Stitched From the Heart

Keep your fingers crossed that my computer doesn't crash.  It has been running so sloooow lately.  I've taken it apart today and cleaned inside and I am hoping that will help.  Guess I need to back it up - just in case!

How do like my new blog heading?  Those are some pictures I took last week in Sonoma.  

Anyway .... I wanted to share with you a new product that Stampin' Up just released yesterday - a fabulous new framelit called Stitched Shapes.   I already have them on my wish list and will be ordering soon!  I think they are going to add a lot to our cards.  I like to do piercing around my layers but don't usually do it because it is too time consuming.  This set includes 12 dies - 4 circles, 4 squares and 4 ovals with stitching around the edges.  And to add to the fun, the coordinating stamp sets are also on sale for 25% off for the whole month of November!!




And here is a sweet video featuring the Stitched from the Heart framelits.  Notice that JOY on the mantle!  I am going to M's and look for those and decorate the letters with the stitched red circles!!

Here are a few pictures from my San Francisco trip.  Of course, most of the pictures with me in them are on Ashley's camera!

Hanging on the cable car!

Panoramic view of Golden Gate taken from the Presidio right before we drove across the bridge.

These hearts were in a park across from our hotel.  This one was painted by Tony Bennett - I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

She may ride forever above the streets of San Francisco!

Where have I been you are asking!  A little bit of everywhere!  I left NC on Oct. 24 headed to San Francisco.  What a day that was!  I had a short (I thought) layover in Detroit (arrived at 11:30 for noon departure) but when I landed, I had a message that my plane was delayed a bit.  When I got to the gate, they were offering $500 in vouchers for volunteering to take the 5:30 flight to San Francisco.  No, I didn't want to leave that late.  Ha, ha!  Should have taken them up on the offer.  Was able to get on the plane around 2 p.m. - taxied away from the gate a bit only to have Traffic Control call the plane back to the gate and we all departed!  There were bad winds from the south for San Fran and some of the runways were shut down.  We ended up being able to leave around 4!  When I arrived in San Francisco and collected my luggage, I took the airport train over to the BART station which is their rapid transit system.  I had decided to take this route to the hotel instead of a $60 taxi.  Got to BART, bought my ticket ($8) and boarded the subway.  After getting seated, they announced there was a train ahead blocking the tracks so we had to get off the train and go to another one on a different set of tracks!  Finally I'm on my way on the second BART train and when I arrived at the station, I could not find my ticket (that I needed to get out of the station!)  Think I put it in my pocket and it must have dropped out when I pulled my phone out!  Thought I was going to be like the old Kingston Trio song, "Charlie on the MTA" - instead it would be - Sharon on the BART!  The song's lyrics tell of Charlie, a man who boards an MTA subway car, but then cannot get off because he does not have enough money for the exit fare.

When he got there the conductor told him,

"One more nickel."

Charlie could not get off that train.

The song goes on to say that every day Charlie's wife hands him a sandwich "as the train comes rumbling through" because he is stranded on the train. 

He may ride forever

'neath the streets of Boston

He's the man who never returned.

 

I ended up going to the Security Office and they let me through the gate!  Ashley was waiting for me - with a sandwich (not really! but she was waiting.)

We headed off to the Marriott, Union Square, just a short 2-3 blocks away and then on to have dinner and a well deserved cocktail!

Notice the bags under my eyes!!

Before I started on my little adventure, we met the family at a restaurant in Huntersville on Saturday (10/22) night (my birthday) to celebrate mine, Sonny's and Greg's birthdays.  Sonny and I had just picked up my brother-in-law (Jack) from the airport and he was able to join us too.  Fun!

