September Fall Stamp Club

Loving this week's weather!  Sonny just told me it is supposed to be down to 50 this morning!!  Time to turn off the A/C.  Cool fall weather plus NFL football makes this gal happy!  I am in a fun football pool and picked pretty good this week I guess.  I am FIRST right now with 14 wins and 1 loss.  One game left to go - I'm watching it now but about to go to bed so I'll have to wait until the morning to see if the Vikings pull it out against San Fran. (Updated - Vikings lost so I tied for first place this week.)

I had time yesterday to do a new blog header for fall - using My Digital Studio.  I haven't used MDS in a while and need to get busy and start on my 2016 calendars.

I attended a Holiday Stampaganza Saturday and made some really cool projects.  We also did a swap card.  Plus I recently did a swap with the NC demos so I have a lot of great samples from the Holiday Catalog that I will be sharing soon.

This week is Stamp Club and we are going to be using some of the Bundles from the Holiday Catalog.  Thought I'd share the directions I give my club gals if you would like to duplicate these cards.

HALLOWEEN CHEER ALL YEAR (pg 6)

Supplies:

·        Cardstock:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Happy Haunting DSP, Hello Honey

·        Ink:  Black, Hello Honey

·        Accessories:  2” Circle Punch, Spider Web Doilies (pg 47), ¾” Circle Punch

·        Stamps:  Cheer All Year

Directions:

·        Adhere spider web DSP to black card.

·        Adhere orange “pumpkin face” DSP to 3 ¼” x 4 ¼” panel of Black card stock.

·        Use Fine Tip Glue and adhere spider web doilie  to top left of panel.  It will hang over – cut that part off & save for inside of card.

·        Punch out 2” circle from Hello Honey card stock & adhere to center of doilie.

·        Stamp bat in black ink and adhere to circle with dimensionals.

·        Cut 1” strip of Tangelo Twist & cut end into flag.  Adhere to back of black panel so the flag part is sticking out.

·        Adhere panel to card in top left corner.

·        Stamp Happy Haunting onto strip of Very Vanilla and “flag” ends.  Adhere to panel with dimensionals.

·        Stamp “BOO” in black ink onto scrap of Vanilla, punch with ¾” Circle Punch and adhere to card.

·        Decorate inside of card!

This is not from the Holiday Catalog but I wanted to demonstrate how easy these flowers are to make from the Cotton Paper.

 THANKS CARD W/FLOWERS

Supplies:

·        Cardstock:  Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Cotton Paper (pg 148)

·        Stamps:  Endless Thanks, Gorgeous Grunge

·        Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Watermelon Wonder, Crushed  Curry

·        Accessories:  Twine, Corner Rounder, Lovely Lace Emb. Folder, Paper Piercing Tool w/mat, brads

·        Punches:  Corner Rounder, Pansy, Petite Petals, Festive Flower Builder Punch

Directions:

• ·        Emboss white panel with Lovely Lace folder.  Round corners.
• ·        Tie twine around card & tie.  Adhere to Bermuda Bay card.
• ·        Stamp sentiment (Endless Thanks) onto 3” x 2” white panel at bottom right with Bermuda Bay ink.
• ·        Stamp dots from Gorgeous Grunge in Watermelon Wonder & Crushed Curry – STAMP OFF FIRST!!
• ·        Adhere panel to card with dimensionals.
• ·        Punch flowers: 

o   8 from Petite Petals Punch from Crushed Curry Cotton Paper;

o   4 from Pansy Punch from Watermelon Cotton Paper;

o   4 leaves from Festive Flower Builder Punch (use smaller leaf) from Green Cotton Paper 

• Place the flowers one on top of another and pierce the center with your Paper Piercing Tool.  Put a brad through the center.
• Crumble and fluff the layers and adhere them to the card w/glue dots.
• Tuck the leaves under the larger flower and adhere them to the card.

