Final Easter Cards

I hope your Easter was a joyous one and you didn't let this craziness keep you from believing in His message.   Our Easter was really quiet.  I watched our Easter church service on line, did a lot of reading and playing on-line games; I made a card or two; and figured out how to get my camera on my computer to work so I can participate in Zoom meetings.  It's funny - a month ago I had never heard of the Zoom app and now, everyone is using it.  I "attend" my Weight Watcher meetings via Zoom.  I made cards with a group of ladies on-line last week.  And Sonny, Ashley and I played Music Trivia with an on-line group.  Sonny and I were at our house, Ashley was at her Maryland house and all the other people who were playing were at their houses wherever they live so a lot of social distancing was going on!  Our friend who conducts the trivia games we attend at King Canary is now hosing this on-line Music Trivia on Zoom and Saturday and Wednesdays!

Here are a few more Easter card that I made and sent out.

This card can be made into any kind of sentiment, not just Easter.  I used a Sale-a-bration set for this card, Thoughtful Blooms.  I crinkled the ribbon up with my heat gun.

Love this card!  All retired stamps - Kinda Eclectic and Easter Message

Another Easter Message card, this time using the Easter Lily stamp.

Cute little lamb!

Happy Easter

What were you doing a month ago?  Whatever it was, doesn't it seem in some ways like a million years ago!  Because now here we are, one month into this COVID-19 quarantine.  It's been four weeks of social distancing and self-isolation.  Four weeks of disturbing and scary news.  Four weeks of trying to navigate a whole new world of working from home and remote learning for our kids AND a shortage of toilet paper at the grocery store.  Four weeks of fear and uncertainty.  Four weeks of a crisis unlike anything we've ever experienced in our lifetimes.

But that's exactly why it's so important for the sake of your sanity and mental well-being to take a step back every once in a while and just do a little self check-in.  How are you holding up?  Are you about to lose your mind or starting to find your groove?  Are you being productive or struggling?  The reality is that because this is something none of us have ever experienced, there's also no way to know exactly how to respond.  There's no rule book and no way to predict how it's all going to play out.

But, you have a choice!  You can sit there in fear, anxiety, stress and worry.  You can obsessively check the news.  And then, when it all becomes too much to think about, you can tune-out, where you stay in your pj's all day and start binge watching TV.  OR you can  take a different path and choose to focus on the things that you can actually control.  You can choose to make the most of this crazy time.

I'd love to hear some specific things you're doing to keep yourself busy and productive during this time.  What are you working on?  What's keeping you sane?  Hit "comment" below and let me know!  As you know, what's keeping me sane and busy is being creative.  I've made quite a few cards and actually mailed a lot of them.  Sonny says all the stamps I'm using are costing him money!  (I don't say anything about how much he's spending on the golf course every day!)

Enjoy your Easter!

Here are a few Easter cards I have made (and mailed!)

I used the 6x6 Gingham DSP (retired) and one of last year's Sale-a-bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice.  I used the Highland Heather Blends to color the flowers. 

Everything about this card is retired!   I went to my stash of non-SU designer paper and found this piece that I thought went well with the card.  The flowers and sentiment are from  Easter Message.  The die cut flowers on the side are from the Botanical Builder dies and the cardstock is an In-Color from last year, Berry Burst.

Another beautiful (but retired) card!  The stamp set is Oh So Eclectic and matching dies, Eclectic.

Aren't these bunnies cute?  I made several cards with this stamp.  It is really old (thus, retired) and was s single stamp that we could purchase way back in 2013  for $6.95!  Back then, we didn't have dies so I fussy cut the bunnies.  (Plus, it is a wooden stamp which tells you how old it is!)

Another beautiful card using Easter Message.  I stamped the cross in Versamark and heat embossed it with Gold powder.  I used a white pen to color in the cloak.  It is layered onto gold paper and then onto non-SU designer paper.  This is one of my favorite cards and I made several of them

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.

