Aloha, all!
I’ve been told that Sesame Street debuted on this day (November 10th) in 1969. I’m not sure that I remember anything of the beginnings of Sesame Street as I was a childless young adult at the time and had other things on my mind. But children did come along, and soon I found myself immersed in the world of Oscar the Grouch and Bert and Ernie along with my growing family.
But the character that became my very favorite character was Cookie Monster. For one thing, whenever Cookie Monster appeared on the screen of any show for the first time, we all cried in unison, “kooo – key.” How could you not! And how could I not have a blog post knowing that this is a Sesame Street anniversary without a cookie for Cookie Monster.
Nothing’s Better Than
Than what? Actually, “Nothing’s Better Than” is the name of a stamp set in Stampin’ Up!’s catalog. It also happens to be a set that I’ve used exactly twice, and I remember the occasions. No matter who you are, there has to be something in the stamp set that you might used to finish the line, “Nothing’s Better Than.” Choices are Cocktails, Coffee, Chocolate. And Cookies.
Oh, and I added another “C” word to this card – Christmas! What a perfect card to send to Cookie Monster. And what a perfect card to send to a grandchild who just might be a real live Cookie Monster!
Yes, It’s a Christmas Card!
The minute we moved into the week where there’s a Thursday and we can say, “It’s only 2 weeks until Thanksgiving,” I go into panic card-making mode. The big deal for me this week is getting all my Thanksgiving cards done. I really did try to figure out how I could make a Thanksgiving card with a cookie theme. But cookies go with Christmas. Pumpkins and turkeys and all things fall go into Thanksgiving. So I stopped my Thanksgiving cards to make this Christmas card.
The paper that forms the background is one of the plaids from the Plaid Tidings Designer Series Paper set. I love this green and red plaid with the Crumb Cake-colored background. And Crumb Cake is the perfect color for cookies made with the cookie image in the stamp set. This is a 2-step cookie stamp with the outline and chips in Early Espresso Ink and the fill in Crumb Cake Ink. The other two inks that I used for the red and green accents were Cherry Cobbler and Shaded Spruce. Those make a good Christmas combination when a more rustic look is involved.
All Those Lines in the Stamp Set
I love all the lines in this stamp set that can be arranged to go together in so many different ways. OK, I just have to show you the set. It’s so stinkin’ versatile. I should definitely be using it more.
Obviously I used the “Today is a” and “kind of day.” The Cookies were a no brainer (it’s for Cookie Monster after all!). But I needed the word, “Christmas.” After I went through all my holiday stamp sets (well, that’s not all that many in turns out) I found this as part of the Christmas Wishes stamp in the Banner Year Stamp Set. Now there’s a versatile stamp set that I’ve been using all over the place! I’m sure you’ve seen it a lot and you’ll see more of it, too.
The Cookies
All 5 of the cookies that I used on this card are identical. For one thing, I used the Stamparatus to stamp both pieces of the cookie. But the other thing is that they all have a bite out of them. To make the three cookies behind the two on the top look like they were whole, I simply turned the “bite” side so that the two cookies would cover it. Just a little trick. I thought about making the chocolate chips red. But I’m like Cookie Monster – I like my chocolate chips the way they were meant to be: large and dark!
The Bottom Line
No matter what the occasions might be, you’ve got a stamp set that will make a card, or even a gift, that will go with it. It wasn’t that hard with this stamp set. But I did get the “Christmas” out of a stamp that had another word in it. Among ways to make this happen is to use your Stampin’ Write Markers just to color the part of a stamp you want to show. Or stamp a whole image and fussy cut out the part that’s not quite right. Look at all those words in the stamp set. Just imagine all the sentences that you could make with a bunch of them that has nothing to do with the stamp set!
Who’s your favorite Sesame Street Character? Could you imagine making a card for him or her out of this set? Bet you could!
Whatever you make this week, it will be wonderful. I hope you have a blast making it!
