Scrapbooking San Antonio Trip

I'm home!  We had a wonderful time.  There just wasn't enough time in the day to do .... and eat .... everything that we wanted to!  Oh well, another time.  We got home Tuesday night and my brother-in-law, Jack, flew in about an hour after I did so that worked out well.   Now I'm having another mini vacation - Jack and Sonny left Wednesday morning for a "guy's trip" to DC.  They must be having fun because I haven't heard from them since they called to let me know they got there ok.   I hope the weather there is as gorgeous as it has been here the past few days.  Our weather was wonderful the whole time we were in Texas.  We were so lucky to have missed all the tornado activity they had the day before our arrival.

 I have been scrapbooking my trip to San Antonio with My Digital Studio.  I will share with you the pages I have finished that highlight the Riverwalk.  The pages were so easy to do.  I used Delight In The Day designer template and just inserted my pictures and added the text.  Easy Peasy!!

(you can click on the picture and see them better)

Stamping Queens Sketch

My Stamping Queens challenge for the week will make you hungry!  I used My Digital Studio for this sketch.  It was an easy sketch this week.  Why don't you give it a try?

Also, check out the other Queens' sketches HERE.

Travels and Monday Mailer

We are having a wonderful time in San Antonio and it is hard to believe we have to get on the plane tomorrow to head back home.  We have been shopping, eating (a lot!!), visiting friends and family and just plain having fun!!  Ashley took off from work while we were here so that made it even better.  We started out having Mexican food the night we arrived and followed it up on Thursday at the River Walk and having Mexican for lunch.  We also took the water taxi tour down the river - something I have not done in years.  Thursday night, Ashley had tickets for us to go hear Jeb Bush speak at Trinity University (her college).  He was very interesting and spoke mostly about educating our children.  Friday we went to San Marcos outlet shopping .... spending 1 1/2 hour in the Vera Bradley store!!  Later we went to Austin to meet a friend for drinks, although when she arrived and ordered water, we knew something was up!  Yep - she is pregnant and we are excited for her and her hubby.  Next my nephew, his wife and new baby joined us and I got to see Jack Frost IV!!  What a cutie!!  Saturday we visited a couple of the Missions in San Antonio and got a Nat'l Park Service tour of one of them where we all learned some things.  Sunday after church, some of Ashley's friends came over and we cooked out and visited.  The little ones went swimming but the water was too cold for the adults!!  Last night we went to see The Hunger Games.  It was really good!!  Today we drove over to Gruene, about a 45 minute drive and wandered around in and out of the cute little shops as well as doing a bit of wine tasting.  We have eaten a little of everything - Mexican (of course) 3 times, Rudy's BBQ, Italian, Thai, Texas Chicken Fried Steak .....!!  Diet starts Wednesday!!

Before I left I made my Monday Mailer cards.  Here is one of them.

This is a white on white card.  I stamped the flower from Fresh Vintage first and then used the Designer Frames Embossing Folder to emboss around the flower.  I stamped the little border from Fresh Vintage in Concord Crush as I did the flowers in the stamp set.  This was a fun card to make.  All items came from Saleabration!  This is the FINAL WEEK to take advantage of the great Saleabration items.

Stamping Queens Bunny

Here is my card for the Stamping Queens Sketch this week. 

 Isn't he just adorable?  This is a My Digital Studio card using a template.

We arrived Wednesday in San Antonio and have been on the go ever since.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have a little more time to fill you in on what we have been doing!!

Stamp Club Projects

It's time to share the cards we will be making in Stamp Club this month.  My Thursday class met last week and my Tuesday class meets later today.

This card uses the Lattice die.  The layers are embossed together and then adhered to the card.  "Celebrate" is from the stamp set, Outline Occasions, available for the next 2 weeks ONLY in the SaleABration catalog!  We colored it in with SU markers.

This card uses a stamp that is not mine - Up Up and Away!  It is Ashley's and I had to use it before I go to Texas and give it to her (hope I remember to pack it!!)  I love how this turned out!  I punched out the white squares with the 1 1/4" Square Punch and stamped the flag tails with Soft Suede.  The kites are stamped in Real Red and cut out.  They are popped up on the squares with dimensionals.  The turquoise DSP comes from the Pattern Stack (love these).