Fable Friends for Easter

What a fun week I had last week.  Ashley was here for a whole week and we had so much fun.  While Sonny golfed most days, she and I shopped, lunched, played Hand and Foot (canasta game) with my Newcomer friends, went to Hip Hip Hooway! and painted signs to hang on our doors .....!  Wednesday she went with us to play trivia.  We thought she'd be a great one to have on our team but we ended up doing the worst we have ever done!!  Thursday night we went to a new bar/restaurant in Cornelius and were entertained by a Dueling Piano group.  Small world - they had a drummer on stage with them and turns out, he was a guy Ashley knew from her Rock Boat cruises.  Friday night we had dinner with the family.  We were happy the newly wedded couple joined us (my nephew and his new wife.)  Saturday we drove up to Hickory and visited a couple of breweries that we like there.  Sunday bright and early, we drove her to the airport and said good bye until we get together in May in DC for house hunting!  Sunday was also our 46th anniversary!!  Sonny and I didn't do much to celebrate.  We did go to a pancake restaurant that we like in Charlotte.  It was yummy!

But I am done with eating that way for a while!!  I just barely made my Weight Watchers weigh-in on Monday.  The first time in two years that I was worried about the scale.  This week I am trying to eat better - lots of salads, fruit, veggies, yogurt, hummus, etc!!  Plus I started walking yesterday after breakfast.  Two days of walking - 1 1/4 mile each time!   It will be bathing suit weather pretty soon and I am going back to Hawaii at the end of May so I know I will be eating good there!!

I have a few Easter cards to show you.  I love the images in the Fable Friends stamp set.  I didn't buy this set but one of my friends did and let me borrow it last week while she was out of town.

I used my Aqua Brush and reinkers to flick some color onto the card.  I stamped the little bunny on scrap white paper and cut her out.  I colored her with my Stampin' Up! blends.

Oops - I see that a few of the pearls that I put in the center of the flowers have moved.  I'll be fixing that!

Isn't this duck and her ducklings the cutest???  I colored them with the SU Blends.

Easter 2019 cards

Last week was a busy one for me.  I played bridge one day, went out for lunch, played Hand and Food, and had Stamp Club.  I'll be sharing the club cards later this week.

It's time to be thinking about your Easter cards.  Easter is April 21st this year.  If you are like me and like to wait until the last minute to make your cards and they end up going in the mail late, you might want to get a start on them now!  I hope to send my cards out early this year!!  I don't have many Easter stamps but I thought this lily would fit the bill.  What do you think?

I used the Gingham Gala designer paper (6"x6") for the background.  I stamped the lilies with Balmy Blue ink and the leaves with Granny Apple Green.  The ribbon was on back order but Stampin' Up got it back in stock a couple of weeks ago.  It is a Sale-a-Bration item.  I punched 2 holes on either side of the lily stems and threaded my ribbon through them and made a bow.  After stamping the image, I die cut it out using the Rectangle Stitched Framelits.  The sentiment is from a retired Stampin' Up set and I fussy cut it.

Here is another Lasting Lily card.  This time I stamped the flowers in Grapefruit Grove and Crushed Curry.  I used a sponge dauber to ink a little bit of the Grapefruit Grove onto the Crushed Curry flower and vice versa before stamping them.  This time I fussy cut each flower out and arranged them on the Whisper White card (with a 1 1/2" strip of Gingham Gala DSP on the side.)  The bow is from Wishing You Well stamp set.  

Happy Easter - Spring has Sprung!

There is a lot of confusion regarding what Easter Sunday is all about.  For some it means decorating eggs and looking for the Easter Bunny.  Most people are confused as to how the resurrection of Christ is related to the Easter eggs and bunny!  Are you?  I was so I decided to look for an answer. Biblically speaking, there is no connection between the resurrection of Jesus and the common traditions related to Easter.  Essentially what happened is that in order to make Christianity more attractive to non-Christians, the ancient Roman Catholic Church mixed the celebration of Jesus with celebrations that involved spring fertility rituals.  Those rituals are the source of the egg and bunny traditions.  Hopefully when you celebrate today with your loved ones, you will remember what the day is all about while having fun looking for Easter eggs!

Spring is springing up all around me.  While I was out last week, I snapped several pictures of the beginnings of Spring in North Carolina.

These are the trees blooming at the entrance to my neighborhood.  While I was taking the picture, it looked like it was snowing as the flowers were blowing off the trees.

This gorgeous tree is in my Mom's yard.  (That is her house in the background.)  What makes me so sad is that Mom's eyes have deteriorated so much that she can't see this tree and enjoy it's beauty.

I took this picture underneath the tree looking up to the sky.

Can you spot the dogwood just starting to bloom:

This is one of my favorite flowers / trees.  The dogwood tree means rebirth and resurrection and Christianity as a whole.

