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Cards

The Greetery’s Amour Market Collection-Day 1

by Dawn January 23, 2026

All written by Dawn

Hello, friends! You are in for a treat because it’s time for the Valentine release from The Greetery! I LOVE making all the Christmas gifts tags and such every year, but I also LOVE crafting for Valentine’s Day because it gives me an excuse to use allllllll the pinks and reds!

Not only that, but there are some really fun and beautiful new products to work with this month, so grab yourself a cup of something warm to drink and let’s dive right in!

First up, I decided to use the darling new Market Place Lover’s Lane dies and stamps to create a super sweet set of bookmarks!!! Oh my word!

Ok, so let me just say that YOU might want to make a set of these darling bookmarks so that YOU could give them to YOUR people for a little Valentine’s Day treat…..maybe tuck one in a book and give it as a Galentine’s sort of gift to a girlfriend to let her know YOU’RE thinking about her. Or maybe YOU could tuck one of these super sweet bookmarks into a fun new book for a young reader in YOUR life for a Valentine’s Day gift.

I did set out with the idea to make these for OTHER people but man, oh man, once I saw how cute they were turning out, I just have to be honest and say I’m not sure I’ll be giving these away! Hahaha!! I love them too much! I might make MORE of them to give away, but if I’m honest, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be tucking these into my Bible and current devotional that I read every morning! That way, I can see them daily and enjoy them myself!

How’s that for honest? And selfish? LOL!

I used the previously released Market Place building dies to cut out the base layers and just had fun mixing all the pinks and reds. And then, I added a sign and all the Valentine-y layers using the new Market Place Lover’s Lane dies and stamp set.

I used that fun new woodgrain card stock that I can’t stop using, to cut the sign and some of the window trim. I LOVE the woodgrain texture of the sign especially, with the booksellers typography stamped on it! (Of course, I HAD to go with the booksellers sign stamp since I was making a bookmark!) 🙂

PRO TIP: I didn’t worry about inside the windows looking super realistic or anything. Just choose a shade of pink or red and die cut an extra house base layer from it to layer behind the front panel. The added color just makes it more fun and whimsical.

PRO TIP: Make your own tassels! Don’t skip this step! It’s what takes these bookmarks right over the top when it comes to cuteness! I first tried a worsted weight yarn and found that, while cute, they were just too large and puffy for the scale of these bookmarks. Fingering weight yarns worked best for my taste, but I’m sure you could achieve a similar look on an even smaller scale, if you used embroidery floss.

To attach the tassels, I simply punched a 1/8″ hole at the top of each bookmark to thread the tassel through.

I followed the steps in this short video to make my tassels and just raided my yarn scrap stash! Easy peasy!

How cute is the woodgrain detail on these two? Goodness, I love that kraft woodgrain paired with all the pinks and reds!

Look how cute those little rooftops look sticking out of the books up above on the right!! Gah!

Next up, I have a card for my love.

PRO TIP: When it comes to Valentine’s Day cards for my man, maybe it’s different at your house but over here, I do not worry one bit about his card needing to be manly! It’s Valentine’s Day! All the mushy-gushy is allowed and therefore, I made his card as pink and red as I want to and he never cares one iota! LOL!

I used the new Coquette Hearts embossing folder to emboss two sheets of card stock – one red and one pink. The red one, I cut down for my card front, leaving a bit of white peeking out on the left side.

The pink one, I then die cut with the new Whole Hearted die. It cuts all of those hearts out of the Coquette Hearts embossing folder, so that meant I had lots of fun hearts left over to use on something else, after just using two of them on this card.

I used a sponge dauber and a little distress oxide ink to highlight the detail on the pink hearts, and stamped a sentiment from the new Simple Valentine Mini Sentiments set. Lastly, I die cut some woodgrain heart borders using the new Filigree Hearts dies, to top off those pink hearts.

