Hello Again :)

Finally Friday! I got to go down and play in the stamp room tonite while Zach and his Dad played a forgotten Monster Truck game on the old PS2 - just like old times! Nick was at a basketball game and Ethan at Lutherhaven for the weekend. I used to stamp when I could during the day or evening when they would play with toys or watch a video or play PS2 near me. These days, if I'm stampin' I'm always by myself in the basement feeling "left out" since the boys are older and doing something else more fun upstairs or with their Dad.

Okay, enough reminiscing. Now that I think of it though, that's actually why I don't make as many cards these days. I opt to hang with the fam since they are too old to keep busy by Mom :) Also, I'm too tired to stay up super late (remember this is the Stampin' At Night blog which is a play on a favorite tune of mine by R.E.M. - any idea what I'm talking about?) since I get up too early these days to make sure the high schooler gets up and going. Any whooo... back to the card!

I'd like to call this my "scrappy" card! Anyone who knows me well or been down to my stampin' area knows that I cannot stand to throw away a perfectly good scrap, a piece that I might need or find a use for. Well, this piece wasn't a scrap really but I put it in that category. I got the square of the leaves and flowers from Sharon a while ago. I just loved it! Unfortunately, I couldn't remember how she used it on the card she made. So, there it sat waiting for an idea of my own. I figured it out tonite looking for Stamp Camp inspiration. Sometimes, I need to just sit down and craft something totally random to get in the groove... something that has nothing to do with the stamp theme I'm looking for. So, hope you like it!

Two items are not currently in our catalogs but I have an idea to substitute! One is the three flower punch - retired! To make this now, I'd use the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack on pg. 200 of the IDB&C. It comes with 2 other punches which are equally as useful. I use the 4 petal flower in the set for the Season of Friendship frame class coming in Feb. The middle of the flower is just a 1/4 inch handheld punch that you can get at the office supply store. The other retired item was the paper for the flower - use could substitute any patterned DSP that is So Saffron or lighter yellow?

The red is Riding Hood Red, there's Old Olive, the Whisper White piece was run through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder - perfect touch! Finally, the DSP is from my favorite DSP pack this catalog - Greenhouse Gala. The leaves are a Sizzlit die, cut using the Big Shot. Ribbon is 5/8" Old Olive Grosgrain and last but not least, the "hello" is from a favorite small set of mine, Hello Again on pg. 110 of the IDB&C because sometimes you just want to say "Hello!"