Since we won't be together until after Easter, I had to include an Easter card using a punch art bunny!!  He's so cute! We are going to making the green and orange card using the wonderful DSP from SaleABration.  I case'd this card but don't remember where I saw it! 

This is the card opened with the bunny coming through.  The punches I used for this card are:

1 3/4" Circle - 2 for body
Ornament - 1 for head
Med. Oval - 4 for feet
Small (retired) oval - 2 DSP, 2 pink for feet
BoHo Blossom - 4 for tail
3/4" Circle - 2 for cheeks
Cupcake Punch - 2 black for eyes

I used my daubers and Pretty in Pink ink on all the edges.

The final card we will make is THIS card using the Starburst technique.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in style!

We enjoyed our outing yesterday as we celebrated St. Patrick's Day at Galway Hooker.  We made some new friends and celebrated with some of our old friends.


Me and the Philly Pretzel Man!



Our old friend, Jim, our new friend, Bob and Sonny having a few cold ones!

We were seated at the bar so we met all kinds of people as they were trying to squeeze in to order beverages.  This became one of our new friends!



Our new CLEVELAND (ugh) friend, Bob - He couldn't believe he was celebrating with Steeler fans!



Happy St Paddy's Day!

Wish I was in back in Ireland today .... oh what fun!  I'll have to make do  here in the USA though.  Sonny and I plan to brave the crowds and take in some of the festivities at the Galway Hooker in Cornelius later today.  They are having all day activities - bagpipes, 10 bands, corn role, etc ..... oh yeah - a little bit of green beer too I imagine!  Hope you are doing something fun too!

Here is the Monday Mailer card I received this week from Pat.  It is great!

 Materials used for card:

Stamps:  Outlined Occasions, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green
Embellishments:  Punches:  Blossom, Heart to Heart, Full Heart (for stem), Corner Rounder, 1 3/4" circle, 1 1/2" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Dazzling Diamonds

This is a Hershey Bar treat holder .... no Hershey bar though - she ate it!!  But isn't it the cutest???

“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”

Have a safe and happy day!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Today was my sister, Marianne's birthday.  I made her this card which I just love!  I'm going to wait until we go to Texas next week  to buy her present.  We are going to the outlet mall in San Marcos where they have a Vera Bradley store.  I'm sure she will find something there she has to have!

 I used the stamp set, Flower Fest which I need to use more.  I just love how this card turned out.  I stamped the flower 4 times on Almost Amethyst cardstock (retired, darn it!) with Versamark Ink and embossed them with white embossing powder.  I used my Aqua Painter to add a darker purple (Vintage Violet - retired) onto the petals.  I stamped the leaves with Versamark onto Certainly Celery.  I cut them all out separately and stacked the flowers on top of each other with dimensionals.  The "happy birthday" is from A Word for You.  (I masked off "with a cherry on top")  I found the ribbon in my jar of ribbon remnants and crinkled it with the heat gun. 

Tonight the family met Marianne and her boys at a Mexican restaurant in Statesville.  Of course, the waiters sang to her and I got this great picture of her!!!

Happy Birthday baby sis!!

MDS - Top 10 Template

I was going through some CD's the other day and found several from a few years ago that I had put pictures on when I had them developed.  Now that I use a digital camera, I don't keep the pictures as well as I should.  I need to start putting them on CD's again!  Anyway I decided to make use of My Digital Studio and scrapbook the pictures.  These pictures were taken when Ashley graduated from Medical School and that same weekend, she was sworn in as a Major in the Army.  The ceremony was held at The Alamo in San Antonio and it was really neat.  (You can click on the pictures to view them larger.)

Ashley, her Grandmother and her brother

Her brother pinned her ensignia on her.  He was a Captain at the time and was not happy his sister was about to outrank him!

A great picture of the two of them!

We had a lot of family and friends there to help us celebrate.

The materials I used to create these pages were simple.  I started out with a 24 page template called Top 10 and just edited some of the embellishments on it. Using a template like this, makes putting together scrapbook pages a snap!! 

