Birthday Cards - a little late!

My birthday was in October & I received so many pretty cards.  Thought I'd share the the hand made cards with you!

Isn't this one gorgeous?  My good friend, Judy, made this one.  It is sparkly as she embossed the outline of the image in gold.

I love these tropical flowers!  This one was made by my English friend, Margaret.

Such a fun card from Joyce who has been in my stamp club since I started it!

Another card from one of stamp club members, Anna.  Love this image.

This card is from another Sharon or "Girlfriend" as we refer to her.  Love the Swirly Bird die cut pumpkins.

And another friend from stamp club made this pretty card.

(the front of the card above)

This card was made by my sweet daughter with a little help from her Paper Pumpkin kit.

My sister, Marianne made this card.  I love the vases of flowers.

I got this card from my NC SU Demo friends - such a great group!

Isn't this cow cute?  My upline, Carol, sent me this card.

Getaway pictures from Outer Banks

I just returned from a fun trip with my daughter, Ashley.  I drove to the Outer Banks last Thursday and Friday.  I spent Thursday night in Durham with one of Ashley's friends who was there for work and on Friday I finished the trip (with Claudia in the passenger seat!) and joined Ashley and another of her friends, Debi, in Kill Devil Hills.  We were there for the Alternate Routes Getaway Music Festival which was a lot of fun!  It was sweet of the girls to include an old lady like me and it made me feel young again (that I could hang till after midnight each night with them!)  The music was good and the weather was perfect!  The music started about 6 each night and different groups performed for about 1 1/2 hours each night.  Here are a few of my favorites.

He is with the band, Red Wanting Blue which I had heard when we visited Ashley in DC this summer.
Listen HERE for my favorite song of theirs.

Brendan James was my favorite .... and he is so cute!!

Guitarist for Alternate Routes

On Saturday, we took the wild horses tour and it was super.  I expected to see the horses on the beach but they were mostly off the beach and up where the houses were.  How would you like to have horses grazing in your back yard and going into your carport to leave a ton of poo!!  That's what they do!

Can you see her pregnant stomach?

Another fun thing we did was in Kitty Hawk.  I had read a book a few years ago by Nicholas Sparks, called Every Breath which had a mailbox in the story called Kindred Spirits.  This mailbox is in Sunset Beach, NC and was put there about 35 years ago as a place to stop and share stories.  There is a similar mailbox in Kitty Hawk called The Little Red Mailbox.  The goal for the mailbox is for anyone who comes to the beach to write a message of love and hope, or you can read the messages others have written ... which is what we did.  Inside the mailbox is a bound journal and a pen - an invitation to anyone who wants to share their thoughts.

We visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla before doing our horse tour.  We didn't climb to the top though.  I have been having knee problems a little bit and didn't want to chance it.  So instead we wandered around the grounds and in the gift shop.

Claudia, Debi, Ashley and me

View from our hotel balcony - not bad!

Hugs from Shelli

You know how I love the Paper Pumpkin kits.  Well, this one was designed by Shelli and is one of my favorites.

Christmas Trees in Plaids

I have started working on Christmas cards.  Do you realize two months from today it will be Christmas??!!!  Where does the time go?!  My theme with the cards today is Christmas trees as you can see. 

I love plaid and the the Wrapped In Plaid 6"x6" DSP is great!  The tree was stamped with Shaded Spruce ink using the Winter Woods stamp set and then die cut with the matching framelet.

This Christmas tree is die cut with the retired Pine die - again using Wrapped in Plaid DSP.

Another tree using the Wrapped In Plaid DSP.  I also used the Stitched Nested Labels and cut one end off.  

More Christmas trees!  The DSP in the background is retired.  I used the Wrapped In Plaid DSP to make the tree on the front.  I die cut different sized squares and then cut them in half to build the tree.

One more tree!  The tree and label are made with some non-Stampin' Up! paper I found in my stash.

Feels Like Frost

I highly recommend purchasing the stunning photo realistic Feels Like Frost 6x6 Designer Paper!  It is so beautiful.  I let this paper be the star of the show in the cards I made below.  The Stampin' Up! cardstock colors that coordinate with this paper is as follows:

Balmy Blue, Blushing Bride, Highland Heather, Night of Navy, Pretty Peacock, Purple Posy, Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray, Smoky Slate, Whisper White

So you have many options for cardstock and mats using Feels Like Frost!

Updated Blog & News!

Due to many requests, I have updated my blog!!  Hope you like it.  Plus, I'm sharing a few cards and Stampin' Up news with you today.

It's an exciting day!  Stampin' Up! has put a whole list of wonderful stamp sets on sale - 15% off!!  This rarely ever happens so this is a "not to miss" day.  My list continues to grow.  I will be putting in an order tonight so if you would like something, please use my Hostess Code JX9U9E44.

It's an exciting day!!  Stampin' Up! has put a whole list of wonderful stamp sets on sale - 15% off!!  This rarely ever happens so this is a "not to miss" day!  HERE is a link to the stamps that are included in this sale.

 ONLINE ORDER DEADLINE IS 11:50 MT TONIGHT!!

Here are two Christmas cards that I made using MAKING CHRISTMAS BRIGHT stamp set.  It is included in the sale today!!

This is one of my favorite cards!  The card base uses the Very Vanilla Thick Cardstock.  Next I layered a piece of Silver Foil paper and on top of that is a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  I stamped the circles and the sentiment with Versamark ink and embossed them with Silver Embossing Powder.  The bulbs and the sentiment are on Very Vanilla cardstock.  

Another favorite is this card which uses non-traditional Christmas colors.  I love the Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake together.

I've had several people inquire about Ashley and her move saga.  She is pretty well settled in her home in Maryland and loving it.  She has an offer on her condo in Hawaii and we have our fingers crossed that things will work out.  She had an inspection done last weekend and it turned out that there is not enough electricity amps getting into the condo.  BUT .... it is not her problem - it is Hawaii Electric's problem.  Last spring when I was visiting her, her neighbor was having problems and Hawaii Electric was working on fixing his electricity.  It turns out, it is a problem for the whole complex and will probably cost thousands to get it fixed!  She also has a back up offer so we are hoping one of them goes through SOON!!

Coffee Christmas

I decided to make some Christmas cards this weekend and used a retired stamp set and dies for the two cards I made. 

This one (above) is made using Cherry Cobbler and Shaded Spruce cardstock.  The stamp set is Merry Cafe (retired) with the Coffee framelits (retired).  The snowflakes are from Colorful Seasons.  Can you see how the card front is shorter than the back?  The coffee panel piece is hanging over the card front by about an inch over the Wrapped In Plaid 6" x 6" Designer stack (in Holiday Catalog.)  The Shaded Spruce cardstock is 4 1/4" x 9 3/4" and scored at 5 1/2".

This uses a piece of DSP that is layered on the Sahara Sand card base.  Sorry - I don't know what DSP pack it is from but I do know it is retired.  You could easily substitute any DSP you may have.  I wish I had sponged the edges of the DSP - think it would have made it pop.  The Seasons Greetings tag is from Tags Tags Tags which is in the Holiday catalog.

If you don't have the stamp sets or dies that I used, you could easily use the Cup of Christmas stamp set and the Cup of Cheer dies from the Holiday Catalog.  

Ashley finally got an offer on her Hawaii condo a couple of weeks ago but unfortunately, they backed out a week later.  BUT, she has gotten another offer last week which also has a contingency clause of selling their home.  We have our fingers crossed that the second offer will be the one and she won't have to make too many double mortgages!