Don't Worry!

Well, our anniversary celebration was sure different this year!  I had an on-line workshop with Weight Watchers at noon .... and I lost a pound although I don't know how!  After that, Sonny and I went to BJ's (spent over $100!).  Our next stop was lunch at the Chick Filet drive in which we took to Aldi's and ate it in their parking lot.  We were looking for milk, bread and clorox.  Aldi's didn't have my bread or the clorox but they did have grapes for 25 cents a pound so I stocked up on them.   So we added a stop at Big Lots and found clorox AND toilet paper!!  We have not bought any TP since the craziness happened since we are usually buy TP in quantity at BJ's so we picked up a pack.  What an exciting day!  On the way back home, we picked up a pizza to eat for our anniversary dinner.  When we ate the pizza, we both remarked that it just didn't taste as good as normal.  Well, this morning I found the ticket they included with the pizza and they had marked in capital letter NO CHEESE!  Who eats a pizza without CHEESE?!!  Now, I know why it didn't taste right.  Luckily, I have mozzarella at home so when we eat the rest of the pizza, I'll be adding the cheese!

Well so much for that interesting monologue!  Tonight (Wednesday) I am going to attend a virtual stamp class from another Stampin' Up demonstrator.  It is open to the public so if you are interested in this FREE class, e-mail Melissa Stout at melissa@thestampdoc.com at least 30 minutes before the class starts (8 pm EST).  

We will be making 10 quick cards that you'll be able to create in the comfort of your own home. Gather the items listed below--they don't have to be from the same suite, just grab whatever you have on hand.

 

WHEN:  Wednesday, April 8th at 8pm ET

WHERE:  Your House

To sign up for this class, you can RSVP on her Facebook event or email her at melissa@thestampdoc.com

If you'd like to follow along with what she is creating, get this stuff:

• 2 sheets DSP (from same pack)
• 7 sheets coordinating card stock; at least 1 needs to be Whisper White or Very Vanilla
• Stamp set with greetings
• Ink pad
• punch for greetings
• spool of ribbon

She will be doing this as a private event on Zoom. You will need to download the Zoom app (FREE) before the meeting on either your laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

A link for the meeting and a password will be sent to all participants by email approximately 30 minutes before we begin.

Happy Anniversary to me!

I have lost count of the number of days we have been in lock down mode without a change in sight.  Hope you are stocked up on your toilet paper and paper towels!! 

I have been making Easter cards like crazy.  After this week, I don't want to see another bunny!!

Here are a couple I have made.

This is a really old Stampin' Up stamp set but it is so cute.  I don't even remember the name of it and think it was offered as a single stamp.

I made this one for my grandson - hope he doesn't think it's too juvenile!  This was from a Paper Pumpkin kit that we got in March 2017!  If I hadn't just done all my organizing, I would not have remembered about these stamps!

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Tomorrow is our anniversary.  Wonder what take-out we can find to celebrate with!!  47 years tomorrow!  Hard to believe.  Here is the card I made for tomorrow.

This was and old Paper Pumpkin kit

Too bad I can't stamp straight!  Oh well, he won't notice it.
I love the sentiments though.  The top one is from Dandelion Wishes and the bottom one is from Well Said.

End of Sale-a-Bration and In Colors Retiring

It's almost that time again! Retirement for the In Colors.

If you are familiar with the Stampin' Up! In Colors, you know that we have a set of 5 colors that only last for two years.  Then they retire and are replaced with 5 new colors.  So, you may be wondering about the 5 retiring colors.  You can see them above.

NOW is the time to stock up on reinkers for your ink pads, on cardstock, designer paper and on the ribbon or embellishments you enjoy in these colors BEFORE they are sold out.  (They tend to sell out pretty quickly.)  AND if you order this month, you can enjoy FREE Sale-a-Bration gifts on your purchases.  A win-win for you!!

This is the final month for Sale-a-Bration.  You won't be able to order the Sale-a-Bration items after March.  Here are a couple of cards I have made using stamp sets from Sale-a-Bration.

I just love this chick!  I used my Watercolor Pencils to color them.  The DSP is some retired paper I have in my stash that I thought went well with the chicks.

This card uses the elegant Delicate Details.  It makes great backgrounds.  For this card, I embossed the images using white craft ink and white embossing powder.  I adhered a strip of glimmer paper between two of the borders.  (Sorry for the fuzzy picture.)

NC Blog Hop Favorite Occasions!

Welcome to the February 2017 NC Demos Blog Hop - whew!  That was a mouthful!  This month we are concentrating of Favorite Occasions.  We are using stamps from the Occasions Catalog with an emphasis on a Spring Holiday or event.