Lastly for today, I made this fun card with the new Bitty Blooming Hearts stamps, stencil and matching die. I tucked those little die cut blooms inside a red die cut panel made with the new Diamond Hearts die & stencil.

I used some pink distress oxide ink to stencil the pink hearts onto the red die cut layer, and created the sentiment with the new Simple Valentine Sentiments set and one of the Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Labels dies.

PRO TIP: To jazz up the Bitty Blooming Hearts die cuts, I used sponge dobbers and multiple shades of green oxide inks, just laying the colors one after the next, so they overlapped. It makes the greens way more interesting! And then, I added a weed bit of red shading to all the pink hearts with my colored pencils.

Don’t forget to check out The Greetery Blog today, to see what all the other gals on the team have created!

1. Caly Person
2. Dana Kirby
3. Dawn McVey
4. Kelly Lunceford
5. Laura Bassen
6. Laurie Willison
7. Lea Lawson
8. Melissa Phillips
9. Wanda Guess

And by all means, don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered to win a gift card from The Greetery! Free crafty money is always a good thing!

Thanks for popping in, friends, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow with more!
xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

{Market Place Lover’s Lane Bookmarks supplies — click on thumbnails}

{You Have My Heart card supplies}

{With Love on Valentine’s Day card supplies}

(Affiliates Disclaimer: Just so you know, I sometimes use affiliate links here on my blog, which means that I participate in several affiliate programs, in which I may receive a small commission when you click one of these links and purchase a product at the corresponding product site (usually within a certain amount of time). There are no additional costs for you as a result of these links, but by shopping through these links, you are not only supporting me and the work I do here, but you’re also helping me to continue to bring you beautiful content and inspiration here at my blog, for free! Please know that I share products with you that I use and enjoy and I make every effort to represent those to you honestly. Thanks so much, friends, for your support! I appreciate you!)

January 23, 2026 124 comments

January Thank You’s With The Greetery

by Dawn January 15, 2026

All written by Dawn

Hello, friends! I’ve got a fun project to share with you for The Greetery. It’s the time of year when I need some post-Christmas thank you cards and this year, I thought it would be fun to use some of my leftover Christmas die cut bits and bobs……but make it wintery!

I gave myself a little challenge to use some of the leftovers out of my vintage printer’s tray full of die cut Christmas gift toppers, but I didn’t want the thank you cards to feel totally Christmas-y. I wanted them to give a nod to Christmas, since they’re thank you cards for Christmas gifts, but I wanted them to have more of a winter feel.

PRO TIP: To give them a wintery January feel, I simply added some wood tones and blues!

I used some of that cool woodgrain card stock that Betsy used on a recent post and it added some instant warmth!

PRO TIP: Run over the woodgrain with a blending brush and some brown ink, to really highlight that wood texture!

If you don’t have this card stock, you could just use kraft card stock or you could perhaps emboss it or stamp it in a similar woodgrain pattern.

I also really love the juxtaposition of the earthy woodgrain with the fancy, glittery gold trim around the oval! I used the same four main elements on all the cards, and just mixed it up with whatever die cut leftovers I had to work with.

On each card, I used the Capsule Basics dies to cut out the oval layers, and then I used the Capsule Filigree Borders to add that pretty border detail.

I also added a strip of darker blue card stock that was embossed with the Shortbread Shapes Snowflake embossing folder. It adds an added bit of detail and helps to drive home the blue color palette.

PRO TIP: Don’t forget that you don’t have to use your embossing folders on full panels of card stock! Just a bit of embossing on a strip of card stock adds a bit of fun and makes your card more interesting than if you’d just added a plain strip of card stock.

The one other item I added to every card was the little label, with the thank you sentiment. I used the Linked Little Labels stamp set, die and embossing folder to create those and then stamped them with a sentiment and companion image from Large Linked Labels.

All in all, I think they turned out pretty cute and I love that the blues really became a prominent feature that helps these to read differently than as a Christmas card!

