Valentine / Anniversary Swap Card

Hope you had a happy Valentine's Day.  When I was little, I think Valentine's Day was one of my favorite holidays.  I loved to make the Valentine boxes for school and then hope whom ever I had a secret crush on would put a special Valentine in the box on my desk.  But today Valentine's Day makes me a little sad because my son and daughter are not close enough for me to give them a big fat Valentine hug.  Sonny bought me a really sweet card and I made him one.  We decided not to go out to dinner and fight the crowds.  Instead, we used a Groupon that we had for a meat store in Mooresville and bought a Porterhouse steak.  Sonny grilled it outside and I made scalloped potatoes, salad, and mushrooms to go with the steak.  It was yummy!! 

I made Valentine sucker holders last weekend to send to my grandchildren.  Since I had to buy a whole bag of heart suckers, I decided to make enough for my bridge group.  I used the Scallop Envelope die to make them.  I just love that die - it is so versatile!

I am finally going to be teaching the MDS class this weekend in Kernersville to my NC demo friends.  I was scheduled to do it a few weeks ago when the weather did not cooperate.  Friday is supposed to be ok but the cold weather is moving in on Saturday.  It is supposed to be a high of 60 Friday and 42 on Saturday and Sunday!!  Crazy but it is February!!  We are doing a card swap in the afternoon after my class.  The card I made for the swap was a Valentine's card but now I have changed it to an anniversary card! 

I stamped Happy Anniversary and punched it out with the Label Punch and just glued it over the Happy Valentine's Day tag!  I love this two tone ribbon from the Spring Mini - it is great for making bows!  I like the mix of Pink Pirouette and Raspberry Ripple.

The Negative and the Positive

I made this card using another one of the goodies that my friend, Judy, gave me last week.  This time it is the Sizzix leaf die.  I saw a card similar to this one on Pininterest.  It is so easy to make but a Wow! card I think.  You use both the negative and positive images of the leaf die.  The DSP is from the Twitterpated pack which is in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I used the Daisy Sizzix Die for the flower and a corduroy button (retired) for the center.  I love these buttons and hate that SU discontinued them.  Luckily, I stocked up on them when they were on Clearance.  The ribbon is also from Clearance - actually, you can still purchase it on the Clearance rack for $3.49 for the roll which is a great price for almost 10 yards of ribbon.  I love this ribbon because it ties so nicely.  At the top of my blog, just click on the Clearance tab to look at the other items available.  There are still several punches available on Clearance also.

(A tip - if you are going to order  items from Clearance or the regular on-line store, make sure you make it worthwhile as far as shipping - SU puts a minimum of $6.95 for shipping on orders so to just order one roll of ribbon would not be smart - order other items or go in with a friend and share the shipping.)

Spring Forward!

Happy Weekend to you!  Hope you are doing something fun.  Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight .... Spring Forward ... unless you are in Arizona where my son and his family lives.  I am always confused as to what the time difference is for them since they don't do Daylight Savings Time!  It doesn't take much to confuse me, you know.  I think today they are 3 hours behind me but tomorrow, it will be only 2 hours .... I think!!

I haven't done much card making this week.  Even Sonny noticed it when he came up to collect the garbage this week.  Normally, I have 3-4 small waste baskets scattered about my room full of paper and bits.  But, this week, I think only one was full!  I have been pretty busy all week - going to water aerobics (3 times I'll have you know!!) plus playing mahjong on Friday, mammogram last week, Newcomers meeting, hair cut, Soup Kitchen to pull the food for next week, etc.  Next week is just as full though! 

My club order came in last week and when I took Judy's to her, she gave me a few things - a Sizzix leaf die along with some card stock that she had embossed with a few of her new dies.  I made a couple of cards with the Madison Window Die piece that she gave me.  They turned out really cute.  Thanks Judy!

 On this one I used a stamp from Northwoods.  Wouldn't you love to have that view out your window?  I embossed the top of the card and using my scoring tool, scored the bottom white piece to look like wainscotting with a chair rail.  I used SUs Lace Ribbon Border punch for curtains.

For this card, I stamped the image from Easter Blossoms (retired) onto watercolor paper and used my watercolor crayons to color them.  I stamped and cut out the cat from Window Dressing (ret.) to sit on the window sill. 

