August 2018 Paper Pumpkin

Do you have projects mounting up and don't seem to get to them (like me!)?  Maybe it is time to prioritize your projects.  Make a list of them and then number them.  Check off your list as you go and before you know it, they will be done!  What cards do you need most urgently now?  If you are like me those are probably birthday, get well and sympathy.  And pretty soon I'll be adding Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day to my list.

At my Stampin'  get-togethers, I tell the gals they can use any sentiment they want for the cards we make.  Last week one of my friends who hasn't joined us in almost two years, came and concentrated on birthday cards.  She took two of the birthday cards I had designed (see them here) and made two of each.  Not only does she have a few birthday cards but it made it easier for her to make the second one.  So when you sit down to make a card, why not make two at the same time?!  It will make life simpler!

I worked on making cards from my Paper Pumpkin kits this weekend.  There are about three kits that I haven't done.  The cards I worked on Sunday came from the August Paper Pumpkin.  I don't know why I didn't do this kit when it came in.  It is gorgeous!!  I understand why I still have my December and February kits but why was I so busy in August??  I think that is when I was having a mental block about making cards and just had to take a break from card making and blogging.

The first two cards are made according to the directions for the August Paper Pumpkin.   Those flowers are already printed on the card.

The next card is a Z Fold card - so easy to do.  I cut one of the pre-printed cards in half to make the Z fold card.  I actually made another card like the one below but with a birthday sentiment.  But I have already mailed the other card and forgot to take a picture of it!

I just love this sentiment!

I'll be posting other cards from this kit as I make them.

Blog Hop - Keeping It in the Lines

Welcome to the North Carolina Demos February Blog Hop!  Whew - that's a mouthful!  So glad you are here and will get some ideas for your own card making from our cards.   If you have already visited Tracie's blog, I'm sure you enjoyed a wonderful project.  Tracie does great work!  I'm Sharon Maranich from the NC Piedmont area and I was born and raised in Charlotte.

This month's theme for the blog hop is your favorite coloring method.  Well, my favorite way to color is with the Stampin' Up Blends!  These markers make it so easy to blend colors and create beautiful works of art for all of your card making.  The colors, as the name suggests, blend beautifully, mainly because the colors are picked out and designed to blend with each other.  These blends take the guess work out and lessen the learning curve for coloring.  I love using the Color Lifter too.  It makes it easy to erase colors with it.  It is good for blending the dark and light colors.

For this card, I used the Dandelion Wishes stamp set.  I stamped the dandelions on the edges of the Basic Gray card stock with Versamark and used the white embossing powder to emboss them.  Next came the Pumpkin Pie Blends and I colored some of the flowers and all the little stems.  I used one of my favorite embossing folders - Subtle - to emboss both the Basic Gray card and stamped piece.  I matted the piece onto Pumpkin Pie card stock.  The sentiment was stamped on a Layering Circle die which was also matted onto a Pumpkin Pie circle.

This card uses the Love What You Do Photopolymer Stamp set.  I stamped the flowers and leaves along the edge with Memento Black ink on Very Vanilla card stock that was cut out with the Rectangle Stitched dies (my favorite!)  Next I colored the flowers with Bermuda Bay light and dark SU Blends.  I used the Well Written dies to cut out "miss" and the bird.  I actually die cut 2 of the "miss" - one is Bermuda Bay and the other in Night of Navy and staggered them just a little bit.  I matted the Vanilla piece onto Night of Navy and then onto the Bermuda Bay card.

There is a bit of a story behind the "miss" and "you"!  I bet most of you have experienced this before.  I was going to do both words with the Well Written dies and took them both off the magnet sheet and  put them onto my table.  Well, wouldn't you know it, when I got ready to die cut them, I couldn't find "you."  I looked everywhere and crawled around on the floor (picking up little bits of paper and the backs of the glue dots while I was down there!)  Finally I just gave up and stamped the "you" (from the Sale-a-Bration set, Part of My Story).  I was so upset because I had never even used the "you" die and now it was gone.  BUT .... when I turned my card over to put tape on the back and assemble the card, there was "you" stuck to the back of the vanilla card stock!  

OK - that's all for me today.  I hope you have been inspired to create your own masterpiece.  If you need help or want to add any of these supplies to your own stash, please let me know.  I'll be more than happy to help you on your stampin' journey!  Enjoy the remainder of the Blog Hop.  Next stop for the blog hop is Sue Root.  I'm sure she will have something amazing to share with you!  

We do this Blog Hop each month on the last weekend of the month.  So don't forget to join us at the end of March!

Happy Stampin'!  

