Card Box with Cards

My sister and mom are going to a Lions Club Convention this weekend.  My sister, Angela, asked me if I could donate some items for the cause.  I made them a few calendars (digital) and Sonny made a couple of wooden calendar holders for them.  Then I pulled out all my Paper Pumpkin kits that I had not totally used all the parts and pieces and made several cards plus a little box to put them in.  These are two of the sets below.

Today was bittersweet.  I went to the my friend's funeral.  It was a lovely tribute to her but oh so sad. I started crying driving to town and the flood works kept going through the ceremony.  She and Julian had a combined family of 5 boys - 2 hers and 3 his but she raised them all.  They were all there with their families.  Her grandson is in the Marines and looked so handsome in his dress blues.  I just about lost it when he walked down the church aisle carrying the urn with her ashes and at the end, when he retrieved them from the altar and carried them out of the church.  And then, more crying when I heard the bagpipes playing outside the church as we all departed.  I don't think I've ever attended a Catholic funeral.  I told one of my friends who I was sitting with and who is also Catholic, that they sure do a lot of getting up and sitting down.  She told me that was their version of aerobics! After the church service, we visited with the family and had lunch that the Womens Auxillary had prepared.  There was a slide show of pictures of Sharon over the years that was nice to watch.  They also had music playing - a lot of 60s music with a lot of Aretha Franklin!  Sharon's ringtone was an Aretha song so it was very fitting.

I got my new refrigerator today!  So glad.  Tomorrow will be spent transferring all my food into it!

Shoebox Cards from Quarterly PLUS Weekly Deals!

Finally getting around to sharing the Shoebox Swap cards I made at the Wilmington Quarterly.  I finished a little over half the cards Friday night (stamping cards for Marianne also!).  So, when Margaret was visiting, while she worked on the club projects, I finished up these cards.  Hope they give you some inspiration.

This week's Weekly Deals are great!  I have already ordered the tree framelits today!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sonny is getting along pretty good.   He pushed himself a little too much on Sunday with taking a shower that morning (his first since surgery) and then going to Big Al's to watch the football game.   He was wiped out and hurting a little bit when we got home.  Plus, he didn't like the fact that he had to pull the Steelers through without a beer!!  But we got a win .... as usual, in the last seconds!  Yesterday the Physical Therapist came and worked with him.  And today, we had to go looking for a new refrigerator so he has slept a lot this afternoon.  When it rains, it pours!  We had noticed since he came home from the hospital, that the cold packs he puts on his hip were not freezing totally.  (I change them out every 2-3 hours for him.)  I pulled out the bottom piece of the 'fridge and vacuumed the coils but it didn't seem to do much.  So, I have taken most of the food and put it in our outside freezer and put what I can in our small beer refrigerator in the garage.  I called Sears yesterday about getting a 'fridge from them, but their delivery date was going to be Nov. 19!  So we went to Lowe's Home Imp. today but the one we wanted was not in stock.   I ended up going online and found one at Home Depot and it will be delivered on Thursday!!  Yay!

I lost one of my best Lake Norman friends yesterday - the "good Sharon" as she always told me.  Sharon has been battling a blood disorder (similar to what Robin Roberts from GMA had) for about five years.  For the past year or so, she has been doing great.  But she started feeling bad in August shortly before they were supposed to go on a cruise.  They ended up canceling the cruise and she had several blood transfusions and platelets over the past couple of months.  I visited her in the hospital last Sunday and she was did not look good at all.  It scared me. Wednesday after Sonny's surgery, I went to see her again and she looked so much better.  But that evening, I stopped by her room as I was leaving and she was not in the room.  I was told that she was moved to Critical Care where she stayed for a couple of days.  She was taken to Hospice late Friday.  I went to see her Saturday morning, knowing I was saying my final good bye to her.  She told me she just couldn't fight any more but she wanted to make it through Sunday since that was their 40th wedding anniversary.  She died Monday at noon.  Luckily her children were able to get here in time.  Sharon was the first friend I made when I moved here nine years ago and I will miss her terribly.  We played bridge together every Monday.  We will have a big gap at the bridge table now.

Video - Alternative Cards for October Paper Pumpkin

I have really enjoyed the October Paper Pumpkin.  I made several alternative cards from the kit and just a few supplies that I had on hand.  Check out my video to see the cards.

Lighthearted Leaves Watercolored

What a looonnnng day!!  We had the alarm set for 4 a.m. but somehow the volumn was turned down and I didn't hear it until 4:30.  Five hours sleep for a gal who needs her 8 (and sometimes plus!) is not good!  But we had plenty of time and got to the hospital about 5:30 - 15 minutes early (and that included my stop at Dunkin Donuts for my Mocha Coolata and donut.  They took Sonny back to surgery about 7 and were real good about keeping me informed several times during his surgery.  The surgeon came out around 10 to tell me all had gone well and he was in Recovery.  He arrived upstairs in his room a little after noon - really groggy.  He slept just about all day until about 5:00.  The Physical Therapist came by about 3 and took him on a short walk.  It's funny how different this hip replacement is from his other one in June.  He was a lot more alert after the other one.  He also is having a little bit more pain this time, but nothing drastic.  He is so uncomfortable in the hospital bed and ready to come home.  When I left him tonight, he was sitting up in the recliner chair.  I'm just hoping he doesn't try to get in the bed by himself!  He wanted me to leave the walker near him but I didn't.  He is not supposed to get up without the nurses assisting him.  I'll be going back in the morning and hopefully, bring him home around lunch time.  When I got home tonight, Sammie was sure happy to see me!

