*sending a big thank you*

Here's another card I made with PTI's "a big thank you" set. It's my take on this lovely little number designed by the fabulous JulieHRR.

I made this card for my generous mom. She bought me a brand new digital camera! How sweet is that?

Thanks for stopping by!

*sending a BIG thank you*

Two posts in one day? Hard to believe isn't it?

I ordered a few stamp sets from PTI several weeks ago and was excited when they threw in an amazing little thank you set called *a big thank you*. I love freebies, especially when they're something you will use! You can never have too many thank you sentiments, and I will definitely be using this one a lot!

My cat, Sadie, wanted in on the picture, too. Did you notice how she slipped in her little paw there on the side?

Thanks for visiting! Come back anytime!

*thank you, thank you, thank you...*

Lime green and berry is a delightful combination, don't ya think? My friend has chosen them as her wedding colors, and I happened to have to a thank you card to make, so I thought I'd try them out. I love it! I'll definitely be using these colors again!

*thanks*

I whipped up this card for some friends who had us over for supper last weekend. I bought these cute stamps from Purple Onion Designs a few months back when they were on sale and thought the house would work nicely for a "thank you for your hospitality" card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

*so thankful*

This week I've been busy making thank you cards... which is a good thing. It means I have a lot of people in my life to be thankful for. My husband and I just celebrated our 23rd anniversary, and we received lots of thoughtful cards and wonderful gifts.

I found so much inspiration from color challenges, personal blogs, and magazines. Baker's twine seems to be the trendy thing right now, and I was delighted to get my hands on some. As you can see, I seem to be going through a kraft paper craze at the moment. Better add to that my love for these sweet little chubby birds and darling bunny rabbits. Oh... and clouds and gingham.

I don't just have a lot to be thankful for, I also have a lot to be excited about. My bestest friend in the whole world just got engaged... and on my 23rd anniversary at that! I'm happy beyond words for her!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a bee-uuuu-tiful day!

*another thank you*

Here's a sweet little thank you card I whipped up yesterday between running errands and attempting to clean my house. There are so many great blogs out there, and I found inspiration for this card on one of them... but can't seem to remember which one! I love the look of stamping the flowers on top of a newspaper background.

It's been ridiculously hot here the past few days. I guess I'll just have to stay inside and stamp! Thanks for stopping by!

*thanks so much* butterfly card

I found a little time to play with my new Stampin' Up goodies this afternoon. I mixed in some eucalyptus cardstock and ink from A Muse Studio along with their chocolate pearls, and then I found some chocolate seam binding by Martha Stewart that I bought ages ago but for some reason never used. I'm really happy with this color combination. It would be great for a guy card too.

Here are a few close-ups:

I colored in a portion of the flowers with colored pencils and then added some glitter glue. Don't ya just love this polka dotted butterfly?

I must have a thing for butterflies, because I love this swirly one, too! I thought I'd attach the sentiment to it and try to make the linen thread looks like it's antennae.

Thanks for stopping by!

*kindness matters*

It's not often that I almost completely CASE a card, but when I saw this amazing sample for the Kindness Matters set in the new Stampin' Up catalog (on page 121, in case your wondering), I knew I wanted to copy it! I *love* this stamp set, and at $8.95 for the cling set, it's a bargain!

Thanks for stopping by!

*thanks {so much}*

My kids got a surprise card from Funny Grandma & Grandpa last week. They sent each of the kids a check. (Go figure. How is it that the kids get all the money?) Anyhoo, it was awfully sweet of them, and the least I could do was whip them up a thank you card.

I tend to be the one to send out thank you's. I love to make cards, so it's really no big deal, but I got to thinking that since the kids got the gift, they should be the ones to send the card. So today they're getting a lesson on how to write a thank you. I'm sure they'll love it. It will likely be one of those things they will thank me for... later.

We got hit by the big blizzard that swept through the midwest. I haven't seen this much snow since I was a kid. We got at least a foot of it, if not more. The kids are excited. Today's a snow day! Snow days are the best, especially when you get to spend part of it learning to write thank you's.

Hope you're having a beautiful day! Thanks for stopping by!

*birdie banner thank you's*

Yesterday I sat down to make a few thank you cards that I needed to get out in the mail. Since I get bored making the same card over and over again, but I'm too lazy to come up with completely different designs using completely different stamps, I thought I would try varying the design just a bit but keeping it simple by using the same color scheme and the same stamps. I think all the designs turned out pretty cute, but the top one is probably my favorite. It's kind of hard to tell by the photo, but it's stamped onto vellum. I haven't used vellum much lately, so it was a fun change.

It's been a while since I've had to time to stamp for myself. It was nice digging through my goodies, finding a few things I had forgotten I had. That doesn't say much for my organizational skills, does it?

