A Few Thank You cards. . .

It is one of my New Year's Resolutions to make {AND send} more thank you cards.  This Christmas I got some totally unexpected cards from a couple of my Blogger friends and, since I sort of coasted through the holiday, I decided to make them some thank you cards.

Both of the cards.  They look better in person, trust me :)

What I Used to Make my Cards:
White Card Base
Basic Grey Patterned Paper, Sultry Vogue*
Pink Cardstock {Core'dinations Pastels}
Hero Arts Stamp & Cut, Thanks, #DC152
Homemade Dots {see below}
Wink of Stella, Clear

*Basic Grey closed its scrapbooking section in 2016 so I highly doubt you'll find the paper I used to make the cards, but there are plenty of beautiful florals out there - bet you have some in your stash!  

I had a blast making these cards and they were super easy!  I just trimmed the patterned paper, attached it to my white card base and then embellished.

Since there are two cards, I'm calling this one "Pop Out" and the second card "Dots."

This is the second "pop out sentiment" card I've made.  If you'd like more information on making this type of card check out this post I made in October.  It's got detailed directions and a link to Jennifer McGuire's blog post on how to make these beauties. I used clear Wink of Stella to give the "thanks" a bit of sparkle; you can't see it in the card above, so here is a close up:

On to the "Dots" card.  As I stated above, I made these dots myself.  I hope you like the card and find a chuckle in the saga explained below.

I used Perler Beads to make my dots.  I bought a huge package of them from Amazon {I ended up giving a bunch away because I had SO many} and being I had never used them before, I had fun experimenting with them.  I also learned a few things; make absolutely sure you use parchment paper on your cookie sheet, you can literally bake these things for hours {yes, I forgot about them, but you'll see why in a second} and they won't burn.  I had the oven set at 350 degrees and they baked for hours!  I had originally timed them at taking about 45 minutes to bake; well, no worries about forgetting them! Lastly, you can cut the beads in half to make smaller dots, which is what I was doing when I got a nasty gash in my finger, hence forgetting about the beads baking.  I'm healing up though and no trip to the ER was needed.  I was nervous when I cut myself

Another look

because I am due for an ER visit; I seem to average one every six months or so and it's time. All in all, I'm glad I used the dots, I'm glad I made them smaller and I'm really glad that my finger is healing just fine.  Come to find out that Perler actually sells mini beads {and there are other companies who make the same type of beads}, so all that could have been easily avoided.  Eh, story of my life! {hehehehe}  

I am very happy with how the cards came out, even the dots.  I just bought some new dies {and have even more on their way!} and I intentionally purchased some larger word dies so hopefully I'll find some time, most likely once Valentine's Day is over, and get to making some more of the "pop out" cards.  They are really fun to make.  I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by! Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Thank You cards in the following challenges:
Craftaholics R Us - Patterned Paper, #2
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use Patterned Paper
Through the Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes
Cuttlebug Mania -Flowers
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - M, Anything Goes
Scrap From Your Heart - M, Flowers, #17