Goodbye, Farewell - April Blog Hop with NC Demos

Welcome to the April NC Demos Blog Hop.   If you just arrived from Melissa's blog, isn't her Kleenex box cool?!!

Our theme this month gave us a lot of leeway.  We could choose cards that feature the retiring products, Mother's Day cards or Feminine cards.  My choice was retiring products.  I lost about 18 stamp sets not to mention several thinlits and punches.  Many of them did not surprise me since they had been around a while but I am still going to miss many of them! 

The first few cards I used a new technique that I had never done before - the Whitewash Technique.  There are several You-Tube videos that you can find to show the technique.  Basically, you stamp and emboss the image.  Next paint the image with the white re-inker (I used Aqua Brush.)  After that dries, add a little color to the image with a marker.  Then use your blender pen or Aqua Brush and blend the colors.  After it dries, you can go back and add a little more color as needed.

My first card uses Swallowtail stamp for the butterfly.  I also used the retiring DSP Typeset and the sentiment from And Many More (which is a great set for sentiments.)

The next two cards are made with Vivid Vases, a single stamp.

On this card, I also used the Curvy Corner Trio Punch which I love!

 This beauty uses three retiring stamp sets - Trust God, Everything Eleanor and the single stamp, Blended Blooms as well as the retiring Candy Dots.

Next I did a couple of cards using the blending technique with my sponges using Serene Silhouettes.

Next it was time for a little watercoloring.  I spritzed my Shimmery White cardstock with water and then using my Aqua Brush, colored Melon Mambo, Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight all over the card.  I cut another piece of cardstock using the Hexagon Hive Thinlit and adhere it on top of the watercolored piece.  The sentiment is from Feels Good.

 This is one of the cards we made in Stamp Club this month using the single stamp, Blooms for You.  The "seize the cake" sentiment is from the retiring set, Something to Say.

This final card also uses Blooms For You, Everything Eleanor (sentiment) and the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  This is one of the cards I made from pieces of the Paper Pumpkin April kit.

Hope you enjoyed my portion of the blog hop.  Continue along heading to Laurie Meir's blog next.

Below is a list of all the participants and their links:

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyi

Melissa Kerman

Sharon Maranich

Laurie Meier

Sue Root

Karel Standish

Pam Staples

Frances Wagner

Thanks for stopping by!

Convention Swap Card #1

I have been working on some card swaps for Convention in July.  I am doing two organized swaps and one shoebox swap.  They are not too crazy this year.  I have to make 15 cards for one swap; 12 cards for the other swap; and two different cards for the shoebox - one I finish completely - 14 cards and the other one, I cut all the pieces for the shoebox - again, 14 cards.  So I have finished my two swap cards.  I have made one card for the finished shoebox so just have to duplicate it.  And I guess tomorrow I'll be browsing Pinterest for my other shoebox card although I have an idea in mind for it. That is always the hardest part - coming up with the design!!  That's why I love Pinterest and Google Images.

Here is one of the swap cards:

I used Kinda Eclectric and Feels Good stamps.  The hearts are from Perfect Pennants.  I really like this color combo - Hello Honey and Watermelon Wonder with a little bit of Tip Top Taupe.  What do you think??

She Believed She Could!

And the inside says ..... Congrats to You!

This is the card I made to celebrate my daughter becoming a LT. COL today!  I am so proud of her. She has worked hard and been an inspiration.  When she makes her mind up to do something, she usually does it with flying colors! I've got my fingers crossed for her as she is trying to reach her next big goal.

They are going to do a small promotion ceremony onboard the ship.  (With the 16 hour time difference, she has already had the ceremony.)  The Commodore (Navy 06 who is in charge of the whole ship) will pin on her rank and the New Zealand chaplain is going to say an opening prayer. What a unique experience!  Wish we could be there.  I'll be sharing pictures as soon as I get them. She said the Public Affairs Team will be taking pictures.

