And a Good Time was Had By All

What a fun weekend I had.  Marianne and I left Mooresville Friday morning and headed to Shallotte in her brand new card!  We stopped along the way and did a little shopping and ended up at Lake Waccamaw in time for an early dinner at Dale's Seafood.

After eating, we headed to Shallotte, checked into our motel and went to the high school to work on 23 shoeboxes.  We got all of them done but each other's by midnight.  There were some great cards and I got a lot of new ideas.  Saturday we headed back to the school for quarterly.  Several of us demonstrations teaching projects to the group.  Here is the first card we made that Nancy Carr had for us:

Isn't it great??  It's really a lot easier than it looks.

We had door prizes all during the day.  I won a beautiful fall plaque.  It was on the "show and tell" table earlier in the day and I had taken a picture so I could try and make it at home.  Now I don't have to.

When the Quarterly was over, Marianne and I went to Sunset Beach with one of the gals from Wilmington, Penny.  There was a festival going on with a great beach band playing.  We wandered around the festival looking at the different booths and then found a few seats in the shade to listen to the band until they pulled us up to dance in the conga line!!

We popped in to a Mexican restaurant and had a margarita and got to know each other better.  From there we drove to the beach to put our toes in the sand and see the awesome sunset.  After all, we were at Sunset Beach!!



Isn't it cool how the camera did the reflection of the sunset in the marsh?

Marianne, me and Penny

It was getting to be dinner time and Marianne and I still hadn't decided where we were going to stay for the night.  We drove to Calabash and had some great seafood.  We were going to find a hotel in North Myrtle but it turned out to be bikers weekend and the hotels were full.  So we drove back to Shallotte and stayed at the hotel we had stayed in the previous night.  This morning after breakfast, we hit the road for home.  We stopped at Goody's in Wadesboro so I could get some new shoes (2 pair actually!)  On the way to Shallotte we stopped there and Marianne bought 2 pairs - it was "buy one, get one free".  I used all my will power and did not even try them on.  But I weakened on the way home!  Driving along, we saw a "Peaches and Cream" ice cream shop.  Marianne made a U-turn to get back to that!!  It was delicious - home made peach ice cream!!  Plus, it was also a little roadside produce stand with apples from the mountains and muscadine grapes, my favorite! 

It was a great weekend!

Truly Grateful for NC Demo Quarterly

I am headed to my teenage "stomping grounds" tomorrow with Marianne.  We are going to a NC SU Demo Quarterly meeting in Shallotte.  But, on our way, we will be stopping by Lake Waccamaw which is less than an hour's drive from Shallotte.  Our family went to Lake Waccamaw for two weeks every summer with my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins .... and our maid who was like part of our family.  Oh the tales I could tell of my "coming of age" at Lake Waccamaw!  My oldest cousin, Landon, taught me all about smoking, boys, sneaking out of the house at midnight, boys, plucking my eyebrows, boys, etc. etc.!!  We had such good times.  I met a boy there when I was in high school and we were quite serious and had a relationship through my college years off and on.  Who knows what the future would have held if he had not moved to California!!  Not that I am not grateful and in love with my husband (even after 40 years!!) but don't you ever wonder - if some little detail had changed, how different your life could have been???

Our family had some sad news today.  My Aunt Carol passed away this afternoon.  She has been struggling with dementia for several years.  My cousin, Candy, who lives in Mooresville had her at her home for a long time until it just got too much for her.  So her sister, Jane, who lives in Raleigh has had her for almost a year.  She went to a Hospice facility on Monday and we knew the end was near.  Candy and her brother, Bobby, went to see her last weekend.  And today Candy took her daughter, Alex, to Raleigh one last time.   Alex posted the most touching tribute to her Facebook page this evening.  "Today at 3:30pm I stayed by my sweet Grandmommy's side and watched as she drifted off to heaven. I'm so glad God let me see her in time to say goodbye. I remember when I was a little girl, she would lay with me at night until I would fall asleep, and I'm so thankful I could do the same for her at her last moment of life. I will always love you Grandmommy ♡ RIP My beautiful angel."


