You’re a Diamond

As you read this, I’ll be on my way (or a few hours away from “on my way”) to Stampin’ Up!® OnStage. I’m so excited, because it’s the first of my twice a year visit with my dear friend Susan. Susan lives in New York – like, way upstate New York where it’s cold and snowy all year. Except maybe July. Because I-81 runs by her town and ours, I like to say, “she lives just up the road,” but it’s a little farther than that.

I’ll show you my card first, and then I’ll tell you how I met Susan. (It’s a really fun story, but you can skip it if you aren’t into feel good stuff. Yeah, I really didn’t mean to “guilt” you into reading our history!)

I love the Beautiful You Stamp Set. I won it – FREE!- as a Prize Patrol several years ago at an OnStage Event, and it has always been one of my favorite stamp sets. It was already on my “first preorder list,” but then I won it. You cannot imagine how happy I was.

For this card (created for a friend going through cancer treatments), I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Whisper White Cardstock. I used the Layering Ovals Framelits to die-cut the image, but the die was still a little small. I used the “Out of the Box” (or, in this case, “Out of the Oval”) technique. Lay your die over the image, then use a pencil to lightly trace around the die for any part of the image that doesn’t fit in the die. For this card, it was the foot on the right of the card.

Using Paper Snips, I cut out everything outside the framelit (again, the foot). Then I placed the die around the image, placing the foot on the outside of the die so it wouldn’t cut it off. Then I die cut the image. Perfect!

I colored the image with Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Ivory, and Bermuda Bay Stampin’ Blends. I needed a “front of the card” sentiment, so I used the hey, friend sentiment from the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set.

The next layer down is a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock embossed with the Seaside Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I added the stamped oval to the Lemon Lime Twist layer using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then I layered everything to a Daffodil Delight card base.

The inside sentiment is You are like a diamond Resilient, Strong, and Beautiful from the Occasions Catalog Strong & Beautiful Stamp Set. I love this set! It’s perfect for Mother’s Day, but it’s also appropriate for so many other occasions.

Because of the “diamond” sentiment, I added some Rhinestone Basic Jewels to the card.

So – how did I meet Susan? Because she lives in the frozen North, she needed something to advertise her business that could be inside her car. I had just ordered some “clings” for the inside of a car or door window, and I had a few left over that I couldn’t use, so I sent one to Susan. She sent me a gorgeous card in return and a lifetime friendship was formed. Seriously, Susan is one of my very best friends – both live and virtual –  and I continue to stalk her to find out where she and her husband are going to retire one day years and years from now, because none of us are old enough to retire yet. But Mike & I may very well retire in the same city. (Is that creepy? I hope that’s not creepy. Mostly because Susan is a judge and she could send me away for a long time if it’s too creepy. Susan, please don’t send me away. I want to retire with you! Honestly, I’m not really stalking you! Well, maybe a little…)

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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