Saturday my nephew, Harrison, graduated from Mooresville High School. The next day he took his first airplane ride! The family took a vacation to Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and who knows from there! I've been following their progress as they post on Facebook. Isn't modern technology wonderful?!! At his graduation party, there was more food than any of us could eat and this beautiful cake. His friend, Sean's grandmother made the cake with both Sean & Harrison's names on it. I think this friend is the only one who is allowed to call him Harry! My mom told him that when he was born, Marianne told her she better not ever call him Harry .... his name was Harrison! That's all any of us have ever called him so imagine our surprise to see Harry on the cake! It was a yummy cake - one layer, strawberry and the bottom layer, chocolate.
Marianne and Harrison
I have a guest designer today, my sister Marianne. She made this Father's Day card and asked me to mail it while she was gone. Isn't it great? She used the retired DSP, Mocha Morning and several punches. She ran it through the Big Shot with the dotted embossing folder before adhering it to the front of the card.
Happy Father's Day
Sammie sure missed me while I was gone and has not let me forget it either! She has certainly come out of myher shell in the past few months since I've had her. She doesn't like to see me working without giving her attention and makes sure she lays right on the keyboard or the table where I am working for me to pet her. Or her favorite thing is to bring me one of her many plastic drinking straws that she has scattered all over the house and play with her. In the picture below, she is looking down at her straw - who will get it .... her or me?
Hanging out on my desk
Here is another place she likes to hang out! It's pretty scary to me but doesn't seem to bother her.
It's time for the Wednesday Stamping Queens Sketch Challenge #43! This week we had a great sketch to work with. There are a lot of options for this sketch - make a pocket card, tuck a tag in .... etc.
I have been working hard for a few days getting all my downloads on My Digital Studio up to date. I printed out a list of ALL the downloads to date and have been highlighting the downloads that I have purchased. Yesterday I went through the list and highlighted a bunch of downloads that I want to get in the future. I ended up buying about $40 worth of new downloads yesterday so I just had to use one of them. The flowers in the card below are from Tuesday's newest downloads. You can see the newest downloads HERE. Every Tuesday Stampin' Up releases new downloads. You can view them all by clicking on the Digital tab above (in my blog title).
I just love these flowers - called Bright Blooms. They are pretty large and I just resized them (and copied and pasted them) onto the green scallop circle.
Items I used for the MDS card are:
Cardstock: So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade DSP, Flirtatious (yellow strip)
Punches: Scallop Punch (filled with green); Scallop Trim Punch
Accessories: Bright Blooms, Pearls
Stamp: Best of Everything
I received some new SU goodies yesterday but I haven't had time to play with them. We went out to dinner with friends last night. We went to an Italian restaurant in Cornelius and had a yummy meal although I have enough Baked Ziti to serve a couple more nights! Why do they give you so much? Just lower the price and give me a normal amount of food! When we got to the restaurant, Sonny & I noticed a new bar in the same area called Paddy's Pour House. It had shamrocks on the sign so we assumed it was an Irish bar. After dinner, we convinced our friends to go with us to check it out. Well .... it will not make our Top Ten list! I am sure we stuck out like a sore thumb - everyone in there was probably in their 20s, it was very loud, and didn't even have any of our Irish beverages on tap. Too bad but we have seen a sign for a new Irish bar that will be opening in Mooresville soon and we are waiting to check it out.
I am going to be a travel agent on the side! Our friends that we had dinner with are waiting for their passports to arrive. They want to take a trip to Seattle and the Vancouver area and wanted our input. They convinced me to plan it for them since we know about the area. I don't know much about Vancouver but I suggested they spend a few days in Seattle, take the ferry to the San Juan Islands and stay at a bed and breakfast on one of the islands (something I wish we had done when we lived there) and then get on the ferry and head on over to Victoria. Victoria was our favorite Canadian destination when we lived in Washington. It is such a quaint little town.
Thought you might enjoy my MDS scrapbook pages from our visit in Anchorage. We flew into and out of Anchorage. If you click on the pages, you can view them and read the journaling. I usually have a hard time with journaling on my scrapbook pages but I think that is because I usually wait too late and it is difficult to remember all the details. I'm trying not to let that happen this time!
I'm a little late with this card technique. I think this was a featured technique on Splitcoast Stampers about six months ago. I never made one of them but decided it was a good technique for this nautical card. It was a lot easier than I thought. I made this card for my nephew for his birthday .... a little bit late, but hey, better late than never!
The colors I used are Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White along with a retired Nautical DSP. I'm so glad this stamp set was included in the new SU catalog. It is so great for male cards. Here are the directions to make a telescoping card if you are so inclined.
We had a busy weekend. Friday night we enjoyed dinner at Prickley Pear in Mooresville to celebrate our friend, Bob's birthday. He and Sharon were visiting Marianne for the weekend for graduation. Saturday we attended the Mooresville High School graduation ceremonies and watched my nephew, Harrison graduate. Where have the years gone? He will be going to Central Piedmont in the fall. After the ceremony, Marianne had a party for him at mom's club house. It was fun. Today, Sonny and I went out on the boat. It was my first time on the boat all season!
