamps. Then as my healing and coping requirements took on new dynamics, so did my interest in using stamps to create cards and scapbook pages. Once again, I found myself tempted to expand the use of stamps and ink to create something that caught my interest.....focal pieces.

My first attempt was to create this necklace piece for my daughter.  When she came home from college for the holidays I noticed the trend for big jewelry that made a definite statement. So, I made a flower scene inside a Tim Holtz pocket watch housing. The pocket watch casing is quite large so I wanted to create something that would be showcased behind the glass without being to overwhelming. Using stamps of flowers, leaves, and hearts I colored, distressed, cut out and layered for a 3D look.  I added glitter and rhinestones to give it a little bling and catch the light.  The really fun part was the versatility...the entire display was created on a circle cut piece of cardstock that I stamped and distressed that fits onto the back casing of the watch. By putting the entire scene on the decorated cardstock, it gives the option of exchanging multiple scenes to fit the occasion. (No, I have not made any more).  I then purchased a long thick chain necklace of antique brass and slipped the finished piece on.  It looked super on her.

Making this piece was a lot of fun and certainly opens up some Stamp to Cope, Inc. fundraising opportunity ideas. But for now, I discovered I still find card making the most fun. In the end, it was a reminder that old favorites can continue to bring surprises and lovely contributions to my life but there is comfort and joy in hanging with an old friend.  Thanks for stopping by and have a super week.

Blessings, Jeannette

Its all about the husband

Greetings Bloggers!

As the title indicates, this blog is all about the most wonderful husband in the whole wide world...Mine!  Happy Birthday! His birthday was the 9th of this month and I always want to make it unique since it seems so close to Christmas.  Therefore, while I stuck with a winter theme, I stayed away from the traditional holiday colors and went for a cool look instead. Besides, blue is his favorite color.  If you look closely, you will see that the snowflake is actually suspended with fishing wire in punch hole on the front of the card. It actually flutters like a real snowflake when you open it...pretty neat.  When I was creating this card and trying to plan for some type of birthday surprise. We had no idea that the surprise he would really get was a diagnosis of Cancer.

Cancer! Just saying (or in this case reading or typing) the word brings a myriad of emotions to the surface.  For those of us who are survivors, it might mean future fears or reliving haunting experiences. For those of us who were in a caregiver or support role, it might bring up feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness. But not many of us would associate that word with joy, thanksgiving, or positive energy. Yet, I write this blog today full of a new sense of strength, hope, and determination to take on the battle of this enemy again and WIN once more.  The difference this time, is that I will serve in the support role to my beloved husband and by bringing my own cancer lessons learned, I am coming armed, dangerous, and ready to do my part in this battle.

But, you may be thinking, why am I full of joy and excitement when once more this horrible invader has entered our home? Well it is because today we received word that my husband's cancer has not metastasized!! What blessed news after a long week of waiting for test results as part of a birthday celebration. What a wonderful miracle when sometimes fearing the worst. These last days have also reminded me of all the wonderful people (angels that God has put in our path) we have in our lives who continue to offer love, prayers, positive thoughts, and healing hands. What inspiration they bring.

Now it is my turn to be in the support role. I had a super role model in watching how my husband supported me.  I know we have God, our friends and family, and miracles on our side so yes I am joyful and say bring it on, we will fight and win!  Love to all and keep those prayers coming.  Jeannette

Clean and Simple Thanks

Happy New Year!  Now that the holiday season is winding down and the new year has begun, the focus is on sending out thank you notes.  Stamp to Cope, Inc. (and me personally) was richly blessed over the last weeks of the year with donations of cash, stamps, and in kind resources.  A huge thank you to Rita Whetzel, the Lexington Lioness Club, Star Charities, and our Board of Directors.  We had a really special surprise when we received a beautiful arrangement of "candy cane" Lillies from the very first Stamp to Cope survivor recipient. It was wonderful to hear how much of an impact the STC tote bag of stamping supplies had on her continued recovery and that she is doing so well...Praises!    The flowers inspired this clean and simple card to reflect our thanks.

