Take a little "happy" with you...

I had a great phone call from a friend recently...she was calling to tell me she was pleasantly surprised when she went to her mailbox and found something other than a bill or store circular waiting for her...a little card from me.  My "take away" from that was to realize that in this ELECTRONIC-centric world that we live in....cards and handwritten notes take on new significance.  People rarely get cards "just because" - and when they do it has a high impact.

I was headed out to a family get together today...and in addition to the pan of baked beans (remind me to share my recipe with you sometime...it is super simple and always a big hit) I made a quick card.

I tend to be a bit "punny" so the sentiment inside says "Thanks for inviting me to hang out with your flock!" Flamingos are a favorite of the hostess so that was really the inspiration for my card...I cut them out on my Silhouette.  Here are a couple of details...

I used a recent $5 stamp set and die cut from Papertrey Ink...called Heart-2-Heart #6.  It is super cute - and I think it has lots of options. I die cut three of the large clouds and didn't stamp on them - just stacked them up and did some quick stitching down the center. To keep my clouds fluffy I put part of a pop-dot in between the layers close to the stitching. Simple - but CUTE!

I also can't really be bothered with the "fiddly" bits of die cuts...so you will see that I just drew the eyes on and used a sharpie to put the black on the bills of the flamingoes.  The sun is part of the Heart-2-Heart set...I die cut the sun shape out of white  and stamped the sun with the smiley face onto the die cut....then I used a Martha Stewart "seal" punch with some yellow card stock to create a smaller sun and stamped the sun stamp again and popped it up for a little dimension.

 I made the grass from a scrap of green card stock sitting on my desk and the Martha Stewart fringe scissors.  I always feel a bit like Edward Scissorhand (yes, I am that old) when I use them...but they make grass FAST!

So - want to encourage you to "take a little happy" with you when you go to dinner with a friend...or send a surprise through the mail.  Your friend will feel extra special...and you will have a little fun in the creating!

Hope you all have a fantabulous week!  If you missed it - I have a new tutorial on YouTube...you can check it out HERE!