RAK and Football Season!

When I returned from Hawaii, I found the card below waiting for me.  I love getting happy mail!  This was a RAK card (Random Act of Kindness) from a demo friend, Sharon Guarino.  Another demo started the RAK program in our NC Demo group.  Isn't it fun to get a card just for fun?!!  I love the pleated technique that Sharon used.  I have made an RAK card and it should arrive at the lucky person's house tomorrow or Wednesday.

I'm happy this week because football season has started!  I didn't do too well with my football picks yesterday in the pool, but it's only the first week!  I'm watching the Steelers tonight killing the Washington Redskins.  Now if the fall weather will just arrive!

Home Sweet Home!

Well, I made it back home safe and sound.  I hated to leave but it sure was good to sleep in my own bed last night!  I almost slept around the clock last night!  I only slept about an 1 1/2 hours total on the plane coming home.  Sonny picked me up at the airport and we went to breakfast.  After a quick stop at the grocery store, I unpacked and took a nap for a couple of hours.  That helped me to stay awake until about 10 pm when I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer!  I showered and went to bed about 10:30 and woke up at 9:30 this morning.  Surprisingly, it didn't take me long for my body to adjust to the time difference when I was in Hawaii.  Let's see if the same is true for being back home.  I'll be getting ready for the Quarterly that Debbie, Marianne and I are hosting next week.  I did all my swaps before I left so just need to concentrate on getting everything ready.

I downloaded my photos to my computer this morning so I have a few more to share.  Ashley and I went snorkeling and kayaking last week.  I didn't do so good with the snorkeling.  I have done it before and really enjoyed it but the water and currents were too rough due to the tropical storms.  I ended up losing my snorkel tube when the waves knocked me down.  Ashley was able to get out further and had a good time looking at the turtles and fish.  The kayaking turned out much better.  We rented the kayak for two hours because we thought it would take us an hour to figure it out but it didn't.  We ended up kayaking for about an hour until my back was killing me from sitting in the seat with no support.  We thought our arms would be sore from paddling but they weren't.  This time, I didn't lose any of the equipment but Ashley broke one of the oars!  We were bringing the kayak in and trying to ride the waves in until a big one knocked the kayak over and dumped both of us in the water snapping her oar in half!  It was a lot of fun!  We are going to try and get Sonny to join us in December.

I'm going to miss seeing these beauties everywhere!

I didn't do it this time!

Ashley on our kayak

This is where the kiss scene of From Here to Eternity was filmed.

This is a blow hole - water comes up through a hole in the rock in the middle

Our snorkeling day - when I gave up!

What will $6 Million get you?

I just have to share this house with you!  For the two Sundays that I have been here, Ashley and I have gone to Open Houses for places that are on the market.  We are just being "looky-loos" but we also thought we could get some decorating tips from some of them.  The first Sunday we went to a lot of the properties that she had looked at so she could show me what she was seeing and how you don't get much for your money here!  Last Sunday, we decided to limit ourselves to million dollar homes!  A gal can dream can't she!  Well, some of them, believe me, you wouldn't pay half that for!  This house below is one of them.  It is for sale for $6.9 MILLION!!  It is on the beach although you can't see the beach unless you are standing on the roof because the sand dune is in front.  It was built in 1934 and I don't think anything has been done to it since then!  The selling point is that it is right next to Kailua Beach.  I would think you would just tear it down and build something in it's place but the realtor said because of permits, the smart thing to do would be to build on top of the house and let the house be the garage.  Remember - you have already spent almost $7 million - how much more are you willing to spend?

The "front door" is just to the right.

View of the back yard - the ocean is back there over the dirt.

This is your front entrance!

Master Bedroom!

The bedroom closet!

Great Kitchen, don't you think?  HA!

Lovely shower!

Can you just imagine living there????  Beach or no beach - not me!  If you want to go online and look at the pictures or put an offer in, go to www.cliffshafer.hawaiimoves.com, MLS #201620001.  They definitely had a good camera and did some powerful staging to make it look as good as they did.  Except for that old bed in the picture above, there was no furniture in it on Sunday.

Ashley's condo is much better!!  Not even close to $6 million but much better!

Ashley on the lanai - both her bedroom and the den have sliding glass doors to the lanai.

backyard tropical plants

backyard - not much grass to mow - think she is going to put concrete steppers down.

Her bedroom - it is upstairs with a bath and there are 2 more bedrooms, bath and laundry room downstairs.

More from Hawaii

I'm still loving Hawaii!  Last week was pretty humid until about Thursday when the trade winds started blowing that humidity away.  Ashley and I did a little bit of packing along with a fair amount of sight seeing and beach time. 