I love to color and watercolor so that is what I did tonight while watching the Country Music Awards.  (I love me some Blake Shelton & Luke Bryan!!)  When I first looked through the Holiday Catalog, I was not impressed with the leaf set, Lighthearted Leaves.  But I have since changed my mind after seeing so many great cards using this set.  I just received the set along with the Leaf Framelits that correspond with the stamp set last week and finally had time to play with it tonight.  I stamped the image with Versamark and embossed the image.

This first one was watercolored using the ink in the top of the stamp pad and my Aqua Pen.  The colors I used were:  Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss.  I embossed the image with Copper Embossing Powder (which SU does not carry any more but I have a whole jar left and I like it!)  !The DSP on the card is retired also.)

I LOVE this card!!

So I decided to try it in reds.  This card uses Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Watermelon Wonder and Rose Red.  This card is embossed with gold powder.  The paper is really, really old - retired several years ago.

What do you think?  Which one is your favorite??

Quarterly Swaps

It's about time I shared some of the things I made for the Wilmington SU Quarterly.

First off, here is my 3D item.  I love the old fashion Christmas Designer Paper in the holiday catalog (Home for Christmas - pg. 9).  If you don't mind "fussy cutting," this paper is great.  On the Square Pillow Box below, I stamped snowflakes on the Wild Wasabi box and then wrapped a piece of the DSP (I tore the edge) around the box.  Next I stamped the circle with Real Red ink using the Among the Branches stamp set (pg 39).  I cut out the little deer from the DSP and adhered him under the red circle.  Next was the wooden Snowflake (pg 23).  I tied a piece of Linen Thread and adhered it over the snowflake.  Don't see it?  Well, I forgot to do it on this box so just use your imagination!  Inside of each pillow box was a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!

I just love the Christmas Cuties stamp set (pg 19) and such fun coloring him on this tag.  I used the Lost Lagoon Striped Cotton Ribbon (in annual catalog) and stapled it with the sentiment from Holly Jolly Greetings (pg 34) onto my tag.  I used the great Lots of Labels Framelits to cut the Lost Lagoon, Pear Pizazz and Whisper White card stock.  The added touch is the metallic doily!

I did two tags for the swap, volunteering to be a Swap Angel for the tag swap.  I should have plenty of tags this Christmas!  For this tag, I layered the Cucumber Crush cardstock over the Real Red.  I punched both of them with the Banner Triple Punch.  The sentiment is cut out using the Lots of Labels Framelits. I punched out a snowflake for the top and tied the Real Red Pom Pom Trim through the hole.

This card is my favorite!  But I won't do this many layers again on a swap card!!  The ballerina was hand cut from the Sparkly Seasons stamp set (pg 40).  I cut out about 30 of them!  (Gave me something to do while watching tv at night!)  You can't tell it but there is a clear transparency on top of the ballerina and the Silver Glimmer Paper.

I'll be spending the day tomorrow at the hospital.  Sonny is having his other hip replaced tomorrow.  Hope everything goes as well as the first one did.  We have to be at the hospital at 5:45 AM!  Who gets up at that time of day????  Anyway, I better hit the sack!

Birthday Box

I have a special box to share with you today.  My friend, Judy, made this Box in a Box for my birthday.  She has given me the directions and a few little kraft boxes (SU) so I can make my own.  I'll share them with you when I make them.  It is really cool!

Here is the box closed with the belly band around it.  Aren't the fall leaves beautiful on top along with the wooden leaf?!

When you remove the belly band and open the box, the inside is decorated with fall DSP and  "Happy Birthday" thinlets.  The inside box has more fall leaves on it.

The inside box opens up and there is a small card and candy inside.

The original one Judy learned to make had a small birthday inside instead of the second box.  I can't wait to make one of these!

Here is the birthday card I received from Ashley last week.    

Halloween Self Closing Bags

This week was my husband's "guys get away."  He and his friends go a couple of times a year (spring and fall) to Georgetown to go skeet shooting.  It is a fun time for him .... and a fun time for me!  Margaret and Graham come down and Graham goes with Sonny and Margaret and I are on our own for a few days to play in my stamp room.  We took full advantage of it this week too!  We went to a comedy club with friends on Tuesday night at the Galway Hooker in Huntersville and that was a lot of fun.  There was a couple in the group from England so Margaret was right at home visiting with them.  The comedian was one of the best I have heard at the Hooker and didn't feel a need to use dirty language constantly.  In fact, I don't think I ever heard a swear word from him.  I am not a prude, but it seems that comedians feel the need to use the "F" word a lot in their act and it is just not funny.  Margaret worked on the cards from my October Stamp Club while I finished up the shoebox cards from last week's quarterly.  I showed Margaret a cute Self Closing Bag that I had made at Allison's a few months ago and she went to town making them for her family for Halloween.