Sharon

TONI CAMPANA

JO ANNE HEWINS

TRACIE EVANS LANGLEY

SHARON MARANICH - you are here!

SUE ROOT

ROBBIE RUBALA

 SUE STAPP

ANITA TRIPPI

FRANCES WAGNER

Paper Pumpkin is Celebrating it's SIX year anniversary!

There has never been a better time to give Paper Pumpkin a try.  Because it's Stampin' Up's sixth birthday celebration, they will be pulling out all the stops!  You'll get an adorable kit, a special box, and most importantly, you'll get TWO stamp sets instead of one.  $20 for a Paper Pumpkin kit is always a steal, but in March the deal is even better!  

Did you know that each and every kit is backed with a money back guarantee?  If you don't like the kit, if there are problems with any of the items in the kit, just let Stampin' Up! know and they will solve all issues, even if it's a refund.  Stampin' Up! has the BEST customer service of any company I have seen.

Because it's Stampin' Up's birthday, they have decided to create a kit that is perfect for making birthday cards. 

• The March kit features eight full-sized mailable cards.
• Coordinating colors are Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo and Poppy Parade.
• This kit has an element that is sure to "pop"!
• The FREE stamp set is even bigger and better than your typical Paper Pumpkin stamp set and can be used on a variety of crafting projects.

Click HERE to sign up for your Paper Pumpkin Kit.  Keep in mind you can cancel your subscription at any time. Be sure and sign up by March 10 to receive this special March birthday kit.  If you are ordering on-line, please use my hostess code - M9P32XZY.

12 Month Subscription Math

12 Month Subscription = $209

(1 Kit every month for 1 year (#137861)

Add $41 to your order & get:

FIVE Sale-a-Bration Items FREE

+

$50 Stampin' Rewards FREE of products of your choice

Even with a three month subscription, there is a Savings.  (see below)

February Stamp Club

Yesterday was my stamp club meeting.  I have decided to try something new this year.  Instead of the gals having to order $20 from Stampin' Up, they can either do that or just pay $20 for the class.  I have heard from several people who dropped out of Club that they just didn't need anymore stuff and found when they purchased stamps, etc. they just weren't using them at home.  But they were willing to pay for the class instead.  Works for me!

I also switched up how I did the class.  I couldn't decide which cards to offer for club, so I just put 8 cards out (in their basket with pieces precut) and told them they could make 4 cards - any ones they wanted.  It was funny - only 4 cards were picked.  One gal made 2 each of two birthday cards.  So I will be saving the other cards for next month.  I've got a couple move gals coming next week since they couldn't make it today.  We'll see if they pick anything different.

These are the four my friends picked to make today.

 

Amazing Life stamp set from Occasions Catalog (pg 28)  The happy, flowers and cake were colored with SU Blends.  I used the Rectangle Stitched Dies - my favorite thing in the catalog!!

So Hoppy Together - from Sale-a-Bration - is such a fun set.  Nancy had fun coloring Mr. Frog!

This humming bird is a big hit! This set is another one from Occasions Catalog - Humming Along.  I didn't purchase the framelits so the girls had some cutting to do but it wasn't difficult.  The bird was water colored with ink from the stamp pads.  The lesson I learned - don't color him with the Blends because they soak through the card stock and you can see it on the back. He was colored with Mint Macaron, So Saffron and Calypso Coral.

Another variation of the Amazing Life birthday cake.  A ink wash was put down first before stamping the cake.  Everything else was colored with the Blends.

This was the favorite!  I embossed the flower and humming bird in gold and it looks amazing!

Lasting Lily Sale-a-Bration stamp

I don't care for gardening, but I do love pretty flowers!  I don't have any of these lilies in my yard but I did when I lived in Washington state.  They are so pretty!  This is a Sale-a-Bration stamp that you can get for free with a $100 order.  Lasting Lily is a Distinktive stamp meaning there's lots of detail in the stamp; it does all the work for you.  I won't lie to you - I had a few challenges getting a good impression that showed the beauty of the stamp but I finally "got it."

TIPS:

• Lightly tap the ink to the stamp versus putting the stamp to the ink.
• OR apply the ink using a sponge dauber.
• The images will vary depending on the "jucieness" of your ink pad.
• I found that darker colors worked best on this stamp to show the detail.

Remember - in God's garden, no two flowers are alike - so make your garden your own!  

I stamped this lily with Coastal Cabana and the leaves with Granny Apple Green.  I took my colors directly from the ribbon that I wanted to use.  I love this Reversible Ribbon!  I embossed the Coastal Cabana piece with the Tufted embossing folder.