If you follow my blog, you might know that I am obsessed with the High Tide stamp set.  I have made several cards using the beautiful lighthouse stamp.  You can see them HERE and HERE and I still have others I haven't posted yet!  But I thought this card would be perfect for this year's anniversary card for my hubbie!  What do you think?  We will be celebrating 44 years of marriage on April 7.  (How did that happen?  Seems like we were just dating a few years ago!)

Not only do I have an anniversary card to share, but there are several birthdays coming up so I thought it would be great to catch up on some birthday cards so they will be ready to go when I need them!

This card uses the "celebrate" embossing folder from the Occasions catalog along with "you" from Hello You Framelits.  The stripes running down and the "swish" are from Gorgeous Grunge.  I stamped them in Bermuda Bay, Peekaboo Peach, Rich Razzleberry and Watermelon Wonder.  This was a really easy card to make.

Here is another stamp set that I have been having fun using.  It is in the Occasions catalog and is called Crazy Cake.  There are so many variations that you can put together using this stamp set.  It is a two-step stamp set but since it is photopolymer, it is easy to line up.  I love two-step stamps and that is what got me hooked on Stampin' Up 12 years ago.  (I just passed my 12 year demonstrator anniversary on Feb. 16!) The cute little frog popping up from the cake is from the hostess set, Love you Lots.  I don't normally get the hostess sets but I got this one right away and have used it so much! The sentiment is from Sunshine Sayings.  I stamped each cake part onto white cardstock (except the one on the bottom which is stamped onto Sweet Sugarplum cs), cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals.  That made it easy to line up the frog and the stars directly onto the card.  The colors I used are Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum, Marina Mist, and Perfect Plum.

Here is another card using the Crazy Cake stamp set.  These cake pieces were stamped directly on the white cardstock panel using Tempting Turquoise, Cucumber Crush, Peekaboo Peach and Denim. Unfortunately, I could not find the flame for the candles in the set.  It is really teeny tiny and probably got stuck to something and will never be found again.  But I found a candle flame in the set, Sprinkles of Life that that worked.  The sprinkles on the sides of the turquoise card are also from the Sprinkles of Life set.

Here is one last card using Crazy Cake to show that you don't have to use all the parts of the cake.  I stamped you're from Watercolor Words (just mask off the "the best")  I love the color combo of Dapper Denim and Emerald Envy.   (This layout was cased from Brian King.)

I hope you enjoyed my anniversary and birthday cards and they will inspire you to make a few of your own.

Enjoy the blog hop and hop right along to the see what Laurie Meier has prepared for you.

Debra Ballance-Byrd -
Tamra Davis 
Jo Anne Hewins 
Michelle Irinyl 
Melissa Kerman 
Tracie Evans Langley -
Sharon Maranich (You are here)
Laurie Meier 
Lisa Tedder
Frances Wagner -

Happy Anniversary

Sonny and I had an anniversary last week (April 7).  We were lucky enough to be able to celebrate our 43 years with our friends, Margaret and Graham since they were still here.  We went to a new Irish/English pub that opened in Cornelius.  I fudged a bit on my Weight Watcher's diet and enjoyed a few fries that we ordered for an appetizer - and of course, a couple of beers with our dinner.  Luckily, those pounds didn't show up when I weighed in on Monday (I even lost a pound!)  Below is the card I made for Sonny.

I used the Pedal Pusher stamp set from Sale-a-Bration for the bicycle.  I love the little basket with the hearts coming out of it.  I used the Wink of Stella on the hearts to make them sparkle.  The "43" is from the Large Numbers framelets.  The cardstock is not Stampin' Up!.  This piece of Graphic 45 was on the top of my stash of non-SU and I thought it looked great for this card.  The sentiment says it all - we are happy together after 43 years!

Stampin' Up! will announce the RETIRING LIST tomorrow, Monday, April 18 at 1:00 MT.  I will post it here on my blog as soon as I can.  There is usually a sale on some of the items that will be retiring so be prepared to save some money!

PLEASE NOTE that the Retiring Products are only available while supplies last and some WILL SELL OUT!  Order early for the best selection.

All 2014-16 In Color Products will be on the list so if you need any ink refills, cardstock, ribbon, markers, etc. in these colors, get them ASAP!

Lost Lagoon

Tangelo Twist

Hello Honey

Blackberry Bliss

Mossy Meadow

You can place your orders in my store HERE.  Enter my Monthly Host Code and I will send you a FREE gift if your merchandise total (before tax & shipping) is over $35.

