Retired Darling Dots

I've been making a few more cards to sell and using some of my retired SU stamp sets.  I love this stamp set - Darling Dots.  I think it was a Saleabration set from a few years ago but I have held on to it because I really like it!  It's really versatile with hearts, flowers, leaves, stars, etc.

 On this card, I used the Scallop Square punch along with the 1 1/4" Square Punch.  The card base is Crumb Cake and the Chocolate Chip ribbon is Stampin' Up.

 Just about everything on this card is retired!  The cardbase is Dusty Durango and the piece across the middle is Kiwi Kiss.  The DSP is also retired from SU.

I ran this card base through the Dotted Swiss embossing folder.  The DSP is from our recent Saleabration.  The rest of the cardstock is Daffodil and Pacific Point.  I should have used the Stampamajig for the sentiment!

Live Like We're Dying

I had a great time at CKC (Creating Keepsakes Convention) but, boy, was I tired last night!  We spent Thursday and Friday nights in downtown Charlotte at the Hampton Inn.  So much better than where we have stayed in the past - Hilton - as far as nearness to the Convention Center (across the street!), parking (FREE) and breakfast (FREE - a full breakfast - bacon, eggs, etc.) plus a little cheaper.  I took a lot more classes this time than I ever have.  I think we took 4 classes on Friday and 4 or 5 on Saturday.  You would think I didn't have much time left for shopping ... but you would be wrong!  In fact, my arms were sore today and the only thing I can contribute that to was carrying all my "loot" around.  Here is a picture after I unpacked all my bags:

I piled a lot of the packages on a tv tray until it got too tall.

This is what wouldn't fit on the tv tray and I piled on my desk.  Now to find storage for all this!!

I'm not that much of a scrapbooker but mostly what we were making were little albums - chipboard, acrylic, etc.  I enjoy doing those.  As I complete them, I'll share them with you.  My final class on Saturday was a Dimensional Elements card class by Technique Tuesdays.  I learned a few new tricks but I was frustrated that we did not even complete one card!  I finished them today though.

This flower was so cool!  Here's how you make it:

Take a 4" x 4" piece of paper and draw a spiral pattern on it.  Cut along the spiral line.  Ink the edges of the spiral.  Starting at the outside edge, begin the process of rolling the paper strip all the way to the center.  Place a glue dot on the flat end (middle) of the coil and stick the top layers down.  Attach the flower to your project.  You can crumple it if you want before you start rolling it up.

This is the inside of the above card/gift holder.

I know these were all the rage not too long ago, but I never made one.  It was really fun.

Those scallop around the page were stamped onto the paper and cut out.  I used stickles on the center of the paper flowers.

I need to redo this one - I'm not liking it.  The saying "celebrate one cupcake ...) is stamped on twill tape.

This is a little gift card enclosure.

My grandson turned 4 yesterday.  It's hard to believe he is that old already.  Unfortunately, things have gotten worse with our relationship and I did not get to wish him Happy Birthday.  Someday .... 

One of the classes that I took was Life's Lyrics.  We had to take the lyrics to several songs to class.  While looking through song lyrics last week, I came across some really thought provoking ones.  One in particular has been going through my head all day (from Live Like You Are Dying)

So if your life flashed before you, what would you wish you would've done?

we gotta start lookin' at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got, then we gotta start thinkin'
If every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying


And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbye?
Should be so careful who we left out of our lives
And when we long for absolution, there will be no one on the line

Gotta live like we're dying ....

Old and New Stampin' Friends

I had some friends - old and new - over this morning for a little stampin' fun.  I designed three cards for them to make and I believe they were a big hit.  I used some of my new goodies - stamps, paper, ribbon .... no more hoarding for me.  That is my resolution this year!  Let's see if I can do it.

This card uses the new in color, Peach Parfait.   The stamp sets used are Wildflower Trio (pg 16 of Summer Mini) and Word Play (pg 147).  I used my handy Color Coach to pick the coordinating colors for this card which are Pear Pizzaz and Not Quite Navy.

You should consider getting this color coach.  It's great for having all the colors right in front of you and on the back of each card, it lists coordinating color suggestions.