All of her rank promotions have been unique.  When she graduated from medical school, she was promoted to Captain.  She had that ceremony at the Alamo where her brother pinned her rank on her. He was still in the Army at that time.  When she was promoted to Major, she was stationed in D.C. and had the ceremony at the National Archives Building near the Declaration of Independence.

Jeff (on right) pinning rank on outside The Alamo

Luckily I was able to send this card to her wherever she is via a Navy pal of hers who is leaving on Monday from Calif. to meet up with the ship that Ashley is on.  I went through my stash of cards from swaps, clubs, and those that I had made and came up with 20-25 cards.  Sonny and I signed each one with a little message inside and I put them in envelopes and sent them in a package with goodies to her.  That way, even though she can't receive mail on the ship, she will have a card to open every week or so.

I think this deployment was custom made for her!  She helped one of the interns resusitate a 29 week preemie a few days ago.  She treated a child who came in to the clinic that was malnourished.  She said the little girl was 8 years old but looked like she was 1!!  I can't even imagine what she is seeing there.  She told us we wouldn't even be able to imagine a place so poor.  The typical home is a raised platform (maybe 10x10) with a thatched roof but no walls.  The typical home has 13 people living in it.   She told her Dad he could not live there since they basically always sit on the floor with their legs crossed Indian style!  Another reason to be thankful we are living in America!!

3x3 Quarterly Swaps

Marianne and I traveled to Raleigh this weekend for the NC Demos Quarterly Get-together.  It is so much fun to see old friends there and meet new ones.  I can't wait till our next one in September in Wilmington!  We did several swaps and although I told myself in advance I would only do one swap, I ended up doing all three - 3D swap, 3x3 card swap and full card swap.

Here are the 3x3 cards I received in the swap:  (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of my own swap!)

I think these make cute little gift enclosure cards.

Happy Birthday to my little sister, Marianne.  Today (Monday) is her birthday!  She is catching up with me!!

Marianne getting started with her stampin'!

This was the "voting" table.  We voted on the best "WOW" card and the card that was the most demonstratable.  Can you guess which ones won?

If you guessed the purple flower card for a WOW!, you are correct.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  It was made by Denise James.

My card was voted as the most demonstratable (is that a word?).  It was also my swap card.  Here it is close up:

I love the colors in this card.  I used the Flower Patch stamp set along with the Feels Good sentiment.  I masked the center of the card while I stamped the flowers and when I finished with that stamping, I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment.

The Versatility of Work of Art!

I was really on a roll yesterday and made a lot of cards - some for convention swaps and some for my stamp club next week.  I pretty much used one stamp set for all the cards!!  I just love the versatility of Work of Art which is the stamp set we received at the catalog reveal party.  I wasn't so sure when I first got it but I have been definitely won over!!  Most of the cards I made are soooo easy and take just a few minutes to make.  That's my kind of creating these days!!  Here are a few ideas for you.

Make a sailboat!  I embossed the Coastal Cabana card with the chevron folder to carry on the waves theme.  And how about the little crab from Sea Street?  Colors on this one are Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Calypso Coral.

Yummy popsicles to celebrate the first day of summer tomorrow.  Colors used are:  Real Red; Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay and Perfect Plum.  The sentiment is from Really Good Greetings.

Stamp the birds from Wetlands on the beach.  Colors used are all the new in colors - Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Lost Lagoon and I added Baked Brown Sugar for the sand.  

How about a rainbow for these summer storms that keep cropping up?  Add the saying from Feels Good.  Rainbow colors are:  Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Lost Lagoon, Rich Razzleberry and Wisteria Wonder. 

This one is just a soft "love you" but a sentiment could also be added to the bottom.  I used the Envelope Punch Board to make the little cut-outs on the side.  Colors on this one are:  Hello Honey, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana.

I had a request for an anniversary card - how simple!  Colors used are:  Strawberry Slush, Pink Pirouette, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Pistachio Pudding.  The sentiment is retired.

