Bouquet of Flowers Thank You Card

Hello Friends!  I can't believe it's almost the weekend.  Since retiring, the days seem to go by faster than when I was working.  I thought it would go by slower. I am now 60 years old.  My birthday was 2 weeks ago and I decided to retire earlier than the typical retirement age because I wanted to be able to be free to do things while I'm physically able to, such as traveling, go on mini adventures, do some home improvement projects, etc.  Before retiring I researched information about retirement, not only the financial aspects of retirement but quality of life information.  I read that many retired people experience isolation, boredom, and loneliness because for most of their lives, their workplace was not only a source of income but many built their social network at work.  Their coworkers were their main source of social interaction and friendships.  

I worked remotely for the past 7 years since COVID so I am accustomed to the "isolation" and lack of workplace social interaction other than through Teams messaging and meetings.  I never considered my coworkers as "friends".  Maybe when I was younger I did consider some of my coworkers as friends.  It was a time when socializing with coworkers outside of the workplace was a more common experience for me.  In fact, I am still friends with a few of them.  We mainly communicate through Facebook because I no longer live in Hawaii and a few moved to different parts of the US.   As I grew older, I learned to separate "workplace friends" from friends outside of my job.  Other than the occasional Friday happy hour get togethers or team building activities, I did not socialize with my coworkers outside of the workplace.  I don't think I'll experience the isolation, boredom, and loneliness that some retirees experience.  Quite honestly, I  have way too many hobbies to worry about becoming bored.

As I stated in yesterday's post, this week I had planned to focus only on crafting.  I have other things I plan to do next week so I wanted to put most of my efforts this week to creating cards.  I worked on a few cards yesterday.  I am trying different design styles.  Many times we have our signature style of cardmaking because it's easier to stick to a certain style.  I would like to experiment a little more and try new techniques of card making.  I am behind on the new card making techniques; a decade worth of new techniques. 

On the most part card making, especially with rubber stamping, hasn't changed much since I started rubber stamping 20 years ago.  I do notice that there has been a major decline with using embellishments on cards such as ribbons and other embellishments that cause bulkiness on cards.  I think the trend to scale down on embellishments is due to the cost of mailing cards.  The cost of stamps has increased considerably.  Unfortunately, I have a lot of embellishments such as brads, ribbons, Prima flowers, etc., but it's okay because I'll be using them to design my mini scrap albums.  They come in handy with scrapbooking.  

With this card, I piled on a bunch of stamped floral images.  I had mentioned in my previous post that I had a stock pile of stamped images that I had stamped in the past few years but never created cards for them.  I originally intended to use them on my mini scrapbook albums but I have so many of them, way too many in fact.  Now that I'm making cards again, they have come in very handy.  

Drop me a comment below.  I would love to hear from you.  If you are retired, tell me your experience as a retired person. What experiences surprised you, do you have any regrets, did your retirement meet your expectations, what does your typical day look like?  I am still trying to navigate this new chapter of my life so it would be nice to hear your perspectives on retirement.  Anyway, until next time hope you all have a wonderful day 💖

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Floral Thank You Card

Hello Friends!  Happy Wednesday.  Since retiring I've been trying to work out some sort of life schedule.  I've asked a few retired people for advise and some say for the first few months to just relax and go with the flow; to just enjoy my free time and not focus on any sort of schedule.  Before I retired, I had the mindset that when I retire I would immediately tackle all the projects I have put on the backburner such as organizing my garage; redesigning my office and craft room;  start on home improvement projects like painting my exercise room; and start exercising.  I actually started a list of goals and all the things I want to get done.  

The first week of retirement I reorganized my office.  Because I worked remotely from home, I wanted to turn my work office into a journaling/planner room. I did manage to reorganize my desk, drawers and cabinets.  I also started an exercise schedule. I started going for a walk daily.  I also worked on my yard by pruning my plants and other yard work.  I traveled to Vegas for a family reunion my first weekend.  After returning from Vegas, I felt so burnt out.  On my second week of retirement, my body started aching a little. I think I over did it the first week of retirement.  I continued on the same schedule but I felt so tired from all the activities the previous week.  I decided on this 3rd week of retirement that I'm just going to relax and slow it down a little.  I have to remind myself that I don't need to do everything all at once. On the other hand, I feel like I'm wasting my free time and I start to have a strange feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out). I feel like I should be going on adventures and start on all the projects I had wanted to do.  I don't know, I'll figure it out.  Right now, today anyway, I decided to focus on just relaxing, take a nap if I need to and do some crafting.  

This morning I woke up early and did my morning walk then later sat in my backyard to drink a cup of tea before it got too hot to sit outside.  It was nice to be able to sit in my yard in the morning; something I couldn't do when I was working.  It's the simple things that I really am grateful for.  I do feel blessed that I was able to do an early retirement.  Honestly, it was something I had wanted but didn't think it was actually possible.  Everything aligned in a way that allowed it to happen.  