This card uses that yummy DSP, Greenhouse Gala.  It was so simple to make.  We just used the 1 1/4" Square Punch to punch out 4 squares of the DSP and mounted them on a 3" square of Whisper White.  We stamped the friends saying on a scrap of white and used the Curly Label Punch.  Then just make the little dotted lines all around the edges.  The saying is from the Friendly Words Wheel (pg 138) that I cut apart.  By cutting apart that wheel, I got about 12 small stamps .... all for $8.50!!    I am thinking about doing the same thing with the Hero Wheel.  Also the Bright Blessings Wheel would be another good one for this trick.  I used the Boho Blossoms Punch for the flower.  I just love the new twill ribbon!!

This owl punch is "da bomb"!!  I love it.  And, yes, I'm one of those people who were really "into" owls back in the 60's & 70's when they were the Thing!  Remember the macramed owl hangings?  Don't think I had one of those but I did love to macrame!   Anyway, back to the card ... I used some new DSP - Elegant Soiree which is perfect paired with the owl.  I also used the fabulous Baja Breeze, Vanilla and Crumb Cake.  The scallops on the side are made by punching out 7-8 3/4" half circles and glueing them under the DSP.  The Baja Blue large scallop is a new punch - 2 3/8" Extra Large!  The sentiment is from an old standby, Sincere Salutations (p 155).  Unfortunately, the ribbon is not available anymore.  I am really surprised that there is not any Baja Blue ribbon available in the catalog - what's up with that?

Even though these cards were great and a hit, the biggest hit of the day was this:

This is a great tool that everyone should have.  I got this several years ago in a swap.  I need to update mine - haven't included all the new punches that have come out in the past couple of years.  Each card has a punch out on it (along with a sample) so you can just hold it up to an image in the catalog to see if it will fit.

If there is enough interest, maybe I will consider making a few and offering them for sale.  Would you be interested?  Mine are enclosed in an acrylic holder.  I found these at Wal Mart a few years ago.  They are for holding baseball cards.  But I have looked the past year for them again and cannot find them anywhere.  But, it should be easy to get them laminated.

Happy Anniversary

I had to make a few anniversary cards this week to mail out.  I still have one to make and mail - Marianne's anniversary is Sunday.  It seems like just yesterday that she got married!  But, don't guess so - my son was a ring bearer in her wedding and my daughter was the flower girl and they were 1 1/2 & 4 1/4 years old (they are both now in their 30s!)

This card uses the flower from Fifth Avenue Floral.  I masked and stamped 3 flowers in the background.  The two flowers up front were stamped and cut out; then they were raised with dimensionals.  The little butterfly is die cut using the embosslit die.  I love the sentiment!  It is from the new stamp set, Word Play.

This card uses a retired stamp set, God's Beauty.  It was a hostess set in 2009.  The flowers and butterfly are all raised with dimensional tape.  I put a Dew Drop in the center of the flowers and on the side piece.  I did my coloring with my Tombow markers.

Summer On A Tropical Island

This is part of my organization this week.  I know a person or two who will roll their eyes (yes, you Marianne!) but  they  make sponging so much easier!  The pieces of sponge I had been using were just a guess as to what color they were.  So, there were times I was getting purple in my pink sponging and black in my navy.  I've been wanting to make these sponges for several months.  I just took the round sponge and cut it into 6 pieces.  Then punch a tab out of colored cardstock and staple it to the sponge piece.  I store them in a plastic container that used to hold my DMC yard when I did cross-stitch.

Here's my daubers.   I  need to get some clean daubers and keep them uncontaminated too.  I bought this plastic holder last year at CKC.

.

So, here is the picture I did today using my nice clean sponges!  It's a CASE from Michelle Zindorf - but sponging instead of brayering.  The recipe is below the card.

Cardstock:  Whisper White, More Mustard, Basic Black, Taken With Teal

Ink:  Tempting Turq., Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue for sky and water / More Mustard & Creamy Caramel for sand

I stamped the tree and palm leaves (from the Summer Mini) in Basic Black.  I made the island using the corner of my black pad.  I stamped "summer" (from an old wheel that I had cut apart) on half of a Top Note die.