The NEW Stampin' Up! Firm Foam Ink pads are great! They change your stamping experience for the better. Here's what they look like (plus check out a quick video by Shannon West from the Stampin' Up! home office - great information!)
I think you are going to love these new Stampin' Pads! Just look at all the exciting benefits listed below:
•Provide better ink coverage for your stamps!
•Light-tap stamping produces flawless images!
•Pad stays juicier for longer resulting in better ink pad longevity!
In addition, our new Stampin' Pads:
•Have a crisply printed, glossy label on the top of the pad that is easier to read and that will not fade or chip off!
•Come with color name labels in all four languages (English, Spanish, French, and German)-just choose your language, peel it off the back, and add it to the side of the pad for easy identification!
•Use the same patented flip-top case design that stores the inking surface upside down, so the pad surface stays moist!
•Are available in all colors, including our exclusive In Colors!
NOTE: Five ink colors have undergone formula changes to improve functionality and color stability with the new firm foam pads. These colors are:
•Basic Black
•Basic Gray
•Marina Mist
•Perfect Plum
•Tempting Turquoise
All five colors of the reformulated inks have been fully tested and approved. While using the new ink formula in the old Stampin' Pads is fine, we do not recommend using the old ink formula in the new firm foam pads.
Additional features you will love:
•The firm foam is nice and flat and will not become wavy.
•The firm foam material does not imprint on the stamp images like the felt pad sometimes did. However, because the firm foam material is a foam base material, the stamp image can momentarily leave an imprint on the pad, which can transfer to a second stamped image. By inking your stamp on different areas of the pad or waiting momentarily for the ink to rise back to the top, you can easily avoid this situation.
•The firm foam material is soft and has a nice bounce to it. It’s not hard like the felt is.
•The ink lay-down (how the ink is absorbed into the card stock) is even, not blotchy, and dries quickly. It has an increased opacity and stamps solid images beautifully.
Sorry for not posting yesterday - seems as I've picked up a bit of a cold since returning from our trip. I think I sneezed my head off yesterday while I was going through a box of kleenex blowing my nose. So, I'm staying close to home today and taking it easy.
I took my mom out to lunch yesterday just to get her up and out of the house. (I tried to keep my distance so she wouldn't catch my cold but at the time, I thought it was just allergies.) She did great - using her walker to go to the restaurant. We just did a short outing - to a deli for lunch and back home. But last night she called me in tears she was hurting so bad. This is getting really frustrating. Today she and Angela are getting their hair cut so we'll see how today goes. I have a call in to her doctor to discuss the situation. I hate being at the mercy of these doctors.
I finally picked my 2 free stamp sets (compliments of my SAB sales) Tuesday and put my order in for them. I ordered Everything Eleanor and From My Heart. Of course, I have a whole page of other stamps that I want on my Wish List but they will be there for another time. I also ordered all the in color cardstock, Polka Dot DSP, Dahlia embellishments, Chevron embossing folder, Delicate Designs textured folder, and was able to get a new stamp set that will be offered for $5 in July for every $50 order, Reason to Smile. Now I just have to be patient and wait for UPS to process my order and bring it to my doorstep.
In the meantime, I have been having fun playing with Papaya Collage, the new stamp set I got in the pre-order as well as the new In Colors.
I know a lot of people are on the fence about the new Summer Starfruit color. I probably am too. I love the color that it stamps. This is the first time I have used it for a card and I love how it coordinates with the other colors. I stamped the background with Versamark to add a little contrast to the color. The frame is stamped with Midnight Muse and the leaves are stamped with Gumball Green. So what do you think?
It's Wednesday, so that means it's time for another sketch challenge from the Stampin' Queens. One of the things that I love about these sketch challenges, is how versatile the sketches are. Here is this weeks sketch:
I decided to do a card about traveling in honor of my recent Alaska trip. I used the May 22 download, World Traveler to make this digital card. I finally got it to download today by turning off my Norton security options. It wasn't SU's fault - turns out, it was Norton that was blocking it and deleting it since it was a new and quite large download. So, now can get started scrapbooking my pictues.
When I returned from our Alaska trip and picked up the mail, I had two great Monday Mailer cards!! Such fun plus ... they are wonderful cards. Remember, we were to use retiring stamps. I am really going to miss these stamp sets - especially Three Little Words. It always came in handy for a sentiment.
I needed to send a birthday card out today but luckily, I had left a card partially finished on my desk when I went away. So I was able to quickly finish it today and get it in the mail. It will still be late, but at least not too late!!
I used Forest Friends for this card. I honestly don't know if I used this set but a couple of times! Wish I'd remembered it at Easter when I was looking for a rabbit!
World Traveler Photobook Template
I downloaded some newly released My Digital Studio templates and photobooks this weekend. One of them, World Traveler, was released on May 22. I thought it would be great for my Alaska pictures and have been wanting to start scrapbooking with it. Unfortunately, there is a glitch with my computer and I can't get it to download. I have never had this problem with any of the downloads so I am waiting to speak to the technical geeks at SU to fix it - hopefully tomorrow!!
