Swaps to Share #1

I recently attended the Quarterly get-together of the NC Demo group.  We always have so much fun! I missed attending the event with my sister, Marianne, but had another good friend along, Debbie.  It's so fun stamping with a room full of friends who all love stamping just like I do.  It is always good to get together with old friends and make new ones.  This time the hostesses made the Quarterly "old school."  We had assigned seat so we could make new friends; re-visited some projects that I haven't done in years; had snacks that we used to eat as kids - Double Bubble, Mary Janes, chocolate candies, etc.  I thought I'd share some of the swaps I received.  These swaps are based on a sketch that we were given to follow.  It's interesting how different they all are.

My swap was this one.  I embossed the daisy (Daisy Delight) with white embossing powder on the turquoise strip and stamped the daisy in turquoise ink on the white panel.  The circle with HUGS is a new framelit and it and the ribbon are Berry Burst (a new in color.)

This card is by Debra Byrd.  She used the Eastern Medallion dies and a new hostess set, Tranquil Tulips.

There was no name on this card so I can't give credit.  She used the new Daisy Delight set along with the gorgeous Delightful Daisy DSP.  (You know, I have this paper but can't bring myself to cut into it!)

Again, no name.  She used Touches of Texture stamp set and Falling in Love DSP (which is retiring.)  It is a gorgeous card!

This card was made by my sister, Marianne.  She used Colorful Seasons stamp set and the new Color Theory DSP pack.  I love this stamp set!!!

Saying Good Bye to Retiring Products - May Blog Hop

Welcome to the NC Demos Blog Hop!  Did you enjoy the projects that Tracie shared with you?  She always has great cards!  It's time to say good-bye to our favorite retiring products from the 2016-17 catalog, so our May theme is all about saying farewell before we concentrate on our new catalog which premiers on June 1.

My first share in my favorites is a card made with Gorgeous Grunge and a new stamp set, Lovely Friends.  This card literally took me about 5 minutes to make!  I think it took longer to decide on what colors to use (Pacific Point, Lemon Lime and Daffodil Delight) than to make the card! Seriously!

My next favorite stamp set that is retiring is Wetlands.  I love the sea oats and the little birds in the set.  In the card below, I stamped the birds onto a piece of card stock that I did the Marbeling Technique on using shaving cream.  We did that technique in April at my stamp club and my gals loved it!

This next card is also from Wetlands but using the goose this time.  I have not used him very much but I thought this makes a good masculine card.  There is a 2 1/2" piece of window sheet on the card and I masked off a 1 1/4" strip on the inside (that you can see through the window sheet) and sponged Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake.  (Mint Macaron is a color that I am going to sorely miss!!  I am hoping it will return in the future to our color line up.)  Next I stamped the grass in Old Olive.  I also stamped a bit of the grass on the outside of the card.

Here is the card open so you can see how I made it.  You just sandwich the window sheet between the 1/2" strip and the 2 1/2" piece of the card.  We are going to do a similar card in Stamp Club next month but I will be using the Seaside Shores fish that is carrying over to the new catalog.

Another thing I will miss is some of the DSP that we had in the retiring catalog.  I need to stop hoarding all the DSP and use it up during the year.  Don't know why I do that every year - it's not like I can't just order more if I need it!  The card below uses the stamps from Seaside Shore and the corresponding DSP, By the Shore.  I love this DSP and another great one is the paper stacks.   

When I went to my daughter's house last Christmas, I made her a collage frame to hang in her guest bathroom using the By the Shore DSP.  She lives in Hawaii so this was a perfect addition to her "beachy" bathroom!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed the projects I have shared with you.  I didn't mean to put so many on this page but I just couldn't stop!  There are a lot of favorites leaving us but also a lot of new favorites coming our way!!

I know you will enjoy the rest of the stops on the blog hop!  Just follow along below.  If you are going in order, Laurie Meier will be your next stop.

Debra Ballance-Byrd  

Tamra Davis  

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyi 

Tracie Evans Langley

Sharon Maranich  - YOU ARE HERE

Laurie Meier

Frances Wagner 

Mother's Day Cards 2017

I can't believe I have not written on this blog all month!!  May has just been crazy for me with Mother's Day, graduations, traveling, company, stamp club and just regular life happenings!  Our friends from Texas came to visit for a week in early May.  Margaret and I were able to do some stamping and also had time to fit in a few shopping excursions while the guys went to South Carolina with a group for target shooting for a few days.  They returned on a Thursday and on Friday we attended my nephew's graduation party.  Wouldn't you know it - it was nice and warm all week but on Friday it was downright cold and the party was outside!  We all had our jackets and sweaters on plus they had a fire going in the back yard so that made it fun for everyone.  Margaret and Graham were able to have their first smore!!  On Saturday, Sonny dropped me and our friends off at the Charlotte airport.  They were catching a plane back to Dallas and I was on my way to New Orleans to meet Ashley.  She had a conference there the week before and took a few days of leave for some "girl time."  We had a great time exploring parts of the city we had never been before.  Plus we took a cooking class at New Orleans School of Cooking that was wonderful!  We learned to make gumbo, shrimp and grits, pralines and bananas foster with crepes!  It was a short trip - we both headed back home on Tuesday.  The day after I returned home, Sonny went back to Myrtle Beach with a group of guys for 5 days of golfing.  While he was gone, I drove to Haw River State Park with my downline for the NC Quarterly.  We ran into some terrible weather driving down there Friday - heavy rain and hail - and on our return trip Saturday - it was road construction that had us at a dead stop for about 45 minutes!  I could hardly get out of bed on Sunday because my back was killing me.  I'm sure it was from being tensed up from the drive and sitting all day on Saturday.  In the midst of all this, I am worried about my mom and a health issue of mine.  Mom is having difficulty getting her breath and the dr. thinks it is congestive heart failure.  She is going to see a cardiologist hopefully tomorrow or Friday.  I had some blood work done last week and my liver count was elevated.  So I was a little worried.  Yesterday I saw my doctor and had more blood work done and everything is back to normal now so I didn't really need to worry!

These are the cards I made for Mothers Day.

This one was made for my mom.  This set is retiring and I have not used it enough!!!

For this card, I used the a mask to sponge Pool Party on the white cardstock.  I also used Gorgeous Grunge (a favorite that is also retiring - boo hoo) to lightly stamp the background.  The flower stamp set is a new one in the 2017-18 catalog, Daisy Delight.  I think you will be seeing a lot of this set!

For this card, I paired the old with the new.  The old is Swirly Scribbles and Thoughtful Banners with it's matching punch (both are carrying over to the new catalog).  The new is the Oh So Eclectic stamp set and the new in-color ink colors - Powder Pink and my favorite, Lemon Lime Twist.  I sponged the half doily.

This card uses the Daisy Delight stamp set and I sprinkled a few sequins around.  The ribbon is retired.

Another card using new products!  The sentiment is from Lovely Friends and the flowers are again from Oh So Eclectic.  The DSP is a great one called Color Theory.  I can't wait for you to be able to order this pack of paper.  It features six designs in four colors - Berry Burst (new In Color & the one I used above), Old Olive, Crushed Curry and Dapper Denim.  The designs include pages that look like a paint chip, some pages of color gradients, and some with a crackle appearance (which I used.)  They come in a 6"x6" pad - 4 each of the 12 double sided designs.  The card above also uses another new in color, Tranquil Tide.