I think Sonny and I are going to go see Jersey Boys today.  The Four Seasons are one of my all time favorite groups and I can't wait to see the movie.  I have seen the play in Las Vegas and we both loved it.  When I was in college (at ECU), I dated a boy who was in a fraternity.  A few of the guys rented a house out in the country and we would go there on the weekends to party.  It never failed that they would put on a Four Seasons album (yes, no CD's or smart phones back then!) and we would all gather 'round and sing every song on that record belting them out one after the other!  Those were some fun days!  Needless to say, we were thrilled when the Four Seasons played at ECU one year for Homecoming - none of us missed them!!

Pop Up Flower Garden

What a busy weekend for me!  Friday started off with Judy picking me up to play Hand and Foot (which my team won, by the way!)  When she dropped me off at home, I discovered Sonny was not home and I had not brought my keys to get in the house.  He was running errands in Mooresville.  So Judy was kind enough to drive me to meet him.  She was headed in to Mooresville anyway to Subway so I didn't feel like I made her go too far out of her way.  Anyway .... thanks Judy!!  Sonny was at the grocery store.  By the time we finished there and got home, I only had a couple of hours before I needed to drive in to town again.  Newcomers annual fundraiser, Bingo, was Friday night.  We have a Bingo night with prizes and silent auction items every year and all the proceeds go towards our Literacy Program.  Our big silent auction item is the dinner that the Southern Living Lunch group auctions off.  This time we decided to also add a luncheon for 8 people along with the dinner for 10.  We serve the winners a gourmet dinner (and lunch this year) with wine.  We made $400 on the dinner and I think about $250-300 on the lunch!!  So, not too shabby!  There were so many great prizes this year - door prizes as well as bingo prizes.  The committee outdid itself.  I donated 4 boxes of hand made greeting cards with envelopes and was thrilled to see that they were on the silent auction table and were popular.  I think they sold for around $50!  Marianne, Angela and my mom went with me to the event.  Sonny stayed home this year!  I came home with a nice basket with wine, napkins, plastic wine glass (great for the boat!) and truffles and the plant centerpiece.  Marianne got a silent auction item of a game basket.  Mom got a gift certificate from Denny's and a nail spa.  Angela won a gift certificate to her favorite Mexican restaurant.   So, we all did pretty well.

Saturday morning I had to get up at 6:30!!  How AWFUL!  I went to a class at Verizon to learn how to use my "smarter than me" phone.  It was somewhat helpful but I did find out that I knew a lot more than the other people in the class!  After the class, I went to Concord to teach a group of ladies My Digital Studio.  I just love teaching others to use MDS.  It is so rewarding to hear the "ahhhh's" and "ohhhh's" as they learn the program.  It's such fun!  When I got home, I tried to take a quick siesta before leaving again to meet the family in Statesville for dinner at a new Mexican restaurant.  The food was good but it's hard for me to compare NC Mexican food after eating it in Texas!!   I was so tired when we got home but made it until 10:30 before going to bed.

Today I have been getting ready for bridge at my house.  I have 12 ladies coming to play.  I spent a lot of time working on my digital scrapbook from England and Ireland.  I am trying to finish it in time to take advantage of Stampin' Up's digital sale that ends at the end of the week.

Last Thursday I had time to finally play around with the Pop'n'Cuts Die and dress die.  I made this card using the die:

Front of card using Secret Garden stamp and framelits

Inside of card bottom from Feeling Goods stamp and Secret Garden

Card opened.  The flower pot is made using the dress die and cut it in half.  The flowers are from Secret Garden.

Close up of flower pot.

Stamp Club

These are the cards we made this week in Stamp Club.

Oh Whale

I just love this little guy!  I used the DSP from Sale-a-bration (Sycamore Street) to make the waves.  I die cut them using the Tasteful Trim Die and the Big Shot.  The white square was embossed with the Cloudy Day folder.  Stamp the whale with Midnight Muse ink and cut him out with the Embosslit and the Big Shot.  We added a little bit of Dazzling Details glitter to the wave on the main card.

