Aloha, all!
OK, I’ve mentioned several times about how wonderful it was to have been at the Island Style Stampers Annual Retreat in Maui earlier this month. But did you know that I almost couldn’t go? Nothing so drastic as Covid. But it’s definitely related to the economic issues facing everyone these days. While I could get an airline reservation to hop on over to Maui, I couldn’t get a rental card. And, with the airport on one side of the island and the retreat location over an hour away on another side of the island, I needed a car to get there.
When I told Cheryl I couldn’t come, we were both disappointed. But then just a few hours later, she called me back and said that she had some of her team members fighting over who would pick me up and take me to the retreat. Yay! I ended up staying with a new friend near the airport the night before the retreat and at the home of another friend who lives near where the retreat was to be held. And yet another new friend offered to drive me and my first-night hostess on over to the retreat.
Besides small hostess gifts that I brought with me from the Big Island, Thank You notes were definitely in order. And why not use some of that fabulous Cork Specialty Designer Series Paper that we all got at the retreat.
Fall Leaves from Fall Papers
Not only did I used the Cork Paper (it’s the background of the card – just sitting there looking pretty!). I also used the same Harvest Meadow Designer Series Paper set for the leaves on this card. There is a lovely new leaf die set in the newest Stampin’ Up! Mini Catalog. But I particularly like the Stitched Leaves Dies set.
There are four different leaf dies and four different paper designs in the group of leaves on this card. If you look down at the bottom right of the card at the beginning of this article, you’ll see yet another leaf which I’m pretending is a typical leaf, fallen from a tree in the Fall.
The top leaf uses the same Calypso Coral print that we used in the small Note Card in my last post. Then there’s a Soft Succulent print, and one with a Bumblebee print. Finally, sneaking behind the Coral leaf, there’s a light Crumb Cake print. (As an aside, in the other two cards that I sent out, I placed that Crumb Cake leaf just a little higher so you can actually see it. Hmmm. Why didn’t I photograph one of the other cards? Too late, now, as they’re all in the mail.)
Paper being what it is, I couldn’t bend the stems so that they would all come down into the same space for tying some twine around them. So I left it to the Coral leaf to hold the Linen Thread bow.
The fun part was deciding just to stamp the “Thank You” (from the Timeless Tulips Stamp Set – a favorite stamp) right onto one of the leaves. I really didn’t want to “mess up” this rustic, fall-colored card front with a piece of white cardstock anyway.
Stamping Inside the Card
While I did think about die-cutting another leaf for the inside of the card, I went ahead and took the easy way out and just stamped a couple of leaves on the inside. I continued the color scheme from the front of the card, stamping one leaf using Soft Succulent Ink and another using Calypso Coral.
Thank You Again!
By the time you read this, all three of my new friends should have received their cards. But I cannot say, “Thank You,” enough for what each of them did to make the Retreat such a special time for me. After my summer travels and a bunch of other non-crafting projects in which I’d been involved all summer, it was a great way to get me back into stamping. And they made it happen! I can hardly wait to see them next time.
Happy Stamping everyone!