I created this card this morning.  I used a few floral images that I had stamped and colored about a year ago.  I have a stockpile of already colored stamped images.  I had stamped the images with the intention of using them to design a bunch of mini scrapbook albums that I created but never had the chance to finish.  

I colored the images by using a dauber. I rubbed ink on to white card stock and stamped the images over it.  It's the fastest way to color floral images.  It allowed me to color a lot of images.  I then cut the images out with scissors.   

I'll work on a few more cards today.  I can't wait to share them with all of you.  Have a great day!

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Hello, I'm Back!!

Hello Friends!  I'm back!  The last time I posted on this site was in 2015 but I decided to give blogging a try again.  I am a newly retired person.  I retired from my job on August 1st, 2026 (yipee!!) and now that I have a lot of free time, I want to give card making and scrapbooking another try.  I really miss blogging.  I remember back over a decade ago when blogging was popular,. I had so much fun interacting with other bloggers and paper crafters back then.  I know a lot of the original bloggers no longer blog, many have moved on to other hobbies or are now using other social media platforms such as Instagram to showcase their creations.

I do have an instagram specifically for paper crafting and although I've posted on there on occasion, I haven't been consistent in posting any of my creations on there.  I have tried over the past10 years to make cards and to scrapbook but, sadly, I could not get my crafting mojo going.  It has been mainly because I just didn't have the time due to my job and I had also lost interest in crafting in general.  I shifted a lot of my focus on gardening but I would really like to get back to paper crafting again.

I've kept most of my cardmaking and scrapbooking supplies with the belief that I would some day use them again.  I know there are new products and techniques for cardmaking and scrapbooking but my focus will be mainly to use the materials that I do already have and resist buying any more new items.  Like with anything in life, that can change.  😆

There were moments when I did try to craft throughout the years but I could not stick with it and be consistent but let me see how this goes.  Blogging always motivated me in the past to create new things because I almost treated my blog as a journal and I enjoyed sharing my new creations.  I'm hoping that by blogging again, I will be inspired to create again.  I also have other things I would like to share about my life as a retired person such as my life  adventures, gardening, and other things I plan to do as I navigate this new chapter of my life. If you want you can also visit or follow me on Instagram:  Stampin Inspirations I plan to post on there regularly as well.  

I'll share this card for now.  It's a card I actually created last year.  Most of the products on this card are retired Stampin Up products.  Keep in mind, the products I'll be using on my cards are not current products because my goal is to use materials I already have.  I've hoarded craft materials for the past 20 years and I really do need to use them.  Say hello if you come across my post.  Although my intentions is not to obtain new followers or focus on anyone visiting my blog, it would be nice to hear from you. Until next time. . . 💗💗💗

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Hi There! Just a Bunch of Cards I Made!

Hi Friends!  Gosh it's been a while.  I was hoping to blog regularly but I guess that won't be happening.  My classes started last month and there are so many reading requirements, papers, and projects that I haven't had time to do a lot of things that I typically do.  The load is heavier this quarter than it was in the last quarter.  

I did make a few cards this month whenever I was able to squeeze in the time.  I also started on a fitness journey.  I bought a Fitbit.  For those who don't know what that is.  It's pretty much a pedometer that syncs with your phone so you can keep track of your steps.  You can also connect with friends online to encourage one another.  I was doing really well up until about a week and half ago when my class assignments started piling up and I went off track a little.  I'm very disappointed that I haven't been walking or keeping track of my intake the past 2 weeks when I was doing so well last month.  I did manage to lose 13 lbs so I'm happy about that. I'm hoping to get back on track again.   Anyone have a Fitbit? 

 I did work on a bunch of Valentine's Day cards and other cards.  The images on both cards above are by Stampin Up.  I've been trying to use a bunch of my older rubber stamps.  It's a shame to not use them.  I'm going to start selling a bunch of my craft stuff again.  I have been selling a few on Ebay occasionally but I really need to work on downsizing my stuff.  I have too many things I really don't need anymore.  I no longer have the luxury or time to use them.  I miss the days when I could freely craft whenever I felt like it. 

With this card I used my Unity Stamps.  I have a bunch them that I need to use.  I'm thinking of letting go a bunch of my Unity Stamps.  I'll let you folks know once I start listing them on Ebay.

For this card I used a Rachelle Anne Miller stamps and colored it with Copic Markers and Prima Color Pencils.

I used Unity Stamps for this card.  This is the first time I've used these images.

The sentiment on this card is by Inkidinkado.  The ones that they sell at Joannes.  I have a lot of them.  I remember I would head to Joannes and buy a whole bunch of them at a time.  I no longer buy too many things anymore.  I have just way too many things I bought that I haven't used and I need to focus on those items rather than buying more of them.  The flower image is by Stampin Up and I added beads to the center of the flower.  

Anyway. . .I have bunch more cards that I made.  I'll share them on another day.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!


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