3 D POP UP CUBE CARD

What a great weekend I had!  Ashley was able to come for a visit!!  It was touch and go for a while, but she was finally allowed to travel.  She didn't find out for sure if she could come until late last Thursday so it was after midnight when she and Bogart arrived!  On Friday she and I played around in my stamp room after going to water exercise in the community pool.  Saturday we went out on the boat for a while and were able to watch fireworks on the lake.  Sunday we drove to Fort Mill, SC to get some peaches (Ashley's favorite fruit.)  On Monday, we did the water exercise again and played around with stamping some more.  Tuesday, again ... water exercise and back out on the boat for a couple of hours until it started raining.  The best thing that happened for Ashley on Tuesday was that she went to my hairdresser and got her hair cut and colored.  

Here are a couple of 3D cards that we made.  We watched a video by Debbie Henderson (on Facebook) to make this card.  It folds flat for mailing.

This one is Ashley's.  She used Seaside Shore (retired) and High Tide for her card.

Isn't it cute?

This one is mine.

I needed to put my birds up a little higher so they would show better.  I used Bird Banter for my card (retired)

So this morning when it was time for Ashley to drive back to Maryland, Bogart (her cat) was in his carrier .... until he saw Ashley with her suitcase heading toward him.  He quickly got out of the carrier and went into hiding.  We found him upstairs in one of the bedrooms hiding among the stuffed animal corner!  Can you spot him below?  It reminded us of ET when he hid in the closet among all the stuffed animals!

After Ashley got her hair done, we met Mom and Angela at an outdoor restaurant for dinner.

Stitched Label Box

I actually have some cards to share with you today!  I had Stamp Club Tuesday and even though it was a small group, we had fun and make some cute projects.

First off - although we did this one last - was the Stitched Label Box.  I found this on Brenda Quintana's blog and love it so much.  I was hoping not to overwhelm my gals and had all the pieces die cut for them which helped a lot except when I gave them the wrong measurements for scoring!  Luckily, we discovered it early enough that we didn't waste too much paper.  You can die cut all the pieces for the box out of one piece of cardstock if you are mindful about placing the dies on the paper.  You will also need 2 pieces 10 3/8" long.  I used Whisper White Thick Card Stock for my box and the Bird Ballard Designer Paper.  You only need a 1/2" strip of DSP (10 3/8" long) so look through your stash  and pick something that you have just a strip of.  Some of the boxes we made today used the Magnolia Lane Designer Paper.  The stamping on the top of the box is from Good Morning Magnolia.

I hope you will try and make this cute box - it really is not hard!!

STITCHED LABEL BOX

2 ea. 2^nd largest Stitched Label Die (LABEL #1)

2 ea. 3^rd largest Stitched Label Die (LABEL #2)

1 of the 2^nd smallest Die  (LABEL #3)

Thick Card Stock

(1) 10 1/8” x 2” (BOX BOTTOM)

(1) 10 3/8” x 2” (BOX TOP)

Designer Paper – 10 3/8” x 1/2”

BOX TOP LID (w/Designer Paper)

Cut 10 3/8” x 2” piece of Thick Whisper White Card Stock

Adhere a 10 3/8” x ½” Designer Series Paper strip.

With Designer Paper on left, score down the 10 3/8” strip at 1 5/8” (on short side)

Turn ¼ turn to right (the scored line you just did should be at the bottom & the DSP at the top)

On long side, score at:  2 ¾” 3 7/8”, 5”, 7 ¾”, 8 7/8” and 10” 

Notch at each fold.

Adhere the piece end to end.

Adhere Tombow glue to notches

Attach the 3^rd largest Label Die (Label #2) to box lining up both long sides w/label die piece & press down to adhere.

Attach the largest Label Die (#1) to bottom, centering it.

BOX BOTTOM

Cut 10 1/8” x 2” piece of Thick Whisper White card stock.

On short side, side @ 1 5/8” mark.

On long side, score at 2 5/8”, 3 ¾”, 4 7/8”, 7 ½”, 8 5/8”, 9 ¾”

Fold your score lines & notch (V) at each score line.

Adhere the piece end to end like you did for the lid.

Put the box top over top of the box bottom to hold the shape.

