October Club Cards

This is my week for Stamp Club and we have a variety of cards to do.  First off, since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought it appropriate to do a card for that.  I lost my sister to breast cancer so the cause is near and dear to my heart.  This card is for you, Deb.

I made a heart mask from a window sheet and used the spritzer (filled with alcohol and pink ink refill) to lightly spritz the heart.

Since it is almost Halloween, a couple of Halloween projects are in order also.

This card uses Summer Starfruit, Wisteria Wonder and Tangerine Tango.  I stamped the candy from Halloween hello on the card in the different colors of ink.  I stamped a single stamp onto colored cardstock, cut it out and adhered it with dimensional tape.

I used the stencils from the holiday mini catalog that comes with the banner kit to color these muslin bags (also from the Holiday Catalog).   For the polka dot bag, I used a dauber to make the Pumpkin Pie dots.  For the other bag, I used the spritzer again filled with alcohol and Pumpkin Pie ink.  It was so easy!!  Won't these be cute filled with candy for the munchkins who come trick or treating at your house?

Our final card is an early Thanksgiving card.  I CASEd this card from the wonderful Jan Tink.  I used the DSP, Sweater Weather and sponged all the edges with Chocolate Chip ink.  I used Crystal Effects to glaze the acorns.  The ribbon and button are both retired.  I used a marker to draw a faux buttonhole.

So .... would you like to join my club??  I have a couple of gals who are long distance members.  I would love to have more!

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.

Winning Shoebox Cards

I have a few cards to share with you today!  Marianne and I went to a Shoebox Card Swap last week at Allison Barber's home.  We had a great time visiting with the gals and making the cards.  Everyone did 3 shoe box swaps so we got a lot of new ideas.

My swaps hit all the upcoming holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I have already shared my Halloween card so here are my other two:

This card is very simple to make but it packs a "wow."   For the Christmas card, I used the stamp set, Joyful Christmas from the mini catalog.  I embossed the poinsetta on the Vanilla card stock with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder.  I stamped a second poinsetta and cut out the middle part of the flower and attached it to the embossed flower with a dimensional.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  But my favorite part is the Frosted Finishes Embellishments in the center of the flower (pg. 28 from Holiday Catalog).  They are gorgeous rhinestone embellishments!! 

My Thanksgiving card has lots of textures to it.  I embossed the Crushed Curry card stock with Stripes Embossing Folder in both directions to create the plaid embossed effect.  The DSP on the bottom is from Sweater Weather with a small strip of Cajun Craze to separate the two pieces.  They are layered on a Chocolate Chip card.  I stamped a Vanilla rectangle with the background from Truly Grateful (after stamping off once.)  Then I stamped the wheat in Chocolate Chip and used different markers - Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Choc. Chip to color in the wheat.  I matted this piece onto Chocolate Chip and Cajun Craze.  I stamped the "Happy Thanksgiving" (Tags 4 You) in Choc. Chip ink onto Crushed Curry card stock and cut it out.  (There is a punch for this set but I haven't purchased it yet.)  The final touch was to add a little of Gold Glitter to the wheat using my Two-Way Glue Pen.

Allison asked her neighbor to come over and judge our cards and pick a winner.  Well, guess what???  My Thanksgiving card was her choice!  I was totally surprised!  Allison gave me a super prize that I want to CASE.

Isn't this a great decorated note pad and pen?  I don't want to use it and have to mess up that stamped front page!

This is a coaster.  She covered a tile with Eastern Elegance DSP.  It is really cool!