 
I don't know what this is called but it is really pretty.  This is right beside my driveway so I get to see it every day.  This is the best it has looked in our ten years here.

I wish this was in my yard!  It is in my neighborhood and I had to stop and take a picture.  I have always loved a Forsythis (or as many Southerners call it, a Yellow Bell).  I planted one when we lived in Texas and in Washington.  Don't know why I haven't done so here!!  I'll have to get Sonny on it.

Last but not least are these pretty Hellebores (or Lenten Roses).  You'll have to take my word for it that they are pretty.  Guess they are just shy and like to be droopy.  I like to cut them and float them in a crystal bowl of water.

Hope you have enjoyed my little bit of spring and have a wonderful Easter!!

Easter Gifts

It's almost time for Easter!  It is really early this year.  I sure hope the weather gets warmer by Sunday.  March always has such crazy weather.  We went to the beach for a long weekend last Friday. It was nice weather on Friday and Saturday but Sunday was miserable.  It was rainy and I don't think the temps got out of the 40s!  The sun broke through around noon so Sonny went to the driving range and hit some golf bags and I went for a walk on the beach.  It was a short walk though - that wind was blowing right threw me!  Think I only walked about 1 1/2 miles.  I was proud of myself that I exercised every day I was there.  On Friday, Sonny and I walked a couple of miles but on the road.  He didn't want to get sand in his shoes!!  He never set foot on the beach the whole time we were there!  I walked every morning 1 - 2 miles.  I have this great app on my phone that Ashley told me about called Runmaker.  It tracks your walking (or running) and gives audio cues along the way of distance, time, average speed, etc.  Plus you can also listen to music while you are walking.  I use Spotify for my music app.  It has made me get out and walk more.  

Anyway, here are a few things I have made for Easter.  I love the Easter Lamb single stamp in the Occasions catalog!

This little bag/box was easy to make.  The bag uses 3 1/4" x 10" card stock scored at 4 1/4" and 5 3/4".  I embossed the back of the bag and then added a strip of DSP across the front (just on the bottom).
The box that fits inside uses a piece of card stock 3 3/8" x 5", scored at 1" on all four sides.  I used Red Line Tape to adhere it to the bottom of the bag.


Next are the chalkboards!  What a find!  I happened to be at Target at the right time.  Usually when I check out their Dollar Spot, it is pretty picked over.  But I found these several weeks ago for $3 each and bought all they had!  I embossed the little lamb in the corner and used a strip of DSP as a belly band.  I had some note pages stashed away so I used a clip that I also decorated with DSP to hold it to the top of the chalkboard with a ribbon tied on.  The notepad can be removed to write on the chalkboard.  I bought some chalk to go with them but do you think I can find that chalk???

St. Paddy's Day and Stamp Club

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

 

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day a few days early.  Our favorite Irish restaurant/bar had a big celebration on Saturday with bands, vendors, food and of course, your favorite beverage.  It was a free event with the option to buy a VIP ticket.  We decided to purchase the tickets since they included 2 beverages, a meal, tee shirts and access to the VIP toilets each.  Well, maybe I should say the VIP Porta-Potties!!  We didn't have to stand in line in the restaurant for the toilets but by the end of the night, I was standing in line inside!!  

 

 

We ran into our leprechaun friend that we had met at the celebration a couple of years ago.  This guy comes dressed like a leprechaun every year!  I didn't get a great picture of him this year but here is his picture from 2012 when we met him - Bob, the Leprechaun

There are all kinds of people at this event!  This couple was really OLD!  They sure went all out with their costume - wig, beard, a tutu that had lights attached!  Oh my!  There were several young people there also with tutus on and tights underneath.  Believe me, their outfits were not flattering!!  Don't people look in the mirror when they leave home????

This was also Stamp Club week for me.  We made a few Easter cards.

I just love this little Easter Lamb single stamp (only $10). 

Isn't this the cutest?  I CASE-d this from Judy Marshall's blog, Brown Paper Packages, where you can download the seed packet template.  This chick is from a Sale-a-bration set called Honeycomb Happiness.  He is super cute!  She has a few other templates on her blog as well.

This card was another CASE - this time from Frenchie (Stamp and Scrap with Frenchie).  I used the DSP from Sale-a-bration for the pants - using the Washi Tape Label Punch.  I used the glitter tape to decorate tem along with a few other items I had in my stash.  The sentiment is stamped on white paper and cut out with the new Balloon Punch. 