These lilies were stamped with Berry Burst.  After stamping the lilies and the stems (Pear Pizzaz), I took a pencil and lightly drew a rectangle.  I filled in the rectangle with my Black SU Marker.  The finishing touch is the silver edged ribbon adhered with a few glue dots.

This stamp set, Lasting Lily, can be found on the last page of the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  With the Sale-a-Bration Second Release of products, you can get the framelits that go with this stamp set.

Refer to an earlier post to see the items available for Sale-a-Bration.

Cards to Share

Brrrr .... it's cold again!  We were spoiled a couple of weeks ago and had spring like weather.  Some of the trees are blooming and makes you think it's spring!  Let's hope we don't get any freezing weather to kill the flowers and get the peach trees again.   I went to church this morning and met mom and Angela for lunch at Red Robin.  They give you bottomless fries and their fries are so good - not a good thing for Weight Watchers for sure!   I like their hamburgers and instead of a burger roll, I get lettuce for my "roll or wrap."  Plus I picked up some BBQ for dinner.  Yesterday was the annual men's BBQ sale at my church and they were selling the BBQ they had left for $5.  Not a bad deal - a pound of BBQ, a huge baggie full of cole slaw and BBQ vinegar sauce - all for $6!

I want to share a few cards I have received this past week.  This first one is from my upline, Carol.  The DSP is from the Sale-a-Bration catalog - yours free for a $50 order.  Some of the paper in the pack is black and white imagery that can be colored.  The butterflies also can be punched out with the Butterfly Duet Punch from the Occasions Catalog.

I received this card from another Stampin' Up demonstrator, Kathy Donovan from Virginia Beach.  We were challenged to leave a comment on a Facebook page and send a card to the person right above us who commented.  It was a good way to meet another demonstrator and also to share the cards we make. 

This final card I received from a friend who now lives in Pittsburgh.  Gayle was my neighbor for a few years and was in my stamp club.  She found me when she moved here and was looking for a Stampin' Up demonstrator.  As it turned out, her back yard backed up to our front yard!!  I hated for her to move and miss her.

Sale-a-Bration Hoppy Together

Hope you had a sweet Valentine's Day!  I did.  I had a few ladies over in the afternoon and we played cards.  One of my friends brought me camellias from her yard which prompted me to look at my camellia bush to see if it was blooming.  Yes, it was!  It always sneeks up on me.  I'm not much of a gardener so it thrills me to see something blooming in my yard!  When we lived in Gig Harbor, WA, our yard was full of all kinds of flowers.  The lady that lived there before us would stop by when we first moved in to help me with the gardening.  Actually, think she knew I'd kill everything and wanted to prevent that!  I kept up with the plants for a year or two until it was just too much!  I just don't have the green thumb that she had (as well as my mom!)  Both of them could put a stick in the soil and it would bloom!

Last night we went to an Irish restaurant with the Catawban group for dinner and a comedy show.  The food was delicious and the show very funny.  It was a nice outing.

Well, we're halfway through Sale-a-Bration (ends March 31) and Stampin'Up! has added three new Sale-a-Bration gift options for you to choose from!  Click above (Order Online) and place your qualifying $50 order to get one of the new (or old) Sale-a-Bration sets for FREE!  Click HERE to see the new options.

Here is a card I made this week using the Hoppy Together Sale-a-Bration stamp set.  Isn't that frog cute???  I know there is a bit of a glare on the balloons but I couldn't get it to go away.  After stamping the balloons (from Happy Birthday Gorgeous), I colored them with my Blender Pens and poured glue on them to make them shine. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!   Hope you are having a wonderful day!  I plan on it.  I will be playing Hand and Foot with some friends this afternoon at my house and think I have everything ready to go.  Tonight Sonny and I are joining a group of the Catawbans at Galway Hooker for dinner and a comedy show.

I made this card again using the Meant to Be stamp set and framelits.  Are you getting tired of seeing them yet???   I have definitely gotten my money's worth from this bundle.  I suggest you do the same with whatever bundle speaks to you.  When you purchase your bundle, see how many different ways you can use it before moving on to another set.

Have a fun day whatever you do!

Found this quote and I love it - "Be someone who makes someone else look forward to tomorrow"

Well Written

I made this card for a good friend who will be turning 70 this week.  She is feeling about 70 the way I felt in October when I hit that milestone!  Not me!!  I can't be that old.  Even my mom told me she thought there was a mix up - she couldn't have a daughter that was 70 years old .... thanks, mom!  But it is what it is.  You're only as old as you feel ... it's just a number ... 70 is the new 50 (is dead the new 80 or 90???) 