When I got my hair cut this week, I had it cut a little different.  I have worn bangs forever but this week, they were getting too long to do anything with so I had been wearing them to the side (with a lot of hair spray).  So, I asked my hairdresser not to cut them too much so I could do that but could also wear them down a little if I wanted.  Well, she ended up doing the front totally different - combing a lot of my front down onto my face (think Justin Bieber!)   I like it but don't know how long I will be able to do it.  I'm sure as soon as I try to do the same thing, it will be totally different!  It's hard to tell in the picture but the sides frame my face but starting right behind my ears my hair is flipped up - that part stayed the same. Plus, I haven't put any highlights in my hair now in over 2 years!!  Luckily, my white/gray parts have come out looking like natural frosting.

Eat Chocolate

Do you love chocolate?  I can't say that I'm a choc-o-holic but I do enjoy chocolate once in a while - chocolate eclairs, Dove milk chocolate, my grandmom's chocolate cake, Hershey bars (with almonds please!) .... you get the picture!  Sonny is a big chocolate eater - more so than me.  In fact, I have to hide the chocolate morsels in my house or he will eat them all!  My son used to love Butterfingers - not sure if he eats much chocolate now or not.  The strange one in our family is Ashley.  She doesn't like chocolate!  What's with that?  I have run into a few people like her who don't like chocolate but it does seem strange.   Chocolate is found in so many things.  I even saw some chocolate wine the other day!  Not sure about that but I'd like to give it a try!

I recently ordered the Eat Chocolate set from the Occasions Mini and have made a few cards with it.  It's a fun set and I really like the sentiments in it.

I made this card for a friend's birthday. It uses some retired SU DSP.  The card base is Pretty in Pink.  The tag is Chocolate Chip that I ran through the Big Shot with the Two Tags Die.  I used Extra Thick Embossing Powder for the chocolate at the top.  The button and pink bling are non SU.

Don't you love these bright colors - Marina Mist and Pretty in Pink DSP.  I used Rich Razzleberry behind the cupcake saying.  I guess these could be cupcakes or candies - take your pick!  The ribbon is also SU (retired).  Simple but cute!

We Made It!

Well, we made it to Pittsburgh .... safe and sound.  Sonny felt pretty stupid since he'd been worrrying about the weather on our drive up the past few days.  Well, he had nothing to worry about.  There was no problems AT ALL!  We saw a little bit of snow off the side of the road but nothing to speak of really.  We were all really surprised.  Even when we got to Pittsburgh, we hardly saw any snow.  It's cold here - I think it was about 27 degrees when we arrived (about 7 pm) but what do you expect in Pittsburgh in February??   Tomorrow it's supposed to be warmer - high around 35 which is warmer than Dallas and Sherrills Ford probably!!  And we had friends who didn't want to join us because they thought it would be too cold here!  We made our way to a bar/restaurant and had dinner and a couple of drinks.  Now Marianne and I are back in the room playing on our computers and Sonny has gone in search of some place to quench his thirst! 

So .... I want to share with you a card I received last week from Carol for my Monday Mailer.  She used a Sizzix die that is still available on the Clearance Rack (click on the left side bar).  It is called Build A Flower.  It really makes a cool flower!

It's that busy time of year

Another busy day today - but think most people's calendars get pretty full this time of year.  I'm hoping to stay home tomorrow and work on Christmas cards!!  I went to a Southern Living Luncheon today.  We had 12 ladies there and great food.  We each made something from the Oct, Nov or Dec issue of Southern Living.  Yum!!  We had appetizers - meatballs & bruschetta; 2 salads - a pear and lettuce salad and another one with broccoli, cheese, mayo, cauliflower; potato-onion soup; 2 kinds of bread - Sour Cream Cornbread (my contribution) and Jordan yeast rolls; ham and sweet potatoes.  Then of course we had to finish it off with 2 desserts - a fruit tart and apple cake.  Needless to way, I could have waddled home!!  Luckily, we only have these luncheons every 3 months so we can diet in between.  I made little favors for everyone as seen below.  I used the cute Candy Wrapper Die from the Holiday Mini (it will be carried over after Christmas!)  I put a couple of chocolate nuggets in the box and they looked so cute on the table.

Didn't the table look nice and festive?

She had her tree - and entire house decorated and ready for Christmas.  I haven't even started ....what about you?  After lunch we did a Chinese gift exchange.  I received a set of cocktail plates and holiday napkins.