HAPPY SCENES BUNDLE (pg 11)

Supplies: 

·        Cardstock:  Mellow Moss, Black, Vanilla, Happy Haunting DSP

·        Ink:  Black, Mellow Moss, Soft Saffron, Pear Pizazz

·        Stamps:  Happy Scenes, Cheery All Year

·        Hearth & Home Thinlits Dies

·        Accessories:  Markers, Square Pillow Box Die (for leaves), Postage Stamp Punch (retired), Mellow Moss Ribbon (retired), sponge daubers

Directions:

·        Adhere ribbon to bottom of Polka Dot Happy Haunting DSP.  (I used glue dots to pleat edge.

·        Adhere polka dot paper to Mellow Moss card

·        Use Hearth & Home Thinlit to cut out window & window sill parts.

·        Stamp scene on 2 ½” x 3 ¼” piece of Very Vanilla.

·        Use markers to color pumpkins.

·        Lightly sponge sky with Soft Saffron & grass w/Pear Pizazz

·        Adhere “scene” behind window die.

·        Adhere window to card on right side with dimensionals.

·        Stamp sentiment onto Very Vanilla scrap and use edge of Postage Stamp Punch on edges.

·        Punch out leaves using Square Pillow Box Die and adhere to front of window.

·        Decorate inside.

AMONG THE BRANCHES BUNDLE (pg 39)

Supplies:

·        Card Stock:  Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon

·        Stamps: Among the Branches

·        Ink:  R.Razzleberry, D.Dijon, Tangelo Twist, Sahara Sand

·        Accessories:  Dijon Dotted Lace Trim, Punches – 2” Circle, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle, Sponge Daubers

·        Woodland Embossing Folder

Directions:

·        Emboss Very Vanilla with Woodland Emb. Folder

·        Use daubers to softly daube Sahara Sand ink onto trees.

·        Stamp leaves in different colors onto branches

·        Stamp on scrap Vanilla cardstock “AUTUMN WISHES” with R.Razzleberry ink.  Punch out w/2” Circle Punch

·        Mount onto 2 3/8” Dijon scalloped circle.

·        Tie Dijon Dotted Lace Trim around card and tie.

·        Adhere whole panel to Dijon card.

·        Adhere “AUTUMN WISHES” to bottom left of card with dimensionals.

I love Fall!

One of the things I missed when I lived in Texas was the changing of the seasons.  The season I missed the most was FALL.  I love the fall colors when the trees start changing and the crisp, cool air.  We have had our A/C off for about a week now with the windows open and it is great!  It is driving Bogart crazy but that's ok - he's kinda crazy anyway!!  When we were on our trip last week, I think we were just a tad early to see much fall foliage but we did see a bit.  My favorite was this tree that I snapped as we drove through the Pittsburgh country side.

Aren't the mix of colors gorgeous?

This picture below was taken from the front seat of the truck showing the trees lining the road- not too bad.

We took a tour of Heinz Field - where the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers play football.  This picture shows some beautiful trees in the players parking lot.

The foliage is just starting at the top of these trees.  This is a view from the stadium of one of the many bridges across one of the rivers (Monongahela, Ohio or Allegheny???)  It was a drizzly, foggy morning.

Tomorrow is Stamp Club and we will be doing several cards and projects.  Keeping on the same topic as fall, here is one of the cards we will be making:

I used Cajun Craze and Very Vanilla card stock and the News Print DSP.  I stamped on the DSP using Gorgeous Grunge and the acorns from For All Things with Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Soft Suede inks.  The leaves were made with a retired die from Stampin' Up.  After die cutting them in Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry and Tangelo Tango, I spritzed them with water, wadded them up and then smoothed them out and dried them with the Heat Gun.  I used one of the Autumn Wooden Elements (Holiday Catalog) that I sponged with Soft Suede.  The sentiment is from For All Things and the ribbon is Tangelo Tango.

Fall Collage

Marianne and I went to Ikea last night in search of more frames.  We are both working on making more collages to frame for gifts.  I will be offering kits for sale of several designs when I return from my trip.  Here is one of them .... to wet your appetite!!  The kits will have everything stamped and cut out.  You will just have to put it all together - the fun part!!