April Host Code - P2MX7S76

**Please note:  if your order is over $150, don't use the code and take the hostess rewards for yourself.

Thank you for shopping with me! 

Happy 50th Anniversary

I'm sure you are like me and receive so many e-mails each day that sometimes it is overwhelming.  I spend a lot of time just deleting the junk.  But once in a while, you receive something that stops you in your tracks and you take time to read it through.  This is the email I got yesterday!

1.   PRAYER IS NOT A "SPARE WHEEL" YOU PULL OUT WHEN IN TROUBLE, BUT IS A "STEERING WHEEL" THAT DIRECTS THE RIGHT PATH THROUGHOUT OUR JOURNEY.
  
2.  SO WHY IS A CAR'S WINDSHIELD SO LARGE AND THE REAR VIEW MIRROR SO SMALL? 
BECAUSE OUR PAST IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS OUR FUTURE.  SO, LOOK AHEAD AND MOVE ON.
 
3.  FRIENDSHIP IS LIKE A BOOK. IT TAKES YEARS TO WRITE BUT ONLY A FEW SECONDS TO BURN.
 
4.  ALL THINGS IN LIFE ARE TEMPORARY.  IF THEY'RE GOING WELL, ENJOY THEM... THEY WILL NOT LAST FOREVER.  IF THEY'RE GOING WRONG, DON'T WORRY.  THEY CAN'T LAST LONG EITHER.
  
5.  OLD FRIENDS ARE GOLD!  NEW FRIENDS ARE DIAMOND!  IF YOU GET A DIAMOND, DON'T FORGET THE GOLD!  BECAUSE TO HOLD A DIAMOND, YOU ALWAYS NEED A BASE OF GOLD!
 
6.  OFTEN WHEN WE LOSE HOPE AND THINK THIS IS THE END, GOD SMILES FROM ABOVE AND SAYS, "RELAX, FRIEND, IT'S JUST A BEND, NOT THE END!"  
7.  WHEN GOD SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS, YOU HAVE FAITH IN HIS ABILITIES; WHEN GOD DOESN'T SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS HE HAS FAITH IN YOUR ABILITIES.
 
8.  A BLIND PERSON ASKED ST. ANTHONY:  "CAN THERE BE ANYTHING WORSE THAN LOSING EYE SIGHT?"  HE REPLIED, "YES, LOSING YOUR VISION!" 
9.  WHEN YOU PRAY FOR OTHERS, GOD LISTENS TO YOU AND BLESSES THEM, AND SOMETIMES, WHEN YOU ARE SAFE AND HAPPY, REMEMBER SOMEONE HAS PRAYED FOR YOU!
 
10.  WORRYING DOES NOT TAKE AWAY TOMORROW'S TROUBLES... IT TAKES AWAY TODAY'S PEACE.

So feel free to share!

I also want to share the card I made for the 50th anniversary party I went to.  I thought it turned out super.  I did have a little frustration though.  For some reason, Happy Anniversary is not a sentiment that is on many stamps.  Believe me when I tell you I have a LOT of stamps.  Well, I went through all of them and found Happy Anniversary on two - one was on Teeny Tiny Wishes so it was teeny tiny and wouldn't work.  Finally I found this retired stamp set that luckily I had not sold (and now won't) - A Word For You.  So, I decided that I really need a Happy Anniversary stamp.  I looked through the Stampin' Up catalog and only found one - Timeless Love (page 29).  Guess that will be next on my order!  There are several "Congrats" but I wanted something a little more elegant.  I couldn't even find Congratulations written out in a nice script!

Anniversary Cards

Sonny went on his usual Tuesday skeet shooting last week on our anniversary but I woke up to a beautiful card waiting for me.  He always seems to find just the right card - not too mushy (because that is not who he is) but just the right sentiment for us.  The card I made him is a different sort - kind of to the point but .... does he love me more than chocolate?  He sure loves chocolate!!

 It's hard to tell, but the card is made using Soft Sky cardstock.  I used the Designer Vellum as an overlay.  The banner embossed with hearts is Pear Pizazz and I stamped the feather lightly with Pear Pizazz.  I gold embossed the sentiment and tied it all together with Soft Sky twine.  Pretty simple but I love that sentiment!  It's what sold me on the stamp set.

 
I was so touched to find out that the layout I did of my wedding photos for MDS Monday last week was chosen as the winner.  Check out that post HERE.

By the way, how do you like my new blog heading?  I made it with My Digital Studio.