And an Easter cross card that I have already shared with you HERE.

Easter Cross

Easter is early this year - March 27th - so I thought I'd better start on my Easter cards.  This is the first one I made and I love it!  By changing the sentiment, this card could also be used for sympathy, get well, etc.

I CASEd a card from Pinterest by Angie Pyjas.

I used the Hardwood background stamp for the cross.  I stamped with Early Espresso onto Crumb Cake card stock and just cut two of the panels for the cross.  I added brown brads to each end.  (When was the last time you used a brad??)  The wreath is stamped with Wondrous Wreath stamp set and cut out with the matching framelets.  That stamp is not just for Christmas!!  The flowers (Perfect Plum and Watermelon Wonder) are also from the Wondrous Wreath and cut out with the framelets.  I used the Softly Falling embossing folder on the Wisteria Wonder card.  Happy Easter is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and cut out with the Bitty Banners framelets.

Thought I'd share a picture I took with my sister (Marianne) in mind while at one of the Smithsonians last week.  She HATES spiders!!  This one was a big hairy tarantula.  I'm just glad there was glass protecting me from him!

Paper Craft Challenge MDS

Well, what did you think of the Retiring Stamps and Accessories?  I lost a bunch of dies, embossing folders and ribbon but didn't do too bad on my stamps.  I'm going to pull them today and make a count.  Several that I lost were ones I received free from Stampin' Up and really weren't used a lot anyway so it wasn't so bad.  I am going to start sharing some cards this week made with the retiring stamps.  There are only 5-6 stamp sets that have sold out completely so there is still time to order a retired set.  And with free shipping all week, it is a great deal!  I ended up putting 3 orders in on Monday and still missed out on getting the In-Color reinkers and card stock because they sold out so quickly.

Don't forget the weekly specials - with free shipping, they are a good deal too!

We had a very nice and quiet Easter.  We went to church with Mom and after church, we brought her back to our house for the day. Angela had to work so she didn't arrive until after 4 pm.   I spent most of the day in the kitchen getting our Easter meal ready,.  I almost forgot to make Sonny's special cherry jello salad and the deviled eggs!  Luckily, he reminded me about his salad early enough so it was mostly congealed by the time we ate!  And I remembered the eggs around 2 and got them made in time.  The weather was nice but just a bit cool.  But by the time we finished our meal, it was warm enough to sit out on the deck with our sweaters on and listen to the birds chirping.  Mom really enjoyed that.  I wish we could put our bird feeders back up but the squirrels got to be such a nuisance that we took them down a couple of years ago.  But I did see a beautiful bright blue bird in the trees yesterday.  And this morning while eating breakfast, I saw a bird bringing materials into a bird house that I have sitting on the railing of the deck.  Maybe I'll be seeing and hearing baby birds soon!

I made my card for the Paper Craft Challenge late last night and didn't get it turned in in time to be featured on the site.  But here it is anyway.  You can check out what the other members did with the sketch HERE.

Sonny and I enjoy playing trivia and we discovered a small bar in Mooresville that does a live trivia every Tuesday night.  We went last week and had a good time although we didn't do so good on the trivia questions.  But we went again last night and did terrible!  They do 4 rounds of questions and you assign points to each category.  The 3rd round we didn't get ANY questions correct.  A lot of the questions seem to be targeted to the younger generation.  Here are a few of the questions - see if you can get them right!  (answers at bottom of post)

1. Name all the members of the singing group, New Kids on the Block (5 of them)
2. What team drafted John Elway right out of college?
3. What is the name of this shot - vodka, triple sec and lime juice?
4. When a car has been "chopped" what is lowered?
5. Where did Dwaye Wade (NBA) go to college?

These are just 5 of the 20 questions we had.  Lucky for us, they give bonus points if you "like" them on Facebook, if you "check in" on Facebook.  At half time, they ask a bonus question and if you get it right you get additional points.  We thought we had this one!  Q:  What is the highest rated animated series - Lion King, Frozen, Cars - we answered Lion King BUT it was Frozen!!  Then at the end, you can bet up to 30 points for the bonus question.  Stan Lee created all but one of these comic books - Spiderman, Hulk, Wolverine, Beast - which one did he not create?  We guessed Wolverine and got it right!!  So we ended up tied for 3rd.

OK - give up on the answers????