After Ikea, we headed over to Concord Mills to the new Vera Bradley Outlet store!  We are both so excited that we finally have a Vera store near us.  Whenever I visit Ashley, I always go up to San Marcos to the outlets there and make a very expensive stop at Vera Bradley!  I am on their mailing list and had received a birthday discount coupon in the mail.  So I really got a deal.  I bought a purse and a wallet which were both marked 50% off already.  With my 20% birthday coupon, I ended up basically getting 70% off each item!  Darn - I should have bought more!  But, if truth be told, I really didn't need what I bought.  But who NEEDS a new purse???

We are headed out in the morning for D.C.  We will spend the night at Ashley's and then the three of us will head up to Pittsburgh Thursday when she gets out of class.  We have tickets to the first game of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night.  No major plans the rest of the week-end except visiting some of our favorite eating places in the area - Danny's Hoagies, The "O" for hot dogs, any one of several Italian restaurants in the area, and maybe we'll even discover some new hot spots!  Hopefully, the menagerie here at my house will behave themselves.  Marianne and Angela are going to be coming over to check on them while I'm away.

I have not had much luck with blogging with my Kindle but I will try.  No promises!  If not, you will hear from me next week.

White Christmas - Two Ways

The weekend sure comes and goes fast!  We went to the movies on Saturday and saw The Drop.  Don't waste your money - it wasn't that good.  I didn't think it would be but Sonny wanted to see it since James Gandofino was in it.  I figured they are digging up all his movies that didn't make it to the box office when he was alive and showing them now.  Oh well, it was a nice outing anyway.  We went to a restaurant in Cornelius for breakfast before the movie that we had been wanting to try and it was really good.  We'll be going back for sure.

Sunday of course, we went to Big Al's to see the Steelers LOSE!  Grrrr .... that wasn't supposed to happen - to lose to a team like Tampa Bay who haven't won a game all year!  Seems we win the ones we aren't supposed to and lose the ones I think should be the easy ones.  I knew starting the season that we weren't going to have much to cheer about this year but it's still tough to see them struggle.

I did have time this weekend to make a couple of cards using White Christmas.  First I made a traditional winter card.  It's hard to see how glittery this card is.  I used Dazzling Diamonds in the trees and all over the snow on the ground.  I forgot to mask the circle for the moon so after sponging the sky, I decided to try to make a moon.  I sponged a circle with Craft Whisper White Ink and then embossed it with White embossing powder.  It worked!!  You just never know.

I have seen a few cards made with this set that were fall cards so I decided to give it a try this morning.  I stamped the trees and the deer with Early Espresso.  Then I used a brown marker to color in the trees.  For the leaves, I just used the tip of my markers - Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow and Soft Suede to put dots all over the ground and the trees.  I used the Old Olive Blendabilities to color in the grass.  I masked the circle for the sun (Daffodil) and sponged Soft Sky for the sky.  What do you think?

One thing I really like about the Photopolymer stamps is that you can arrange them on the clear block the way you want to.  Notice in the winter card, the ground that the deer is standing on between the trees is not almost straight.  (I also used a Black Marker to extend the ground.)  On the fall card, I wanted the ground to be more hilly so I arranged the stamp that way before stamping.  The trees and the ground are all one stamp.

What I don't like about the photopolymer stamps is that they are hard for me to see on my desk!!  If I don't clean them right away and put them back in the case, I end up looking everywhere for them because they will stick to things.  I have a tendency to just lay my stamps on my cleaning pad (which I leave open on the side of my desk) until I am completely done and clean everything at once.  Last week I had about 6 stamps laying on the cleaning pad and Bogart decided to check out what I was doing.  He jumped up on my desk, knocking the cleaning pad onto the floor and scattering the stamps.  I had to call Sonny in to help me.  I was missing two of the photopolymer stamps and one clear stamp.  After crawling around on the floor (both of us!), I finally found the two photopolymer ones and had given up on finding the other stamp.  Sonny had the flashlight out and as he was getting up off the floor, he spotted the stamp on the leg of my chair!

Hope you have a good day!  I am headed to the "Y" for a little much needed exercise!