With a Lilly stamp, I used Memento markers to color the petals red and the stem and leaves green.  Once colored, I "huffed" over the stamp to reactivate any ink that dried (the moisture from my breath reactivates the ink) and stamped onto a cut piece of white card stock at the bottom.  I repeated this process four more times adjusting the height of the Lilly each time. Since the original Lillies were white with red stripes down the center, I thought I would reverse the look so I used a white gel pen to draw white lines down the middle of each petal. After stamping the sentiment in the center, I freehand tied a red bow and attached with a glue dot.  The whole piece was mounted onto a piece of red cardstock to showcase the red flowers. Using markers to color stamps is a great way to add variety without having to invest in lots of expensive ink pads.  By keeping the layering and dimensionals to a minimum, special postage and packaging is not necessary.

Try these techniques with other types of flowers and colors for birthday, get well, and sympathy greetings as well.  Thank you everyone for your support of Stamp to Cope, Inc. and blessings to all.  Jeannette

Dearly Beloved

Greetings all. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Our family was truly blessed with family and good cheer. I am double rewarded because it is also the time I get to celebrate the anniversary of marrying my best friend. My card today was created for my loving and devoted husband and my number one support partner. I continue to thrive and survive because is his dedication...thank you deerly :)

This card used masking techniques to create the hills with a little glitter to make it look like snow. I used copic markers to color the deer and add depth by cutting them out and using deminsional tape to attach them to the card front. By using brown tones it added a masculine touch.

Try these fun approaches on your next creations. Have a happy and safe New Year.  Blessings to all. Jeannette

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Guiding Star

Hi all,  Hard to believe that the week of Christmas is upon us. For many, the rush to finish shopping and complete last minute preparations will be on. Be sure to take an extra moment to focus on the purpose of the holiday...

I had one final task to complete today and it required me to pick up a large item at my local Walmart. There were not many shoppers at the time I went, but the staff were quite busy stocking shelves and carting things back and forth in preparation for final Christmas sales. Since I was in no hurry and the store was not crowded, I spent some time walking around the various departments. What I experienced was quite a reality check. The employees, while helpful if needed, were far from jolly and a sense of dreaded anticipation was noticeable in each department.

As I waited for my item to be located and loaded, I struck up conversations with several employees. It was quite depressing to hear how much they wished the week was already over. A few long timers even began to share Christmas customer "war" stories (rudeness, impatience, entitlement, threatening) that gave me an idea of exactly why they were not looking forward to the week. I left the store thinking how very sad and the exact opposite of what Christmas is suppose to represent.

So, in all the hustle, bustle, anticipation, anxiety, and stress of the week, please remember the love, joy, and ultimate reason for the season.  May the Christmas "Star" be our guiding light so that we reflect the true meaning of the holiday!  Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus.  Jeannette

Christmas Surprise Card

Greetings Bloggers, Hope this post finds you enjoying the preparations of the Season. As promised last week, I wanted to share this Christmas Card that has a surprise...the inside.  While I always try to create on the outside, I do not usually add more than the greeting to the inside.  However, as I pondered the Advent of the Christ, I was compelled to reflect on my internal preparation and Thanksgiving. Somehow, that reflection took on a whole new meaning in this creation....the message and guiding light inside :). See the surprise ....

 Enjoy and have a great week.

Jeannette

A Folded Christmas

Happy December Everyone!

It is now officially Christmas card making season and always a fun time for holiday crafting. So to inspire myself, I spent last week searching for some new techniques.  I had hoped seeing what others were doing would help me decide what type of family card to make this year.  However, the idea took a most unusual turn....instead of helping me come up with one card, it encouraged me to make a variety.  The first technique I tried was a folded tree.

The tree requires paper that has a pattern on both sides. Cut or punch a circle that is 5 1/4 and cut it in half. Then basically accordion fold so that the patterns alternate.  I used a gold brad for the tree topper but a sticker or a button would also look nice. The trunk of the tree is a piece of scrap brown card stock.  I stamped the sentiment in green ink and mounted it on a red piece of cardstock so it would match the card base which is also red. I added a white piece of card stock, embossed with dots for a little texture.  Next time I may try to emboss with snow flakes to see how it looks. For a little horizontal color and to bring everything together, a thin strip of coordinating paper was used.

The great thing about this card is the amount of depth without the bulk so mailing is easy.  Stay tuned next week for a "surprise inside" technique.  Happy stamping.... Jeannette