This evening we met my mom in Mooresville for a Christmas dinner/party with her Blind Association group.  Our family was well represented with mom, my sister, Angela, my sister, Marianne & her husband and me and my hubbie.  My mom is legally blind - she has Retinosa Pigmentosa.  They also did a Chinese Gift Exchange.  Since, I didn't go home after our luncheon to get my gift for the exchange, I used the gift I'd received earlier in the day.  So, when my number came up, the gift was still available, I picked it and hoped no one would "steal" it from me.  Well .... I should have known - my sister, Marianne, stole it!!  So I got to pick another gift.  Unknowingly, I picked the gift she had brought - a cute pair of soft slipper socks with a cute reindeer on them.  When we left, she gave me back my gift - I would use them more than she would.  She just stole it to "get my goat!"

I promise - I'll have some cards to share with you tomorrow!!

Rag Purses

Yesterday I spent the day at my sister's house (Marianne).  She helped me make a few rag purses with the Sizzix die.  I love how they turned out!

 This one is made from a piece of material a friend gave me last week.  She gave me about a yard of the material and the whole piece was patchwork-like with all these beautiful individual squares.  We just cut the squares apart and ran then through the die.    The flower I made blends in with the purse so it is hard to see.

 This one is made from some fat quarters that I got from a local quilt shop in town.  Again, I made a flower from the Flower Fold Sizzix die and pinned it on the purse.

 I think this one may be my favorite .... sometimes, simple is best!  I already had the flower made from bits of material - good thing because I used all the material on the purse and didn't have any left over - we even had to piece together the straps.

These are two cell phone holders I made.  I am going to hang one of them off the first purse.  The second one, I will add a fabric flower brooch to it.

These will all go in the craft fair I am working on.

Winter Flurries

Wow!  It's Thursday already.  Where has this week gone?  Definately not to posting on this blog ... sorry about that.  Yesterday was my Newcomers Coffee.  We had an antiques expert there who assessed some of our valuable antiques and gave us an estimate of what they were worth.  I took in a couple of items and learned a bit about them.  I have a beautiful porcelain pin that was my grandmothers.  Her son brought it back to her from France when he was in the Army in the spring of 1946.  On the back, it says "Imoges France".  Turns out these were popular for soldiers to purchase back then for $5-$10.  But it is worth a bit more than that now.  He estimated about $50.  (I was hoping for more!)  I also took in a stein of Sonny's that was given to him by my mother's cousin.  It has a German slogan on the front that loosely translates to "Dr Luther speaks well, Water alone does not make you happy"  Turns out it is worth more than my pin - around $100.  Really, what difference does it make?  These are our treasures and we will not be selling them!

I received a bunch of new goodies Tuesday but have not had time to play with them much.  This morning I was determined to make a card with something new.  So, I got out the Northern Flurries embossing folder and a piece of SU's vellum.  (I love their vellum because it is thick similar to cardstock.)  I ran the vellum through the Big Shot with the Flurries folder and dabbed a little glue on the back where the snowflakes were so it wouldn't show through.  Then I glued it to a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock and tied a Bashful Blue bow on the front.  The final touch was adding a few little pearls to the center.  Voila!  A Christmas card .... my first!  It was so simple but looks so gorgeous. 

I love SU's embossing folders ... combined with the Big Shot, you just get such a deep impression and it shows up so well.

Well, I am off to a luncheon at a friends house.  One of friends and neighbors moved away a few months ago.  She is back this weekend so we are having a luncheon for her.  I am making brie in a new brie pottery bowl that Ashley gave me.  Hope it turns out!!  I am going to top it with a little Pepper Jelly and pecans.

August Club Cards

My Club ladies were here today - all except 2 who were out of town.  We worked on sponging and daubing on cards today. 

This card I featured in an earlier post HERE.  It uses a set of stencils from the Decor Elements brochure.  Details can be found on the prevous post.

For these cards, I used a stencil that I made.  I cut a rectangle and an oval out of a piece of cardboard and sponged Pink Pirouette inside the opening.  Then I stamped the flower from Watercolor Trio (Summer Mini).  I used a Regal Rose marker and Old Olive on the stamp.  I used Chunky Glitter for the center of the flowers.  I stamped "From the Heart" on a scrap of Vanilla and glued it inside the Hodgepodge frame - one in vanilla and one in silver.  I attached the frame to the card with the brads.  The final touch is the little half pearls!  I love this card ... so simple but gorgeous.

Another fairly simple card using the Sizzix tropical flower die.  The stamp set, Tropical Flowers and DSP are both from the Summer Mini.  I sponged the turquoise flower and curled the edges up a little.  I used my bone folder to crease the leaf and then sponged it.  Happy Birthday is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set.