Marianne and Kim

Sonny and I

Mom and Angela

The boys - Greg, Jack and Sonny

I'll be sharing more pictures of my trip in the next few days!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!  Today is my special day and I plan on doing what I want to do all day!  Not sure what that will be, but I will enjoy myself!  I know I plan on going out for breakfast with my hubbie.  Then he is going to drop me off at Belk's and Kohl's for a little shopping while he visit with his chiropractor.  My brother in law from Texas is flying in Saturday evening and after picking him up at the airport, we are going to meet my mom, Angela, Marianne and Greg for a birthday dinner.  We will be celebrating not only my birthday but Sonny's (10/30) and Greg's (11/1).  Jack (brother in law) is not coming here just for my birthday.  He and Sonny are going skeet shooting next week in Georgetown, SC.  I'll at least get to see Jack on this visit.  The last time he was here, I was out of town and the last few times I've been in Texas, he has had conflicts and we weren't able to meet.  I'll have a couple of days to visit with him before I head off to meet Ashley in San Francisco on Monday!  Ashley and I plan on being in San Fran until Wednesday and then renting a car and driving to Sonoma for a little wine tasting! 

I have gotten so many great cards this week - some hand made and some bought - but they were all much appreciated.  Here are some of the hand made ones I have received.

from Joyce

from my upline, Carol

from the NC Demo Group

from Gayle

from Sharon

Sharon's card inside

Aren't I the lucky one?!

October Stamp Club Cards

For this month's Stamp Club card, I concentrated on fall and the holidays. 

If you would like to order any of the items to make these cards, please order online using my October code: 6G7GE4YW   Your order will be mailed directly to you.  You can also check out the Clearance items and include them with your order.

I used the following stamps for this card: Cookie Cutter Halloween; Goulish Grunge; Happy Scenes; Timeless Textures

l  Stamp the Brick Wall (from Ghoulish Grunge) on the white card with Smoky Slate ink.  Use the little splatter stamp (Timeless Textures) and stamp with Pumpkin Pie ink. 

l  Stamp Spider Web in corner with black ink.  

  Next the trick was to find a spider!  Finally found one on a retired set from last year, Happy Scenes.  Probably just as easy to use a marker and draw him in! 

The 3 black squares are 1 3/4" each. The Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizazz & Wisteria Wonder square were die cut with the Squares Thinlits.

l  Next stamp creatures onto white paper & punch out w/Cookie Cutter Punch; color and adhere to the black squares.  Stamp the sentiment (again, I used a retired set called And Many More.

 The Ugly Christmas Sweater card was a big hit!  I had others to choose from but everyone picked the Christmas one.   If you Google Cable Knit Sweater Card, you will find a bunch of different sweaters with instructions.  It's really pretty simple.  Run your card stock through the Big Shot using the Cable Knit Embossing Folder.  This is a really thick folder and I found it helpful to mist the card stock with a little water before embossing.  For the white shirt underneath, this is the white card base.  I used the Circle Thinlits (or a 2" Circle Punch) to punch a circle.  The ribbing is made using a Crimper but if you do not have one of those, you can use your Score Board and score on every line.  This is a fun card to play with and come up with lots of different ideas as I did below.

 The next card uses the beautiful Petals and Paisleys!  I love the DSP, the stamp set and the framelits!  Here are my directions:

Emboss the Rich Razzleberry card stock with the Petal Burst embossing folder.

Adhere DSP to top of Razzleberry card stock.

Tie knot in Mint Macaron ribbon and adhere around Razzleberry card.

Adhere Razzleberry card to Night of Navy card.

Stamp sentiment onto Vanilla card stock and cut out.  Matte onto Night of Navy and adhere to Razzleberry card stock.

Stamp scallop circles in different colored inks; die cut with Paisley thinlits; adhere them together with dimensionals.  Adhere Candy Dot to center.

Die cut large Paisley from Copper paper and the floral pieces from Mint Macaron and Night of Navy; arrange all onto card.

 Next is the cute little scarecrow from Cookie Cutter Halloween.

Use a sponge or dauber & sponge So Saffron on bottom of white card

Sponge Soft Sky on top (use a cloud template)

Stamp wheat from Wetlands w/Delightful Dijon on bottom of card.

On scrap white, stamp Scarecrow & color.  Use Cookie Cutter Punch & punch out.

Stamp sentiment w/Dijon ink.