Swallowtail Butterfly

The butterfly is stamped in Crumb Cake lightly (stamp off once).  Use Early Espresso and Primrose Petals markers to color the sentiment from Feels Good.  The small vanilla strip on the side of the card is stamped with the Papillion Potpourri stamp set using Primrose and Garden Green ink.  The small Primrose Petals card stock is embossed with the Needlepoint Border Embossing Folder from the mini catalog.


SAB - Feeling Sentimental

This card was embossed (Crumb Cake) with the Fancy Fan embossing folder and then sponged with Espresso ink.   Stamp the images from Feeling Sentimental onto vanilla card stock and punch out with the 1 1/2" Square Punch.  Mat the images with 1 3/8" squares of Early Espresso.  I cut the "Celebrate" piece by hand and put Neutrals brads on the ends.


Oh Hello

This was a great technique that I taught the girls on this card.  Use the Delicate Details Lace Tape on the card and sponge it with Marina Mist ink.  Remove the Lace Tape and you have "faux lace tape."  It just looks like there is a piece of lace tape there! 

Swap Cards from Spring Mini

Here are the swap cards that I came home with.  I also came home with a bunch of my own swaps back since several ladies canceled that were participating in the swaps.    Enjoy!!

by Marianne using Hearts A Flutter

by Debbie M using Feels Good

from Kathy (I think) using Feels Good stamped on canvas

from Nancy Carr using Everything Eleanor, Hearts a Flutter, Lovely Little Labels & Teeny Tiny
Wishes

from Marcia using Cross My Heart

from Karen using Oh Hello & Needlepoint Border embossing folder

New Downloads, Tablet Apps and a New Card for You!

It's Tuesday - Digital Download Day!!  Check out this week's new downloads, full of Valentine's Day stuff and spring things.  Don't miss  the Officially Awesome Valentines Designer Template with its tiny, trendy valentines that fit in tiny, trendy envelopes.






And one of my favorites - RAIN or SHINE


Check out ALL of today's downloads HERE

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Did you get a tablet for Christmas?  In partnership with Google Catalogs, Stampin’ Up! is thrilled to announce its first tablet-friendly catalog!  It’s interactive, it’s easy–and it’s now available for iPad and Android tablets in the US.

 To access the catalog:

• Download the Google Catalog app (available through iTunes and Google Play).
• Sign in using your Google or Gmail account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one by tapping the Sign Up button in the app.
• After you have signed in, search for Stampin’ Up! in the Select Favorite Catalogs list.
• Select Stampin’ Up! by tapping the small stamp icon next to the name, then tap Done.
• Click the “Favorites” icon at the bottom of the app, then tap the Stampin’ Up! catalog cover to open it. That’s it!

Cool Features of the app:

• Browse the catalog with ease on your tablet.
• Get more information, see additional images (beyond what is available in the catalog), and zoom in on your favorite products.
• Watch videos from our YouTube channel right inside the app! Jump to the Stampin’ Trimmer on page 180 (page 182 in the app) to see it in action.
• SHOP ONLINE! Order products directly from the app with just a few taps through Stampin’ Up!’s online store.

Note: Google Catalogs is currently available in the US only and is not supported in Canada at this time. We will test this app in the US and make it available in Canada as soon as Google opens up their product to that market.


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 AND I have a new card to share with you!!  I used some of my new goodies from the mini catalog to create this card.  I made the flower vase using the Blossom Builder Punch and snipping away the top and bottom.

Supplies used:

Paper:  Perfect Plum, Pear Pizazz (retired), Pink Pirouette, DSP Stacks Patterned Paper
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant
Accessories:  Blossom Builder Punch, Heart to Heart Punch (retired), non-SU heart button
Stamp:  Feel Goods Clear Stamp (mini catalog # 129684)