Anyway, I have been furiously getting prepared for the Quarterly.  I am doing a presentation on Saturday and teaching them to make a tag booklet with shipping tags and the envelope punch board.  I'll be sharing my book soon.  I also organized the card swap and will share my Perfect Blend hybrid card with you later.  Marianne is in charge of the Christmas tag swap and I made a snowman tag (later share also).  Friday night we will be doing a shoebox swap with 23 people participating.  That's a lot of cards to make in one evening!  But it will be fun!  Here is my shoebox card using Truly Grateful.  I really like how it turned out.  I used Summer Starfruit for the base and Cajun Craze for the layer.  I stamped the background stamp onto the Cajun with Cajun Craze ink.  I die cut the Chocolate Chip label and a label from Naturals cardstock.  On the Naturals cardstock, I sponged Summer Starfruit, Cajun Craze and Crumb Cake ink.  On top of that I stamped the wheat.  I punched 2 small holes and threaded some strings from the burlap ribbon in them.  On top I stamped the acorn and adhered it with dimensionals. 

I''ve been working on my new computer today - love how fast it is!  But I think I may have to download all the elements I have bought over the years for MDS which will take me a little bit of time!  I'm hoping there is an easy solution to that but I will tackle that problem when I return.

OK - gotta go pack for my trip.  Have a great weekend!!  I probably won't be able to post again until Sunday.

Shoebox Swaps

I haven't shared the Shoebox Swaps from Quarterly with you .... mainly because I haven't finished them.  But, I decided to go ahead and share the pictures that I took of the ones I need to finish.  I hope to work on them real soon!! 

The stocking punch makes this one so easy!

Again - another punch to make it easy - this time, the owl punch.

No punch - have to cut the snowman out.  This is the cute snowman in Snow Much Fun



A great autum card using French Foilage

Angela took Mom to Dr Hines today - the spine and pain management specialist.  He diagnosed her with severe stenosis, disc bulging and severe osteoarthritis.  He is going to give her an injection next Tuesday - a nerve root block to try to decrease the inflammation which should reduce her pain.  He says it will not change the stenosis and does not know how long the relief will last.  The other option is surgery and he wants us to talk to a surgeo.  I am very leary of her having back surgery. 



Lollies

SU I am starting to get back to normal here.  I played bridge today .... almost got high but came in 2nd and won $4!!!  Getting the big bucks, huh?  I got my club orders sorted out and am ready to deliver them this week.  I'm working on some table decorations and menu for the Southern Living Dinner that our group auctioned off.  It is tomorrow night so I will be finishing up the project tomorrow.  And I even cooked us a dinner tonight - chicken tacos which is an adaptation of my daughter-in-law's recipe and is very good.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Marianne and I made a few stops along the way to Greensboro on Friday.  At one of the stamp stores, they had a really cool wreath hanging in their bathroom.  I took a picture and I think Marianne is going to try to make one for her bathroom in shades of purple.

It is simply 12x12 DSP rolled.  I think this would look great with our Spice Cake DSP and a big button in the center!!

At the Quarterly, there were random Prize Patrols.  Marianne and I both won prizes - red and green buttons in one of the little plastic sleeves that is in the mini.  (I'll take a picture tomorrow - it is really cute.)  But another group won "lollie" wreaths that Janie made.  They were great!  This is going to be a project of mine soon too.



This one uses Spice Cake DSP



This is a Christmas one.

 And finally, here is a picture of a Thanksgiving wreath that I saw in one of the scrapbook stores.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Wouldn't it look nice on a front door?

Well, it is almost the bewitching hour of midnight so I am going to say good night and go to bed!!

Greensboro Quarterly

The Greensboro Quarterly was so much fun!  It was worth all the effort.  I got some great swaps which I'll be sharing soon.  Marianne and I left Mooresville around noon so it gave us a lot of time to stop and shop along the way.  We stopped at Enchanted Cottage in Lewisville but, surprise, surprise, left without buying anything!  Our next stop was in Winston Salem at Scrapbook Traditions.  Wow!  It is a huge store - 4,000 sq. feet and so organized!  We made a few purchases there!  Our timing was great - we arrived at our hotel around 5:15 with time to check in, unload the car and head over to the church to start on our Shoebox Swaps.  I had made dinner reservations for 7 at Anton's Italian Restaurant.  Anton's was mine and Sonny's favorite restaurant when we were dating.  (We met in Greensboro when we were both living in a single's apartment complex.)  I was excited to see that it was still going strong and being run by the same family.  Two other gals were joining us for dinner but as we were leaving the church, Brenda fell and hit her head pretty hard.  Marianne and I went ahead but they were able to join us later.  We kept our eye on Brenda the rest of the night just in case. The food was awesome.  The only drawback was that there was a 40 year high school reunion going on and the restaurant was full of a lot of loud mouth guys!!  We couldn't even hear each other's conversation. 

