Hi everyone! How many of you miss getting out and being with friends and family? As long as we feel the need to stay in and properly distance ourselves from other people the small businesses in our country will continue to struggle. This week I have been participating in a project that is helping to raise funds to help many of the small businesses on Cape Cod.

Again, why in the world would someone in middle America get involved in such an effort? Well, my friend, Jenn Shurkus, is an avid crafter and artist and lives on Cape Cod. She knows first hand the difficulty small businesses are facing and decided to create stamp set that she could sell to help raise money for the Cape Cod Resilience Fund. Jenn sent me a set of the stamps for free and asked me, in return, to make a few cards or projects to show how the stamp set could be used. I hope the cards I have made this week have at least made you think about purchasing a stamp set or at least forwarding my blog, Instagram, and Facebook posts to some of your friends who enjoy crafting and who might buy a set themselves.

Mister (that’s what I call my husband – unless I call him “Man”, which he thinks is funny and he likes) and I are still pretty much staying home all the time and aren’t getting around people. We visit his mom and she comes to our house because she hasn’t been getting around either. We have found that InstaCart and Shipt have been suitable substitutes for going to the store – and in some cases it is much preferred!

We both have great imaginations so we decided to host a big backyard party full of friends, family, and fun – all in our heads. Today’s project is an invitation to our imaginary party and one of the favors our guests will take home with them after getting their fill of buttery lobster, corn, and hush puppies – throw in some pink lemonade pie and our party could be something people will talk about all summer – especially since I gag at even the thought of eating any kind of fish!

I created the invitations for the “party” using my Silhouette and a few pieces of cardstock. It was simple to cut a few circles of black, red, and white cardstock and use my Jelly Roll pens to write the invitation details (with my Silhouette sketch function, of course). After the invitation pieces were cut I placed two lobsters (the small lobster from Jenn’s set) facing each other to give the invite a little bit of eye candy.

Of course those invitations also would need to be sent out so I created an envelope using my We R Memory Keepers 123 Punch Board (they have a new All-in-One tool that will make envelopes too). I wanted the recipient to know they were getting “fun” mail when it arrived so I stamped an Adirondack chair and a small sentiment (from Jenn’s Cape Cod stamp set) on the outside of the envelope.

The favor boxes were created using the Essentials By Ellen Two-In-One Box die set. I began by stamping two pieces of 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 cardstock with a random pattern using the large lobster stamp in the Cape Cod stamp set. I then used the die to cut the box pieces.

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When I am making boxes or any other type of container I generally try to use American Crafts Sticky Thumb Red Line Tape because it will permanently bond just about anything. It is really sticky and double sided so the folds in a box will not come apart when it is filled with goodies. When folding the box pieces it is a good idea to use a bone folder to get the folds nice and crisp, especially on the lid because it won’t stay closed without a good stable fold.

The sentiment on the front of the box was created using the tag from the Two-in-One box die set as was the tag on the top of the favor box. The sentiment on the box is part of Sunny Studio’s Best Fishes stamp set and the lobster came from Jenn’s stamps. For the tag on top of the favor box I typed the sentiment onto cardstock and cut the shapes using my Big Shot.

I filled each box with a few Swedish Fish and tied them up with red baker’s twine. One would think that we would open the boxes and nibble the candies while we were watching Jaws on Netflix – Ohhh, big Saturday night party. However, I am thinking the favor boxes will go in the mail to my daughter and son-in-law who enjoy the candies – and neither my husband or I do.

Tomorrow I will have a quick recap of the week’s posts along with one last card from Jenn’s exclusive Cape Cod stamp set. If you have enjoyed these posts at all, I would love for you to join my email list so that you can be informed each time I publish a new post. Don’t forget that $10 of the purchase price of Jenn’s stamp set (between now and July 1, 2020) will be donated to the Cape Cod Resilience Fund. To learn more about Jenn’s endeavors you can visit her website here: https://shurk.us/CCRF.

Products used:

I have attached links where you can buy some of the products used in today’s projects. I am not an affiliate of any of the companies represented and I do not receive product or funding for any of your clicks, it is just an easy way for you to purchase any items you see and like.

• Silhouette Cameo – Bundles currently on sale through June 30
• Jelly Roll Pen – Black
• Jenn Shurkus Exclusive Cape Cod Stamp Set ($10 donated to CCRF)
• Catherine Pooler Premium Dye Ink (Rockin’ Red)
• Memento tuxedo black dye ink
• We R Memory Keepers The Works All-In-One Tool
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Essential By Ellen Two-In-One Box die
• American Crafts Sticky Thumb Red Line Tape

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