This week's forecast is not good.  Tropical Story Madeline is headed this way on Wednesday (coinciding with Pres. Obama's visit on that day) and over Labor Day weekend, they are expecting Tropical Cyclone Lester.  So, doesn't look like there will be a lot of beach time in the next week.

Thought I'd share some random pictures I took last week.



This is Ashley's dining room / living room and out the sliding doors to the lanai.  I am standing at the front door taking the snapshot

We stopped off at the Macadamia Store to try a few samples!!

This was a cool rock formation we found while driving to the North Shore.

Every meal you get here has rice - even as a side at breakfast.  We stopped at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck on the North Shore and it was yummy!

Another yummy stop - Matsumoto's Shave Ice!!

Saturday morning - AFTER I weighed in at Weight Watchers, we went to Cinnamon's Restaurant.  One of Ashley's friends had told her we needed to go.  It was so good!  By the way, we shared this!!

Not sure what this flower is but it's pretty.

This is called  "shower tree"

This is my favorite!  It's a plumeria tree and the flowers are beautiful!

YUCK!  This was in Ashley's suitcase!!  Think he made the trip from Texas to Hawaii?  Hope he has found a new home outside! We believe it is a centipede.
 

My Hawaii Vaca!

I'm having so much fun here that I forgot I had a blog!!  Thought I would share some pictures of my visit.  I arrived a week ago and Ashley greeted me at the airport with a beautiful plumeria (my fav flower) lei.  Only thing is we forgot to take a picture!  Since I arrived mid afternoon (which was actually about 9 pm NC time), we headed over to Ashley's empty condo.  She had closed on it the week before and had been sleeping on an air mattress for a couple of days.  I was at first surprised at how small it was (for the $$.)  But after being here a while, think it is a great size for her (if we can figure out where to put all her stuff!)  After catching up a bit, we headed to Kailua (the next town over) to eat dinner and I had my first mai tai!  The waitress told me they were so strong they would only serve me 3.  I told her not to worry - after flying for 12 hours and knowing I was sleeping on an air mattress that night, one would be fine!  After dinner, we walked across the street to the beach.  It was a beautiful sight!

 

When we got back to the condo, we saw our first rainbow of the trip.  The view above is taken from her lanai.

 

I actually ended up staying awake until about 8 or 9:00 (2-3 am for NC).  It was not a great night though!  Ashley had put air in the mattress earlier.  Well, when I was ready to go to bed, most of the air was gone and by the end of the night ALL the air was gone.  She had hardwood floors so we were basically sleeping on the hard floor!  Not good for these old bones!  Guess there was a leak somewhere.  Ashley really felt bad about it but it was a good thing I was super tired!  We were up really early the next morning waiting for the movers who didn't arrive until almost 1 pm!!  But what a beautiful view to awaken to (below).  Every morning the clouds sit in the mountains and you can watch them rise while sitting on the lanai having breakfast.  This is another view from the lanai with a coconut tree just outside and further to the right a plumeria tree.

 

Then the fun started!  These are the steps going down to her condo (on the left).  The movers were here until after 6 pm and I know they were glad when they were done!

We had the unpack the kitchen.  Of course all they did was put things on the counter.  Ashley had to work on Wednesday so I spent the whole day in the kitchen getting it in some kind of order.

We've made a lot of progress.  We have all the boxes unpacked and now need the movers to come get them out of our way.   I spent Saturday unpacking her craft supplies and setting up her "craft closet."

We went out yesterday and bought a desk for her so that is next on my "to do" list.  The hardest part is finding a new home for all the decorative items. 

But it hasn't been all work and no fun.  We went to the North Shore one day last week and have gone out to eat several times.  We took a trip one day last week to Costco and the PX which were closer to Waikiki.  Yesterday I went to work with Ashley since she only had a morning meeting.  Our plan was to either go on a hike to Diamond Head or snorkeling but the weather did not cooperate.  It was overcast and raining off and on all day and boy, was the humidity getting to me!  So we ended up going to Waikiki and eating lunch at a restaurant close to the beach and walking through the shops and on the boardwalk before going furniture shopping.

Well, I better get back to work!!  I'll post more pictures later!!

Painters Palette

Not to rub it in - but I am in Hawaii!!  

This is another card we made at Stamp Club last week.  It is such a simple card but I love it!

The stamp set is Painters Palette and can be found on page 119 of the Annual Catalog.  I love the little watercolor "swishes."  You can change up the colors of the "swooshes" and the DSP and totally change the look of the card.  The easel is stamped in Tip Top Taupe on the white card stock and then stamped a second time onto scrap white card stock.  The second one is cut out (just the square).  It coordinates with the Layering Squares Framelits but I don't have those (yet) and it is not that hard to cut out the square.  I used a post-it-note for the sides of the square when I stamped the "swishes" so they would not get onto the frame.  The DSP is from Blooms & Bliss (pg. 173) with the twine (retired) wrapped around twice and tied in a bow.

