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.

Inkie Fingers!

Aren't sunflowers beautiful?  I made this sunflower using the Starburst Thinlit.  I can't believe how many different things you can do with that thinlit.  Don't know why it took me so long to purchase it!

I die cut the starburst and then used a circle die to trim off the longer edges.  I also die cut a circle for underneath the "sun."  Then I ran them both through the Woodland embossing folder.  The center piece is cut out with a circle die and embossed with dots.  A simple and fun card.

I lived up to my blog name yesterday and got some really inky fingers!  I mistakenly put my fingers on the Dapper Denim ink pad yesterday and this is the result:

 Look what I got in my last Stampin' Up box!!

Sammie has been my constant companion the last few days I have been working in my stamp room!  She crawls into that box and curls up and sleeps the day away!  At night she is downstairs with us and gets in her "Bo Box."  For those who don't know, that is a box from Bojangles that my sister & mom brought to her!

NC Blog Hop - My Favorite New Stamp (Jars)

It's the last Sunday of the month and that means it's time for another NC Demos Blog Hop!  This month we are each featuring our favorite new stamp set from the new annual catalog.  I am totally in love with Jars of Love - the stamp set and the framelits!  Oh - there are so many ideas running through my head for this set.  I used this set last week at Stamp Club and we made two different cards.  If you missed that post, check them out HERE.

This is the very first card I made with Jars of Love - flowers being poured out of the jar.

First I stamped the jar in the top left of the white card stock in Memento Black Ink.  Next stamp a bunch of flowers in the jar and coming out of it using Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo and Mint Macaron inks.  I used my fringe scissors to cut a little grass from Old Olive card stock, wrapped a piece of the Sweet Sugarplum ribbon around it and adhered it to the black panel which is then adhered to the card base (Sweet Sugarplum).  Die cut several flowers and adhere them to the grass.  Finally put a small pearl in the center of the die cut flowers and stamp your sentiment.

This next card is my favorite and it is a shaker.  It would be perfect to welcome a new baby!

My first step was to stamp the background pieces onto Whisper White.  For the mint macaron stripes, I brushed off the dust from the Brushstrokes Background stamp (don't know why I haven't used it much) and just stamped it on an angle.  (Another one that would work for this is the new Diagonal Stripe background stamp.)  I blotted some of the ink off the stamp before putting it to the paper and spritzed it a little bit with water because I didn't want it too dark.  The background piece on the bottom - Pink Pirouette - is made using the same Diagonal Stripe stamp and just stamping once horizontally and next vertically to achieve a checkered look.  Use a black fine marker to make stitch lines around the edges. I punched the large star using the Star Framelits from Soft Sky and stamped on it with one of the Timeless Texture stamps.  The small stars at the top are from the Star Framelits also. There is a piece of white twine wrapped around the top of the card before adhering it to a Mint Macaron card.  The jar is stamped twice on Thick White Cardstock in Mint Macaron ink and die cut.  I stamped a background piece one one of the die cut jars with different sized star stamps that I found in different sets in pink and blue.  I die cut a piece of acetate in the jar shape and adhered it to the back of the second die cut jar.  I used strips of dimensional tape on the edges but BEFORE you remove the backing on the tape, fill your jar with tiny stars and sequins.  Then take the cover off the adhesive and adhere the star stamped background on the back of the jar and acetate.  Stamp the jar lid with Versamark and emboss it with gold embossing powder.  Die cut and adhere to top of jar.  Punch out the tiny hearts in Mint and adhere them to the jar lid.  Wrap a piece of white twine around the jar and adhere it to the card.  Tie a piece of ribbon in a bow and use a Glue Dot to adhere it to the card.  Adhere a button to the ribbon.  I used my computer to type the saying and cut it out.


My next card was really simple to do.  I stamped the jar image onto a piece of vellum using Staz-on black ink and die cut it.  I die cut a piece of gold glitter paper and adhered it on top of the vellum.  Next stamp several of the leaves onto Whisper White card stock (3 3/4" x 5 1/2").  Stamp a couple of them full strength and a couple of them "second generation."  Adhere the vellum jar on the page using dimensional strips to the edges.  Tie a piece of ribbon around the left side before adhering the white piece to the Pool Party card.  I used a piece of retired Pool Party glitter ribbon.

My final card was also a simple one and a fun one to make!  I have flowers coming out of the jar above so this one needed fireflies coming out (or lightning bugs - which term do you use?  I say lightning bugs.)

I stamped the jar onto a piece of scrap white card stock and die cut it. (but you could just as easily stamp direct to the card.)  I used daubers to sponge a bit of Soft Sky around the edges of the jar and then adhered it to the left side of the card.  Next stamp the fireflies in black ink on the jar and flying up and off the right side of the Whisper White.  Use a Daffodil Delight marker and color the wings.  I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to put a tiny bit of glue on each firefly and sprinkled Gold Glitter on them.  The "Just Sayin" is from Crazy About You and the other sentiment is from the Jars set.   Mount the white card onto a piece of black card stock and then onto the Daffodil Delight card.

OK - that's all for me.  But not for you - continue along with the Blog Hop and see what the other NC demos' favorite sets are!  The full line up below will help you move along so you can see all the projects.

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

HOSTESS CODE info

JUNE HOSTESS CODE:  49DUAQCN

Here is HOW to shop online and use the HOSTESS CODE:

• Order On-line HERE  (be sure my name, Sharon Maranich, is shown in the upper right corner.)
• Create your own personal account OR sign in if you already have an account.
• Start shopping by adding products to your "Shopping Bag"
• At anytime before checking out, you will need to enter and apply the HOSTESS CODE. (see screen shot below)  Don't forget to click APPLY
• Complete your shopping
• Then check out.

