Signed & Sealed for Just Us Girls #559

Happy Monday.

I have a card made using two of the sets that I got with my gift card from my wonderful hubby on our anniversary.  These two sets are from The Greetery – a stamp company that was completely new to me.  The two sets are Signed and Sealed and Signed and Sealed with a Kiss.

I was inspired to create this card by the fabulous inspiration photo across at Just Us Girls.

The large clock reminded me of my Tim Holtz stencil, so I used that for the background – stenciled with Sahara Sand ink.   I then stamped the envelope from Signed and Sealed and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder and die-cut it with the matching dies.  I love the way it cuts around the flap of the envelope so that you can tuck things into it.  I then stamped and die-cut the flowers  from the Signed and Sealed with a Kiss set.  I adhered the envelope to the base and arranged the flowers.  I popped some of them up to give a little dimension.  The finishing touch was the sentiment and the seal.

Here's a closeup showing the stenciling and the distressed finish to the envelope stamp – oh, and the cute little seal!

One of the things I really like about the multi-step stamps from The Greetery is that they come with a stamping guide – and the new ones are numbered to make it really easy to figure out the steps.  So, stamping them was pretty much a breeze.  Here's my full card:

I used another two stamps from the Pretty Postmarks set – another one of the ones I got with my gift card.  I used it for the envelope –

One of the other things I love about the sets is the fonts.  They have a really clean and modern feel.  So, The Greetery might be new to me, but I think I will be back more often – and I still have so many wonderful sets to use for upcoming cards!

On a personal note:

This photo was taken through the screen on the windows on a dull, snowy day.  BUT… It was wonderful to see the Turkey's again.  We haven't seen them really since spring.  We've had one visit us on a couple of occasions, but now they are back as a rafter and have visited us multiple times over the last couple of days.

Here's another out of focus shot – because I had to take it through the window and screen!  This little guy was sitting on the pole for the jelly feeder and I realized he hadn't visited us this closely before.  It took me a little while to realize he was an Eastern Phoebe.  Until I had a close look and pulled out my Sibleys…. and I think this little guy is a Willow Flycatcher.  Two things that separate him from the Phoebe for me – the color of the beak closest to the head and the little stripe of white on the outside of the wings.  You can check out the details here.  A phoebe has a full black beak – this one has a red/brown base – and, even though the photo is fuzzy, it's very distinct.  But… these little grey birds are all very similar!  However, there are two really fun facts about the flycatchers that you can read about at the link and they have to do with how they deal with Cowbirds and how they learn to sing!

I'll be back tomorrow with another card I made this weekend.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift today.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Stamps:  Signed & Sealed; Signed & Sealed with a Kiss; Pretty Postmarks – all from The Greetery
• Card stock:  Gina K Vanilla
• Stencil:  Tim Holtz
• Dies:  Signed & Sealed and Signed & Sealed with a Kiss – The Greetery