I'm sad that the Umbrella Punch is being retired!  I pulled out some retired DSP (Pleased As Punch), stamped the umbrellas with Memento Black Ink and punched out several of them.  I scattered rain drops (again using the black ink) all over the card front before adhering the umbrellas on the page.  The sentiment is from Comfort and Hope and the labels are from the die set, Stitched So Sweetly.  I adhered a few colored Dew Drops (non SU) on the card.  

I'm happy that the Stitched Triangles Die will not be retiring!!  This was a fun and easy card to make.  I just found some retired DSP in browns and blues and die cut a bunch of triangles all different sizes.  Then I just played around arranging them on my card.  The funny thing is after I got everything done on the card, I adhered the triangle layer upside down!  Oh well, it really didn't matter.

I will be flying to visit my daughter tomorrow!  I can't wait.  We have no plans but will have fun I'm sure.  She will be working most of the time and I will probably be working in her yard while she is gone.  I'm sure Bogey (her cat) will keep me company!

Memorial Day Weekend in Maryland

I hope you enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend.  I did.  We drove to Maryland to visit Ashley on Thursday, returning home yesterday (Tuesday).  It was so great to finally see her again!  We did a lot of work in her yard Friday, Saturday and Monday!  Her yard just looks beautiful with all kinds of flowers in bloom.  We filled up 5 big trash cans with yard waste plus also putting a lot in her compost pile in the back yard.

Back yard with Clematis growing up the fence as well as honeysuckle.  Peonies in bloom too!

The back of her backyard is like a jungle!  But there is a path to the compost pile behind all those trees.

It's nice to sit in the swing after a long day of weeding!

More peonies and waiting for the hydrangea to bloom.

We had to borrow the neighbors trash can to get all the clipping in.  

This is right next to the street - lilies, ivy, lavender ....

Ashley laying down mulch.  Someone just dumps a big load of mulch at the end of the street for anyone who wants it.  Sonny wheeled the trash can down and filled it up several times.

Honeysuckle - so pretty!

Peonies are so beautiful.

On Sunday, we took a break and met a friend of Ashley's at Cobbler Mountain Cidery in Virginia.  Everyone was practicing social distancing so it was great.  We took our own chairs; Debbi brought her dog and we enjoyed yummy ciders.

The cidery used to be a winery but now only makes ciders.  It is a family run business on their 90 acre farm.  There were a bunch of campers (primitive) all over the place enjoying the beautiful day.

The only drawback to the whole trip was my fall!  Every time I go to Ashley's, it seems I do something to injure myself!  When she was in Hawaii, I fell down a couple of steps and fractured my ribs.  Another trip to Hawaii, I got knocked down by a giant ocean wave and had a huge hematoma on my hip - right before it was time for me to leave and sit in the airplane in pain for too many hours.  This time, I slipped in the shower and fell out of the shower backwards hitting my back on the side of the tub.  Of course this was the Monday night before driving back to NC on Tuesday.  I'm loving my ice packs!  (And no alcohol was involved!!)

Lovely Day Paper Pumpkin

Are you enjoying your "stay at home" vacation?  So far, it hasn't bothered me too much .... except I'm cooking more than usual.  Yesterday I was really wanting a pizza from Jet's Pizza.  I was determined that when Sonny came home from golfing, we were going to turn around and drive to Mooresville and get that pizza!  Luckily, he called me on the way home to see if I needed anything so I ordered that pizza online and he picked it up.  It tasted soooo good!!  I used my week's worth of WW points for it but it was worth it!

Several have asked me about my daughter, Ashley.  She is an Infectious Disease Pediatrician so this coronavirus is right up her alley.  Luckily, she is now working at the military medical school - USUHS (United Services University of Health Sciences) as an Assistant Dean of Clinical Sciences and is deemed essential to the university so she will not be treating patients.  Yay!  If you don't know what her job is, I didn't either!  Here is her bio.  She has her plate pretty full during this time.  The military issued a travel ban for all a couple of weeks ago.  Ashley and her crew had to scramble around to get over 400 students back to DC who were doing residency or other training away from the medical school and find them something to do.  Then yesterday, the President of the school announced that the seniors will graduate  early on April 1.  With the travel ban still in effect, now they have to figure out what to do with these students who really aren't doctors yet!!