We got the instructions from a video on Dawn Griffiths's blog.  As you can tell, after she did the first one, she found them easy to make!

Today is Sonny's birthday (69th!!)  After dropping off Margaret and Graham, I treated Sonny to lunch at a deli/restaurant in Langtree Village.  After his week of travels and eating a lot, he did not want to do much.  My sandwich was delicious - their version of a BLT.  It had bacon, arugula, fried green tomato and pimento cheese on a grilled ciabatta roll!  No one else in my family would have enjoyed it but I sure did!  Here is the card I made for Sonny for his birthday using some paper I bought several years ago.  He has several of the "Old Guys Rule" tees.

Happy Birthday!

Remember me?  Last week was crazy busy for me plus it was my birthday!!  (We won't discuss my age!)  We returned from Pittsburgh Monday after dropping Ashley at the airport around noon.  Most of the week I was busy catching up and getting my swaps ready for the Wilmington Quarterly.  Thursday was my birthday and we met my family for dinner.  I had a dr's check up Thursday morning; then went shopping.  After that, I pampered myself with a manicure.  I received some lovely birthday cards which I want to share.

From Brenda Elliott - those flowers are popped up and punched individually - several layers - gorgeous!

Carol Bartle

Sharon

from Joanne

from Joyce

from Margaret

Just had to show all the dimensions on this card plus she handmade the pearl bits on the card.  Just lovely!

from NC Demos

Sharon Ridgway

Marianne

Beach Scene w/Edgelits

Another version of the Sleigh Ride Edgelits!  This is definitely not a winter, Christmas-y card!  

I used the Edgelits for the beach and just cut the houses off.  I stamped the sand with Gorgeous Grunge and the clouds with Work of Art.  I made the sun with Kinda Eclectic.  I also used the stripes from Gorgeous Grunge for the water.  Love these colorful houses  -  just makes me happy!!

We had a great time in Pittsburgh last weekend.  But, it was colder than what I was expecting.  Luckily, Sonny told me just as we were leaving that it was supposed to rain so I grabbed the jacket that I bought last spring in San Diego that has a warm lining.  Ashley and I still went to WalMart to get some warm underwear.  We did a lot of eating all the good food there!  Friday night we went to a favorite Italian restaurant for pasta.  Saturday we went to Danny's for our hoagies.  Sunday night after the game, we went to the "O" for hot dogs.  Sonny has been going there ever since he was in college.  It is less than a block from Univ. of Pittsburgh and was a favorite of his then as well as now.  Our favorite part of the whole trip was the WIN over Arizona.  I did not think we had a chance but I was wrong!  Our quarterback (Rothisburger) is still injured and our back-up (Michael Vick) just has not been doing so good.  But Vick pulled his hamstring late in the game and our third string quarterback came in and played great!!  That was the secret I guess - think Arizona relaxed thinking they had it made when our third string came in!!  Don't count out the Steelers though!

Yummy Hoagie!

Check out that score!!

We had great seats!!

Sleigh Ride Edgelits .... again!

What a busy week I have had!  I had Stamp Club on Tuesday and Thursday; Wednesday I did a Card Tin class that ended up lasting 5 hours (but we had a good time!).  Wednesday night I celebrated my nephew's 21st birthday at Carolina Ale House with family and friends.  Last night, I volunteered at the Davidson Players production of "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell."  I worked the box office - which consisted of checking people's name off as they arrived and giving them their tickets.  I was able to see the play after I closed the box office. It was an interesting play.  Here's a brief synopsis of the story:

In "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell," it's spring 1939, and the public is eagerly anticipating the release of "Gone With the Wind." Actors are on set; cameramen are standing by, and the bills are piling up for one of the most expensive movies ever made. The only problem? The script is a stinker!

Legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick grabs his new director Victor Fleming, famed scriptwriter Ben Hecht and his loyal secretary Miss Peabody, and locks himself and them in his office, ordering cases of bananas and peanuts for "brain food" until they have a new script. To make matters even more complicated, Ben Hecht has never read the novel, so Selznick and Fleming frantically act out key scenes while he types.

It's a wild and exhilarating ride as Selznick and his team race to meet their deadline and save the epic movie from becoming an epic flop. A comedy, "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell" celebrates not just the effort, but the enormous risk that goes into creating a great work of art.

"Selznick really was losing money every day; the pressure was truly mounting, and all signs pointed to very real failure. But they succeeded - wildly succeeded! 

I have been having fun using the Sleigh Ride thinlets.  Here is another card I made below with a second image of a close up of the circle part..  .

We are headed up north to Pittsburgh this weekend.  We will be meeting Ashley there and going to the football game on Sunday.   I can't wait to have a Danny's Hoagie!!