Birthdays, Friends, and Multi-Tasking

Welcome back, my crafty friends! This has been a fun week so far. On Monday, Wesley helped Mike and Jon with one of our company business endeavors, so I got to hang out with Amelia for a bit. We had a blast. After she had breakfast, we worked on her school work. Like all other schools in Virginia, hers is closed for the rest of the year due to the Covid-19 crisis. They still have virtual field trips and meetings via Facebook Live, and their schoolwork is delivered via Google Classroom every day. One of her “tasks” Monday was to create a birthday card for Finn, one of the boys in her class. Then, her parents were to text the photo to her teacher so she could text the virtual cards to Finn.

I gave Amelia the option to either stamp or draw a card. She wanted to use stamps. Several years ago, when Amelia was wild over the My Little Pony series, my friend Mary Fife sent me a set of the retired pony stamps from Stampin’ Up!®. Amelia loves these, and eventually, I need to send them back to Mary. (I probably also need to find another set to give Amelia, because every time I think she’s “over” My Little Pony, she goes back to loving them. Mary has been very gracious and patient!)

Anyway – Amelia made this adorable card for Finn for his birthday.

I love the colors Amelia used to color her image. I offered colored pencils, Stampin’ Write Markers, crayons…Nope. She opted for permanent markers, and she got started before I could guide her to Stampin’ Blends. She has her own set of permanent markers. They used to be mine until I let her use them one time. Now they are hers. I’m still trying to figure this out.

We also took a photo of the inside of the card. Amelia always wants to add a personal drawing to all her cards. (I love that girl!)

Apparently she and Finn are in control of the sun and the moon. She made me a card and I was in control of the sun. I’m not sure what’s happening here, but I think I need to challenge Finn for control of the sun. I may lose this challenge.

I tried to talk to her while she was working, but she wouldn’t answer. Finally, I said, “Amelia, look at me.” She didn’t, but she did whisper, “Seesa, I’m focusing.” Ah – at least she wasn’t ignoring me because she was upset.

The message today from my stamping coach was about multi-tasking, and it made me think about Amelia. She has learned at five years old what so many adults haven’t, and that is multi-tasking really doesn’t work. You can’t totally focus on multiple things at once. You’ll make more mistakes, take more time to do a task, and you won’t do your best work on anything. It’s so much better to focus on your task, do it well, then move on to another one. Case in point…

I was working on a card for this blog post. I used my friend Jackie’s card as inspiration.

I loved the card Jackie made a few days ago. I loved the colors, the design, everything. So I CASEd it. The only things I changed were the images in the frame and the embossing folder for the Mint Macaron layer.

First, I die-cut a frame using the Ornate Layers Dies. Then I die-cut a rectangle using the Stitched Rectangles Dies to fit inside the Ornate Layer.

I stamped the flower from the Ornate Style Stamp Set using Crumb Cake Classic Ink. Because I stamped with a water based ink, I colored it with alcohol based Stampin’ Blends. I used a Mango Melody Dark Stampin’ Blend, Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack, and Mint Macaron Combo Pack.

I stamped the sentiments in Calypso Coral using the Ornate Thanks Stamp Set. Before I adhered anything to the Mint Macaron layer, I embossed the 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Mint Macaron Card Stock with the Subtles 3D Embossing Folder.

Finally, I sponged the edges of the stamped layer with Crumb Cake Classic Ink.

Just so you know, you can bundle the Ornate Style Stamp Set and Ornate Layers Dies to save 10%. You can also bundle the Ornate Thanks Stamp Set and Ornate Borders Dies to save another 10%. Or you can save time and order then entire Ornate Garden Bundle with one simple number.

Ah, but while I was making this card, I was thinking about something else I needed to create, and I forgot to close the Crumb Cake Classic Stampin’ Pad. (See what I’m saying about multi-tasking?) And then I realized my stamped layer had fallen into the Crumb Cake Classic Stampin’ Pad. AAARRRGGGGH! I shouldn’t have tried to multi-task.

But, wait … it’s kind of a vintage card anyway, so maybe it will be ok. I actually like the way it “framed” the sentiment. If I hadn’t told you, would you have noticed the mistake? Hmmmm – I’m thinking Susan would have noticed, because she’s a very clean stamper, and streaks like this would give her hives. But this is why I love vintage cards. You can mess up and it looks like it was planned! (Susan – I’m sending some virtual Calamine lotion.)

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

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