Being Grateful at Crafty Creations

Just in time for American Thanksgiving, this week's challenge at Crafty Creations Challenges is to make a thank you or gratitude card or other project. Even though Canadian Thanksgiving has passed, it is always good to have a thank you card or two in reserve.

It's a funny thing about inspiration, or mojo, or if you're feeling particularly arty, the Muse. :D I was on a total roll there for a couple of weeks, happily cranking out cards and tags. Then, starting this past weekend... nothing. So it's helpful to have a stamp that can do most of the heavy lifting, such as this CardArt Thanks Phrase stamp from Hero Arts. I couldn't let it do all the work, though, so I did manage to do a little cutting, distressing (me!), and picked a pair of coordinating patterned papers. Although you can't see it in the photo, the flowered paper has text in the background, which goes nicely with the definition on the stamp. 

And hey, if you're feeling bereft of ideas, why not make TWO cards? I decided to try my hand at the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge. From the inspiration photo, I took away the flowers with their scallopy shape, and the general colours, particularly the greys. I recoloured the digital image and sentiment to grey before printing it out and colouring with Sharpies and Prismacolor pencils. I also played with my first nestabilities to cut and emboss the big scalloped circle! I considered making this a circle card, but liked the look of the yellow background.
Come play with us at Crafty Creations Challenges! And to my American friends and visitors, Happy Thanksgiving! 

Supplies: (thanks) Stampin' Up very vanilla cardstock, Daisy D's and Karen Foster patterned paper, Hero Arts CardArt Thanks Phrase stamp, VersaMagic Spanish olive chalk ink; (thankful) white & yellow cardstock, Paper Smooches digital stamps, Sharpies, Prismacolor pencils, silver gel pen, Spellbinders Nestabilities classic scalloped circles large