Flourishing Phrases

This is another Stamp Club card - one you hope you do not need but you know you will.  I love the combination of Daffodil and Basic Black.  I used the Flourishing Phrases thinlits and stamp set to make this card.  If you haven't looked at this bundle in the Annual Catalog, you need to check it out on page 49.  The stamp set is a really good one when you are looking for sentiments.  Not only does it have some really good sympathy ones, but also many others from "Just a Note" to "I love you."   And the thinlits are so pretty - you get leaves, flowers and borders.

I found that the Die Brush (page 190) really came in handy with getting all the little bits out of the dies.  I have not been a fan of the Die Brush and did not encourage my customers to purchase it but I am changing my tune now!  You can do a Google search and see some tutorials for using the Die Brush.  But basically, you just run your card stock with the die through your Big Shot and when you take it out, put it on a foam mat without removing the piece from the die.  Next  just run the Die Brush back and forth over the top of the die and most of the bits will come out and the die piece will come out of the die easier.  Try it - you'll like it!!

Pretty Kitty

I love this kitten stamp set.  It's been a long time since Stampin' Up has had a really cute dog and cat stamp set.  And this year, they have both in the catalog!  I love the images on both but decided to just get the cat set .... at least for now!!   It is called Pretty Kitty and you can find it on page 101 in the Annual Catalog just below the dog set, Bella & Friends.

This is a card we made in Stamp Club using 3 of the 5 kitty images from the set.  I let each person pick which image they wanted to use.  I used the Circle Framelits to die cut the circles on the Watermelon Wonder card stock and Shimmery White for the stamped images because I wanted to watercolor.  The Misti came in handy for this card.  You can position all 3 images and stamp at the same time.  The card base and the little hearts (from the Mini Treat Bag die) are Smoky Slate.  I used Smoky Slate and my Aqua Brush to watercolor the kittens and Cajun Craze for the flower pot.  The rest of the coloring was done with markers.  The top Watermelon layer is raised with dimensionals.  This is where the new Dimensional Strips come in handy!

This Wisteria Wonder card is basically the same as the one above except when I made it, I had not gotten the Circles thinlits so used made rectangle openings for the kittens.   I used the Swirly Bird stamp set for the circles and the little bows are from the Mini Treat Bag die.

Paper Pumpkin BOGO

It's a good time to try out Paper Pumpkin!!!

When you  use promo code “BOGO” at PaperPumpkin.com, you will pay the regular price of $19.95 USD/$26.95 CAD and get the second month for FREE!    If you subscribe with the promo code between now and September 10, you will pay full price for the September kit and get the October kit free. If you subscribe between September 11 and October 10, the first kit will be the October kit and you will get the November kit free.





 
 The Fine Print:

• IMPORTANT: Offer invalid if subscription is suspended or cancelled during the first two months. In other words, subscribers cannot cancel or suspend their subscription during their first two months—if they do, the offer is void.
• After the first two months, the subscription will continue for $19.95 USD/$26.95 CAD + tax per month (shipping included) unless cancelled or suspended. Ends October 10, 2016.
• This offer is open to first-time subscribers only.
• Not valid on prepaid subscriptions.
• Ends October 10, 2016 (the last day to subscribe and get the October kit).

Floral Affection

It's been crazy around here!!  I have been so busy getting all my stuff done for the Sept. Quarterly before I leave for vacation.  I've decorated & filled 38 boxes, made treat bags, special little gifts to go inside the bags (don't want to give away any secrets!!) plus getting my swaps made and getting the projects made for Stamp Club this week!  Add in a little "hubbie time" and watching the Olympics and this ole gal is worn out and ready for a Hawaiian vaca!!

Enough about all that ..... you're here to see some cards I bet!

I think this is my favorite card and so simple to do!  I learned this weaving technique years ago and had actually forgotten about it until I came across it recently on someone's blog.

 

The template is below.  You line the template up on the fold of your card - making sure you line it up so the straight line at the bottom is on the fold with the ends of the line at the top and bottom of your fold.  Then cut on the angled lines.  After that, you weave the triangles - folding down the longest lines and tucking the "V" into the next cut.  I will try and do a video when I return from Hawaii.

The only stamping on the card is sentiment at the bottom.  I used a stamp from one of my Paper Pumpkin kits.  Markers were used to color the embossed image (Floral Affection).  And for an added touch, I added a few pearls to the centers of the flowers.