April Stamp Club

This week is my Stamp Club week - we moved it a week after we normally have it because of spring break.  Many of the gals were visiting family last week.   I am concentrating on retired stamp this month.  Here are the cards we will be making:

I think everyone will miss the Owl Punch!  I know I will.  So I thought I'd dress my owls up ready for the beach .... or maybe they'll go with me to Hawaii!  I'm sure Ashley wouldn't mind having them visit for a few days.  the "happy birthday" sentiment is from Watercolor Words - a good selection of sentiments plus I love the font!  The DSP is from Party Animal in the Occasions catalog.

My next card uses Grateful Bunch and the coordinating Blossom Punch which punches 3 flowers at once.  I love the convenience of using a punch.  Don't get me wrong - I like the thinlits too but at Club, it is much easier to just pass the punch around instead of waiting in line for the Big Shot and thinlits.  I love this color combination of Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla and Blushing Bride.  I think this is the first time I used the lace trim stamp from the set!

This card is my favorite this month!  For the small panel, I sponged Pool Party at the top and Crumb Cake at the bottom, blending the two together in the middle.  Then I used Gorgeous Grunge (oh, how I will miss this stamp set!!!) and stamped it is Versamark ink in the middle.  I heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  Does it give you the impression of the frothy white of the waves?  The background of the main card is made with the Marbeling Technique - using shaving cream!  I have not done this technique in probably 10 years so decided to revisit it and teach it to my club gals.  I stamped the starfish (Picture Perfect stamp set) with Crushed Curry and Soft Suede ink onto Crumb Cake card stock.  After adhering it with dimensionals, I painted clear Wink of Stella on it.

Last but not least is our May calendar page.  I actually copied this from a calendar page my sister made for me!  Made it a little easier.  I stamped the set from Flourishing Phrases with VersaMark onto Vanilla card stock and heat embossed it with Copper powder.  The stamp set is not retiring but the card stock and ribbon I used are retired.

Grateful Bunch Swaps

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted on my blog.  I've had this one almost ready to go and just kept forgetting to post!!  Last week was pretty busy for us.  Sonny found a new surgeon and had his hernia surgery on Friday morning.  We were back home by noon so it was pretty fast.  They did it laproscopic and he has not had a minutes pain.  We are both just amazed.  I don't know what the first surgeon was talking about when he told us recovery was the same with laproscopic and cutting you.  He is back to doing his regular activities and went golfing on Monday!

On Saturday, he and I went to downtown Charlotte and walked around an old historic cemetery for about 4 hours as the Mecklenburg Historical Society put on "Voices of the Past."  It was so interesting!!  I would highly recommend you go if you are in the area when they do this again next year.  (Yes, it was such a hit that they plan on doing it again.)  Here is a link that tells about the wonderful event of Voices of the Past.

Below are a couple of the swap cards that I made for the Stampin' Up On Stage event which is this Saturday.  Marianne and I are driving to Richmond, Virginia later today.  We will do some sightseeing on Friday and the SU event is Saturday.  I am excited as we will be receiving the new annual catalog!

These cards use the set Grateful Bunch.  For the first card I used the matching punch for the flowers that I had stamped in Elegant Eggplant.

This second card is stamped in Soft Suede.  I used my Blender Pen and watercolor pencils for the flowers - a really easy card!

May NC Blog Hop - New Catalog Sneak Peeks!!

It's the last Sunday of the month which means it's time for the NC Demos Blog Hop!

Welcome to the NC Demos Blog Hop for May, 2016.  We are grateful that you stopped by to take a look at our creations this month.  Get your Wish Lists out because this month we are featuring projects using items from the NEW 2016-17 Annual Stampin' Up Catalog!!  We hope to provide you with lots of ideas.

As demonstrators, we are able to pre-order a few select items from the new catalog before it is released.  This time (for the first time!) I decided not to purchase any new stamp sets and only bought the new In Color card stock and ink pads.  So that is what I am concentrating on in my blog creations today.

The new 2016-18 In Colors are:  Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.  I keep changing my mind about which color is my favorite one!  I don't know if you noticed, but I have also used the new In Colors in my Blog Banner "splats" and in the letters above.

One of my favorite tools in years past was always the Stampin' Up Color Coach.  Unfortunately, SU retired it a year or two ago so I have made up my own using the In Colors.  Click on the chart below to see it better.  Of course, these are not all the combinations .... see what you can come up with!

I made a bookmark for my club members to show them the new colors.  Love the ribbon!!

My first card uses a technique called Bouncing Brayer.  When was the last time you used your brayer?  Ha!  Dig it out and try this technique.  Ink up your brayer in your choice of ink and place one edge of the brayer near the cardstock center.  Press the brayer to the cardstock but don't roll it.  Lift off paper.  Continue this process moving the brayer about 1/2" - 3/4" each time.  Makes a unique background.  I did mine in Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy and Flirty Flamingo.

My next card uses a stamp set that was in the Spring Mini Catalog and is carrying over.  It is called Grateful Bunch and comes with a coordinating punch.  I used ink from the lid of the pad and watercolored the flower with Sweet Sugarplum ink.  The leaves are stamped with Emerald Envy.

This is the card opened up - a fun fold!!

Next I decided to try another background that I created myself.  I masked the card with a circle and sponged in-color stripes.  (I used a striped mask that was included in the retired Banner Kit but you could easily use a ruler or cardboard.)  I stamped the leaves from Grateful Bunch (Emerald Envy) and stamped the flowers from the same set using the In Colors.

This one is my favorite!  I cut strips of In Color cardstock (1") and angled them onto a Basic Black card base.  After trimming the edges, I adhered the piece to the Dapper Denim card.  The sentiment is from Cottage Greetings and the punched flowers are from Grateful Bunch.

I hope you have gotten some inspiration for using the new In Colors from my projects.

Your next stop on the Hop is Sue Root -

You may just be starting the Blog Hop or may have come from Tracie Langley's blog.  The full line-up listed below will help you move along from blog to blog so you can see all the projects.


 Michelle Irinyi - http://makingmemorieswithmichelle.weebly.com/home/nc-demos-blog-hop-marquee-messages

Melissa Kerman - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/thecraftingtreehouse/blog?directBlogUrl=/blog/60800/entry/thoughtful_banners_with_sweet_sugarplum

Tracie Langley - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/traciesallaboutstamping/blog?directBlogUrl=/blog/86481/entry/nc_demos_may_blog_hop

(YOU ARE HERE) Sharon Maranich - http://inkiefinger.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-nc-blog-hop-new-catalog-sneak-peeks.html

Sue Root - http://stampin-with-sue.blogspot.com/2016/05/nc-su-demos-new-catalog-blog-hop.html

Pam Staples - http://wp.me/p3p2VA-1pB

Frances Wagner - http://wagstamps.blogspot.com/2016/05/nc-su-demo-hop-team-meeting-swaps-gifts.html