Some of the materials I used:

• Top 10 Template
• Torn Edges Stamp
• Red, White, Blue Kit
• Word Play stamp

The Negative and the Positive

I made this card using another one of the goodies that my friend, Judy, gave me last week.  This time it is the Sizzix leaf die.  I saw a card similar to this one on Pininterest.  It is so easy to make but a Wow! card I think.  You use both the negative and positive images of the leaf die.  The DSP is from the Twitterpated pack which is in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I used the Daisy Sizzix Die for the flower and a corduroy button (retired) for the center.  I love these buttons and hate that SU discontinued them.  Luckily, I stocked up on them when they were on Clearance.  The ribbon is also from Clearance - actually, you can still purchase it on the Clearance rack for $3.49 for the roll which is a great price for almost 10 yards of ribbon.  I love this ribbon because it ties so nicely.  At the top of my blog, just click on the Clearance tab to look at the other items available.  There are still several punches available on Clearance also.

(A tip - if you are going to order  items from Clearance or the regular on-line store, make sure you make it worthwhile as far as shipping - SU puts a minimum of $6.95 for shipping on orders so to just order one roll of ribbon would not be smart - order other items or go in with a friend and share the shipping.)

Stamping Queens Sketch #30

I used My Digital Studio this week to make my Stamping Queens challenge.  This is the Attic Boutique Designer Paper from the Mini Catalog (pg. 23).  It is so pretty and reminds me of my grandmother's attic.  Oh the treasures I would find up there!  It is also like the quilts my sister is making for me for my guest room.  My good "girlfriend" from Florida sent me 2 twin quilt kits that had been given to her.  So, I turned to my quilt making sister, Marianne, to make them for me.   She is so sweet!  I've got to come up with something extra special to do for her.

We had a pretty easy sketch this week.  I don't kow that I particularly care for this sketch but it was definitely easy!

I had a busy day today.  I left the house around 7:30 a.m. and headed for the Soup Kitchen.  We made BBQ pork chops, baked beans and cornbread.  It was pretty easy and we had it all in the ovens by 9:30 and ended up standing around and visiting until we served the meal at 11.  After I left, I dropped by Marianne's house to visit.  She had come home early to meet a repair man.  They've been in their house about 20 years and things are starting to need replacing - first it was the furnace, next her drier and this week it is the hot water heater.  When I got home around 4, Sonny and I worked out in the yard spreading mulch in the flower beds until dinner time.  I brought some fresh vegetables home that had been donated to the Soup Kitchen.  Most of the patrons there don't like the fresh veggies so what they don't take, they offer to the volunteers.  I brought home spinach, broccoli, artichoke, mushrooms, green pepper, and squash.  I had never cooked fresh spinach so I tried it tonight and it was DELICIOUS!!  It will be one of my favorites from now on! I just put a little olive oil in my skillet and browned some fresh garlic; next I added the spinach and cooked it for about 2 minutes - until it all became "wilted" looking; added a little salt and yummy!!  And so good for you too!

Stuck for Good Color Combos?

Do you ever get stumped as to what colors to combine for your cards?  What colors look good together?  Or you want to get out of a rut and use different colors?  I do sometimes and usually turn to Stampin' Up's Color Coach.  But another great site that I found for color combination ideas is HERE.  Check it out and see what colors you come up with!

Last week I received this great Monday Mailer from Pat.  She always does really good work and this one is a good one!  She used the flower stamp from Occasions Mini to make the butterfly - cool, huh?  And the strip across the middle of the card is the fabric from the Mini.  I haven't bought this material but this card might have sold me!

Spring Forward!

Happy Weekend to you!  Hope you are doing something fun.  Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight .... Spring Forward ... unless you are in Arizona where my son and his family lives.  I am always confused as to what the time difference is for them since they don't do Daylight Savings Time!  It doesn't take much to confuse me, you know.  I think today they are 3 hours behind me but tomorrow, it will be only 2 hours .... I think!!

I haven't done much card making this week.  Even Sonny noticed it when he came up to collect the garbage this week.  Normally, I have 3-4 small waste baskets scattered about my room full of paper and bits.  But, this week, I think only one was full!  I have been pretty busy all week - going to water aerobics (3 times I'll have you know!!) plus playing mahjong on Friday, mammogram last week, Newcomers meeting, hair cut, Soup Kitchen to pull the food for next week, etc.  Next week is just as full though! 