Do you have thank you cards to make? I hope you’ll give this a try! If you do, I’d love to see! Tag me @dawnsing!

Thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me! Be sure to head over to The Greetery Blog!

Happy New Year!

xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

{Thank You card set supplies — click on thumbnails}

January 15, 2026 1 comment

Bitty Botanical Thank You

by Dawn November 5, 2025

All written by Dawn

Hello, friends! I’ve got a fun project to share with you today for The Greetery. There were so many pretty things in the last release, that I had to keep playing. Here is a sweet ‘thank you’ card I made with the new Bitty Holiday Botanicals stamp, stencil and die, as well as the new Diamond Foliage die.

I love the amount of detail that Diamond Foliage die adds! I die cut that from green card stock and layered it over a soft blue card stock that I die cut with a couple of the Capsule Basics dies. Those are SO fun to use!

PRO TIP: Glue your Diamond pattern and the botanical die cuts in place, and then trim around the edges of the Capsule die cut. That way your pattern continues right off the edge and looks more professional and polished!

I created the sweet banner with the Rosemal Reflections die and a sentiment from Rosemal Reflections Sentiments.

PRO TIP: To help ground the capsule die cut, I added a strip of green card stock between it and and the card base. This helps add some more interest, and helps to visually connect the background with the focal point.

As for all those little flowers and sprigs, I stamped, stenciled and die cut those using the Bitty Holiday Botanicals collection.

PRO TIP: This is another case where adding some shading with colored pencils, can really help to add some life to those little stamped images. I focused the coloring toward the center of the poinsettias and small flowers, and along the bottoms of the berries where they would naturally be more in shadow.

{Thanks so much supplies — click on thumbnails}

Hopefully, this has given you a bit of inspiration whether it’s the colors or the layout of maybe even the details! Did you get any of these goodies to play with yourself? What are you loving so far?

Head to The Greetery Blog to check out their post today!

Thanks so much for being here! I’m grateful for you!

xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

November 5, 2025 0 comments

Floral Wedding Card – The Greetery

by Dawn October 15, 2025

All written by Dawn

Hello, friends! Popping in today with a project to share for The Greetery. We recently attended a wedding where Bart and I were given the task of creating a charcuterie grazing table for the guests to enjoy as they were arriving an hour or so ahead of the wedding. I’d seen pictures of the flower colors for the wedding since we were a part of the set up crew, and decided to make them a wedding card to coordinate with their colors. I chose a soft blue background because it complimented the flowers so well, and I love that it also reminds me of the sky, since the wedding was held outdoors. I hope the bride and groom loved it!

Because we were there early in the day, it also gave me a chance to snap a picture of my card with a box of the flowers they were using on all the tables and such. Isn’t it so fun to see the inspiration along with the card it inspired?

PRO TIP: You can make wedding cards that match your recipients’ wedding colors, too, by taking your design and color cues from what you see on the wedding invitation when it arrives!

I have been loving the Wild Wetlands die set, and created my own floral arrangement here, rather than using the large floral die. I die cut several different floral elements from the set, and then pieced them together to create my own design. This allowed me to eliminate the cattail and instead, add in more flowers….which coordinated a bit better with their wedding flowers.

PRO TIP: This die set is one that definitely has room to add a bit of colored pencil shading on the flowers and leaves. I did a bit of that on my flowers before I put them together.

PRO TIP: This set is also one that is SO fun to use foam adhesive on! You can give your flowers even more depth and dimension, just by popping some of the petals up with foam adhesive, rather than gluing them all flat!

Note that on the full flowers, I glued the inside detail (the stamen part) flat, but used foam adhesive on the front petals. I also used foam between the two layers on the bell shaped flowers. That little detail just makes these flowers come alive even more!

I used the new Capsule Basics Embossing Folder (LOVE!) with one of the Capsule Basics dies (also love!)! So simple, but they add so much detail to a card! Those are GREAT basics to have on hand and I’m guessing I’m gonna be using them on everything for awhile!

