Hang In There

Well, today is the day.  Ashley is moving to Honolulu.  She and Bogart have an early morning flight from San Antonio and will be arriving in Hawaii in the afternoon.  I talked to her briefly Sunday and I don't think it has hit her yet - she's been too busy.  She has been staying at her college friends home for the past week and when she left their house Sun. morning she said the kids were all crying - that they won't see Bogart again!  She said she has too much to do to think about crying but will probably do so when Courtney drops her off at the airport this morning.

I made her this card a couple of weeks ago when she was trying to get everything done - selling her house, having her roof replaced because of the recent storms, trying to get all her papers signed and processed for her transfer, getting a airplane-approved carrier for Bogart plus all his papers for him to enter Hawaii.  He can't travel in the plane like he normally does but has to go in the cargo area.  Luckily, the airline she is flying is one of the few with a temperature controlled cargo.  But, it is still going to be a long flight for him with a lay-over in California.

This card uses the retired Sale-a-bration stamp.  I love this little chick!  The balloons are from Balloon Celebrations.  I stamped them in black onto Soft Sky cardstock and then sponged ink over them.  Lots of retired stuff on this card - the Washi Punch for the sentiment; the twine, the cloud stencil, and the Dots embossing folder.  No matter - it all makes a cute card!

I went to my 50th High School reunion this weekend!  I kept procrastinating and didn't sign up in time; plus I had promised my mom I would take her to my nephew's high school graduation in Charlotte.  Well, late on Friday, my nephew found out that he was not going to be allowed to graduate because he didn't take a computer class that he had to take to graduate.  So Saturday afternoon, Sonny and I drove to south Charlotte and got a hotel room and went to the reunion.  We were able to pay at the door.  Of course, name tags had already been made for everyone with their senior picture on it beside their name.  Yay!  I didn't have my picture on my name tag!  It was fun seeing people that I haven't seen since I graduated and trying to match up their faces now and then.

Surprise Pop Up Balloons

I have a special card to share with you today!

This is called a Surprise Slider Card.  Here is what the card looks like closed.

Pull the little tab at the top and surprise!  Up pops the balloons!

I found the instructions for this card on Splitcoast HERE

I used the stamp set, Balloon Celebration (pg 12) from the Occasions Catalog  I won't tell you how long it took me to get all those gold bows and strings on the card!  That was the hardest part!  I just love the color combo of Soft Sky and Blackberry Bliss!  Add a Touch of Stella and they really sparkle.  I am not a big champagne drinker but I have two friends who live in Texas that love it!!  (yes you, Margaret and Sharon!)

I hope this card will hold you for a few days.  We are driving to DC for several days to meet Ashley at a conference she will be attending.  We are trying to take advantage of seeing her as often as possible while she is still on the "mainland."  She received her orders yesterday for Hawaii so it is official.  Her report day in mid June.  Now she can get started figuring everything out.  Her car needs to be shipped to Hawaii and that will take anywhere from a month to two months.  She has gotten the blood work and immunizations for the cat, Bogart, so he won't have to stay in quarintine when she arrives.  She needs to figure out what to take with her (she is allowed 4 suitcases); what to send to Hawaii and what to put in long term storage!  Glad it's her and not me!  It boggles my mind!

Up, Up and Away!

I haven't made a card for a challenge in a long time.  I used to search out challenges and make cards to fit them but I haven't done that in a while.  Yesterday when I was looking at different blogs to get some inspiration, I came across the Paper Players Challenge with the theme of "up up and away." With so many balloon stamps available, I decided to make this card.

I stamped the sunburst with Versamark, sprinkled white embossing powder over it and sponged the area with Pool Party.  I used the Balloon Punch and punched out 3 balloons from Designer Paper.  I ended up not stamping any balloons after all!  I actually did stamp them (on the other side) but liked the un-stamped balloons best.  I die cut "happy" with framelets and glued them to the middle of the card.  I stamped the stars (from Balloon Celebration) with Pool Party and Pink Pirouette ink.  I used glue dots under the balloons to anchor the silver cord.  I used the Washi Tape punch for "birthday" (from Celebrate Today).  Next was to layer the white card stock onto Pink Pirouette and then onto the Pool Party card.

What do you think?

Occasions Catalog Swaps

I still have loads of samples to share with you.  These are some of the swaps I received at Quarterly. I tried to group them together so you can get an idea of the different variations you can make with each stamp set.

A Nice Cuppa (pg 35) comes with framelets, DSP Stack, embellishments as well as the stamp set.

These are from two different balloon sets - Balloon Celebration and Balloon Builders.  There is also a Balloon Bouquet Punch that punches large and small balloons.  (pgs 12-14)

Beautiful Ride (pg 15)is a great set for several different occasions.  

Birthday Blooms (pg 9) is a beautiful set - ideal for watercoloring or just using markers or Copics.

This is one of my favorites!  Botanical Blooms (pg 26-27) comes bundled with the gorgeous DSP and the Framelits Dies.  I just got this set late last week and haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet.

Don't miss this week's Weekly Deals.  There are some good things offered up at good prices.  The Mini Treat Bog Die is a great deal as is the Crazy About You stamp set!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Occasion Balloons!!

Oooh ..... it's cold outside baby!!  The high  was Monday was 37 I believe and today's high is supposed to be 32 with overnight lows in the teens  That's cold!!  For fun, I have Honolulu weather on my phone app  They had a high of 82 on Monday!!  And of all times for our gas fireplace not to be working!!!  Sonny is going to fix it as soon as he gets the part.  He had ordered the part through a local company but they ordered the wrong piece  The correct one should be here tomorrow ...  let's hope!!

This was a football watching weekend.  There were two NFL game on Saturday with Arizona (my son's team) and New England (yuck) both winning.  On Sunday Carolina won their play off game - barely.  After leading 31-0 at half time, they almost blew the lead in the second half ending up winning 31-24.  They didn't score any points in the second half!  They will be playing Arizona for the conference championship next weekend - wonder which team will show up - the first half Panthers or the second half Panthers.  And my Steelers played for the final time this season Sunday.  We almost had the win but in the last few minutes, we fumbled the ball and Denver was able to score.  I was really disappointed but truthfully, did not think we would win anyway because we had so many key players injured and unable to play.

Thought I'd share a few more cards from Quarterly.  This time they are all using balloon stamps from the Occasions Catalog.

Stamp set used:  Party with Cake

Balloon Celebration

Balloon Celebration stamp set

Balloon Celebration