Happy Anniversary

Forty-two years ago I married my best friend.  It's hard to believe it has been 42 years.  I know I am not old enough to have been married that long!! (ha)  As with all couples, there have been good times and bad, but the good have sure out-numbered the bad or we wouldn't still be together. Seems like the younger generation don't have that philosophy - to try to stay together and push through those bad times.

I decided to use the MDS Monday challenge with some of my wedding pictures.  What fun to look through them again and reminisce!!

I decided that the Beau Chateau paper went beautifully with these pictures.  I used the Sepia Effect on all the photos and made them look more vintage than they already were.

The challenge on MDS Monday was to use your text to tell the story.  I still remember how the rain was coming down in buckets all day.  Guess that was good luck because here we are 42 years later!

Check out the other great pages on MDS Monday.

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!!

41 Years and Going Strong

Today is my 41st wedding anniversary!  Wow!  That's a long time.  I shared a few pictures today on Facebook that brought back a lot of memories.

Ashley sent us these beautiful flowers today for our anniversary.  My bridesmaids carried yellow daisies in their bouquet at our wedding.  Sonny used to give me a bouquet of daisies each year for our anniversary with a rose for each year.  That stopped a few years after we got past a dozen roses!

I made this card for Sonny today.  I loved the card he bought for me (Hallmark) but when I looked on the back at the price, I about had a stroke!  $6.00!!!  Just shows the cards we make are worth more than we think!

inside of card I made for Sonny

Anniversary Card for Sonny

 I used the Sale-a-bration set, See Ya Later and Hello Watercolor stamps to make this card.  The card stock is Daffodil Delight and Pacific Point.

Lost in the Maize Maze!

The Newcomer's monthly outing was to the Rural Hill Amazing Maize Maze on Friday.  The Maze is the largest one in the southeast - a seven acre corn maize with over two miles of interconnecting paths.  Many of the paths were dead ends and we found ourselves going around in circles many times!  It was a lot of fun though.  There were nine of us so we decided to split up into three teams and see who finished first. (guess whose team that was!!!!)  We were given a game board and had to find 12 mailboxes that held map pieces in the maze and tape them to our board.   As you find more mailboxes you slowly build your map and find the way out. It took us an hour and 45 minutes and we walked almost 3 miles!!




The group - hot and tired!

We sorta cheated - we couldn't figure out how to get to the path we wanted to so we cut through the corn!!

Ahhh - the path to get out .... we think!

My team members - Toni and Joanne

Wednesday was Jeff and Darcie's my (son and daughter in law) ninth wedding anniversary.  I can't believe it's been nine years!!  The day they got married we woke up to rain in the morning but shortly before they said their vows in an outdoor ceremony, we saw the most beautiful rainbow.  I'm sure they've had moments that weren't rainbow moments over the years but their love has grown stronger and they are happy.  That's all that matters.  Rainy wedding days are supposed to be good luck.  Guess it was for Sonny and I since it poured on our day .... 40 years ago!  Wednesday was not a rainbow type of day though for Jeff and Darcie.  The night before the water softener that was in their garage exploded as Jeff was trying to add salt to it and dumped gallons of water in the garage and into their kitchen.  It ended up costing them an unexpected $2,000.  Sometimes you get rainbows; sometimes not!  This is the card I made for them using that great Owl Punch.   How do you like it?

 

 

Anniversary Preserved

I made an anniversary card last week for my son and his wife.  They celebrated 8 years last week.  It's hard to believe!  Just doesn't seem like it has been that long.  Darcie wrote a sweet post on her blog on their anniversary.  Jeff travels a bit for his job and was in Atlanta on their anniversary.  When he returned home, she was headed to California for a writer's conference so their anniversary celebration was going to have to wait.  Perhaps until this week when they are flying to Florida and going on a Disney cruise.  Of course, Jayce will be with them but I think those Disney ships have built in babysitters so they should be able to steal a bit of together time.  Hope so! 

I used the Perfectly Preserved set to make their card.  I thought it was cute to put the hearts in the jar.  Hope you can see the card well enough - not the best photography on this one.  I used some of the retired Spice Cake DSP that I had.

I've really been on a roll the past few days with making cards!  I've been working on Christmas cards!  Whoo Hoo!!  I'll be sharing them with you in the next few days. 

Have you been watching any of the new tv shows this week?  We tried out Vegas tonight and have watched The Mob Doctor also.  I'm excited to see Nashville but it doesn't start until Oct 10.  Also one of my favorites, The Amazing Race starts this Sunday.  I think it is one of the best reality shows out there, although I also love The Voice.  I just love Adam Levine (Maroon 5) and Blake Shelton.  Their bantering back and forth is so funny.  We watch entirely too much tv but hey .... that's what we do!

