Serendipity Stamps Blog

My youngest daughter and I took the train recently from Kansas City to St. Louis.   Over the years I’ve heard horror stories about long delays along the normally 5 hour route, but recently I’d heard that most of those problems had been resolved so I decided we’d take the chance.   The train ride was great!   Very comfortable seating, similar to an airplane but with lots more seating space.   We left from Independence, MO, just east of Kansas City (home of Harry Truman and the Truman Presidential Library).  
 

It’s a small train station, staffed for just a few hours a day by volunteers.  There was a small, well kept parking lot, and benches on which to wait.     The train stops at least a half dozen times as it crosses the state, but only for a few minutes each time.    Much of the route is right along the Missouri River, through small towns, and farmland.  Very pretty scenery – much better than what we see from the highway (no billboards!!!!).   The trip takes just about the same amount of time as driving, and with two of us, we spent a bit less than we would have one gas.   Our trip back was not quite as idyllic – the air conditioning in our car was working only sporadically.   But the passengers took it in stride – most where St. Louis Cardinal fans traveling to Kansas City to watch the series with the Royals (I’m proud to report that our KC Royals won the series!), and were in festive moods.   This lack of grumbling really made the difference between what could have been a very long, tedious trip and what ended up being a “warm” , but fun adventure.   All of this is a not-so-subtle lead in to a couple of great samples made by our design team using our new Train Engine Large – 1217J image.  The name of each designer will display when select each photo.

In my last post I mentioned seeing lots of Goldfinches at my bird feeder.   Well just last week I saw a Goldfinch AND and an Indigo Bunting on the feeder at the same time.  It looked like a tropical rainforest with all those bright colors!   There’s a little wooded area with a creek near the end of our road and that’s where the Indigo Buntings hang out.   I don’t know if they like the shade, the water, or the water bugs, but it’s always a treat to see them flit by.  Here’s a picture of an Indigo Bunting in case you’ve never seen one – I hadn’t before a few years ago.
  

I love it when stampers get creative with our stamps.   Color a Coneflower yellow and it becomes a Sunflower.   Put a snowman in front of a summer porch, add some white gel pen to the bushes and you have a winter scene.   Kathie Bailey simply colored our new little Goldfinch blue instead of yellow and viola!   He’s an Indigo Bunting!   Kathie used our new Goldfinch 1219G and Quick Note Vertical 251D to create the outside of her note pad.

A few of the Iris have started blooming!    A few years ago, a woman in my town who raises a huge variety of Iris thinned her beds and gave me a garbage sack full of bulbs.  Well, I’ve been remis over the years and many of the colors have died away leaving me with mostly purple and white.   But even they are breath-taking and provided the inspiration for our Iris stamps – 546K and 547E.   Below the Iris is a beautiful card created by Pat Connelly.  On Pat’s card, you’ll also see the Spring Flower Background 578H and We Turn Not 573D.

Congratulations to Velta Wesson!   You won the random drawing from our Customer Postcard Challenge!   Velta gets a free QCL sized cling set of her choice.   Thanks for entering Velta and here’s the pretty postcard you sent.   She used our cling set 712QCL – Adirondak Chair.   You can check out Velta’s blog at http://www.impressionsbyv.blogspot.com/

 Watch for my next post to see what our next Customer Challenge will be.  

We have an old, old barn on our property.   It’s beautiful, falling apart, and as much a part of the natural landscape as the giant red boulders left by the glaciers thousands of years ago that dot the hillsides next to it.  Next time you’re driving in the country – or even in some suburb – pay attention and I’m sure you’ll see some old barns - maybe even one like the one below.  Sharon Briss made this card using 1145K – Barn & Windmill.   Sharon is the Creative Team Leader for Gingersnap Creations.  Her personal blog is Ill Tempered Ink. 

Yvonne Hagane created this Autumn Owl card.  Yvonne is the queen of the die cut.  She always seems to have the perfect one to accentuate the design of the stamped images and the layout of the card.  Notice how the shape of the dies she uses to frame the owl image mirror the shape of the oak leaves and the pattern in her background paper?  Yvonne used 1182G – Autumn Owl or you could use 1182QCL – Autumn Owl Cling set and get a beautiful “Thank You” image along with the owl. 

Just look at this elegant card made by Jennifer Woodward!   Everything seems to come together perfectly, from her die cut shapes, to the copper brads, to the glaze on the acorns and the satin ribbon.  Jennifer also has one of the most elegant blogs I’ve seen!    She made this card using 1141F – Acorns, 334D – Autumn Leaves (on the dollar sale right now!), or you can get both together with another beautifully lettered quote in 1141QCL Acorns Cling Set.

I am so behind in posting the gorgeous cards that the Serendipity Stamps Design Team and customers send to me!   So for a couple of days I’m just going to post cards, no blab about my life, my garden, my kids, fishing, hunting – just cards!   Enjoy!

This card was made by Holly Craft – who is well named!   She even has articles in magazines about making cookies, and felted bags – and I’m sure many other things that I’ve missed.  Check out Holly’s blog to see more of her cards and other hobbies.   This card was made using 1179H – Autumn Birdhouse, 1180E – Music Is, 1179QCL – Autumn Birdhouse Cling Set, 642C – Maple Small, 904X – Giant Maple Punch.

I saw Catherine St. Clair’s beautiful Autumn Wreath card on her blog and asked if I could put it on our blog too!  I’ve also included other cards from Catherine and from Sue Eldred made using the same image and also the smaller version of our Autumn Wreath.   For our botanical images especially, I like to create both a large and a small version of the stamp.  This gives you the room to enjoy all the detail of the large one, but then also a small version for the outside of an envelope, inside of a card or when you just want a small image to add with a sentiment.  The images used on these cards include Autumn Wreath Large Cling Set – 963QCL, Autumn Wreath Large Individual Stamp – 963K, Autumn Wreath Small 928E, And Those Who Are Peacemakers – 942F, Oak Small – 641C . 

I’m getting ready to head out for a weekend in the Missouri Ozarks – trout fishing with my husband – woo hoo!  Actually, he’ll fish and I’ll read and knit (woo hoo!  that one wasn’t sarcastic).  We’ll have 6 hours of quiet driving time and several blissful meals with no teenagers around!  WOO HOO!  What does this have to do with “leafy pets”?  Nothing, except Opal was rolling in the leaves this morning, totally ignorant of the fact that she was going to be stuck in the kennel all weekend and it reminded me of this cute card Cindy Malone sent me last week.  She used Leaf Pets 1024QCL (cling set) or 1024G (individual image).  Cindy’s blog is http://www.discoverstamping.blogspot.com/ - if her name looks familiar it’s because she won our Customer Halloween Challenge last week!  

Remember – this month’s is Customer Challenge is a Christmas Ornament or Gift.  Just email your project, made with Serendipity Stamps, to serendipity@serendipitystamps.com by November 11th and you’ll have a chance to win our random drawing for a $20 gift certificate to Serendipity Stamps.