If you are in my club and are unable to come, this is another way you can put your order in and it will still be counted as your club obligation.  Plus, it will be shipped directly to your house.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge with Swirly Birds

Once upon a time .... I used to do a lot of card challenges.  Splitcoast Stampers have several challenges every week - from color challenges to design challenges.  A lot of stamping blogs also offer different challenges.  With this card I am doing a design challenge from the Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch (say that 10 times fast!)  They are celebrating their 200th challenge with this design.  I was a member of the Paper Craft Crew when it first started and did weekly cards for a few years as a member of the team.  Back then, I mainly did digital cards for the challenge since that was when Stampin' Up still supported My Digital Studio.  Sadly, that is not the case anymore (and I am still sad about it!!)  I decided to get out my new Swirly Birds set.  This is the cutest stamp set!  It's funny - when I first saw it in our pre-order, I did not like it so I didn't purchase it early.  Well, guess what was on my first order when the new catalog came out!!!

I used several stamp sets on this card.  For the Dapper Denim striped background, I used the  Diagonal Stripes Background Stamp (pg 125).  For the light Flirty Flamingo center background, I used one of the watercolor wash stamps in Work of Art, stamping off once before stamping on the white card stock.  I like the combo of denim and pink in this card, what do you think?

Here is the sketch if you are interested in making a card with it.  You might want to visit Pam's blog since she is giving away a pretty good prize this week!  (Sunny Girl Scraps)  Also stop in at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge Blog and see the other cards for this challenge.  Many of team members are also giving away blog candy.

Bless Your Heart!

I really like the Starburst Framelit.  I don't know what took me so long to order it but when I started seeing some cards others had made with it, I bought it.  So glad it carried over to the new annual catalog!

In this first card, I die cut the starburst in Real Red and put it on a black card base.  The DSP and ribbon sticking out of the sentiment circle are all retired and some I found in my (huge) stash of retired items!!  The sentiment is a new stamp set, Layering Love.  When I shared this with my Stamp Club gals, a couple of them commented that this card would look great in red, white and blue.  Hmmmm - maybe another idea to share!!  Stay tuned!

 This next one was an experiment using some retired Envelope Paper (Delightful Dijon).  I die cut the Starburst with Delightful Dijon as well as the Envelope Paper and put it on a background of Envelope Paper adhered to a white card.  I just turned the top layer of the Starburst image a light bit to the right so the Dijon cardstock showed on the side.  I fussy cut the Layering Love sentiment and adhered it on top of a Dapper Denim star.

This card is pretty much like the red and black card above.   I just added a little bling.  Don't you love that saying "Bless Your Heart"?   You can find it in the Jar of Love stamp set.  We had a discussion yesterday at Stamp Club about Southerners using that sentiment.  I am a Southerner but that is not something I say a lot.  One of the gals (who is from the north) said she had heard that was the Southern way to say "F U" .... what????  I don't believe that!  I tried to set them straight but since I was the only Southerner in the group, not sure if they bought it!  What do you think????  Comment below please!

Serene Serenity DSP

These are the other cards we made this month at Stamp Club.

This first one was super simple! (I actually CASEd the idea from Stamp with Brian who CASEd it from someone else!)  I used a piece of DSP from the Serene Serenity pack.  This paper is filled with gorgeous inspirational pieces on one side and the other side has abstract patterns that are great for backgrounds.  I paired the DSP with Delightful Dijon and it matched perfectly.  The card itself is Tip Top Taupe - a color I have not used very much.  The sentiment uses Thoughtful Banners (a must have!) punched out with the Duet Banner Punch (both borrowed from my sister but on my "must have" list.)

This next card served double duty this month.  It was my swap card for Allison's monthly meeting as well as a card for my club ladies to make.  It showcases all the new In Colors.  I made a template with the Starburst Thinlit and sponged the color onto the white card.  The flowers are from Crazy About You and Flower Patch and punched out with the corresponding punch (Flower Medallion) and die (Flower Fair thinlits.)   The sentiment is Hello You Thinlits.  And for the finishing touch, I added a bit of silver metallic thread under the flower.

Hope your weekend was a good one.  We drove over to Reed Gold Mine on Saturday.  I didn't strike it rich though!  In fact, I didn't even pan for gold!  Reed Gold Mine was the first place gold was discovered in the U.S.  They were putting on an American Revolution reenactment that I though Sonny would enjoy.  It was ok but something to do on a Saturday!  Sunday we spent most of the day on the lake "chilling."  Ashley is house hunting in Hawaii.  She has discovered that her money will not go too far there in the housing market.  She spent most of Friday with a realtor looking at homes and was pretty disillusioned that evening.  She only saw one condo that she would even consider.  They are all pretty old, small and very expensive - like 2 bedrooms for $600,000+.  Sunday she went out on her own visiting a few open houses and found one condo that she really liked - again pretty small for the money, but that's the price she'll have to pay for living in Hawaii I think.  At least it made her feel better - that there are a few nice places for sale there.  The problem is the nice ones go almost as soon as they hit the market so you are going to have to be in the right place at the right time.  The one she found yesterday will have 2 weekends for open house before they will even start to take offers.  I so wish I could be there to house hunt with her.  I love to do that plus I have been with her every place she moved to look for houses.