Storytime

It's that time ,,, Paper Craft Challenge Wednesday and today is our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!  For my digital card this week, I used a really cute Digital Kit called Storytime.  I just love it!  Yesterday was my grandson's birthday - hard to believe he's 6, just started 1st grade and I haven't seen him in 4 1/2 years!!  I called him last night to wish him a Happy Birthday and he sounded so grown up.   I made him an Alphabet Board Book using Storytime.  The book was so fun to make.  I made it all about his dad, including pictures when his dad was a kid.  Since we have such a disjointed relationship, Jayce hasn't grown up seeing the pictures of his dad as a child or hearing the stories I could tell him so I thought this was a great way to share that history.  Oh, the memories making this book brought to me.

The kit comes with the "A is for art, B is for Boat" etc, and I just added other alphabet words as the pictures dictated.  I had it printed by Stampin' Up and they did a wonderful job.  Now is the time to get your things printed by SU since they are having a 31% off sale!  Think about those Christmas presents!!

Please make sure you check all the other cards made for this challenge HERE .  We want moreparticipation and ask that you please pass  the word around by sharing on your Facebook page, Pinterest, Twitter and anywhere else you can think of to share and get the word out about the Paper Craft Crew challenges!  Each time you participate "adds up" and may earn you an invitation to be a guest designer for a future challenge!  You can also sign up for e-mail updates.   As the new Challenge Blog develops, there will be new challenges, blog candy and more.  There will be a "Grand Kick-Off" for the new blog the end of October.  You can also find us on Facebook HERE.

Grab your supplies and play along with us.  We are doing something new this week -

POSTING END TIME:  If you'd like to be considered as one of our spotlight cards, please be sure to link your project by Monday 7 AM EST and  link your post over to the blog too

VOTING:   Starting on Monday, August 20th at 7 AM EST, you can start voting on the entries.  The voting will end on Tuesday, August 21st at 10 AM EST. 

 (I'd love your vote!!)

Here's the card I made along with the sketch:

Monday Mailer #1 for August

Our Monday Mailer program has been on a break for a couple of months.  But I kicked it back in gear this month and now I have to get myself in gear!  I made (and mailed) my Monday Mailer card last week to Beth Fox.  I sent her one of the Postage Due cards I had previously made (seen HERE).  I received a really cool card from my partner, Carren Heartley.

Our theme this month is to use something new from the catalog so it is pretty wide open to interpretation - new stamps, paper, ink, accessories, etc.  Carren used the new stamp set, Flowering Flourishes.  She also told me that she did not seem to use her Regals much so it was a new color combo AND that she used Window Sheets for the first time!  I think she did a marvelous job with all her new discoveries!  The flourish isis stamped onto the Window Sheet which she attached to the card with brads..  The Cajun and Green ovals are punched out and layered onto the Mustard layer.

A really great card!

Home Again!

Wonder how many posts I've done with this title!  We had a great time in the Outer Banks.  Unfortunately, the weather was a bit of a problem but we worked around it.  Ashley and I laid out on the beach most of the day Sunday and Monday.  The water was ice cold and we never got much further out than our waists.  Don't know if it's always that cold or not but our legs would feel like they were frozen when we got in.  We stayed in Kill Devil Hills Saturday - Tuesday and then drove to Hatteras to catch the ferry to Ocracoke.  We stopped at the Bodie and the Hatteras Lighthouses along the way.  The Bodie Lighthouse was under construction with scaffolding all around it.  Luckily, the Hatteras Lighthouse wasn't (it was when I was there a few years ago!)  So there were lots of photo opps. 

When we got to Oracoke, we found our motel, got unpacked and drove over to Howards Pub.  We all loved Ocracoke Island and wish we could have stayed there longer.  Unfortunately, it poured down rain on Wednesday most of the day.  We were able to sneak down to the beach for a couple of hours late in the afternoon.  It worked perfectly - Ashley & I took our chairs down near the ocean and read our books while Sonny sat up on the wooden shelter out of the sand and read his book!  Perfect!

Our motel had a great view of the ocean and the Ocracoke Lighthouse.   I got some great sunset pictures from our balcony.

Ashley and I on our balcony at sunset

Sonny and Ashley sitting on beach shelter railing

Beautiful sunset - see lighthouse in background

Ocracoke Lighthouse

Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Made it Okrakoke Island today.  It rained pretty hard most of the day today.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that the rain is done!  Unfortunately, the play (Lost Colony) that we were going to see last night got rained out.  The bottom dropped out around 6:00 and the play was scheduled at 8:30.  We were lucky that we had rain insurance so we got our money back.  I so wanted to see that play though.  Guess we'll just have to come back next year.

This is my first official challenge card for the Paper Craft Crew (formerly Stamping Queens).  Guess that means I'm not a Queen anymore!!  Oh well, easy come, easy go!  Actually last week was the first official launching of the new crew.  I made my card, posted it here on my blog BUT I forgot to post it on the Paper Craft Crew site so I didn't get included.  Duhhhh!