Don't you wish you were in that blue water or on that island in some exotic locale???  We can dream can't we!  One of my stamp club gals came to my house yesterday straight from a trip to Hawaii!  Lucky Dog!  She flew in at 8:30 a.m. and came to my house about 1 pm after no sleep.  That is dedication!!

Read a Good Book

Isn't she cute?  I bought this stamp at a stamp store in Lewisville last month on my way to Quarterly.  She reminds me so much of my daughter when she was little ... and now!  Ashley loves to read and can sit down & finish a book in record time.  She is the fastest reader I know.  When she was little, she had her head in a book 80% of the time.  I watercolored the image using Tombow Markers and my Aqua Pen.  I just love to watercolor that way!! 

Have you read any good books this summer?  I have been reading some books by Sheryl Woods.  They are just "feel good" books and a light read.  I don't usually like to read "heavy" books.  My mom listens to book on tape since she is legally blind - she has a degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa.  When we were at Ashley's, she was listening to a new book by Ann Ross.  It was one of a series of Miss Julia books.  I got so tickled at her - she was just laughing throughout the book.  She said it was about a bunch of 60-70 year old people, set in the south and their adventures - kinda like Aunt Bee on Andy Griffith!  I may have to get one of these books and read it.    One of the best series of books I have read is by Joan Medlicott - The Ladies of Covington.  They are really good.  When the series ended, I felt like I had lost my best friends!

A Place for Everything & Everything in It's Place!

I've been in another organization mood ... well, I have to since my SU stamps have outgrown their shelves! I am moving them over to another set of shelves that have a bunch of stuff on them already. So, I'm finding new homes for the stuff on those shelves. I'm going slow - just doing a little bit a day because it's been so hot. Right now, I can barely walk through my room for the mess. I hope by the end of the weekend I'll find a place for everything and put everything in that place. But I did find a little room on my desk this evening to make this card!

Here's the "deets" on the creation:  I used my Nesties to cut out a white circle and a Marina Mist (love this color!) circle.  I made a mask with the hydranga stamp and stamped the French Script background in Crumb Cake on the white circle (I have a retired French Script but there is also one in the catty on pg 134).  Then I inked the hydranga (from a Sneak Peek stamp, Because I Care) with Marina Mist and Old Olive and stamped it on the circle.  I sponged Crumb Cake (loving this color too!) on the circle.  I stamped "because I care" in Crumb Cake on white & punched it out with the oval punch & backed it with an oval of Marina Mist.  I sponged a little Crumb Cake on the oval before I coated it with Diamond Glaze.  I used an oval from my Hodgepodge Hardware - cut in half! - and using Diamond Glaze as glue, I adhered it to the back of the oval.  I tied a little bit of hemp on either side & frayed it.  Looking at the card now, I think I will add a little glitter to the centers of the flowers - just a tiny bit!

You may also have noticed the changes on my blog design.  I'm still playing around.  Yesterday I downloaded a design from another website & it didn't work out.  In fact, it made a mess of my blog and I spent a couple of hours trying to restore some things.  This design is from Blogger.  They have recently updated their templates so they are more up to date.  This one is pretty plain but I will be playing around with it again tomorrow since I canceled the class I was supposed to do at Stampers Alley. 

We went out on the boat this afternoon. I think today was the 6th straight 90 degree day. I hate to think what July and August are going to be like!! I ended up in the water most of the time - just too hot to lay on the boat and read like I usually do. Looking at the forecast, it is going to stay in the 90s for next week too.  At least it cools down at night - unlike Texas!  I've about decided I'm getting too old to take this much heat. 

STAY COOL!

New Goodies in the House!

There are new goodies in the house!  I got the new catty today along with a couple of new stamp sets, and a bundle of the new color card stock and ink pads.  I've only had time to look through the catalog once but so far, I'm liking it!!  I'm sending one of the stamp sets back - I ordered the wrong Hostess sneak peek but tomorrow I'll be using the other stamp set (Because I Care) and I'll be sharing.

For now though, I made a card using Design Elements stencils that I got last week and just got around to opening them tonight!  I love them!  You get three stencils in the pack for $9.95 - very reasonable I think.  To see some of the other stencils, click HERE. 

