The Versatile Swirly Bird

I am sorry I have been so lax in writing in this blog.  I have been super busy working on bags, boxes, goodies, etc. for the September Quarterly as well as my own swaps!  I have all my swaps finished except for the Holiday one which I can't do until I get my pre-order some time next week.  I've got another week to get my part done before I leave for Hawaii and leave the details in Marianne and Debbie's capable hands.

I have a few Swirly Bird cards to share with you today.  I got both of them in a swap last month.  The first one just goes to show you how versatile this set is!!  I just love the swirly snowman, don't you?!!

For this next one, it can be used for any occasion.  But couldn't you see this card done in red and black and be a Disney themed card??!!!  Love it!!

I made this next card using the pieces in the Swirly Bird set to make a sailboat!  I stamped the sails onto Vellum and used my bone folder to rub the back of the striped sail so it would puff out a bit.  Makes a great male birthday card!

I had a bit of a scare today.  Mom, Marianne and I went together 2 weeks ago to have our annual mammogram done.

I got a call on Monday that I needed to come back to the Imaging Center for another mammogram and to talk to the radiologist.  So I went back today.  For my second mammogram, they did a 3-D image.  I was told that a small spot had showed up and it was still there with the 3-D so they sent me to have an ultrasound.  The radiologist came in and looked at it and explained to me that all was ok.  But what was showing up is called duct ectasia where a milk duct has widened and perhaps has become clogged.  In the mammogram, the ducts could be crossing each other and causing a shadow which looks like a spot.  There is nothing to worry about - whew!  You can imagine what was going through my mind as I was laying on the table while they did the ultrasound!

July NC Demos Blog Hop

Welcome to the July NC Demos Blog Hop.  We hold this Blog Hop on the last Sunday of each month so mark your calendars so you don't miss it!!

This month our challenge was to use your favorite consumable product from the Annual Catalog (DSP, embellishments, ribbon, etc.)  I'm afraid I didn't read the directions very well and thought we were to use our favorite new dies - oops!

So my first card does use the White Perfect Accents (which is a consumable) - they aren't new but I like them! For this card, I water colored onto a piece of 3 3/4" x 5" Shimmery White card stock.  I love this card stock and as long as you don't soak your card stock with water, it is great for water coloring.  I used a mixture of Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Sugarplum and Crushed Curry, squeezing the ink into the lid of the ink pad and using my Aqua Brush to paint it on.  I die cut the Flourish Thinlit piece from Shimmery White and using the Fine Tip Glue Pin adhered it to the water colored piece.  Believe it or not, but this is the first time I have used the Flourish Thinlits and I have had it for at least a month!  This thinlet is just beautiful!!  The "Hope" thinlit is from one of my favorites from the Annual Catalog, Sunshine Wishes.  I cut one from a piece of water colored Shimmery paper and 2 more from a piece of the cardboard that comes in SU's DSP packets and glued them all together so it would be raised up a bit.

For my next card, I used a favorite consumable - the In Color Paper Stack (pg. 174).  First I embossed the white panel with the Lucky Stars Embossing Folder and adhered the DSP to the top and bottom which I then adhered to the Sweet Sugarplum card.  I punched 2 clouds out of Vellum using the Tree Builder Punch.  I stamped Happy Birthday (Sunshine Sayings) in Sugarplum ink and punched it out with the Duet Banner Punch before adhering it to the raised up arrow tag.  (Sorry but the ribbon I used is retired!)  I die cut "Shine On" from the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits.  I die cut "sunshine" and cut off the "sun" and die cut "congratulations" but only using the "on" part!  It's hard to tell, but the clouds and "shine on" are both painted with the Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush and are really sparkly.

I hope you have enjoyed my cards - even if I did not follow the directions closely!  Head on over to the next stop on our hop who is Frances Wagner .  If you get lost along the way, below is a list of all the blogs participating in our Blog Hop.

TAMRA DAVIS
JO ANNE HEWINS 
TRACIE EVANS LANGLEY 
SHARON MARANICH (you are here)

FRANCES WAGNER

 

Sunshine!

Hope you had a good - and cool - weekend.  It has really been hot here - too hot for us to even want to go out on the lake.  Since Sonny has been playing golf 2-3 times a week, I think he is getting his share of the heat and doesn't want to go out in the heat on the weekend!  That's ok with me as I have a lot to do trying to get my swaps done along with other things made for the NC Quarterly my team will be hosting in September.  We ended up running errands on Saturday - WalMart, Total Wine, the Peach Stand (yum!) and to Fox & Hound for lunch/dinner.  That night we tried to watch a DVD from NetFlix but it kept messing up so we gave up.  We have been trying to watch the series, Homeland through Netflix DVDs.  I signed up for a free month last month but it has not been good!  We had already watched Season 1 which we owned and ordered the next disc from Netflix but it was so damaged, we had to return it and get another one.  Saturday we were trying to watch Disc #2 and the same thing - so damaged it is being returned!  I called today to see if they will extend our free month.  They won't but they are going to send us the next 2 DVDs in my queue.  Let's hope they will be ok.