The sentiment is from the Capsule Collection Floral Borders stamp set.

One last look, just because it’s pretty! 🙂 I can’t wait to use this die set again…..I have a few more ideas brewing in my head, so stay tuned for more!

And for those who might be interested, here’s the charcuterie grazing table Bart and I put together for the wedding guests. The family already had all of the foods bought and they pulled out all sorts of serving boards and bowls and baskets, so all we had to do was put it all together! It was a fun project, and I think it turned out really pretty!

Be sure to visit The Greetery Blog today, and I’ll chat with you again soon!

Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe here at the blog, if you’d like to receive my blog posts directly in your inbox, so you don’t miss any!

Thanks so much for being here, friend!

xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

{Celebrate Wedding Card supplies — click on thumbnails}

October 15, 2025 3 comments

The Greetery’s Christmas Market Collection – Day 2

by Dawn October 10, 2025

All written by Dawn

UPDATED: Christmas Market Collection is LIVE! Shop it HERE!

Hello, friends! Welcome back for Day 2 of the Christmas Market showcase with The Greetery! Let’s start things off today, with the new Bitty Holiday Botanicals product suite!

Just like the Bitty Botanicals that were released earlier this year, this holiday version makes it so easy and fun to create festive holiday backgrounds OR little die cut florals. And even better, when you pair it with the Diamond Foliage die or stencil, you can add another layer of leafy detail for a classic, nostalgic background!

PRO TIP: After you stamp the stems with the Bitty Holiday Botanicals rubber stamp, you can then use the stencils to add colors to the berries or flowers. But you can increase the depth on your florals, by using some color pencils or markers, to add additional shading and detail to the centers of the flowers!

For the sentiment, I chose a stamp from the new Simple Holiday Sentiments set, and stamped it on a die cut from the new Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Labels die set.

PRO TIP: You don’t need lots of different ink colors when you’re ink-blending! You can just use different amounts of pressure on your blending brush for lighter or darker shades of the same single ink color! That way, you ensure that all of the “reds” (for instance) on your card, color coordinate because they’re all the same color!

There’s a tiny die cut flower you can add to the centers of each leaf diamond, however I’m guessing you’ve probably got all sorts of fun little things in your stash that you could add, too! I used the little red berries from the previously released Mint & Berry Bits, but you could use sequins, gems, pearls, enamel dots, or whatever else you dream up!

{Merry Christmas Bitty Floral supplies — Click on thumbnails}

Next up is the Lovely Linographs: Nativity product suite! I feel like I barely scratched the surface of what all could be made with this set! The rubber stamp allows you to stamp the whole scene at once and then the stamp set has individual images that you can stamp and die cut to layer over the base image.

I used the previously released Cathedral die to cut out the arch, and then popped up the outer portion on foam adhesive, layering it on a piece of rose gold glitter card stock.

PRO TIP: If you cut the large image down by 1/4″ all the way around, but keep the glitter layer the full 4-1/2 x 5-1/4, you can scoot the manger portion of the arch down to the bottom edge of the card. This leaves a bit of a gap at the top of the arch, so that the rose gold frames the manger scene!

I die cut the additional images popping some up on foam adhesive and keeping some flat. I also die cut the star from the same glitter card stock and layered that behind the sentiment so it accents the sentiment a bit.

You can see above, what I meant about the positioning of the manger portion….lower on the card than the frame, so we see that rose gold peeking thru up top!

{O Come Let Us Adore Him supplies — click on thumbnails}

Last one for today, is the Rosemal Reflections product suite. I went for a monochromatic color palette and made a thinking of you card which works year round, but definitely has a bit more of a fall/winter feel thanks to the rich color palette.

PRO TIP: You could take the same monochromatic approach with any color family! Picture this in all purples, all reds/corals/berries, all blues, all pinks, maybe even one in shades of tan/brown for a really neutral option!