Here's my card and my "how-to's" -

I temporarily taped the stencil to my Very Vanilla cardstock and sponged Crumb Cake (the old Kraft - now in an ink pad) over the fleur stencil.  Then without moving the stencil, I stamped some of the images from the Priceless stamp set over the fleur in Early Espresso (a very dark brown).  I dyed my taffeta white ribbon Early Espresso with a sponge dauber.  Then I stamped "wonderful" from Warm Words on the bottom.  I layered the Vanilla piece onto a piece of Early Espresso.  I stamped the swirl from Priceless on my Crumb Cake card.  I love it!!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Whew, it's been hot the past few days!  When I got home yesterday after playing mahjong, Sonny was down at the boat chillin' (if that's possible when it's 90 degrees!)  I joined him about 4 pm with the hopes of the heat dying down some.  We rode around a little and then threw the anchor and he read his book while I napped.  The only problem was, I kept waking myself up with my snoring!  I'm still congested and was laying on my back ... otherwise, I don't think that I snore!!  We went to a restaurant on the lake - catfish for Sonny & BBQ for me - yum! 

This morning, I did a card demonstration for a friend's church group.  My sister, Marianne, came along to help out.  We had 12 ladies and I think they really enjoyed making the simple cards.  I always enjoy teaching others what I love.  Here is the card we made:

They had their choice of stamps from Pun Fun and Fun & Fast Notes.  We didn't emboss their cards - I did this one when I got home.  Simple, but cute.

After that, I stopped at a local produce stand in Mooresville and got some fresh veggies.  Sonny & I had good tomato sandwiches for lunch.  I know it's summertime when I can eat a wonderful tomato sandwich.  I have some tomatoes planted in one of the Topsy Turvy Tomato Hangers and I actually have 3 good sized tomatoes on it!  We went out again later in the afternoon on the boat but this time, there was not a breeze to be found.  It was soooo humid!  We kept moving our location trying to find a breeze.  It was another night of no cooking for me!  We went to a place on the lake and got a "to go" wedge salad with blue cheese and ate it right in our boat!  

I'm probably going to stay in tomorrow and work on getting my stamp room in some kind of order.  It's just a mess right now.  I need to make room for the new stamp pads and paper that I'll be getting next week along with a couple of stamps from the new catty.  I should also get a copy of the new catalog with the order too.  Can't wait!!

I've had a few people inquire about the designer paper I printed off My Digital Studio in THIS post.  If you don't have MDS (you really should get it!!) but want to print off the papers, you can do it with whatever design program you have - like Kodak, Photoshop, Corel, etc.  You just need to download the papers as a .jpeg file and download them into your program.  It's really easy and the downloads are pretty inexpensive.   Click HERE and look under Digital Crafting.

Monday mailers for May plus a BD card

I have a few card shares for you.  These are cards I mailed out before I left NC.

This is the Monday Mailer I sent.  I used the die cut notecard and embossed it with a Big Shot embossing folder.  The paper behind the flower (die cut) is Pink Flamingo DSP and is on the Last Chance List.  The flower in the center is from Tropical Party (in the Summer Mini).  I made a Cameo Coral backing for the card using the Corner Punch and Scallop Punch.

This is a birthday card I made using some retired DSP.  The stamp is from Party Hearty (I think - I don't have my catty with me!).  The arrow punch (My Way punch) is being RETIRED and is on the Last Chance List.

This is a birthday card I mailed to my friend, Margaret's husband.  This is a Northwood stamp.  I will be teaching a class at Stampers Alley in a couple of weeks using this stamp and several other water/nature scenes similar to this one.

Sticky, Icky Humidity!

In the three summers we have lived here, we have been pretty lucky with the weather ... mainly the humidity.  It hasn't been as bad as what we remembered when we lived here some 30+ years ago.  But this summer may just be different.  Yesterday was sticky, icky!!  We went to Newton, a small town near us, for a street fair.  We had read about it so figured we'd give it a try.  We walked the whole downtown area in less than an hour and weren't too impressed!  There weren't many people there - hopefully, they had been there earlier or came later.  It's a lot of work to put something like that together - bands, craft booths, games, car show, etc. but we noticed a lot of empty spaces on the street like maybe they had some no-shows.  We didn't even eat any funnel cake!!!  We decided we'd rather go to a restaurant where we could sit down in air-conditioning to eat instead so we drove to Hickory for Mexican food.  Today we had storms but they didn't come until dinner time.  I bet tomorrow will be another sticky one.