Every Tuesday, Stampin' Up release new digital products. They are announced on My Digital Studio.net so if you have MDS, check them out each week. You can also access all the downloads and all the products offered for MDS HERE or by clicking "Digital Items" just below my blog banner.
ALSO - if you have My Digital Studio, then go get your new In Colors! The new 2012-2014 In Colors (Gumball Green, Midnight Muse,
Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, and Summer Starfruit) are
available for FREE when you update your software. Not only will you see
them in your color palette, but you'll get the card stock as well. You can update your software by clicking Help (in MDS)
and then Check for Updates, Make sure you take advantage of this offer!
I'm home!! We got back Friday and I've been trying to catch up on my sleep ever since! We had a slight delay on our return flight - it was delayed several hours. We were supposed to leave Anchorage at 8:30; instead our flight left at 11:30 making us miss our connection in Houston. But luckily, we got on a flight leaving Houston at 10:00 am and arrived home around 1:30 p.m. only to find that our car battery was dead! Welcome home! We were both exhausted after being awake over 24 hours. We both only grabbed a couple of hours sleep on the plane. Saturday, I slept till about 11 a.m. and finally woke Sonny up around 1 pm!!
My mom ended up having another surgery while I was gone. She had her first back surgery about a week before I left town. But, she was still hurting and not progressing like she should have. So, she went back to the doctor and had an MRI done. A week later ... when she went back to the dr. for the follow-up, he finally looked at the MRI and saw a mass where the incision was. So, they sent her over to the hospital and prepped her for surgery on Thursday. It turned out to be a blood clot pressing up against the nerve. They kept her over night this time and now that she is home, she is doing much better. The incision is hurting her, but she seems to be able to get up and around much better than before. Hopefully, this will do the trick.
I haven't had a chance to do any stamping since I got back home but hope to do some this week to share. In the meantime, I will share a few more of my Alaska pictures.
We went to Seward on Tuesday which is on the coast and pretty rainy. It rained the whole time we were there,. We were scheduled to go on a day long wildlifemand glacier viewing cruise on Wednesday but because of the bad weather, we were only able to go out into Prince William Sound to look at wildlife. As it turned out, it was a good thing! The closer we got to the open water, the more my stomach turned. I never get sea sick, but I have learned to never say never! I ended up standing out on the back deck in the cool air during most of the trip with the other people who were feeling queasy! But before I started feeling bad, I was able to see a lot of wildlife - sea otters, lots of bald eagles, porpoises, seals, cormorants, and puffins but no whales. The scenery was breath taking with waterfalls and a couple of glaciers.
Enjoy this video of the porpoises that were swimming along side the ship for quite some time. (hope it works!)
Ashley & I at the beginning of the cruise on the ship. We were all bundled up - that wind was cold!
Sea Otters lounging around on the rocks. They also "sang" for us!
Sea Otters were posing for us on the top of the rock!
These are Black Legged Kittiwakes. There were thousands nesting at the end of Cape Resurrection. They secure their nests to the sheer cliffs.
End of the day catch - unfortunately, not ours!!
Remember - you can click on the pictures to see them better.
On Sunday after we visited the "resort" and ice hotel, we drove to North Pole, Alaska! It's one of those towns that is typical of Alaskan towns - if you blink, you miss it! But this one would be hard to miss. Driving through North Pole in any season you will notice Christmas decorations, street names, and light poles that reflect their motto - "Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round." We drove down Santa Claus Lane with giant candy cane light poles and stopped at the Santa Claus House, the official home of Santa Claus himself. Many of the streets bear holiday names: Santa Claus Lane, Snowman Lane, Kris Kringle, Mistletoe, Holiday Rd., Saint Nicholas Drive, North Star Drive, Blitzen, and Donnor. Street lights are decorated in candy cane motifs and many buildings are painted with Christmas colors and designs. Live reindeer, a variety of photo opportunities, and Santa Claus himself are available for photographs. The only thing missing was the cold weather! We walked around in long sleeve tees. It's amazing how warm it has been on our trip - we haven't needed our coats at all. In fact, most of the time, in our hotel rooms, we have needed air conditioning and not all the hotels have it!
Reindeer - none of them had a red nose though!!
Mural on outside of the building
I loved this mural on the building!
For over 60 years, they have been sending letters to children all over the world with the North Pole postmark and the assurance to the child that Santa is watching and will be making a visit soon.
We ended the day by returning to Fairbanks and wandering around Pioneer Park which is a themed park emphasizing historic Fairbanks. It is a really nice 44 acre park that was built for the Alaska Centennial. The park includes: the steam train that Pres. Harding rode in when he drove the Golden Spike for the Alaskan railroad; a 40-foot antique carousel; cabins have also been refurbished as close as possible to their original condition and are occupied by local merchants offering an assortment of refreshments, gifts, and Alaskan souvenirs and a riverboat, S.S. Nenana, which once sailed Alaska's rivers, is permanently docked at the park and has a great diorama of the points of call in its heyday. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark. They also have a Salmon Bake that is very popular but we didn't have that since we had eaten a huge Chinese lunch about 3:00.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)