I made this card using My Digital Studio 2!!  I am loving this update to MDS once I finally got it to download.  I had some problems downloading it but after a couple of tries, I contacted Stampin' Up and they got to work on it.  Seems there was an error in the program which they fixed quickly and I got it downloaded correctly Monday night.  I have only downloaded the FREE Trial version.  I wanted to play around with it a while first before purchasing.  I can play with this one for 30 days and then make the purchase.  It has been very easy to learn all the new features by watching the videos HERE.  There are several videos in each catagory - Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

Play along and see the other cards made by the Paper Craft Crew HERE.

Here is the sketch we used this week:

Greetings from the Outer Banks!

Having fun at the Outer Banks!  I'll be back later in the week.

Another Postage Due

I'm packed and ready to hit the road again!  We are picking Ashley up at the airport tomorrow at 2 pm and driving to the Outer Banks for a few days.  I can't wait!  It's been too long (a couple of years??) since I put my toes in the sand.  (I'm not counting the few minutes I walked in the sand when we were in Florida on our Red Cross "deployment" last month!)

I have another Postage Due card to share with you.  I can't stop with this set .... I just love it!  This time I used the Adorning Accents die to die cut the Early Espresso piece.  I stamped the image onto Vanilla with Espresso ink. Then I used the new spritzer bottles filled with alcohol and reinkers (Pool Party, Starfruit and Soft Suede) and spritzed the piece.  I cut the "3" and flower out separately and popped them up.  I used the Itty Bitty Banners and popped up the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Words.

Supplies:

• Cardstock:  Summer Starfruit, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
• Ink:  Early Espresso, Reinkers - Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Island Indigo
• Accessories:  Framelits, Itty Bitty Banners, Spritzer Bottles, Shimmer Spray

I have downloaded MDS2 tonight and plan to play with it during our drive (6+ hours!) tomorrow.  All the feedback I have heard has been great.  I played with it a bit tonight and am liking a lot of the new features.

Perfectly Preserved plus lots of SU News

The new "not so mini" Holiday Catalog is up and ready to order from it as of yesterday.  It's a great one and I am going to go broke ordering from it!!  Click HERE to see it online. 

And our MDS special -

•MDS 2 Free Trial: – Full access to the software at NO COST for 30 days. (Item #130910)
•MDS 2 Full Software: $39.95 US (Item #130644) Compatible with Mac and Windows
•MDS 2+ Full Software plus over $500 of digital content: $79.95 US (Item #130646)
•MDS 2 Upgrade: Full Software for those who already own the original MDS software. $19.95 (Item #130650
•August Special Offer: 31% OFF Select Digital Content!

AND during August, Stampin' Up has treats but no tricks for you! If you join Stampin' Up! during August you will get a FREE Howl-o-ween Printer's Tray project kit - a $60 value!

I am excited to have my Stylin' Snowfolk card HERE featured on Kelly's Blog Finds of the Day today.  Blog Finds of the Day is a service Kelly provides members of the Late Night Stampers Yahoo Groups. It is a daily list that is emailed out to the Yahoo Group Subscribers.  Its sole purpose is to keep all those amazing links in one easy to navigate place. She makes it easy for us to find some great ideas.  Check it out!

Below is a card I made using the Perfectly Preserved stamp set from the Holiday Catalog.  I can see a lot of possibilities with this card PLUS there are dies (Framelits) that match for cutting out the images.  If you buy the bundle of the stamp set and the dies, you save $$$ (and we all want to do that!)  On this card, I stamped the jar onto vellum and cut it out (using the die).  The flower stems are stamped directly onto the white rectangle.  The flowers and leaves are stamped onto scrap white and punched out (with the die).  I cut about 1 1/2" off the side of the Peach Parfait paper (retired).  The Sale-a-bration DSP and the Pear Pizazz scallop strip (all retired) are adhered to the inside of the card.  I also used some of the Pear and Peach ribbon from Saleabration.  I just love this Everyday Enchantment DSP even though it is retired.  I ordered a pack of it before it retired and now wish I had ordered more!!

August Specials AND New Design Team

Get 31% off 31 digital content options and most of SU's print products for all 31 days in August!   With digital goods on sale and the 30-day FREE trial of the software, August is the perfect time for you to enter the digital designing craze and see what it's all about.

What's on sale?
ALL cards, photobooks, individual pages, and tags. That's right: print any photobook, board book, swatchbook, individual pages, greeting card, postcard, trifold card, or tag-all for 31% off. Click HERE for more info on our Print Products.

Some of our best digital content. 30 downloads and 1 content disc. Yup, that equals 31.

:•Print product bulk pricing isn't included as a part of this sale. 
•You can only get the digital downloads and print products via an Online order.
•The Floral District Collection Disc can go on a workshop order as it is a tangible item.
•There's no limit to how many sale items you can order. Go crazy!
•Get your orders in by Friday, August 31.
•Still trying to keep up on all this? Get more info about MDS 2, the new software (coming soon) HERE
 
Also August 1 is the launch of My Digital Studio 2!! I'm so excited for this!