39 Years!

Today is our 39th wedding anniversary.  Wow!  Hard to believe.  We've had our ups and downs like any couple but hung in there and made it work.  I think young people today don't understand that concept.   I read an article several years ago that said statistics tell us that first marriages today stand a 45 percent chance of breaking up and second marriages a 60 percent chance!  That's a lot!  Divorce has increased not only in frequency but also in acceptance it seems like. And even if we don’t focus on figures per se,  today far more marriages end in divorce than a couple of decades ago.  I attribute a lot of these failures to the "Me-Now" generation.  Why stay in a difficult or loveless relationship? Move on! Find whatever it is that will provide happiness.  I grew up and saw divorce in my own family.  My mother was divorced when I was about 2 years old, my grandparents divorced (but later remarried plus it was a family secret about their divorce and I didn't even know it until I was in my teens because they had always been together in my lifetime.); my uncle was divorced, my aunt was divorced .... So, my cousin, who was my best friend back then, and I were afraid of marriage and determined that when we did marry, it would be forever.  Unfortunately, that was not the case with her - I think she is on her third or fourth marriage.  So you can understand how important 39 years together is to me.  Just hope we live to make it to 50!!

Here is the card I made for Sonny.  I saw the sentiment on the front of the card somewhere and just knew I had to use it.  I created the circle with the sentiment on My Digital Studio, printed it and punched it out with my Nesties.  I used the Nautical DSP that is now retired (but I can still get it on MDS.)  The DSP trim piece was cut using the Tasteful Trim Sizzix Die.  The heart stamp is from the SAB set, Sprinkled Occasions.

Inside - uses the sentiment from the retired set, Love Matters.

Was I really that skinny?

Dancing with Anniversary and Birthday Cards!

I'm gonna try and write this while I'm watching the finals of Dancing With the Stars!  Sonny even taped it downstairs so he could watch it with me!!   All season I would tape it upstairs and watch it the next day.  He would come up and just watch Hines Ward perform.  I'm hoping Hines wins tonight!!!

So, I have a couple of anniversary cards to make.  Last year this time, I was headed to Texas for two weddings (and luckily, not a funeral - get it??  a movie title!)  I forgot to take a picture of one of the cards today before I mailed it.  I made it using the (retired) Wild Rose stamp set that I got for $3 recently at Stampers Alley's used stamp sale.  What a deal!!  But, here is the second anniversary card I made using the wonderful Sizzix Daisy Die.

I love this die and used it to cut out 3 different sizes of the daisy in Real Red.  The leaves are Pear Pizazz punched out with the Owl Punch.  The heart border punch is non SU.  I used the Polka Dot background stamp (retired) on the white cardstock for the background and then ran it through a Polka Dot embossing folder for some added texture.  The brad in the middle is also retired from SU - I think I got it in the Clearance section.

I have also been making birthday cards.  I have about 10 birthdays in June!  Here is the one I made tonight using the Wild Rose stamp set ($3!!!).

This is my favorite style of stampin - two step stamping.  It is what got me involved with Stampin' Up to begin with. The colors I used on the flower are Peach Parfait and Pumpkin Pie.  The leaves are Pear Pizazz and Wild Wasabi. 

37 Years and Counting

Today is our 37th anniversary!  Wow .... that seems like a long time ... well, I guess it is!  We're headed to the Outer Banks tomorrow for a little vacation so I probably won't be blogging for a few days.  Even though I grew up in NC, I have never been to the Outer Banks.  I would prefer to go during the summer so I could see the outdoor musical, The Lost Colony.  I mentioned it to Sonny last summer but he doesn't love the heat and the beach so, we're going now instead.  Hopefully, he'll like it enough that we can return during a summer one day. 

This is the card I gave him.  Time got away from me and I didn't have time to make one yesterday.  This is one I had in my "stash"!  Luckily, I hoard cards for just such occasions!

I like the way this card opens ... and I stamped my own sentiment on the inside!

Watching American Idol as I type this  (we DVR'd it).  Ryan pulled one of his tricks on the girls tonight.  He had the three girls, Siobahn, Crystal and Katie come out to center stage and then after a few suspenseful minutes, he told them they were all safe and to take a seat. 

The guys - he divided them up into 2 groups:

Group #1 - Lee, Casey, Tim - SAFE
Group #2 - Mike, Aaron, Andrew - Bottom Three

Unbelievable - Big Mike is the bottom and having to sing for his life??  America - you got it wrong!!  He is damn good and should have made it over a couple of the other guys.  Well, thank you judges for the SAVE!  We'll see Mike next week.