Shoebox swapping with a KISS plus the best $17 ever spent

When we bought our house in 2007, we also bought some decent furniture to go in it, deciding to donate my husband's Goodwill furniture to the newlywed seminarians who took over our seminary housing after we left. (We decided that getting a mortgage entitled us to grown up furniture!) So when we got here and got far enough in the renovation to put up furniture, we decided to get oak futons for the living room and guest room since we host a fair number of overnight guests throughout the year. I bought nice washable covers for the spring-coil mattresses and the guest futon has been great about staying put on the wooden frame. The living room one, not so much. We got these foam strips that were supposed to help, but really just made things worse. So last week I finally spent the $17 and got a proper futon mattress gripper, which is similar to the non-slip pads you stick under a rug. I was skeptical--can it really work for only $17?? The pad arrived yesterday and I'm thrilled to say that the mattress is still in place!


Today's card is for a shoebox swap that I'm participating in this week. I debated about going because I was having trouble coming up with a design, but the Great Cardstock Organization Project of last week revealed 12 blank Pixie Pink card fronts that I had cut out for a different project and ended up scrapping, so I was determined to use that cardstock up! Pixie pink is not a color I usually reach for, so I turned to the IBC for color combinations and ended up using the Simply Scrapping Sunny Day color combo as my inspiration--Pixie Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive. Since there are going to be 10 of us swapping, the card needed to be something fast (8 minutes or under to make) and light on the embellishments for cost reasons. I had pulled out last year's SAB brochure a few days ago to look for ideas and the card on the front cover really struck my fancy. I liked the layout and the stamping was so simple! It is the foundation of Stampin' Up!'s philosophy of stamping: ink, stamps, paper. So while I didn't set out to make a KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetie) card, I think I ended up with one, nonetheless. It is mostly just stamping with a tiny bit of ribbon thrown in for good measure. Plus the bright colors are so cheery!