Today's card feature the Paper Pumpkin kit from February.  The kit was all about birthdays.  The included stamps has a large flower, smaller flower and a ton of birthday sentiments with a "congratulations" thrown in.  It makes 9 cards, 3 each of 3 designs.  Of course, I didn't stay on script and made quite a few more by adding in some additional supplies.

Many of the sentiments in the kit were backed on dimensional so it was so easy to adhere them to the card.

I die cut  the birthday sentiment after adhering it to the cardstock with  adhesive sheets.  I heat embossed (in gold) the flower on the Blueberry Bushel cardstock

Another heat embossed card - this time on Merry Merlot and layered onto gold paper.

Have a lovely day .... which happens to be the name of the February Paper Pumpkin kit!

Fun times!

Today is my last day in Maryland.  It has been a great visit - a little sightseeing and a lot of just visiting and chilling with my sweet daughter.  We're going to try to arrange another visit in April and bringing Sonny with us then.  Ashley has several small projects for her dad around the house and it will probably be time to work out in her yard!  Right now she has daffodils just starting to bloom and a whole bed of Lenten Roses right outside her office window.  I cut some and put them in a vase but her cat keeps trying to eat them!

Here are some pictures from my visit.

Sunday at the Korea Memorial - one of my favorites.

Reflecting Pool 

Vietnam Wall

White House in background

A stop at Old Ebbitts Grill 

Monday (President's Day) - Ashley took Marianne to the airport about 6:30 (while I slept!).  That afternoon Ashley and I drove about an hour to this cider brewery in Virginia.  It was a beautiful place and we loved the cider!!  We did a tasting and then enjoyed our picnic lunch with a pint.

This is Corky!  He became my friend and kept sitting up on his hind legs begging for me to give him a piece of cheese or a cracker!

We took Courtney to the cider brewery on Saturday and she fell in love with it too!

Yesterday Ashley and I had a creative day!  After church, we went out for breakfast and then came back to her house and made cards.  I can't tell you how many Paper Pumpkin kits she has that she hasn't done more than open the box!  So we tried to remedy that!

Ashley worked on the July Picnic Paradise kit.

I worked on the April Sentimental Rose kit.

Updated Blog & News!

Due to many requests, I have updated my blog!!  Hope you like it.  Plus, I'm sharing a few cards and Stampin' Up news with you today.

It's an exciting day!  Stampin' Up! has put a whole list of wonderful stamp sets on sale - 15% off!!  This rarely ever happens so this is a "not to miss" day.  My list continues to grow.  I will be putting in an order tonight so if you would like something, please use my Hostess Code JX9U9E44.

It's an exciting day!!  Stampin' Up! has put a whole list of wonderful stamp sets on sale - 15% off!!  This rarely ever happens so this is a "not to miss" day!  HERE is a link to the stamps that are included in this sale.

 ONLINE ORDER DEADLINE IS 11:50 MT TONIGHT!!

Here are two Christmas cards that I made using MAKING CHRISTMAS BRIGHT stamp set.  It is included in the sale today!!

This is one of my favorite cards!  The card base uses the Very Vanilla Thick Cardstock.  Next I layered a piece of Silver Foil paper and on top of that is a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  I stamped the circles and the sentiment with Versamark ink and embossed them with Silver Embossing Powder.  The bulbs and the sentiment are on Very Vanilla cardstock.  

Another favorite is this card which uses non-traditional Christmas colors.  I love the Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake together.

I've had several people inquire about Ashley and her move saga.  She is pretty well settled in her home in Maryland and loving it.  She has an offer on her condo in Hawaii and we have our fingers crossed that things will work out.  She had an inspection done last weekend and it turned out that there is not enough electricity amps getting into the condo.  BUT .... it is not her problem - it is Hawaii Electric's problem.  Last spring when I was visiting her, her neighbor was having problems and Hawaii Electric was working on fixing his electricity.  It turns out, it is a problem for the whole complex and will probably cost thousands to get it fixed!  She also has a back up offer so we are hoping one of them goes through SOON!!