I used the Rosemal Reflections embossing folder on the card base — goodness, look at that rich texture! — and then used the Capsule Basics dies for that scalloped layer. I added some Rosemal stamped leaves in a couple spots, and then used die cuts from the Rosemal Reflections Jumbo die set to create the floral spray.

I topped it off with a sentiment banner from the same set, and then used the Rosemal Reflections Sentiments Stamp Set, to add the Thinking of You.

PRO TIP: Give your flowers a bit of additional shading with a blending brush and some ink. I focused the color at the base of the flowers, where they would naturally be a bit darker and in shadow.

{Thinking of You supplies — click on thumbnails}

That’s it for today, but I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration while you’re here! What’s topping your wish list at the moment? I’d love to hear! Leave me a comment and be entered to win one of the two $50 gift certificates from The Greetery, that are up for grabs today!

The Greetery Blog has a ton more inspiration for you today (as always!!)! And the other gals on the Design Team have lots to show you, too!

1. Dana Kirby
2. Dawn McVey
3. Kelly Lunceford
4. Laura Bassen
5. Laurie Willison
6. Lea Lawson
7. Melissa Phillips
8. Wanda Guess

Thanks for joining me here at my NEW BLOG!! If you haven’t already, don’t forget to add your email in the box up at the top right, and all my card posts will be sent right to your inbox, so you never miss some crafty inspiration!

Have a great day, friends! And happy holiday crafting!!

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

October 10, 2025 104 comments

The Greetery’s Christmas Market Collection – Day 1

by Dawn October 10, 2025

All written by Dawn

UPDATED: Christmas Market Collection is LIVE! Shop it HERE!

Hello, friends! It’s the most wonderful time of the paper crafting year because it’s time for the release of the Christmas collection at The Greetery! I love this paper crafting season!! And this year’s big Christmas release is another good one! Just wait till you see it all! Let’s dive in with my favorites!

I have loved every one of our trips to Europe and would LOVE to go back sometime to see the Christmas markets, but we’ve not been there at that time of the year. This gives me the opportunity to create my own little Christmas market village and man, I had fun! I had trouble stopping with just these 6! Haha!

I used the new Market Place suite of dies and stamps to create my colorful village! There are Market Place die sets to create the buildings, the Market Place Holiday Festoons dies to deck them out for Christmas, as well as a Market Place Holiday stamp set to stamp the names on all the building signs.

I chose to make little tent cards that will serve as decor! When I started out, I intended to make these for gift tags, but as I stood them up on my desk, I just fell in love with them as I added each new building! I plan to display them on a shelf with our Christmas decorations, because they’re just too fun!

PRO TIP: They COULD serve as gift tags, though, as you’ll see a bit farther down this post. You could simply punch a little hole at the top of each card and add some twine, or if you don’t want to punch a hole, you could just slip some twine through the top of the “tent” from one side to the other and tie it onto the package that way.

I will tell you these villages are EASY to put together, because there are small score lines on the front of the buildings, to show you where things like windows and shutters go. Super easy assembly and then you can add all the holiday dressing however and wherever you want…..or just make year-round buildings without the Christmas decor!

To make my villages into tent cards, I just cut out a second building base for each one, added a small score line across the top and glued the two building pieces together, adding glue only above the score line. Fold on the line, and voila! Tent card!

PRO TIP: Before you start, I highly recommend scrolling pinterest for a quick sec, and looking at all the different colored European buildings. It will likely give you lots of color inspiration and help you to think outside the box when it comes to choosing colors for your fun buildings!

Ahhh……look at that little row of buildings! Can’t wait to display them this Christmas!

And above just gives you an idea of what it could look like, if you used them as gift tags! Super cute, yes?

{Market Place Village Decor supplies — click on thumbnails}

Next up is the new Shortbread Shapes product suite. I created a pile of tags cutting the tag base from a cream card stock and then die cutting the “shortbread cookies” from colorful card stocks. I also created a reverse set, by cutting the tags in green and the “cookies” from cream. You’ll see a better look at those below.

