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.  

I know, I know – the last quickie sale has been on the website for a month!    But this one won’t – it’ll be gone Monday Feb. 8th.   So what’s on sale you ask?  Our Heart Deco Cling set – 979QCL is 50% off – just $7.48.    This image is a great one for 3D layering!  Check out the cards below the set.

The card below was made by Sue Eldred using the Heart Deco image from 969QCL as well as 554E Be My Valentine.

The card below was made by Carolyn Hurst using the Heart Deco image from 969QCL  and 556E Hugs and Kisses.

I thought I was done with posting Valentine cards, but I got two more wonderful cards that you really need to see!   This first one was created by Sue Eldred using 1159E Retro Owl and 688C Happy Valentine’s Day.   

And just below is a card made by Jennifer Woodward using 419E Heart with You Are Always.

These last two cards in our Valentine extravaganza show how to really make your love POP!   The first card is a gorgeous card created by Kathie Bailey for the Gingersnap Creations blog Embossing Powder Challenge.  She used 418QCL Victorian Heart Cling set and 319D Happy Valentine’s Day.   The second was created by Anya Schrier for the same challenge using the 184E Valentine Postoid and 1079D Will You Be Mine.   Check out their blogs, listed at the right for more information.

Here are two pretty cards from  Lynda Benden.  She created the first  card using 693QCL Heart Topiary Cling Set (also sold individually) and the second card using 422G Heart w/ Bow.  Lynda has such an eye for detail – notice the embsooing in the background and the tiny pearls (on the tree and gems (in the corners)?  

Amy Cokley made this card using 1153QCL Kitchen Tools Cling Set (which you can purchase as individual cling stamps if you prefer).   We introduced this stamp last summer, and it never dawned on me to make a Valentine’s Day card out of it until I saw Amy’s card done up in pink!  

Look at these beautiful cards – both created using  837G Love Scroll Large .  This same image comes in a small size and it’s on the dollar sale right now – 838C Love Scroll Small.  These images give a lovely, elegant effect with no effort at all.  The first card is designed by Anya Schrier and the second by Kathie Bailey.   See their blogs, listed at the right, for more details.