Adhere Tombow Glue to tabs & adhere the largest Label die (#1)

Now stamp on Lable #2 & Label #3, color & adhere to Box Lid

You can find this video at Qbee’s Quest website

Easter Gifts

It's almost time for Easter!  It is really early this year.  I sure hope the weather gets warmer by Sunday.  March always has such crazy weather.  We went to the beach for a long weekend last Friday. It was nice weather on Friday and Saturday but Sunday was miserable.  It was rainy and I don't think the temps got out of the 40s!  The sun broke through around noon so Sonny went to the driving range and hit some golf bags and I went for a walk on the beach.  It was a short walk though - that wind was blowing right threw me!  Think I only walked about 1 1/2 miles.  I was proud of myself that I exercised every day I was there.  On Friday, Sonny and I walked a couple of miles but on the road.  He didn't want to get sand in his shoes!!  He never set foot on the beach the whole time we were there!  I walked every morning 1 - 2 miles.  I have this great app on my phone that Ashley told me about called Runmaker.  It tracks your walking (or running) and gives audio cues along the way of distance, time, average speed, etc.  Plus you can also listen to music while you are walking.  I use Spotify for my music app.  It has made me get out and walk more.  

Anyway, here are a few things I have made for Easter.  I love the Easter Lamb single stamp in the Occasions catalog!

This little bag/box was easy to make.  The bag uses 3 1/4" x 10" card stock scored at 4 1/4" and 5 3/4".  I embossed the back of the bag and then added a strip of DSP across the front (just on the bottom).
The box that fits inside uses a piece of card stock 3 3/8" x 5", scored at 1" on all four sides.  I used Red Line Tape to adhere it to the bottom of the bag.


Next are the chalkboards!  What a find!  I happened to be at Target at the right time.  Usually when I check out their Dollar Spot, it is pretty picked over.  But I found these several weeks ago for $3 each and bought all they had!  I embossed the little lamb in the corner and used a strip of DSP as a belly band.  I had some note pages stashed away so I used a clip that I also decorated with DSP to hold it to the top of the chalkboard with a ribbon tied on.  The notepad can be removed to write on the chalkboard.  I bought some chalk to go with them but do you think I can find that chalk???

Birthday Box

I have a special box to share with you today.  My friend, Judy, made this Box in a Box for my birthday.  She has given me the directions and a few little kraft boxes (SU) so I can make my own.  I'll share them with you when I make them.  It is really cool!

Here is the box closed with the belly band around it.  Aren't the fall leaves beautiful on top along with the wooden leaf?!

When you remove the belly band and open the box, the inside is decorated with fall DSP and  "Happy Birthday" thinlets.  The inside box has more fall leaves on it.

The inside box opens up and there is a small card and candy inside.

The original one Judy learned to make had a small birthday inside instead of the second box.  I can't wait to make one of these!

Here is the birthday card I received from Ashley last week.    

Halloween Self Closing Bags

This week was my husband's "guys get away."  He and his friends go a couple of times a year (spring and fall) to Georgetown to go skeet shooting.  It is a fun time for him .... and a fun time for me!  Margaret and Graham come down and Graham goes with Sonny and Margaret and I are on our own for a few days to play in my stamp room.  We took full advantage of it this week too!  We went to a comedy club with friends on Tuesday night at the Galway Hooker in Huntersville and that was a lot of fun.  There was a couple in the group from England so Margaret was right at home visiting with them.  The comedian was one of the best I have heard at the Hooker and didn't feel a need to use dirty language constantly.  In fact, I don't think I ever heard a swear word from him.  I am not a prude, but it seems that comedians feel the need to use the "F" word a lot in their act and it is just not funny.  Margaret worked on the cards from my October Stamp Club while I finished up the shoebox cards from last week's quarterly.  I showed Margaret a cute Self Closing Bag that I had made at Allison's a few months ago and she went to town making them for her family for Halloween.

We got the instructions from a video on Dawn Griffiths's blog.  As you can tell, after she did the first one, she found them easy to make!

Today is Sonny's birthday (69th!!)  After dropping off Margaret and Graham, I treated Sonny to lunch at a deli/restaurant in Langtree Village.  After his week of travels and eating a lot, he did not want to do much.  My sandwich was delicious - their version of a BLT.  It had bacon, arugula, fried green tomato and pimento cheese on a grilled ciabatta roll!  No one else in my family would have enjoyed it but I sure did!  Here is the card I made for Sonny for his birthday using some paper I bought several years ago.  He has several of the "Old Guys Rule" tees.

Convention Gifts

These are the convention gifts I made for my two downlines (Debbie and Marianne) and my upline, Carol.  I only see Carol at convention once a year since she lives all the way across the US from me - in Washington.

I got this idea from the very talented Becky Roberts.  Sonny bought the handles for me and drilled holes and screwed in the handles for me.  Then I just had to decorate and fill them.  Since I have more than enough retired DSP, that is what I used on them.

This one of course goes to Marianne who loves purple!

This one is for Carol.

And this one is for Debbie since she likes pink!

And of course, we have to have goodies inside!

These were really fun to make and very easy.  They were what I was trying to finish up when the electricity went out!

3 D Swaps from Quarterly

Thought I'd share the 3D swaps from Quarterly with you.  Enjoy!