These tags were SUPER easy to make! Cut the tag base, cut the rectangle designs (9 at once!) and stamp the sentiment!

I mean, how fun is that colorful stack?! Even your kiddos could whip up tags like these with you!

And here’s the green set. For these, I used a soft tan ink and lightly ran over the embossed bits with a blending brush to give them more of an actual cookie-look.

So fun, yes?

{Shortbread Shapes Tags supplies — click on thumbnails}

I also made a card with the same products! Check out that card base!! I used the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle die and the embossing folder, to create the card base. To make it a shaped card, I did the same as my village tent cards up at the top!

PRO TIP: Simply die cut two of the base. Emboss the front one, and on the back one, add a score line up at the top where the “handle” of the “tray” is. Adhere the two pieces together, gluing only ABOVE the score line. Fold along the line and you have a card that easily opens.

I used the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle Labels die and Sentiments stamp set, to create the Merry Christmas label. Behind that, I tucked in some die cut sprigs using the previously released Pine Wisp die, Big Branches: Pine die and Big Branches: Baby’s Breath.

PRO TIP: Instantly add some holiday razzmatazz to ANY card — even an otherwise totally neutral card like this one — simply by die cutting one element on your card, from some glitter card stock! Could be gold, silver or rose gold, but it automatically adds some sparkly holiday cheer!

{Shortbread Shapes Merry Christmas Card supplies — click on thumbnails}

Ok, one more for today! This time, I used the new Cocoa Cozy product suite to create this fun card! To go along with the cocoa theme, there is also a Cocoa Cozy Cider Additions stamp set and die, so that’s what I used to make a cider card, instead of a cocoa card! Both are darling, but since it’s Fall, I decided to go the cider route for now.

I used the new Cocoa Cozy embossing folder to add the snowflakes and knitted texture on the mittens, and then used the Get a Grip die, to cut out the portion of mittens that allows you to tuck a die cut cup inside, or even a gift card!

There are a couple of different knitted designs you can stamp on the mittens and you can see here, that I embossed the cable knit, but stamped the snowflakes. I think it looks fun to add both, even though they’re different! But you could also choose to use the matching elements and just emboss directly over the stamped images.

{Cider Season Card supplies — click on thumbnails}

That’s it for me today, but I’ll be back with more to share tomorrow!

The Greetery Blog has loads more inspiration for you today, as do all of my teammates on the Design Team!

1. Dana Kirby
2. Dawn McVey
3. Kelly Lunceford
4. Laura Bassen
5. Laurie Willison
6. Lea Lawson
7. Melissa Phillips
8. Wanda Guess

Before you go, be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win one of two $50 gift certificates from The Greetery! Who doesn’t want free paper-crafting $$, especially with a release this jam-packed with cuteness?!!!

See you tomorrow, friends!

xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

October 10, 2025 138 comments

World’s Greatest Birthday – The Greetery

by Dawn September 18, 2025

All written by Dawn

Hello, friends! I’ve got a fun post to share with you today for The Greetery! It was recently my hubby’s birthday, so I made a card and a couple of gift tags for his gifts and I had so much fun putting them together!

I pulled out the World’s Greatest set, which is such a fun one for guy cards of all kinds. I knew I wanted to use purple (his favorite team’s color – Kansas State University – is purple, so I knew I wanted the card to have lots of purple. That was perfect for the background behind the trophy.

I stamped it with the Sparkler Background stamp and then die cut it with two of the Postal Frames dies, popping up the center one with foam adhesive. Such a simple way to add some fun and interesting detail to your card easily!

PRO TIP: You can do this with any nesting dies. Hearts, circles, square, whatever! Die cut the larger one for the main border, but then die cut a smaller one from the center of your panel and pop it up with foam adhesive! Easy peasy!

You can see above, how it adds some cool dimension!