My club order came in last week and when I took Judy's to her, she gave me a few things - a Sizzix leaf die along with some card stock that she had embossed with a few of her new dies.  I made a couple of cards with the Madison Window Die piece that she gave me.  They turned out really cute.  Thanks Judy!

 On this one I used a stamp from Northwoods.  Wouldn't you love to have that view out your window?  I embossed the top of the card and using my scoring tool, scored the bottom white piece to look like wainscotting with a chair rail.  I used SUs Lace Ribbon Border punch for curtains.

For this card, I stamped the image from Easter Blossoms (retired) onto watercolor paper and used my watercolor crayons to color them.  I stamped and cut out the cat from Window Dressing (ret.) to sit on the window sill. 

When I got my hair cut this week, I had it cut a little different.  I have worn bangs forever but this week, they were getting too long to do anything with so I had been wearing them to the side (with a lot of hair spray).  So, I asked my hairdresser not to cut them too much so I could do that but could also wear them down a little if I wanted.  Well, she ended up doing the front totally different - combing a lot of my front down onto my face (think Justin Bieber!)   I like it but don't know how long I will be able to do it.  I'm sure as soon as I try to do the same thing, it will be totally different!  It's hard to tell in the picture but the sides frame my face but starting right behind my ears my hair is flipped up - that part stayed the same. Plus, I haven't put any highlights in my hair now in over 2 years!!  Luckily, my white/gray parts have come out looking like natural frosting.

Ever Wonder What to Do With the Cards You Make?

I saw this today and thought it was hilarious!  Enjoy!

Stamping Queens Sketch 29 - not MDS - and a prize!

Do you believe it?  I did a Queens Sketch Challenge card without using My Digital Studio!!  I think this may be a first!  But what a fun card.   Button Buddies was one of the first sets that I had to have from the SU catalog when it was released last summer and I have not used it near enough.  I thought it was the perfect thing for this sketch.  Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting a good picture of it.

Supplies used:

• Stamps:  Button, Button and Button Buddies
• Ink:  Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi
• Cardstock:  Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
• Accessories:  Wasabi wide grosgrain ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Soft Subtles Buttons, Bakers Twine

And if you follow THIS LINK, you may win a prize for playing along!!

Here is the sketch for this week:

I really got a good workout at my water aerobics class Tuesday.  The class I took on Monday was really boring and I never really felt like I even got my heart rate going.  I can't say that about Tuesday's instructor.  I think I will be feeling it tomorrow.  But, I would much rather the class be intense so I feel like I am really working out.  Guess I will skip the Monday class from now on.

Go Green for Spring!

I have to make this one quick - I need to get ready to go to the "Y" for a swim aerobics class.  I'm trying hard to be good about working out a little.  This will be two days in a row!!  Sonny doesn't believe it - he thinks I am sick.  I'll show him!

This is the Monday Mailer that I mailed yesterday.  Our theme this month is "Go Green for Spring."  I don't seem to use green much in cards so I am trying to challenge myself.  This card uses a lot of the Sale-a-Bration supplies that were FREE!!

Supplies used:

• Soft Suede card base, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, SAB Enchantment DSP
• Fresh Vintage stamp set (Free - SAB), Tiny Tags stamp
• Ribbon from SAB Brad & Ribbon Pack
• Postage Stamp Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch
• Dimensionals to pop up the postage stamps

This is the last February Monday Mailer that I received from Karen.  The butterfly is covered in glitter - hard to see in this picture.

It was great to talk to Ashley yesterday.  She had a great time on her Rock Boat Cruise but didn't have much of a voice left!  Don't know if you are watching the tv show, The Voice (I love it!) but the first contestant last night on Adam's team was Tony Luca.  He was just on Ashley's cruise.  She called me and said it was so funny watching the show since she was just hanging out with him last week!  He made it through last night on the first cut.  He is really good and I predict he will go pretty far.