Fall Leaves

Fall - what a beautiful season!  I was pulling into our driveway one day last week and had to stop the car and take this picture of our house hidden by the trees with all the leaves that have fallen in the yard and in the driveway.  These leaves keep Sonny busy!  It's really hard to see our driveway when we are backing out ... in fact, last year I ran into one of trees because I couldn't make out where the driveway was and where the yard was.  We work our leaf blower overtime!!

This is the backyard right after Sonny blew all the leaves off the yard.  Note how tall they stacked up on the edges of the yard,

Almost looks like it could be a ski slope - imagine that the leaves could be snow drifts!!

Saturday was a busy day at my house.  We had the first Christmas Stamp a Stack.  Boy, was I tired by the end of the day.  In fact, I laid down on the couch and slept for an hour and I am not normally a napper.  Here are the rest of the cards that were made:

Northern Flurry embossing folder used

Marianne created this card using the Snow Day stamp set.  Isn't he cute?

Fall Wreath

Hopefully this week has gotten you inspired to start creating with MDS.  I know there were quite a few of you that missed out on some of the Daily Deals, so as one last final surprise to end Digital Scrapbooking Days, the My Digital Studio team has decided to put all of the Daily Deals back on sale for 24 hours!
Get your orders in between November 8 at midnight and November 9 at midnight 
Here are the downloads that will be on sale at 50% off:

• Amped Up Ampersands Kit (item 134844)
• Hello There Kit (item 133374)
• All Time Fave Photobook Template (item 132915)
• Modern Medley Overlays Kit (item 134839)
• Be Brave Pocket Cards (item 134840)
• Nobody’s Business Photobook Template (item 132812)
• Autumn Traditions Kit (item 127600)
• Afternoon Daydream Kit (item 130861)

Ashley made it back safe and sound Friday from Seoul, Korea.  There was such a huge time difference.  I talked to her around 4-5:00 Friday afternoon while she was waiting to go through Customs in Dallas.  She said she had left Korea around 6 pm Friday - it wasn't even 6 pm here yet so she lost a whole day .... I think!  Hopefully she has not got a full schedule this weekend so she can rest and get readjusted to the Central Time Zone.  She has a three day weekend since Monday is Veterans Day and she is off.  Here she is with the other docs that she was with in Seoul.  Just wish that sign wasn't in front of her!!  She says she's not short but looking at this picture, I'm not so sure!!

I made a wreath for my front door on Wednesday.  I had seen a picture of a nice wreath in Women's Day magazine and they just used a box of potpourri.  So I picked up a twig wreath and a box of potpourri at Hobby Lobby along with some discounted fall leaves and got my trusty hot glue gun out and went to work.  The whole project probably only cost about $20 or less and took me about an hour to make.  Everything was on sale except the box of potpourri and I used my coupon to buy it.

Step 1 - gluing on the leaves - with a little help from Sammie, my supervisor!!

I had a roll of wide burlap that I stuck in along with that plaid burlap ribbon that I bought at H.L.



I already had the little Welcome Friends sign hanging on the wreath hook.



I love how it looks!  And the glass at the top of the door reflects the fall leaves in the trees in my front yard.

Have a great weekend!

Fall Colors

I love the colors of fall.  I think fall is my favorite time of the year - beautiful colors, crisp cool weather, my favorite juicy Honey Crisp apples, my birthday, Sonny's birthday, beautiful cards ....  love it all!!



These are the trees at our neighborhood entrance - beautiful colors!

 Here are the hand made birthday cards that I received:


from Margaret

Margaret sent to Sonny

Marianne's card to Sonny

from my upline, Carol - an actual photograph that she stamped on - gorgeous!

from Judy

A shaped card from Marianne

from NC Demos

from Sharon R (girlfriend)

the card I made for Sonny using Gorgeous Grunge

Fall Beauty

Sorry I've been MIA but have just been on the go here.  Friday, I played mahjong and when I was through, I met Sonny for a meeting at the fire station regarding our neighborhood and the state taking over and maintaining our roads.  After that, we drove into town to see a movie.  We saw Taken 2 and he got his movie picking privledges back since it was a good action packed movie.  On Saturday, I volunteered at the Sherrills Ford Library Fall Festival and did face painting for a few hours.  After that, I HAD to go check out the new Hobby Lobby that opened last week in Mooresville!!!  I also stopped by Stampers Alley and had a nice visit with Brenda - it had been too long!  I didn't buy much at Hobby Lobby but it is good to know that it is there when I need something and can't wait for SU to ship it. 