Filling the trophy is the fun part! In this case, I used the Make a Wish set to make my won color coordinated candles, along with some Starburst Baubles! Very festive for a guy birthday, don’t you think?

PRO TIP: Those starbursts are technically little tags, so I just tucked the tag end into the trophy to hide it!

Then I made a second trophy to serve as a gift tag! The twine is just tied on one of the handles. SUCH a fun gift tag!

I also used the Make A Wish dies to create another gift tag! This one couldn’t be simpler….just cut out the two pieces, adhere them together and tie some twine through the loop at the top!

Here, you can see how the tags look tied on the gifts!

PRO TIP: I sometimes like to let my card serve as a jumbo gift tag! Particularly when you’re giving the gift and you don’t need to keep the contents of your card private, I like to punch a hole inside the card, in the upper right or left corner. Then, run a piece of twine or ribbon through the hole and tie it onto the gift. You’ve gone to all the work to create that lovely card! Why not let it shine?! No need to hide it in an envelope unless you need to!

{World’s Greatest Birthday supplies — click on thumbnails}

Hope I’ve inspired you to get crafty today! Be sure to head over to The Greetery Blog, too!
Thanks for being here, friend!
xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

September 18, 2025 7 comments

Baby Girl’s Big Birthday

by Dawn September 18, 2025

All written by Dawn

Hello, friends! I’ve got a fun post to share with you today for The Greetery! We went to a baby’s first birthday several weeks back and I made a sweet little birthday card to coordinate with the gift bag(s) I found at Target!

PRO TIP: I love to buy simple, colorful gift bags and then dress them up with my own custom dressings! A card, some ribbons, a statement gift tag….whatever the case may be, it’s a great way to make sure your gift isn’t gonna look like ANYone else’s at the party! And bonus, the more simple gift bags are lots cheaper than the ones with all sorts of graphics and artwork on them!

Dawn-mcvey-award-winning-inflated-the-greetery-4

To make my card, I pulled out the Award Winning dies and die cut the different layers from colors that matched my gift bag. Next, I stamped the sentiment from Inflated Sentiments, again with colors that would coordinate with the bag.

I then pulled out the Alpha-buds Slim stamp set (which I’m sorry to tell you has been disconnected) and the A2 Stitched Scallops dies to create my own custom patterned background layer. I love how those sweet flowers add a really soft touch to the otherwise more bold card, particularly since this was for a baby girl.

Lastly, I pulled out the Bold Numbers dies, to add that cute little ‘1’ at the bottom.

Dawn-mcvey-award-winning-inflated-the-greetery-7

PRO TIP: I love to use the card as the actual gift tag! Sometimes I put the card in an envelope, but sometimes, like in this case, I just feel like the card is so fun and goes so well with the bag, why not let the card serve as a jumbo gift tag and really dress the bag up! (This works particularly well when you’re not writing anything super private on the inside! LOL!)

To do this, simply use a hole punch to punch a hole in the inside upper corner of the tag, and then tie it on with ribbon or twine.

Dawn-mcvey-award-winning-inflated-the-greetery-8

I added a couple of different coordinating ribbons to add more interest and texture and I think it turned out pretty cute!

Hope this gets your creative wheels turning for the next time you need to use a gift bag!

{Baby’s First Birthday supplies — click on thumbnails}

Thanks for dropping in! Have a great day and happy creating!

Oh, and if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe if you want to receive my blog posts directly in your inbox, each time one is posted!

Have a great day!

xo,

Shop my artwork on my website! Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates. Shop my Amazon Storefront and my liketoknow.it page for all my current favorites!

September 18, 2025 0 comments

A Fresh Start…

by Dawn September 18, 2025

All written by Dawn

Hello, Friend and welcome to a brand new, fresh start here on my blog.

