A Class Act

The mailman brought me a box again today. "Stamps?" my husband asked. "Yup," I said. If you stalk the stamping blogosphere, this is a set you've probably been seeing a lot of lately. It's one of Papertrey Ink's newest releases, Out on a Limb. I was drawn to this stamp set from the moment I saw the sneak peaks on Nicole Heady's blog, Capture the Moment. If you've followed my blog you will know that there are several reasons why I love this set. First and foremost, I love its simplicity. Furthermore, the set is representative of nature. Regardless of how long I live, the simplest elements of nature - a single snowflake, a blade of grass, a fallen leaf - will continue to amaze me. Finally, as a writer, I am a lover of words, and I love every phrase and quote in this set.

I have no idea how many times you've heard me say this, but I have to say it again. My card is simple. The colors I chose are Colonial White, Chocolate, Blush. A tiny dot of Crystal Stickles accents each of the flowers. The background piece is textured Chocolate cardstock, "borrowed" from my Serenity paper packet. Two gold brads complete the card. The textured cardstock, Stickles (from yesterday's package of "supplies"), and brads are just enough to give the card that "touch me" quality. What you don't always here me say is that I love this card.

With regard to Papertrey Ink, my first experience with this company was wonderful. I placed my order at some point over the weekend. It shipped via Priority Mail on Monday. Shipping is free on orders over $40. Another stamp set and three cute little heart tins took care of that. The packaging was first class. Another aspect of this company that I really appreciate it is its willingness to step up to the plate with regard to problems. In a very recent post on her blog, Nicole Heady explained that there was a problem batch that affected the the quotes in the Out on a Limb set. Because quality is so important to Papertrey Ink, a new set of six quotes is being sent to every customer that ordered the set. That's customer service to the 9th degree, and it is appreciated.

On a less serious note, had I made a card more representative of Minnesota's current weather, I would have stamped the limb on dull gray cardstock and used Liquid Applique to add a few globs of snow, even though it's too cold and the wind blew too hard today for snow to stick to anything. The forecast low tonight with windchill approaches minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. "Bitterly cold" are the words that appear on weather.com. More of this is forecast for tomorrow, and then it's supposed to warm up on Thursday if you call a high of 2 degrees warm. If the wind isn't blowing, it will more than likely feel like a heat wave. For my card, I chose flowers to adorn my tree limb and the sentiment, "Every day is a gift," because spring will come and regardless of the lousy weather, every day is just what it says - a gift and a wonderful one at that.