Amy's Post It Note Holder

Chaille's Easel Calendar Card

Denise's Note Pad Holder

Lynne's Candy Bar Holder

Marcia's chick (chocolate inside)

Marianne's scrapbook - opened

Marianne's mini scrapbook

My purse!

Fall Quarterly

I had a great ... and busy weekend.  Marianne came over Friday after work and we loaded our things into her car and headed to Newton for Quarterly.  We worked on 25 Shoebox Cards and actually got them all finished before midnight!!  Since Newton is only about a 30 minute drive for me, we went home and slept in our own beds (well, technically Marianne slept in my guest bed!) and got up the next morning to head back to Quarterly for more fun.  We did a Card Swap and a Gift Card Swap and got some great cards.

This is the Gift Card that I made using the MDS version of the coffee cup from Perfect Blend (I shared the card swap in a previous post HERE).

We also had a contest that was optional.  I decided to participate in all four challenges.  We were to make a 3D Ornament, a Christmas card, an "Any Occasion" card and an "oldie but goodie" using a favorite retired stamp.  I was happy when my Ornament below won 1st Prize!!  I used the stamp set and framelits from Bright and Beautiful.  There are two pieces of chipboard in between the front and back of the ornament.

Back of Ornament

Front of Ornament 

Christmas Card using Bright and Beautiful bundle

For the Christmas card above, I embossed the tags and the stars with Gold, Cherry Cobbler and White Embossing Powder.  I used a piece of DSP from the Newsprint and layered a piece of Vellum over the top to soften it.  All the stars are popped up with dimensionals.

Marianne's Christmas Card won 1st place!!

Marianne's card - Get Your Santa On from Holiday Catalog

My All Occasion card

 The card above was fun to make and a new technique that I stumbled across on Friday morning.  I adhered the Dots Decorative Mask (page 205 in catalog - a deal for $2.95!) with Repositional Tape on top of a piece of Crumb Cake card stock.  Next using a dauber, I sponged White Craft Ink over all the dots.  I removed the Dots Mask and cleaned it.  Next I replaced the Dots Mask on top again - just moving it to the side and up a little bit and (with a dauber) sponged Wisteria Wonder, Coastal Cabana, and Melon Mambo ink on top of the White Ink.  It makes a cool background!  The cupcake is from Cupcake Party stamp set and I used the Cupcake Punch.  I stamped the sentiment from Remembering Your Birthday on Vellum with White Ink and embossed it in white before adhering it to the card.

Blast from the Past - Oldie but Goodie

This set is one of my first Stampin' Up sets almost 10 years ago - Garden Collage.  I still love it!

Sunday night Sonny and I went to the Panther - Steeler game and had a great time!  I will share a few pictures of that tomorrow.

Framed Art Convention Swap and My Gift

At the Late Night Stamper's event, we did 3D shoebox swaps.  This is the swap I made for my shoebox.  I really enjoy making these framed art samplers.  I bought these little frames at Ikea for a couple of dollars and used all the new In Colors for the punch art.

The first night of Late Night, we exchanged gifts.  My gift came in this darling owl bag along with an owl card and owl candy bar wrap.  Isn't it darling??

And this is the beautiful piece that was inside the Owl Bag.  It is just lovely.  It is on a stained wooden piece that I am thinking may be an old background stamp piece of wood.  I love the pansies in two colors.  This was made by Kay Capps.

Fun at Late Night Stamping Event

Marianne and I went to Salt Lake City several days before convention actually started. The Late Night Stampers group was hosting their Stamp Camp for the 13th year.  I had always heard about it but never attended.  Unfortunately, I think this will be the last year for it.  They booked a block of rooms for the event (and convention) at a discounted rate at the Radisson.  As of May 1 (their cancellation date), they had filled almost all of them but as it got closer to convention, people started canceling.  I think what happens is that demonstrators book several rooms early in the year hoping their friends and down-lines will want them. When that does not happen, they cancel with no cancellation penalty.  So,today we received an email that they were 150 short of the 80% of rooms to fill.  When we were in SLC, the head of the group was told she would have to pay $20,000+ to cover her contract.  I don't know what the total came to after all was said and done but I am sure it was a hefty amount.  I can't imagine coming home to tell my husband I have to cough up that much money!!  The event was a lot of fun and we were busy from 8:30 a.m. until about 7 p.m. at night for 3 days.  We started at 6 p.m. Sunday night with a welcome party where we each took a handmade gift to exchange.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we were busy doing 3D shoebox items, different projects and  winning a bunch of stuff!!

Projects and 3D shoebox 

More 3D shoebox swaps

My nametag

Projects we made

Several times a day, we  got to go to the "Give-Away" table and pick an item for free.  Plus they drew names several times a day for a large prize give-away.  I won the flower Big Shot Die below on the final day!

Just a portion of what I got for free

More of my freebies!