Hugs from Shelli

Where does the time go?  I wish I knew!  Maybe I should be a bit more organized or quit playing on the computer and get back to writing on this blog more.  We'll see!!  In the meantime, I have a few Paper Pumpkin cards to share with you from a past kit that Shelli designed.  The kit is called Hugs from Shelli and it was the May, 2019 kit and is just beautiful.  (If you don't know, Shelli is the founder of Stampin' Up.)

The cards below are alternative cards I made from pieces in the kit.  The cards we were given were actually note cards.  I cut them apart so I could make full size cards by using the Very Vanilla Thick Cardstock.  The ink colors I used were Pretty Peacock and Gray Granite.

The feathers on this card were colored with the SU Blends.  These feathers were stamped, colored and fussy cut.

The feather on this card is vellum and was already colored.

Most of the elements for this card came from one of the envelopes that was included in the kit.  I cut out the label with the flower at the top.  The striped pieces on the top and bottom are from the inside of the envelope.  

It has been so nice having Ashley on our same time zone!  She drove down to see us Labor Day and we stayed busy the whole time.  She got here in time to meet us at the King Canary Brewery in Mooresville for our weekly game of  Wednesday Trivia.  On Thursday, she and I drove to Hickory while Sonny played golf.  She was shopping for a new couch since the movers lost one of hers!  Our trip was a success and she purchased a nice love seat that makes out into a queen bed if needed.  Now, she has a bed on every floor of her house (3)!  So, plenty of room for guests.  She was able to fit the buffet table from my mom in her car but not the hutch.  So, Sonny and I are going to see her the end of the month and take the rest of the things to her as well as taking mom to visit her and see her new casa!

The Gift of Fall - part 2

I'm on my own for a few days while Sonny has gone to Pinehurst to play golf with a group from Newcomers.  That man is a golfing fool!!!  He plays golf usually four times a week and just can't get enough.  I've been trying to put some organization into my card collection.  I am trying to sort them into categories so when I need a card, I can find it and not have to dig through tons of cards.  I also need to donate a bunch of cards to some organization - I just have too many!!!  Got any ideas?   

Can you believe it's already the end of August?  Wow, this summer has flown by.  Ashley is coming to visit this afternoon.  She has some vacation that she needs to use so I am happy that she has chosen to spend some time with her mom and dad!  Plus, she is hoping to take a couple of pieces of furniture back with her.  Not sure if both will fit in her card but we are going to try.  My mom is giving her a buffet table that was my grandmothers and Marianne is giving us a china hutch that belonged to mom's cousin.  She found the receipt in the drawer when she was cleaning it out this weekend.  They paid $125 for it in 1948 and paid it on an installment plan!  I'm guessing $125 was a lot of money back then!  We'll see how well Sammie and Bogart get along this time!  Hopefully good!

Thought I'd share a few more of the August Paper Pumpkin kit, The Gift of Fall.

The blossoms for this card are vellum and just beautiful.  I fussy cut the Crushed Curry circle in the center and used the Stitched Shapes die for the sentiment piece.  I used a dauber for the "happy birthday" with Crushed Curry and Mango Melody inks.

For this card, I first used my Aqua Pen and inks (Curry, Razzleberry and Mango) to watercolor the background (onto watercolor paper.)  Then I stamped the girl from Beautiful You and colored her dress with Lovely Lipstick ink.  The sentiment just barely fit onto the Crumb Cake label that was included in the kit.

I stamped the birds from Free As A Bird onto white cardstock and fussy cut it.  The leaves and circles are included in the kit.  Stamp a simple sentiment on a banner and voila! a finished card to mail.

For this card, I cut one of the colorful leaf tags in half and adhered them to the Thick Whisper White cardstock.  I tucked a vellu leaf and one of the vellum blossoms under the sentiment banner (which is the Crumb Cake label just turned over.)  Add a bow and a few sequins and you are done!  The sentiment is from a retired stamp set, Trust God.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards and will try and duplicate a few of them using your own products.