I worked on a few cards today.  I have a lot of friends having birthdays in May so I made a couple of birthday cards.

This one uses the new set from the Summer Mini, Watercolor Trio.  I also am trying to use my retiring colors.  This one is Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss.

Another birthday card.  This one uses a retired set, Older & Wiser along with retiring cardstock, Cameo Coral and Apricot Appeal.  The DSP is some I just off the Clearance Rack.

This car is for a class I am doing in June for a neighbor of my mom's church group.  There will probably be at least 20 ladies there so I needed to come up with a simple card.  I am going to give them the option of using one of the stamps from Pun Fun or Fun & Fast Notes.  For a simple card, it's kind of cute, don't you think?

Finally - found the outfit

Yesterday I played bridge.  It's been a long time but it was good to see my friends again.  Afterwards I went shopping to find an outfit for my nephew's wedding.  I bought a capri's outfit on Friday but have decided it may be too hot to wear in Texas at the end of May.  Marianne met me at the store and helped me find a great dress to wear.  And then I found some fushia colored shoes to match!!  Now if I could just lose about 20 pounds and get a tan!!  After shopping, we headed over to Chilli's and shared chips, salsa, fajitas and a yummy margarita!

Here is a card I made recently.  I used the Vintage Vogue Wheel from the Occasions Mini Catalog (only 3 more days to get it!) along with the Little Butterflies Embossing Die and the Scallop Trim Corner Punch.  The colors are Rich Razzleberry and Pretty in Pink.

Little Black Sammy

We had another family night dinner at our house tonight.  Our local grocery store had a sale this week - $5.00 for a steak, baked potato and ear of corn.  So, my mom bought enough for all of us and brought them over for Sonny & I to cook it!  I made brownies so we had a feast!  On Friday my sister, Angela, who lives with my mom was given a little black kitten by their mail carrier.  She had found it while delivering the mail in their neighborhood.  I don't think the kitten could be much more than a couple of months old.  It is the cutest little thing - jet black - and is already litter box trained.  They are going to hold on to her for a week to see if anyone claims her but if not, they will take her to the vet to get her checked out.  My mom is loving little Sammy.  She wanted to name her Sambo but we encouraged her not to since we believe it is a girl kitten.  Here are some pictures I took of her tonight:

This is Harrison, Marianne's son, holding Sammy.

Marianne on the floor playing with her.

The little raincoat bear plays "Singing In The Rain."  Sammy was intrigued by it and kept trying to creep up and "paw" it.  It was so funny!

Last week I took a card class at the local stamp store taught by my friend, Deb Holland.  Deb is sooo talented and oober-organized!  The theme of the class was Pink & Orange.  Here are the cards we did:

This was colored with my Copics, but I think it would be just as cool watercolored.

This card uses a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the bottom.  I colored this one with Tombow Markers.

This one is white embossed vellum.   Marianne did hers in black and white & used it for a wedding card.

I love this effect.  We spritzed the watercolor paper with water.  Then we used Shimmer Paints for the watercolor effect.  Twinking H2Os would work as well.

This is very simple using patterned paper.

Happy St Patty's Day & 2 Monday Mailers

(This is posted late because I just realized it didn't get posted when it should have!!)


Happy Saint Paddy's Day to you all!  These are the cookies I made for my Mahjong group and this is what I have left!  I doubled the recipe because the single recipe said SIX Servings!  I think I would have been fine without doubling because these will be gone by Friday .... in mine & Sonny's stomach!  Although I'm having Stamp Club tomorrow so I'll tempt them with the cookies too!

Here's the recipe for the cookies .... they are really good and easy!

