Hi friends, I hope you all are staying safe wherever you are. I understand these are weird times, full of uncertainty. I am a mom, a wife, a Business Analyst and a Business Owner. Up until recently, I relied heavily on my ability to plan things, to manage all these roles and to handle the expectations that come with each of them. With the way things are right now though, planning and execute according to a plan are not helping much.
Out of all the skills I have learned in life, the one thing that is helping is my ability to respond to change. I have learned that I am only afraid of any change, if I feel like I cannot do anything about it. I am not good at being a by-stander in situations which impact me. Yes, I do live in a bubble – I don’t keep up with politics or world news – but with things that matter to me and my people directly, I treat those differently. I read, research and I empower myself with knowledge. That gives me a sense of having some control. And this gives me a sense of being able to do things to keep my folks safe. That is what I am doing right now.
In the midst of all this chaos, we also just had out fiscal year end at my day job. I do have commitments to fulfill, related to that work. And working from home is making me work-obsessed. I am trying my hardest to call it a day at a certain time each day, but not shifting from one physical location to another, is messing up my brain. I am finding myself checking my work-emails every so often. #workinprogress at #worklifebalance!
As a card maker, I have considered reaching out to healthcare workers and grocery store workers with cards. But I did decide against it simply to reduce some of the physical mail being passed around. I am still considering sewing face masks though, just haven’t been able to spend time on it because of all the work-obsession I mentioned above. Soon, very soon.
As a business owner, I did use some of this time to take care of couple to-do items:
I have integrated my Store with FaceBook and Instagram. Yes, you will be able to buy my cards directly from there. And I do have a coupon code for you too:
INSTASHOP0420
20% off entire April 2020. Limit one per customer.
I am also preparing myself to get into Digital Pattern Design. I am taking the Surface Design Immersion course by Bonnie Christine. I am loving it totally and learning so much. Thank you, Bonnie and Team! Ever since I have started paper crafting, I have been dreaming about having my own collections of stamps, dies and patterned papers in the hands of other crafters. {Cue in the song, ‘I have a dream’ from Disney’s Rapunzel…} I am sure the things which I learn in this course, will guide me forward.
And now to answer, “what is in it for you?” :) I have managed to learn some basic things in Bonnie’s course and I have made two digi stamps. My very first ones and I love them. I am offering them free for my blog subscribers – yes, all you need to do is to be a subscriber and in your welcome email you will receive these files, completely free of cost.
If you are an existing subscriber, don’t worry – you will get them right away. :)
Today I created these two cards using these for you using these two digital stamps I designed. For both cards, I printed using my Brother printer. I linked to the same model on Amazon below. For one of the cards, I printed on a colored cardstock and for the other I used white cardstock. Colored them using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. Yes, the laser printing is alcohol-marker-friendly.
Here are the colors for this first card:
And here’s the second card:
Colors for this one:
After I was done coloring, I die cut stitched rectangles for both and mounted them on card bases. I added some sketched lines to the leaves on yellow-pink card for some added interest.
For the blue card, I added a die cut sentiment using dark blue and gold cardstocks from my scraps. For the yellow-pink card, I stamped a sentiment using Sketched Flowers stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.
Finally I added a few confetti sequins and gems on both cards to finish them off.
SUPPLIES LIST
For your convenience, I am sharing links to the supplies I’ve used for these cards – click on the picture or link to go directly to the product. Wherever available, I have used affiliate links, which means when you make a purchase, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) which I use to run this blog. I truly appreciate your support!
Hugs! ~Varada
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