My Time Made Easy February Release, day 3 - Welcome Home

Hello everyone! Well, it's my "special" day to share a my time made easy project and this one is very near and dear to my heart! I absolutely love when I am able to take the talents I have and use them to help someone else. That is why i turned the Welcome Home template into a bank of sorts! First here is my project, and then you can read all about the mission!

I make mountains of cards, but then they sit in shoe boxes. Occasionally a card gets sent out, but the boxes just start to multiply! Some have told me i should put them up in an etsy account (which i have one) but on the whole, I dont sell much from my etsy account. So i wanted to brainstorm on how I could use my cards for a good cause. While sitting in church a few weeks back, I had an idea (i promise i was still listening! haha!) My church is a big supporter of a Thornwell Children's Home which is an orphanage of sorts for children from abusive or just not well fitting homes. I thought, well perhaps I could take cards to the church and sell them with a suggestion "donation price" of $3 per card. Then all the money from the sales of the cards would go directly to the children's home.

Then when Lauren sent the design team this super cute template of a home i immediately knew what i wanted to do with it! So i turned it into a bank by creating a cutout in the front were money can be slipped into. The top of the house still opens (see pic below) which is so that the money can still be removed easily (and discreetly... no one else will know how it opens!

Isnt that nifty! And the space inside the the house is pretty good so there is all kinds of stuff you could put in there. It would also make a great house warming present.

So here is another angle of the house so that you can see the chimney and roof detail. The funny thing is I knew I wanted to surround this house with hearts and give the idea that it was full out and surrounded by Love (a very important value to the Thornwell Children's Home). I didnt realize that in the AWESOME digi paper of houses that I used on my card had hearts coming out of the chimney! The project was meant to be! haha!

For my rooftop, I wanted to give the idea of shingles so i used one of my martha stewart border punches to create the effect. I actually wanted to use my scallop border punch, but it seems to have gone missing. Story of my life!

Now onto the stamp sets! I've already been posting this week about how much i LOOOOVE the new You've Got Mail stamp set and it's 38 wonderful images! But there is one stamp set I havent told you about yet! It's called Argyle Amazement and it is AMAZING! I cant wait to use it over and over again! There are so many different argyle patterns for you to mix and match! For my project today, i did keep it pretty simple.

I layered the row of simple argyle over and over to create a background and then randomly used the solid diamond to give it a little edge.

I also used the heart from the You've Got Mail set in a few different ways. I can see myself using that heart alot! I use it in the center of my "bushes" created with a simple circle punch out of green cardstock.

I also use the heart again on a white square piece of cardstock that i hid behind the window cutouts. I stamped the heart in red ink and then continued to stamp it until the ink wore off the stamp which gave me 3 different colors of hearts. The idea is that the home is full of love inside as well as out!

Ok, one last picture for you! This is a close up shot of my matching card. Now for this card, I didnt do too much. It really was created not as a card to send to someone, but as a card to sit next to the house and box of cards at the church. This way people can read it and know the purpose of the house!

Now you can click on the picture to enlarge it and then you will really be able to see the ADORABLE house digi paper available in the Cute Critters paper pack which is available for only $4.50! Of course it matches the Welcome Home template perfectly and matches the house stamp in the You've Got Mail stamp set! I used the little house on the bottom of my information sheet. :)

So thats it for my project! I hope you enjoyed it as much as i did making it!

Stamps from My Time Made Easy

You've Got Mail

Argyle Amazement

Tools

Template from My Time Made Easy: Welcome Home

Cricut Expression and Sure Cuts a Lot

Martha Stewart Border Punch

Circle Punch by Creative Memories

Heart Punch by Creative Memories

Paper:

Cardstock from Couture Cardstock

Colors: Brown Paper Packages, Fallen Leaf, Candied Apple, Galoshes

Inks: by Close to My Heart

Holiday Red (red hearts), Buttercup (stamped house), Breeze (stamped house), Blush (stamped house), Star Spangled Banner (argyle), Chocolate (for sponging edges)

Accessories:

Heart Brads by Making Memories

Prima Flowers

Stickles in Xmas Red