Stormy Weekend

Crazy weekend!   Guess everyone knows about all the tornadoes that were reported over the weekend.  Well, we had one touch down in Charlotte.  We didn't get anything at our house except a little rain but it was a different story in northeast Charlotte.  We got an early morning wake up call Saturday morning to see if we would be available later in the day to work at the Red Cross shelter that had been set up for the displaced residents.  The hurricane (oops - tornado) hit about 3 a.m. and did major damage to one neighborhood in Charlotte before moving on to Cabarrus County.  Charlotte bus service moved through the neighborhood collecting people to take them to the shelter.  I think they had about 40-50 people in the shelter.  By the time Sonny and I got there at 3:00 in the afternoon, there was only one family there and they left around 5:30.  So there was a lot of sitting around and doing nothing for a long time!  We were supposed to stay until 11 pm but at 9:00, Sonny and I had had enough and left!  I felt sorry for the volunteers who were coming in for the 11-7 shift and was glad it was not me! 

Sunday Sonny and I went to the movies to see Act of Valor.  It was really good and the actors were actual Navy SEALS.  It was inspired by true events and was a powerful story about anti-terroism.  I can say without a doubt that I am glad my son or my husband did not want to be a SEAL after seeing this film!

I did have a little bit of time though over the weekend to make a few cards.  I made another starburst card ... I really love these cards!  I think we may do one at Stamp Club this month.  This one uses an old paper stach that I had in Pumpkin Pie.  I also used the Triple Treat single stamp that is available for FREE during Saleabration.  (You can also get it in the regular SU catalog.)  What I love about this stamp is that you can use punches to make it dimensional.  I stamped the flower in Not Quite Navy first and using the Fancy Flower Punch, punched it out.  Next I stamped it in Pumpkin Pie and punched out the next layer with the 5-Petal Flower Punch.  The inside circle could be punched with the 1/2" Circle Punch but i decided to use the Boho Blossom Punch and a Designer Brad for the center.

Simply Scored Diagonal Plate

I am excited to offer you the all-new Simply Scored Diagonal Plate  item #125586 perfect for creating envelopes, boxes, and more! It’s the must-have companion to your Simply Scored Tool.

Product Features

• Sits on top of the Simply Scored base
• Held securely in place by rubber pads on back of the plate
• Has etched grooves every 1/8"
• Can score any size card stock up to 12" x 12"
• Includes instructions for creating common envelope sizes
• The new Diagonal Score place has limitless possibilities for creation--especially when the price is just $11.95. You can’t afford not to buy it!
• The Simply Scored products are just what they imply--simple! This new plate was designed to make everything that deals with scoring easy. The plate includes the same 1/8" spacing as the Simply Scored, so each groove of the diagonal plate corresponds with the ruler--and all of your projects!
• The Diagonal plate contains wonderful features like two silicone patches on the back to hold it in place while you are scoring your projects. It also has this arrow on the back to help you use it correctly. Just make sure the arrow is pointing to the ruler before you use it.
• Are you worried about finding another place to store your tools? The Diagonal Plate stores easily right on top of your Simply Scored, so you’ll know exactly where to find it.

And it is available for you to order NOW!

Click below to watch the video from Stampin' Up:

Startburst Card

Each week I receive a newsletter from Splitcoast Stampers with new techniques and ideas in card making.  It is free so if you are not signed up for it, you should!!  So one of today's "hot topics" was how to make a Starburst background.  It is great for using up scraps of DSP.  I just love how this card turned out using the Twitterpated DSP from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

I even made a "lolly" medallion out of the DSP.  So what are you waiting for?  Gather up some of your scraps and make one yourself.  Here is the tutorial for the card - http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/06/tutorial-starburst.html

I attended the Newcomers Southern Living luncheon today.  We had so much food that I didn't have to eat any dinner!!  There were about 25 ladies there and each brought a dish from the Southern Living magazine.  We had 4 appetizers, 4 salads (all of them were a variation of spinach salad), 4 main dishes (all of them chicken!), 3-4 vegetables, 2 breads and 2 cakes, 1 pie, 1 cobbler, and pecan bars!  Wow!  I sampled a little of everything (except the carrots and asparagus) and it was all delicious.  But I am still stuffed!!  I have a friend who had a knee replacement last week and just came home from the hospital today.  So, I made her a plate - well, actually 3 plates!  That should tide her over for a couple of days!

I have been walking with a bit of spring in my step.  Some good things have been happening in my family and things are starting to look up for strained relationships.  I am hopeful!