Answers:
1.  Donny Wahlberg (only one I knew), Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood
2.  Baltimore Ravens
3.  Kamikaze
4.  the roof
5.  Marquette

Happy Easter!

May the glory

and the promise

of this joyous time of year

Bring peace

and happiness to you

and those you hold most dear,

And may Christ,

Our Risen Saviour,

always be there by your side

To bless you

most abundantly

and be your loving guide.

Read more at http://www.theholidayspot.com/easter/easter_blessing.htm#2triRei93ZZTb9f5.99

Big Changes / PPCC #34

Welcome to another Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch.  We were supposed to do a spring or Easter card this week.  I think my little bunnies meet that criteria!

I love the little bunnies from the Storybook Kit!

If you visited the Stampin' Up digital website (http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/home) today, you saw a BIG change!  I was surprised when I went there.   Here is the news from SU:

MDS.net Redesigned!

Here's a review of what's new:

• A new Homepage
• The old homepage can now be found under the Inspiration tab
• A new Learning page replaces the old Training sections (SU is still working on updating the content there, but you can expect to see all of Holly's new training videos there shortly.)
• A new footer so that you can navigate the site easier, with links to the old Resources and Q/A pages

There are still more changes to be made but go visit and see how different it looks!  Happy designing!

March Stamp Club Cards

I am waiting for my Tuesday Stamp Club gals.  They should be arriving in about an hour.  So, I thought I would share the cards we will be making.  I am concentrating on Easter and will let them choose which ones they want to make this month.

Using the Single Stamp - Ears to You and Melon Mambo ink - easy one.

Easel Card

 The Easel Card will be the most difficult for them to make but it is really easy when you figure it all out.  I used Blush Bossom card stock (retired).  The Cross is made from the Lattice Die (Elegant Eggplant).  The leaves are punched with the Bird Punch.  I used Nestabilities for the oval and ran it through the Dotted Embossing Folder.  The flower in the center is from the Flower Trim in the mini catalog (pg. 5).  I love these flowers!  They come in Vanilla but it is so easy to die them.  You can color them with markers or reinkers or just smush them into your ink pad.  For the ones we are using today, I just cut about 12 flowers from the card and sprayed them with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and 5-6 drops of reinker.  I mixed it up in my Stampin' Spritzers (big catalog, pg 179).  They are a good deal - you get 2 bottles for $2.95.  I have several that I have mixed different colors into. 

Easter Blessings is also a Single Stamp in the mini catalog (pg 24) as are the doilies (pg  5).  Another deal!  24 doilies for $2.95!  I used a background from A Good Egg stamp (retired) on the Eggplant card.

This card makes me smile and think of SPRING!

 I am trying to make the best of the Sale-a-bration stamps - only a few more days!!  This one uses Bloomin' Marvelous.  I stamped the flowers in some retiring in-colors - Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and non retiring, Summer Starfruit.  I cut 1" of the Sale-a-bration DSP for the bottom and wrapped a small piece of ribbon around it.  My club ladies will be able to choose from the ribbon from Sale-a-bration - Pool Party, Is. Indigo or Calypso Coral.

Another Sale-a-bration - my favorite!  This one is Feeling Sentimental and I thought the That's the Ticket stamp went with it perfectly!

For this card I used the Natural Composition DSP.  Wow!  I just got this DSP - don't know what took me so long.  It's great - it is a heavy weight paper and the patterns are already embossed on the paper and glossy.  I sponged Soft Suede around the edges and sponged Vanilla on the center of the paper and made that embossing POP! 

Happy Easter 2012

Many people wonder what Easter actually means, as the true meaning of Easter has been lost. What I can tell you is it isn't about cute little fluffy chickens, nor does it have anything to do with Easter bunnies. It isn't even about Easter eggs.  Although an egg can represent 'new life' because new life hatches from the egg, and Jesus was resurrected on the third day - giving us new life in Him. But just like Christmas, the real meaning has been forgotten.  Easter is the day when we celebrate Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Jesus is the Son of God and heroically gave His life to die for our sins. On the third day after He died -- the day we now celebrate as Easter Sunday -- His friends went to His grave, and found that He had risen from the dead. They saw an angel who told them, "Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead, just as He said it would happen." Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday; now He offers to you the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

Celebrate this gift of Jesus today with your friends and family.  I will be going to church with my Mom and sister in their brand new church.  This will be their first service to be held in the new church and they are so excited to see it.  I only wish I could also be celebrating Easter with my daughter and my son and his family.