Hello crafty friends. Today I wanted to give my friend, Jenn Shurkus a huge shout out for her endeavor to support the local businesses of Cape Cod. See, I live in Massachusetts and the Cape means a lot to me as I have so many fond memories enjoying the beaches, riding the Cape Cod Rail Trail and summering in one of the loveliest places on Earth.  Jenn Shurkus is pledging to donate $10.00 from each sale of her exclusive Cape Cod stamp set to the Cape Cod Resilience Fund from love.live.local which is a shop on the Cape that sells crafts from local artists. My blog post today is dedicated to sharing some inspiration from this exclusive Cape Cod stamp set. You can buy the set directly from Jenn Shurkus here. Please read on for how I made some interactive cards with the really cute images from this exclusive set. I have included affiliate links within this post. If you choose to purchase through these links, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. I am pledging to donate the affiliate monies I receive from this post to the Cape Cod Resilience Fund. 

Hello Crafty Friends,
I am posting for the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) blog hop. This hop is to honor those heroes who are on the front lines doing their job everyday to help all of us stay safe and healthy. Thank you for all you do. 

If you are continuing on the hop, you have just arrived from the fabulous, Vicki Finger. After my blog, you will continue onto the amazing, Nandini Karmarkar. The full hop list is at the end of this post. You will also find information about prizes because what is an Altenew Hop without prizes!

This is no ordinary hop! You can join in the fun as well. On the Altenew Card Blog, you can add your card to the Linky Party. Any cards you make based on the hop theme of "Giving Thanks" can be linked up. Make sure to mention that you are taking part in the Altenew Educators Blog Hop and Linky Party. We would love to see what you create; so Link on Up!

For this hop today, I focused on creating colorful backgrounds and keeping the floral images simple. These cards are quick to reproduce so you can send out a lot to say thanks to all of those amazing people on the front lines. Please continue on to learn more about my cards. Affiliate links are included within this post for your convience. 

Hello crafty friends. 
Thank you for joining me today on this blog hop to raise awareness for Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. EDS is a rare connective tissue disorder that can go undiagnosed and untreated. I want to thank my crafty friend, Natasha of Handmade by Tasha who organized this hop. 
If you are interested in more information about EDS, please check out:

• Ehlers-Danlos Society page
• EDS Blog post by Natasha Davies
• Why the zebra post by Natasha Davies
• Just giving blog post to donate to EDS.org

Thank you for your time and I hope this hop helps you to understand this rare condition.
To honor people to live with EDS everyday, I wanted to make some happy encouragement cards. Nothing says happy and shares hope like a rainbow. I made the rainbow paper using paper scraps. Please read along to learn how I made these cards.

Hello friends! Thank you for joining me on this hop to celebrate another amazing release from Altenew. I was really giddy over all of the items in this release and had so much inspiration. If you are following along on the hop, you have just come from the incredibly talented Erum Tasneem from VIBGYOR Krafts and your next stop is the wonderfully classic designs of Ashlea Cornell from Ashlea Crafts. Don't forget to leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and comments on each designers blog for your chance to win a gift card to Altenew. 

My favorites in this set are the paper. Although I love playing with stamps and doing a lot of techniques, I love paper. I decided to showcase the Cheerful Meadow 6x6 Paper Pack to show you how to get a lot of bang from these beautiful double sided papers. Read on for how I used this paper pack along with some other goodies in the release to make three cards.  For your convenience I have included affiliate links to the products I have used to make these products and some products were supplied by Altenew. 

Hello friends! Thank you for joining me for the Altenew Educator Program Blog hop - If you are following along on the hop, you have just come from the amazing Irina Fonina from CreativeScrapbooking. The next stop on the hop is the very creative Vicki Finger from Twinkling Paper Studio. A full list of the blogs are at the end of this post. If you get lost, please go back to the Altenew Card Blog. Make sure to leave some love on the Altenew Card blog and each of the blog stops along the way for a chance to win a gift certificate to Altenew so you can pick up your favorite floral set. 

Flowers have a language and can be used to send messages conveying friendship, love and support. Altenew is known for their amazing floral images.  In this post, I use Altenew's floral stamp sets to build cards to convey messages of: steadfast friendship, true love and hope. Please continue reading to learn about the language of flowers and how I put together these cards.

Hello friends. Thank you for joining me today. This post is also featured on the CutCardStock blog. I am an influencer for CutCardStock and have received some paper products in exchange for this post. For today's post, I will share with you using 12x12 white paper to create textured backgrounds and color with Copics. Please read along for how I assembled these two cards today. Affiliate links are included at no cost to you. If you choose to use these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support. 

That time is here...stressing over valentines for your children's classmates. I end up dreading this every year and waiting until the last minute to get something done. This year in my quest to actually organize and do things ahead of time, I decided to start my project a bit early. This also coincided with my first blog post for CutCardStock.com as an influencer. I am excited to be working with them. I purchase a lot of my basic cardstock, especially Neenah solar white papers and envelopes, from them. CutCardStock.com has a lot of variety and they can do custom cutting on site. I decided to use 12x12 sheets of their DCS white and show ways to stretch that white cardstock. Please read on to see what I made. 

I am pleased to announce I have been invited by Cut Card Stock to be an influencer for the next few months. I like Cut Card Stock because of their customer service as well as their selection of paper especially Neenah. I’m looking forward to sharing how I use their products in my projects.

I was sent some products to try. Here is what I chose from their website.

1. DCS 12x12 white card stock (this is 80# cardstock which I will be using for a variety of techniques. Stay tuned...)
2. DCS Wild Blueberry Navy cardstock
3. Neenah 130# solar white 8.5x11" sheets
4. Neenah Classic Crest solar white A2 envelopes
5. Basis Sample Pack
6. Stardream metallic sample pack
7. Curious metallic sample pack

Cut Card Stock sells sample packs of different cardstocks they carry. These sample packs are great for you to see the cardstock colors colors and the sheets are A2 sized! By having sample packs, I can use A2 sized sheets to accent, to die cut and to use as thin borders. 

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you check out CutCardStock. Although I was provided with some materials, I am not an affiliate for CutCardStock. The links inside the post are provided to you for your convenience. Have a crafty day. 

What is it about Christmas and the holidays that makes us want to connect and share with others. Sharing a homemade card or gift is the highest compliment you can give someone because you are sharing your time and passion. I love sending unique cards to others and I am starting this series to share with you some card ideas. I hope you are inspired to make these cards yourself.