This is another card we made last week in Stamp Club.  I love this bundle.  It has great sentiments that are included with the flowers and hearts stamps.  I pretty much CASEd this card from Brian King.  I would never have thought about putting yellow and pink together but love it! The Fine Tip Glue Pin really comes in handy with this card!

Supplies:

l  Stamps:   Sunshine Sayings

l  Ink:  black

l  Cardstock:   Flirty Flamingo, Black, Daffodil Delight

l  Accessories:   Sunshine Wishes Thinlits,

Measurements: 

l  card base:  5 ½” x 4 ¼ ”, scored and  folded at 4 ¼”

black layer 4” x 5 ¼”  /  Daffodil layer:  3 3/4” x 5”

Flirty Flamingo – ¾” x 3 ¾” / Black:  ½” x 3 ¾”

Instructions:

·        Die cut “sunshine” from black paper

·        Die cut flowers  one from black & one from Flamingo

·        Stamp sentiment on Flamingo strip.

·        Assemble card as shown.

Stamp Club for July

We had fun this week at Stamp Club and made some great cards.  I received this orange and yellow card during the NC Round Robin and loved it so much so I figured my club members would love it too.  I made another one using Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.


If you want to recreate these cards, here are my directions:

Supplies:

l  Stamps:   Swirly Bird

l  Ink:   for Peach:  Peekaboo Peach, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Cucumber Crush

For Sugarplum:  Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo

l  Cardstock:  White,  your choice – Sweet Sugarplum and Rich Razzleberry OR Peekaboo Peach and, Ribbon

Measurements: 

l  card base:  5 ½” x 4 ¼ ”, scored and  folded at 4 ¼”

next layer:  4 7/8” x 3 5/8”  /  white layer:  4 ¾” x 3 3/8”

Instructions:

·          Stamp solid circles on white cardstock first (using Peekaboo Peach and Daffodil OR Flamingo and Sugarplum)

·        Stamp swirls on top of circles (Tangerine and Curry OR Razzleberry and Melon)

·        Stamp smaller swirls

·        Stamp leaves in Cucumber Crush

·        Tie ribbon around white layer.

·        Adhere layers and rhinestones.

Swirly Birds Swaps

I have a few Swirly Bird cards to share with you today.  This is a really versatile set and I love seeing what I can make with it.  A couple of these cards are ones I received in a shoebox swap.

Made by my sister, Marianne

I was busy all weekend making plans for the NC Quarterly me and my downlines will be hosting in September.  Our cut-off date for signing up (and paying) to come is Sept. 5 BUT as of today, we had exceeded our maximum number that we had planned on.  We were going to limit the attendance to 30 but now have 39 signed up and paid.  So that is our limit now.  It is just too hard to have more than 30 when you are doing shoebox swaps plus you need some room to move around in the room.  We are renting the conference room at the Wyndham Hotel in Mooresville.  Our Quarterly's are always so much fun but a lot of work go into getting it ready!!

Saturday, Sonny and I had a busy day.  We left the house at 10 a.m and didn't return home until about 7 pm.  We went to a movie first and then to Kohls.  That is a biggie when I can get Sonny into a clothing store!  I didn't even go into the women's section but picked out shorts and golf shirts for him to try on.  We decided with me being gone for 2 1/2 weeks in August, he needed more "wicking" golf shirts to wear since he has started playing golf 2-3 times a week.  That way he won't have to wash clothes while I am gone (not that he couldn't but he wouldn't!)  From there, we did some shopping at BJ's and Lowe's before stopping for a late lunch/early dinner at Duckworth's.

I have to brag on my sister, Angela.  She is very active in the local Lion's Club along with my mom.  They attended a Lions Club district meeting this weekend and she received the Melvin Jones Foundation Award which is the highest recognition you can receive in the international Lions Club.  She also got the Gary Steele Outstanding Zone Chair Award and the 100% Secretary award!  My dad was really active in the Charlotte Lions Club and I know he is smiling down on her as she carries on the tradition.  Way to go Angie!

Foxy

Monday night I went to Allison's demo meeting.  Karen was in charge of the projects this month and we made some cute things using the Fox stamp set and punch.  This first one holds a Hershey's Kiss (I ate it!! so just imagine it is there.)

I got his nose just a tad bit off!  I forgot to stamp it until I had already assembled it.

Next we made a skunk out of the fox.  It's fun to see how many different animals people have come up with using this set and punch.

Today was a water day for me and boy, am I tired!  I started out this morning at the neighborhood pool taking a water aerobics class at 8:30 a.m.  Way too early for me - I am NOT a morning person!  But I do feel like I am getting a good work out with the class.  Later in the day we went on a lake scavenger hunt!  It was an activity planned by the Catawba men's club and was a lot of fun.  We had two other couple on our boat and we were given a list of things to find on the lake.  We had 90 minutes to find them, take pictures and be back to the starting point.  Some of the items on the list were:  different types of weather vanes, flags, a vernicular (tram), signs on the lake, etc.  Here are a few of the things we found:

Do you see the bird weather vane?

green tube draining into the lake

Just one of the tram tracks on the lake

We did pretty good finding the various items and came in 2nd.  I got a lot of sun along with a headache from being dehydrated I think.  It was really hot and we were doing this in the heat of the day at 2:00.