Marianne and I worked on our swaps until midnight when we had to call it quits!  We got a little over half of the cards done (there were 28).  We took pictures of the rest of the swaps and collected our packets to do the cards at home.

Saturday we were back at the church by 8:30 and ready to work.  We had a little introduction and welcome time and then it was on to the projects presented by the organizers.  They did a great job and we made a lot of different things which I'll be sharing with you this week.  There were also presentations going on for us to observe - making flower roses and wax paper resist technique. 

One of the new things we did this time was a Favorite Card Contest.  The ones who wanted to participate had made a favorite card and the group voted on their favorite.  It was a secret vote and you didn't know whose card you were voting for.  I really worked hard on my card and it paid off!  My card tied with Nancy Carr's card and we both won!  Here is my card:

I used Creative Elements stamp set, stamping the flower 3 times each, cut each one out and stacked them on top of each other using dimensionals between each level.  In the center of each flower is a rhinesone.  The colors I used were Soft Suede and Pool Party plus the Spice Cake DSP.  I dyed my Vanilla ribbon with Soft Suede ink.
Here is Nancy's card that tied with mine:  It is very pretty.

Marianne also made a great card for the contest.  I really thought she would have won.

So what do you think of our cards?  Do they inspire you?

Marianne and I found a couple more scrapping shops before leaving Greensboro.  One was a "must see"!!  It had so much stuff it was unbelievable!!  It was the Scrapbook Shop on Battleground.  If they didn't have it, I don't think you need it!!  We'll definitely be making another trip there some day.

A Birthday Shout Out and my swaps

First off I want to give a shout out to my friend, Margaret.  Today is her birthday.  I couldn't send her a card because they are en route from their home in Colorado back to Texas.  They have their mail forwarded to Colorado and I figured my card would get caught in the forwarding and who knows when she would receive it.  Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

By the time you see this, I should be at the Quarterly meeting in Greensboro.  So I can go ahead and show you a couple of the swaps I am taking.

The first one is the general Holiday swap card.  I can't believe how long it took me to put this card together!  I don't usually pick a swap card with so many bits and pieces.  What was I thinking!  But the effort was worth it I think.  My snowman turned out so cute!

 I punched all the pieces out for the snowman and put him together while watching TV.  But when I started assembling the card, he was too tall!  So I had to make some adjustments - cut his hat down a bit and cut his bottom a bit (wish I could do that with mine!)  The punches I used are:

Body:  2 1/2" circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch
Head:  Ornament Punch
Hands:  Snowflake Punch
Eyes & Cheeks:  Owl Punch
Nose:  hand cut
Scarf, hat band:  Label Punch
Hat:  Tag Punch
Heart on hatband:  3 Hearts Punch

Of course the stocking in his hand is stamped with the Stitched Stockings stamp from the mini and punched out with the Stocking Punch (so easy!!).  It is so easy to punch out the toe, heel, and top trim with the punch and stamp.  SU has grouped them together so it is just stamp and one punch to get all three .... easy, peasy!  I used a white gel pen to accent the hat, eyes and do the mouth.  The bottom snow is hand torn white cardstock, sponged with Bashful Blue and glittered.  The Bashful Blue background was run through the Big Shot with the new Snowflake embossing folder (mini catalog).  The DSP is from the In Color Stack - Poppy Parade.

We are also doing a technique 6x6 card swap.  I received a great card at Convention that used a new technique (to me anyway).  It is called Iced Crystals.  So that is what I did.  Can't wait to do a card with this technique.  I think it would look great for a Halloween card background.  What do you think?

It's hard to get a good picture due to the glare of the crystals.

I have a couple more to share with you but I haven't snapped the pictures yet so I will try and share them tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

More Quarterly Projects

I thought I'd share a few more of the Quarterly projects with you .... while I am watching the finale of The Bachelorette.  This is the first time I have watched this show (and maybe the last!).  I just don't understand how someone thinks they can find their true love of their life on a reality TV program!  Maybe that is what is wrong with young people getting married these days.  I think they go into a relationship thinking, well, if it doesn't work out, we'll go our separate ways and find someone else.  We'll see how long Ashley (from Bachelorette) and whoever she picks tonight stay together.