There is a plus side to aging.  We septuagenarians have reached a sweet spot.  If we've been lucky, we have plenty of time, enough money and the ability and inclination to use both.  Within limits, we can do whatever we want - travel (Hawaii!!), read, play games, bike, go to concerts, take a ride in your boat on Lake Norman, etc.  The window may be narrow - you know what comes next - but it's a nice window!

The story of our generation is linked with the rise of American pop culture.  We baby boomers (odd term for senior citizens!) were raised on transistor radios, TV, rock and roll (Elvis, Beatles), Flower Power, moon walks, Vietnam and Watergate.  We have a common cultural memory, one that's infinitely more cohesive and much easier to share than the environment of today.  Like all generations, we've seen a lot and what we've seen has helped us weather the storms of the recent past.  There is no substitute for time, no stand-in for experience. 

Aging, like birthing, is a largely involuntary irreversible process!  It's a condition you can't help catching.  There is no vaccine, dietary supplement or elixir that can halt the years.  Just don't take the process too personally.  The young become old and the old leave the scene, as inevitably as the sun sets and the moon rises.

Ok - so on the card after those little bits of wisdom!

I can't tell you how long this card took to make!  But I love it.  The friend I am sending it to has thanked me for the Christmas card I made for her and her husband 2-3 times so I felt like I had to do something "over the top."  The card itself is Gray Granite.  I then layered a white piece of Wood Textures 6x6 DSP.  Next is a piece of 3 3/4" square using the darker Wood Textures DSP.  I die cut a Gray Granite frame and adhered it next with dimensionals.  Adhere a piece of Burlap Ribbon.  Next I die cut a circle with a lighter Wood Textures DSP and adhered it with dimensionals.  I die cut "friend" from the new Well Written dies (page 27 in Occasions catalog) and adhered it to the DSP inside the circle.  I stamped "hello" (from a retired stamp set) and cut it out with the Classic Label Punch.  The swirls were die cut from the Well Written set of framelits.  The final touch was adding the pearls to the card and a sentiment inside.

Happy Heart Wishes

I am really on a roll with these heart cards!  It's just nice to know that hearts don't have to be just for Valentine's.

For this card, I first die cut the hearts and then stamped them with the Handwritten background stamp.  I love this background stamp and truthfully, had forgotten about it!  You'll probably be seeing it again soon.  I stamped the background in black Memento ink but I think if I was to do it over, I would use a lighter gray - probably Gray Granite.  Next I stamped the floral piece from Beauty Abounds (Occasions catalog - pg 13) and colored the flowers and leaves with markers.  I die cut "happy" and "wishes" using Well Written framelits.  The paper is a red metal paper that I bought back in 2013 and don't think I have ever used it!!  To finish it off, I scattered some Clear Faceted Gems around.

Meant to Be not a Valentine!

I am really loving this heart set.  I don't usually purchase Valentine stamp sets but I made an exception for this one because I just love the Be Mine Stitched Framelits.  I wanted to show you that this set is not just for Valentine cards.  This card can be for an anniversary, birthday, thinking of you, etc.

The card is Coastal Cabana with mat card stock in Lemon Lime Twist and Granny Apple Green.  I love this color combo!  I went through my stash of Designer paper - believe me, that took a while since I have too much!!  But, I found this piece that I think was a Sale-a-Bration DSP last year and used it across the card.  The cute scallop strips at the top and bottom are from a die in the Be Mine Stitched framelits. I stamped the heart and sentiment in Melon Mambo.  I die cut a heart from Vellum to soften the Coastal Cabana dotted heart.

What do you do with all your Designer Paper scraps?  Toss them, store them, use them???  I decided last year that I had too much and I was always searching for a certain color and taking forever to find it.  So, I cut almost all of my DSP into 6x6 squares and threw away the tiny pieces that I had been holding onto.  I put them in some sturdy plastic bags (14"x14" that I think I got from Amazon) and separated them into color groups (blue, pink/purple, green, yellow/orange, etc.)  The hard part is deciding which side you want to use - for instance in my green bag, one side of the paper is green and the other is blue.  I just picked the side I thought I would use the most.  Now at least when I am looking for a piece of DSP to match what I am making, I can limit my search!

Hoppy Together (Sale-a-Bration stamp)

I think frogs are so cute!  Well, at least the ones that come on stamps!   I'm also in love with gingham and love the 6x6 Gingham Designer Paper.  This is one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets - Hoppy Together. 

I used the Corrugated 3D Dynamic Embossing Folder on the Calypso Coral card stock.  The gingham pieces are cut at 1 1/2" x 4 3/4".  I matted the cute frog onto Highland Heather card stock.  I colored Mr. Frog with my Stampin' Blends.  I used the 1" Circle Punch for the sentiment and matted it with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch.

