Lesson #1 – When you marry an entrepreneurial type, there are days when "the family business" takes precedence over stamping.  He had all of us working on different ventures while he got our tax information ready for the accountant.  (Yes, we always file an extension.  Did I mention we're a family of procrastinators as well as pack rats?)  So that's where I've been since Saturday.

Lesson #2 – Not all postal employees have a sense of humor.  While I have very little confidence in the USPS, there are several postal employees that I really like.  Ed is one.  He and his wife were on a cruise with us a few years ago, and they're just great people.  I forget, though, that not all the employees at our local PO are like Ed!  I had to pick up some stamps yesterday, and the guy who waited on me (not Ed, unfortunately) actually did "go postal."  I'm glad they're not allowed to carry weapons!  I would have been hitting the floor.  Anyway – I thought it was "bargain day at the Post Office," because, in keeping with his bad day, my "anti-Ed employee" only charged me for 1 out of 5 rolls of stamps.  It didn't even register until I got home – and it was not a day to be driving around town.  Lots of accidents and cranky people.  But I went back anyway and paid the extra $168.  (YIKES!)  At least this time, I got Ed!

Lesson #3 – Almost every stamping mishap can be fixed.  So many things went wrong with this card, I almost trashed it!
The inspiration was from our monthly magazine from Stampin' Up!  I thought it would be fun to do a card with different dimensions, and the one in the magazine looked like it used the Top Note die from the Big Shot starter kit.  I measured, and it was too big, but….I thought if I turned it around it would work.  Nope.  It looked really dumb.  So I trimmed it off and used the ticket corner punch to dress up the edges and re-stamped.  Not too bad.  Yet.

I wanted to cut up the "wishing you" and "today & always" and just stamp "happiness" on the white panel.  Ok, but I had just stamped it and cleaned the stamp when I messed up the other side.  If you've been to one of my workshops and we used markers to color part of a stamp, you've heard me say lots of times, "Make sure the stamp is dry so you don't get shadows from the part that isn't inked."  Guess what I didn't do.  And guess what I got.  I covered them up pretty well; had to do a little more trimming, though.

Finally – I wanted to do "faux stitching" at the bottom.  So I pierced all the holes and got out my trusty gel pen, which has not been trusty lately. I'm not sure what's wrong with it.  It still has lots of ink, but – about halfway through connecting the dots, it decided to take a little break.  Grrrrrrrrr.  Thought I'd finish it with a Not Quite Navy marker, but that really looked stupid, because you could still see the white.  So I pierced a strip of Old Olive and stuck it over the messed up one.

I am, however, very happy with the little NQN flower on the ribbon.  Usually when I cut something out and leave a little border, it's all different widths.  But this one looks pretty good.

I also stamped the envelope, and I tried to line it with Not Quite Navy DSP, but that didn't work at all.
I think the finished product looks ok, though.  I should have kept the mistake one to show you how much nicer this one looks.  Next time (because there  will be a next time!).  The stamp sets I used are Fresh Cuts and Heard from the Heart.  (Heard from the Heart is on sale until September 30 – 15% off!)

One of the articles in the magazine had a "winter color palette."  So I thought I'd try that color scheme.  It's Riding Hood Red, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Old Olive.  (The above card uses the same colors, by the way, except for the Baja Breeze. )

This is very simple – but I like it.  It uses "Fresh Cuts" as the stamp set.  I don't think anything needs explaining, so here's what I used:

Stamp Set:  Fresh Cuts
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White card stock
Accessories:  Hodgepodge Hardware – Styled Silver, Stampin' Dimensionals, Wide oval punch, Small oval punch, Big Shot starter kit (the Riding Hood Red flower), 1/8" circle punch, Scallop Border punch

So that's if for today.  I have a lot of templates I want to try, and I want to make some "bottle top magnets" that I saw on Linda Heller's blog.  She's awesome, and these little magnets are very cute.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some more time!