Which one's your favorite? Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

*amuse-bouche* - Everything's Rosy

The A Muse celebration continues, and today I'm excited to share with you a peek of the new Everything's Rosy Release! It's an amazing collection of wood-mounted botanical images and sentiments in a bit bigger size. Today I'm showing off *bursting blossoms*. Don't ya just love it? A Muse makes it so easy to create lovely, elegant cards in no time flat! What more could a girl want?

*thank you*

This morning, as I was enjoying my early morning coffee and browsing through my favorite blogs, I spotted this card made by my good friend, Michelle. It inspired me to dig through my stash of American Art Stamps and create this fun and whimsical thank you card. It always makes me happy to dig out something I haven't used in a while... and it makes me feel less guilty about all the money I've spent on stamps. ;)

*thanks {so much}*

You can never have too many thank you cards on hand. I make more thank you's than any other card, but I never seem to have one when I need one. How is that possible? I normally don't use a lot of purple, but lately I've had a thing for purple and green. It makes a great combination, especially when you've got a yummy polka dot ribbon to match.

*more Izzie cards*

I've got a few more *Izzie* cards to show you today. I just love this image. Izzie's as cute as a button... AND she's holding daisies, my favorite flower! Both cards feature the same image, just different color combinations. It's been a while since I've mixed blue and yellow. It makes for a sweet mix, don't ya think?

Here she is done up in a combination of coral and pink. I love this combination as well. It's so sweet and feminine.

Thanks so much for stopping by! We're enjoying a lazy snow day here! Hope you're having a wonderful day... and finding a little time to stamp!

*vintage butterflies*

I love butterflies. They add such a delicate and feminine element. The smaller butterflies were made with a Martha Stewart punch. The brown butterfly was punched from a piece of cardstock that had first been embossed in my Cuttlebug. That made it a bit more interesting and gave it some texture as well. I didn't do much to the pink butterfly except for sponge the edges with some distress ink. The larger green butterfly was made with a Sizzix embosslit. It's cool because it cuts and embosses at the same time. Then I sanded it to make the swirls from the embossing stand out a little more. I used linen thread (I love that stuff!) to attach the tag and discovered that once the ends were snipped, the linen thread took on the look of the butterfly's antennae. I chose A Muse's sheer ribbon to dress up the card, and the way I tied it almost gives the appearance of another butterfly. Cool, eh?

So glad you stopped by! Have a beautiful day!

Hannah's sign

This was such a fun card to make. I've had this punch for quite some time now and never used it. I was delighted to make it work for this design. It makes the perfect sign for sweet little Hannah Lollipop. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

*Gracie*

I haven't made a tall card in a while, and come to think of it, I don't think I've ever made a monochromatic card before. I usually get bored with just one color and start adding others. Technically, this one might not exactly qualify either, but I say it's as close to monochromatic as I'm gonna get. Ok... enough of that.

Isn't little Gracie Lollipop fun? I just had to give her a vintage dress. She's awfully cute done up vintage, don't ya think?

Thanks for visiting The Polka Dot Cafe! Have a beautiful day!

Ella Lollipop says *thank you*

My Stamping Bella package finally arrived yesterday, and I could hardly wait to ink up Ella Lollipop. I adore her polka dot dress and matching bow, and her skinny little legs just crack me up. She is total cuteness! I had enough kraft cardstock left over from yesterday for the card base, and seeing that my Stampin' Up goodies were still conveniently out on my desk, I decided to go shabby once again.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by The Polka Dot Cafe!

*granny's wallpaper*

Here's another vintage creation. It reminds me of old wallpaper like you'd find in a sweet little grandma's house. I first stamped the flower image with antique linen distress ink. I picked some up at Michael's the other day, and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Then I stamped right over the top of it with a cream colored chalk ink. It was just the look I wanted... delightfully shabby and very Laura Ashley!

I'm expecting a Stamping Bella package today. I ordered some of those darling new Lollipop stamps, and I can't wait to get my hands on them! I'm sure the poor UPS man is swamped with deliveries, but the selfish side of me wishes he'd drop everything he's doing and bring me my package!

*a few owl cards*

Yesterday, my honey and I celebrated our 21st anniversary. I thought I'd share the card I made for him. That little snippet you see on the tag is a piece of A Muse's new *paprika* notecards. It reminds me of pumpkin pie. (I think about food too much.)

While I had my stamping stuff out, I thought I might as well whip out a few thank you cards. I made the moon using a circle punch and added a few A Muse twinkle stars. The ribbon I recycled from a shirt I bought a while back. It was stitched inside to make it easier to put on a hanger, but I hate those things 'cuz they always end up showing. The ribbon reminds me of pumpkin pie too. ;)