We have been having wonderful weather this week!  We set a record low this morning and a record high in the afternoon.  But I fear that is coming to an end.  There is a front moving our way and we'll be back to normal February weather by the weekend with highs in the 50s.  It could be worse!!

I want to thank those of you who have told me they missed my blog.  I have gotten a couple of phone calls as well as emails welcoming me back to the blogging world.  I'm trying!!

Winter Woods

I have had my eye on the Winter Woods stamp set for several months.  I finally broke down and ordered it after learning that it is carrying over from the Holiday Catalog.  (Hoping that means it will be in the new annual catalog in June.) 

This card was pretty simple to make.  I stamped the trees with Soft Suede ink onto the Very Vanilla rectangle (3.5 x 4.25).  Next I ran the stamped piece through the Big Shot using the Woodland embossing folder.  I cut out the snow (free hand) from a piece of Glitter Paper and adhered it to the bottom of the rectangle.  Next I matted the piece onto Soft Suede and wrapped a piece of ribbon around it.  (The ribbon is really old - True Thyme which was an in color way back around 2008 but it matched the piece pretty well!)  The sentiment is a good one - from a Sale-a-Bration set.

This card below also uses the Winter Woods stamp set.  I stamped it onto a piece of Wood Textures Designer Paper (6x6).  I matted the stamped piece with Merry Merlot cardstock and adhered it to the Crumb Cake card.

This card is going to someone special.  I love to listen to Phlash Phelps on Sirrius radio (60's on 6).  Through his show, I have learned about Janine Stange, the National Anthem girl and I joined her "team" to send cards and letters to various military people.  Janine is best known for her historic journey to sing the Star Spangled Banner in all 50 states - a mission she embarked on to honor our brave men and women who embody the song's meaning.  I recently received an email (as part of her team) requesting to send cards and letters to Medal of Honor recipients.  Janine will be attending a luncheon where roughly half of our Medal of Honor recipients will be in attendance.  I made the card below to send to an Army recipient.  If you are interested in learning more about this cause and would like to send a card, check out the details HERE.  The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving the Armed Services.

SAB - Lasting Lily

This beautiful stamp set is one that you can get for FREE!!  It is a Sale-a-Bration set and you can find it on the very last page of the catalog.  The only way you can get this stamp is by placing a $100 order from the Annual Catalog or the Occasions Catalog.  The sentiments in this set are  really nice - from sympathy to well wishes.   Plus there is a "splatter" stamp in the set which I always like to use to add a bit of color to a card.  The Stampin' Up! Lasting Lily stamp set is a Distinktive style stamp set.  That means it uses the special technology patented by Stampin' Up! to make the stamp look like it has been stamped two or three time to create realistic shading.

For this first card I stamped the lily with VersaMark ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.  Make sure when you use embossing powder that you rub the Embossing Buddy over the cardstock first - especially with black cardstock!!  I colored over the white embossed area with SU Blends - pink and green.  I used the new Stitched Rectangle Framelits for the sentiment.

The beautiful purple lily was stamped with Highland Heather ink.  At the bottom is a small piece of the Gingham Designer Paper and a small scallop piece of cardstock die cut with a die from Be Mine Stitched Framelits.

This last card was stamped with Flirty Flamingo.  The ribbon is retired.  I used the "splatter" stamp on the card with Pool Party ink.  March 1 Stampin' Up! will add additional Sale-a-Bration items.  One of the items are dies to coordinate with the Lasting Lily set.

Humming AwayI

Well, I just watched the Super Bowl.  Ugh - tired of hearing about how wonderful Tom Brady and the Patriots are! And I couldn't believe that Coach Belichick didn't have on his standard hoodie!   I was pulling for the Rams big time but it wasn't meant to be.  I thought they had a chance.  It was a surprisingly low scoring game.   Maybe my Steelers will make it next year to the big game.

I received the Humming Away stamp set at Convention in November (we get a lot of free stuff at convention!)  It is so much fun to color the bird.  I have used markers, Blends, ink with Aqua Pens and watercolor pencils .... and they all work great!  There are dies that match up for this set and you can get both the dies and the stamp set together and save 10%.  I don't have the dies but it's not too hard to fussy cut the humming bird.

The first card below also is a fun fold card.  I used the SU Blends for the humming bird.  The only drawback to using Blends - they bleed through to the back of what you are coloring.  So, I stamped another bird and adhered it to the back. 

For this card, I used watercolor pencils to color the humming bird along with my Aqua Brush to blend the watercolors.  The hibiscus flower is stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I CASE'd the card from Brian King.