IRISH SHAMROCK COOKIES

1/2 C butter, softened (I used a Crisco Shortening Stick)

1 3-oz package instant pistachio pudding mix

1 1/3 C baking mix (Jiffy, Bisquick)

1 egg

1 T white sugar

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease baking sheet. 
• 
  
  Cream together shortening (or butter) and pudding mix.  Blend in baking mix, egg, and sugar.  Mix well.
• 
  
  On lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 3/8" thickness & cut into cookies with cookie cutter.
• 
  
  Place cookies on prepared baking sheet & bake 9-10 minutes or until lightly browned on edges.  Let cookies cook on rack.  Frost with green icing.

Now for my Monday Mailer cards!  Here is the card I made and mailed to my partner.

I found the pattern for this egg in the March CardMaker magazine.  All supplies for the card are from Stampin' Up.  The DSP is from the Good Neighbor pack that is in the Saleabration Catalog.  I ran all the pieces plus the white square through my Big Shot with the SU Texture Plate.  The felt flower and leaf are in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  The cardstock is Melon Mango and Bermuda Bay.  I love the White Satin Ribbon!!  "happy easter" is from the Abundant Hope set in the Occasions Catalog.

Here is the card I received today! 

Isn't it great?  She embossed the cardstock with the Texturz Plate and I think she inked her plate yellow when she ran it through the Big Shot.  The butterflies are from the Occasions Mini - Embosslets.  I have to get those butterflies - they are on backorder right now though. 

A little of this and that

Whew!  What a crazy busy day!  Remember  a couple of months ago when I had that spot floating around in my right eye and the eye dr. told me it was a sign of aging and was called a vitreous detachment??  Well, yesterday, I noticed with my LEFT eye, a cobweb like matter floating around in my field of vision and a couple of times, a few light flashes.  I remembered that the eye dr. had asked me if I had seen any light flashes with the right eye when I was there last month and I had not.  So this morning, I was able to get in to see the doctor right away.  Turns out, this cob-webby thing is blood.  Doesn't sound too good, huh? Last month when I saw the eye dr, my vision in my left eye was 20/20 ... today it was 2/40.   I am going to see a retina specialist in Charlotte next Friday.  This could mean that the vitreous is pulling away from the retina or that the retina itself is becoming dislodged from the inner back of the eye that contains blood, nutrients and oxygen vital to healthy function. When the retina is torn, vitreous can invade the opening and push out the retina — leading to a detachment.  Right now, my eye dr. doesn't see that but he wants to be safe than sorry.  Yeah - me too!  What I've read about this is:   "A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in late 2009 found that sudden presence of eye floaters and flashes means that one in seven people with these symptoms will have a retinal tear or detachment. And up to 50 percent of people with a retinal tear will have a subsequent detachment."   So,  if you believe in the power of prayer, please say a prayer for me this week.  I'm really pretty scared.  And I just hate that there is nothing I can do but wait.

On to happier topics!  Today was the first day for my Stamp Club.  I had 7 ladies and they really enjoyed stamping.  I just need to remember to make simple cards!!  They really don't know anything about stamping and that's hard for me to remember when I was like that!  But, really, the most challenging thing to them was tying the bows!!!  We did 2 cards and a little Easter basket.  Unfortunately, I only remembered to take a picture of one card and I gave my samples away!  I am going to make the other card and the basket tomorrow for one of the ladies who was out of town so I will share it with you then.  Here is the first card we made.  I wanted them to know watercoloring because I think you can get a really pretty look very easy by using watercolor pencils or crayons.

This uses the stamp set, Abundent Blessings from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

I also colored this panel in different colors to give them another idea of how to do their flowers:

Most of them just did the yellow flowers but I did have one lady who "stepped out of the box" and did multi-colored flowers.

After the ladies left, Sonny and I hopped in the car to meet a group of his Golden Boy members at the movies.  We saw "The Green Zone" - a real action packed movie.  The focus of 'Green Zone' is on the early stages of the 2003 US Iraq invasion.  The war being fought in the film is more between the Pentagon and the CIA than the US vs Iraq which makes it all the more interesting and the film allows you to see things from Iraq's perspective for a change.  No matter what your view is of the Iraqi war, this film will make you think as it deals with looking for the non-existant WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction.)