This is our "one size fits all" card!  I've made these bikini cards before but this one was fitting for our Beach Party theme!

How do you like the flower tatoo??

 This is a potpourri holder.  This is really a pretty basis project that most beginner SU demonstrators make but I don't think I have ever done one!  Tina made her own potpourri that she gave each of us to put in the envelope.  You cut the envelope in half (after sealing it closed) and crimp the bottom of the envelope.  Then you stamp, fill the envelope, fill it and punch holes and insert the ribbon.

 This one was my favorite project!  I think we will make these at Stamp Club this month.  It is a plant stake that made from metal roof flashing and run through the Big Shot to cut and emboss it.

 This is another great project from Pat - a tissue holder!

Quarterly Bookmarks

I had a great time this weekend at NC Quarterly in Taylorsville.  I visited with old friends and made new ones.  I ended up coming home and sleeping in my own bed instead of on the air mattress!  I finished my shoe box swaps around 10 pm and since it had only taken me about 40 minutes to get there, I hit the road.

We did a bookmark swap and it was great to see all the different bookmarks!

by Debbie Tadt

by Leah Harrison

by Tina Lesson

by Pat Wilkinson

from Kathy Hunt

by Letricia Blake





Nancy Carr

This is one of  the 3D swaps that I received.  It is soooo cool!!

by Dina Wilson

Dina shared her instructions and template for this Fabric Flower Pot.  She got the idea from Qbee's website.

Quarterly Rejects

This week as I have said, I have been working on cards and projects for my Quarterly swaps.  Tuesday I did 2-3 cards that I loved but decided after doing them that they would be too complicated for my Shoebox.  We do a Shoebox Swap on Friday night.  You design a card and put all the materials to make the card in a box for everyone else to make.  Friday night we only have 12 participants but still, we need to get 12 cards made, visit, and snack and still make it to bed at a reasonable hour to get up bright and bushy tailed for the next day of events!

This wa my first reject.  This is a card that was demo-ed on stage during convention and I love it!  The "cake" is 3 Hershey miniatures wrapped in DSP.  I used punches to make the Razzleberry cake stand - Border Punch, Word Window and Oval.  I pulled a thread in the satin ribbon to gather it around the candy.  This would definitely be a card you would need to hand deliver!  It just took too much time and I decided it would not be a good card for the shoebox.

This was the next card that I made.  I embossed the Vanilla cardstock with the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder and then painted the raised lines with Gold Smooch.  I used the Big Shot and Scallop Circle Die for the Early Edition circle that I "smoothed" in gold on the edges.  The Fabulous Florets flower is embossed with Melon Mambo embossing powder and cut out separately.  Again, too much time and tools involved!

This is the card I settled on.  It uses the new Occasions Alphabet.  I have already die cut all the Top Note shapes for everyone and embossed the dots on the white Top Note.  So, basically they have to stamp and put it together!  The paper is from Paisley Prints.  And notice the edge on the white stamped piece?  I used the new Postage Punch to make that!!  I love it when you can do more with a Punch than it's intended use!  The flower is punched with the Triple Layer Blossom Punch.  I punched 4 flowers, spritzed them heavily with water and crumpled them up.  Let them dry a bit; then flatten them back out and put together with a brad.  I did not put them straight on top of each other but instead put every other one slightly to the side of the other one.

This is my Bookmark Card for another swap.  I used the Two Tags Die for the bookmark and just sponged Marina Mist on the bottom and Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight on top (masking a circle for the sun).  Then I stamped the Sail Away sailboat.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you might be able to see how I did the sails.  I stamped them separately onto Vellum, cut them out and turned them over and used a Stylus and a rubber mat to gently rub onto the sails and puff them out.  It really looks cool in person!  This is another great stamp for a great price!!  It is a single stamp in the Summer Mini catalog but will be gone the end of August.  So, if you like it, contact me to order it!!

And finally, my Punch Art Swap!  Good enough to eat, huh?  I used the following punches to make it:

Bun Top:  Extra Large Oval Punch (Crumb Cake)
Bun Bottom:  Word Window
Lettuce:  Blossom Punch (Celery)
Tomatoes:  3/4" Circle Punch (Cherry Cobbler)
Cheese:  Word Window (More Mustard)
Meat:  Modern Label (Choc. Chip)

Well, that it for Quarterly Swaps.  Think I am going to have to shop around for a camera today.  Mine has bit the dust I believe.