On Sunday, Sonny and I drove up to the mountains to check out the fall foilage.  It wasn't great but what we did see was pretty.  It really depended on what altitude you were out whether there was color or not.  We drove through Blowing Rock hoping to have lunch there but the restaurant was packed and we didn't want to wait.  So we went on to Boone and finally found a restaurant that didn't have a line coming out the door!  The foilage in that area really hadn't changed much yet.  So we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and started climbing.  We got to Linville Falls and walked down to see the beautiful falls.  The leaves there had changed and were very pretty.   We did discover that there is not much red in the foilage this year - mostly orange and lots of yellow.  We left Linville Falls around 5:00 and within an hour we were socked into the clouds.  It was scary to me not to be able to see ahead of the car so I kept trying to fall asleep!  We ended up in Asheville and found a hotel for the night.  The fall color was spotty at best in that area - with some of the trees already bare.  On Sunday, we drove over to Lake Lure and had lunch before heading back home.  They are expecting the leaves to change there within the next 10 days.  But, we had a beautiful view of the lake while eating lunch.  That is a place I want to return to and rent a place and just have a relaxing weekend.

Enjoy the pictures!

Our view from the outside patio having lunch at Lake Lure

Lake Lure view from restaurant

Trees along the road after leaving Asheville



Not many reds in those mountains!



Linville Falls

Lake (or river??) at Linville Falls



Linville Falls

Fall Colors

I think FALL is my favorite season.  I just love the colors of the trees here in North Carolina.  I think this year has been one of the best for colors.  I just wish we had driven up to the mountains a few weeks ago and seen the trees at their peak there.  Every year, I have plans to do that but never seem to get it done.  Maybe next year!  Here are a few pictures I took this weekend.

These trees (above and below) are in the parking lot of the grocery store!

Another grocery store - this time BJ's Wholesale Store!!  But look at all the different colors.

These trees are at Queen's Landing in Mooresville. 

Sonny finished painting the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room this weekend.  Only one more room to go downstairs and then it's the bedrooms upstairs.  Don't know how much he'll get done this week.  Ashley is coming Friday (for 10 days!!) so I'm hoping he'll at least get her bedroom (or the room she always sleeps in when she's visiting) painted.  We'll see!

He (jokingly) asked me if we should paint the cabinets black so we'd have black and gold in the kitchen ... for the STEELERS!!  If there weren't so many cabinet knobs, I'd consider taking them all off and replacing them with black - that would look pretty cool!

It's amazing what a little paint can do for a house.  It's like a totally new place.

Mini Swaps

I actually have a few cards to share with you today!  I participated in a Mini Catalog Swap and had the cards mailed to me here in San Antonio.  They arrived Saturday and I have taken pictures so I could share!  I haven't ordered any goodies from the mini catalog yet and after seeing all these great ideas, I am ready to order, order, order!

This one uses Christmas Lodge stamp set (pg 29) in Pear Pizazz.  There is also a bit of  the new Dazzling Details on the roof of the lodge.  The bottom portion uses the new Snow Burst embossing folder.

I can't wait to order these stockings!  This stamp is the Stitched Stocking punched out with the new Builder Punch (pg 34).  The colors are Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler and Silver.  There is a cute little jingle bell hanging off the stocking.  You can purchase then from the mini too (pg 30).

This fall card uses the Gently Falling set (pg 16-17) with Concord Crush, Cajun Craze, and Garden Green.  Love the ribbon!!

Another card using Gently Falling - this is a very popular stamp set!  The colors used on this one are Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, More Mustard and Early Espresso.  She also used the Houdstooth embossing folder (inking it).

This card uses Festive & Fun, a very versatile holiday set as well as Every Little Bit stamp set.  The colors on this one are Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Concorde Crush and the In Patterns DSP.  Such an easy card to make but a great one!

Now I have to make my list!