As you may have heard, Typepad, who hosted my blog for 18 years has officially closed its doors which meant I needed to find a new home for my blog. They’ve informed me that there is no way to transfer all of my existing posts from Typepad – with the photos included – over here to my new Wordpress blog. So, I’ve had to say goodbye to all of those 18 years of posts and embrace the opportunity for a fresh start!

My old Typepad blog is supposed to stay active until the end of September, 2025, so you’ve still got a bit of time to pop over and pin anything you’d like to save, to your Pinterest boards. Just tap that link to take you right over, for as long as the blog is still live.

Those of you who were subscribed to my old blog, will need to now subscribe to this new blog, if you’d like to continue receiving my blog posts directly in your inbox. This will ensure that all of my crafty blog posts will be sent straight to you, so you don’t miss a thing. Or perhaps you weren’t a subscriber before, but you’d like join the ranks of those who don’t miss any of my posts.

Either way, you can sign up here:

Also, just to clarify, signing up to receive my blog posts in your inbox, is entirely different than signing up for our Art News emails from our shop at DawnMcVey.com. If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any of my Art updates about new releases (such as the upcoming ornament releases!), you can sign up for Shop News HERE.

And in case this is your first time visiting, here’s just a bit about me.

I am an artist who loves Jesus above all! I paint lots of flowers, among other things and have an online store where you can shop my original fine art paintings, gicleé fine art prints and even things like our upcoming ornament collections. Tap the logo below to visit our shop and check things out. You’d be most welcome!

I have been happily married to my best friend, Bart, for 24 years now and am beyond grateful that the Lord chose to bless me with him! We have been through some incredibly difficult times (YEARS worth!) but the Lord carried us through every one of them and continues to do so today! I am a small intestine transplant survivor (about to have my 8th transplantiversary!) and Bartley is a prostate cancer survivor (for 11 years now)! See what I mean…we’ve been THROUGH IT! So grateful that Jesus has been with us every step of the way! I would not want to go through life without Him!

I love antiques and vintage items and collecting such things. I love gardening (which has helped me to be a better artist, as well as give me a deeper appreciation for our Creator and all that He’s created in nature!). I love color and creating and crafting, as evidenced by the blog header at the top of my blog home page! You’ll notice lots of different aspects of my work and hobbies there!

I also love to bake with freshly milled wheat because it’s not only delicious, but also crazy nutritious! It’s been such a joy to hear from literally hundreds of folks who follow me on Instagram as well as friends in our real-life circles, who’ve now also been blessed in many ways, including massive health improvements, thanks to hearing about and switching over to freshly milled wheat baking! I love that this was literally God’s plan for how we should eat right from the start! They ate bread at every meal in the Bible! (For more info on all the nutritional benefits of freshly milled wheat, visit my friends at Unsifted! Your mind will be blown!)

I work from my home art studio in Kansas City, which is where I paint as well as create all of our fine art prints. I love that we’re able to keep costs and shipping times down, by creating these prints in-house!

And along with my art business, I also create lots of cards and other paper-crafted items for The Greetery each time they have a new product collection release. Betsy (the owner there) and I have been friends and have worked together in some capacity for something like 15 years, so it’s a joy to be able to do a bit of work on the side, for her and her company.

Most of what you see here, will be those paper-crafted projects and I hope that they give you some creative inspiration. I hope that my posts bring you some joy and encouragement, as well.

Most of all, I love the Lord and when you spend time with me in any capacity, be it online or in person, I hope that you see a bit of Jesus in me. He is everything to me and I’m sure gonna do my best to point you to Him again and again. Here’s where I’d offer you a hug if we were visiting in person….unless you’re the sort that doesn’t care for such things, in which case, I would maybe just offer you an air hug. 🙂

Thank you for being here, friend. I’m grateful for you!

Before you go, please do leave a comment and let me know that you’ve found me here at my new blog home! Feel free to let me know how long you’ve been following along, or if you’re following along with me on Instagram or Pinterest, too. I’d love to know who is here!

Much love to you,

September 18, 2025 11 comments

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