We changed the clocks this week. That’s a sure sign that spring is just around the corner. I heard birds singing before the sun came up. Another sign that spring is on the way. I live in Florida, we don’t get much winter, THANKFULLY, but I do love snowmen. I had to give these little cuties on more go around. I have been wanting to use the Christmas Layers Dies too, which are gorgeous in the Seaside Spray and look at that ribbon. So Shimmery. I also had a little more fun with the Let is Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper, so cute!

These cards were super fun to make on a day that started with a chilly 48 (yes I know I’m a wimp!).   Luckily all of these cute Snowman Season and the Christmas Layers Dies are still available through Stampin’ Up! Which means we’ll get at least one more winter to play with these guys.

Next I’m on to Easter and Spring and Mother’s Day.

Honestly, I did not want this Happy Birthday set when I first saw it. My friends were getting it, but I just wasn’t into it. It looked like a wedding cake and well I just didn’t think I would use it.

Then I started seeing some of the cards other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators were making. AND I joined Paper Pumpkin, Stampin’ Up!’s monthly all-inclusive kit and wouldn’t you know the Happy Birthday to You stamp set, coordinates with my February Paper Pumpkin? My first Paper Pumpkin. And of course they launched Dies for this set in the Coordinating Products release. Dies so I could cut out the birthday cake or cut out the flowers and some leaves. So many choices.

There was no getting around it. I was going to have to get this Free set and the dies. So I did.

One Saturday morning, I was scrolling through card samples using this set and this gorgeous card by Stamping Beauty Angela Meiritz-Reid spoke to me. It is SO beautiful and it uses some techniques I haven’t tried yet: Stampin Resist, Masking and Water Coloring with the Stampin’ Write Markers (what?!).

It took me a few YouTube videos to learn the techniques, but then I was picking out Stampin’ Write Markers from my stash and digging for my Aqua Painter. My plan was to make several different color flowers, but once I got started, I was so excited, just coloring away, I ended up with four cards exactly matching the one Angela made!!  Oh well copying is the best form of compliment, right?

I waited all week to show them to my co-workers at our Paper Pumpkin Lunch and boy were they a hit!  They all loved this card, just as much as I do. We’ll be doing some of these techniques in an upcoming class.

Making other people happy, makes me happy. Happy Birthday to You!!

This little snowman is SO cute! I actually made two designs, a Real Red one and a Tempting Turquoise one, but I gave all but this one away.

I have four U.S. Navy pen pals deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln. These Sailors left port thinking they’d be gone for 6 months and would be home in time for the holidays at their new home port in San Diego. Their tour has been extended 4 more months! The longest deployment for an Aircraft Carrier in a long time or maybe ever. I’m not good with those kind of details, but I do know it is a big deal. Their extension means they missed ALL of the holidays and spirits are pretty low.

I wanted to send them a little seasonal cheer.

I just L-O-V-E snowmen, and I couldn’t resist Stampin’ Up!‘s adorable Snowman Season stamp set from the 2019 Holiday Catalog. I used the Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper for the background. The Real Red sheet with random white dots looks like snowflakes to me and this little guy is ready to catch them. Vellum mutes the pattern just like a Northeast winter snowstorm with poor visibility. A twist of Cherry Cobbler Diagonal Stripe ribbon and some red rhinestones finishes this little guy.

Being a New Hampshire girl, I am now living in Florida for a reason. I do NOT like winter. At. All. These cute little snowmen are the closest I hope to get to snow any time soon. Hopefully they lift the spirits of these Sailors as much as they did mine when I made them.