Pretty Kitty

I got a Stampin' Up order last week and just had to play with the Pretty Kitty stamp set!  I had actually talked myself out of ordering this set but guess I didn't do such a good job listening to myself!  It's so cute though!!  What do you think?

I sponged the white thick card stock with Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky and So Saffron and then used the splatters from Gorgeous Grunge to stamp a few splatters around.  I used the (retired) squares thinlits to punch out three little windows.  Next I stamped 3 of the kitty images on the card and colored them.  The punched piece was layered onto the card with dimensional tape.

I had a great weekend - what about you?  I've been shopping (on line mostly) for a new car.  I went to the dealership last week and test drove a Dodge Journey and looked at a few Jeep Cherokees.  So on Saturday, with notes in hand, Sonny and I went together to the Dodge dealership and met with Mark who sold Sonny his pick up a few years ago.  By the way .... Mark looks so much like Luke Bryan, he could have sold me anything!!  I ended up getting a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo in a charcoal color.  I would have preferred a different color but there were not too many colors to choose from with all the details that I wanted - navigation, large screen, back up camera, Sirrius/SM radio, etc. etc.  This one did not have the navigation package or the heated seats that I wanted but Mark gave me a pretty good deal on the Jeep and I convinced him if I was going to settle on the color, he had to throw in the navigation package for free.  Yes, I know nothing comes free but they make it seem like it is.  Ashley has suggested I just need to add some pink accents - get a pink ribbon sticker for the back; find something girly for the antenna; and get some pink seat covers!!  Not sure about all that but we'll see what I come up with. 

Round Robin Swirly Birds

The Stampin' Up NC Demo group I am involved with has started a new program called Round Robin cards.   It is similar to the chain letters we used to do.  There is a list of 10 people and we send a card to the person below us when we receive our card (from the person above our name.)

So .... this is the card I received last week using the Swirly Bird set.  Isn't it great?  

And this is the card I sent .... again using Swirly Birds!

Happy 4th of July Swirly Style

Here is a card I actually mailed!  Not sure if it has reached it's destination so this is going to be a spoiler.  I used the great set, Swirly Birds along with the framelits to make the flag.  The banner & happy is from Thoughtful Phrases and the "4" is from the Large Numbers framelits.  Fun card!!

Happy 4th of July!  Stay safe and have fun with family and friends today.  Today is the day to celebrate America's freedom, honor its history and remember all those who fought to keep us free!

We drove into Mooresville last night to watch the fireworks put on by the YMCA.  They were good, despite the drizzling rain, but not long enough.  They only lasted about 15 minutes!  Boo, hiss!!  I know, in the past, they have been at least 30 minutes.  Oh well ... what cha gonna do??  Not any plans for today.  Sonny is doing his "prep work" for tomorrow's colonoscopy so we'll be staying close to home if you know what I mean!  Ashley is celebrating in Hawaii - she got the contract on the condo she wants!!  She and I are looking at dates for me to fly there and help with the move - probably mid-August. 

My mom is at camp for the first time in 60 something years!!!  She is attending a week long camp at Camp Dogwood for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  (My mom is legally blind.)  She has been so excited about getting to go this year.  Angela dropped her off yesterday along with another lady who lives in mom's neighborhood who will be her cabin mate.  I'm sure Angela's car was weighted down with all their stuff.  Both of them have walkers plus their suitcases, and Mom was taking a shower chair, a potty seat and who knows what else!!  The camp is located on the lake (just a few miles from my house) and they offer boating, fishing, swimming, tubing, arts and crafts, mini golf and various off campus trips.  I hope she has a great time!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th weekend!  Hope you are doing something fun and patriotic this weekend.  We started our weekend last night by going out to dinner.  Since I've been doing WW, I don't like going out as much.  It's just too hard to find something low cal on the menu!  But last night, I told Sonny I had been pretty good all day so I deserved a splurge!  And boy, did I!  We went to a fairly new Irish place in Cornelius and I enjoyed fish and chips!  Now, I didn't eat all the "chips" (french fries) - only about half and took some of the breading off my fish.  I also put vinegar on the fish instead of drenching it with tarter sauce.  And of course, I had a couple of beers.  Today we went out on the boat for most of the day.  It was pretty hot but we found a shady beach and pulled the pontoon onto it.  We bought a watermelon last night and enjoyed it.  My first watermelon of the year!

I did have a little time this morning to make a festive card to share.  I guess you've figured by now how much I love the Jars framelits and stamp set!  I actually CASE'd this card from one I saw on Pinterest.  Isn't it the cutest?!

Good news from Ashley this week.  She put a bid in on a condo that she liked in Kaneohe.  There were multiple bids on the condo but she was the winner.  Now they are in counter negotiations back and forth.  If all works out, she should have a contract early next week.  And in other news .... she called me last night and asked me if I would come out in August to help her get moved in.  Hmm - think that could be a possibility!!  Her car arrived a week ago and her household goods arrived on Friday.  They will go to storage until she is ready for them but she is happy to have her own car now.