• 75 new features!!!
•Design in spreads
•Create with custom canvas sizes
•Add more than one color to a single stamp image
•Resize vector stamp images while keeping them crisp
•See color combination suggestions
•And much more

Now on to my Design Team news.  As you may have heard or read, Cristena Bagne, is stepping down as the author and owner of the Stampin' Queens. Over the next few weeks, you will start to see some small changes as Pam Staples transfers the Stampin' Queen's to a new blog platform. With the transfer, there will  be a name change as well.  We will now be know as The Papercraft Crew.  We hope you'll continue to follow us along with participating in our weekly challenges.

As the new Challenge Blog develops, Pam will also be introducing some new challenges including a Scrapbook Challenge, Color Challenge, Topical Challenge and Digital Challenge... Yes, that seems like a lot of challenges but there will also be more design team members added to specific teams.

To stay current with the Stampin' Queen's Challenge Blog and the upcoming changes, you can also visit www.sunnygirlscraps.com for current updates along with the link to the new challenge blog. 

So, stay tuned over the next couple of weeks and for now, please play along with this weeks challenge!

Here is the sketch and card for the week:

I made the card using the Delight in the Day My Digital Studio kit - paper, stamps, and embellishments.

Check out the other sketch interpretations HERE or HERE.

Stylin' Snowfolk

I thought if I stamped this snowman snow woman, it would make it feel like winter.  No such luck although the temperature is a little better this week than it was last week in terms of the humidity.  Sonny still came back this evening from putting the cover on the boat drenched.  You would have thought he'd jumped in the lake!  

So how do you like my snowfolk?  Ain't she stylin?  This is the first card I've made with this new set but I see lots of possibilities!  I also found a video tutorial (but can't remember where it was) of how to make the scalloped rectangle using a border punch.  I made several different sizes while I was making this one - hopefully, I will remember how to do it the next time I want to make one!  (The mind is a terrible thing to lose.)

I was a good girl today and went to the Y.  It was the first time I had been in several weeks although I have gone over to our neighborhood pool and done a few work outs in the pool.

I have been glued to the Olympic coverage day and night!  Tonight I watched the men's gymnastic.  Unfortunately, Team USA didn't fare well but I was pulling for Great Britain.  China was listed as the winner, at first, with Britain second and Ukraine third. But those results did not last. As the crowd — Princes Harry and William included — whooped and hollered because the British team had just won its first men’s team Olympic medal in 100 years, the judges huddled for about 10 minutes to discuss the outcome. In the end, China remained the champion to win its second consecutive Olympic gold medal and continue its domination.  Japan won the silver medal, moving up from fourth after the judges rejiggered the scores.  That knocked Britain to third and Ukraine to fourth, causing boos in the audience.  One thing that did not change was that the United States team — a favorite to win a medal, and maybe even the gold — was leaving empty-handed. It finished fifth.  That was almost as bad as last night's girls's gymnastics.  I felt so sorry for Jordan Wieber (the reigning world champion in the all-around and a favorite to win the Olympic gold medal) when she was eliminated.  Bela Karolyi,  the coach of the last United States team to win an Olympic gold medal, said Wieber was cheated out of a spot in the all-around. 

We're saying a few prayers tonight.  My brother in law is in the hospital in Texas.  Sonny spoke to our nephew earlier and Jack is having trouble with his pacemaker.  The doctors are keeping him overnight to see if they can figure out what is wrong.

Cork Stamping

Hope you had a good weekend.  I did.  We had friends spend the night with us on Friday night from Texas.  Margaret and Graham were in town returning their grandson to his parents.  They've been babysitting him for over a month!  Unfortunately, they did not get to stay very long.  They got to our house after 4 pm Friday and left around 9 am Saturday.  But we had a nice short visit.  We were going to go out on the boat and have dinner at a lake restaurant but the weather was kind of "iffy" and we were afraid to take the chance.  Turns out, we could have though.  Anyway, we went to Horsefeathers Restaurant instead - Sherrills Ford local little honkey tonk.  The food was good and the beer was cold.
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Saturday morning Sonny and I went out on the boat and had breakfast at The Grill Cafe on the lake.  After that, we found a quiet cove and chilled.  It was pretty hot though.  I stayed in the water most of the time. 
When we came home, I got to play with my new goodies that had arrived on Friday!! 

Sunday we went out on the lake again but this time, we waited until aboout 4 pm to avoid the hottest part of the day.  It wasn't quite so hot and the humidity was not as bad as yesterday.  The past few times we have been out on the lake, we have seen the coolest boat.  It's bright yellow or gold and has black detailing and a black canopy.  We've got to believe the people who own it are big Steeler fans! 

Here is a card I made last week.  I stamped the nautical image on a piece of cork in Night of Navy.  The stamp set is from The Open Sea.  I cut the anchor out and adhered it to the cork with glue.  I cut the cork and the Newsprint DSP with a nestability.  The Night of Navy cardstock is alson embossed with the new Fan embossing folder.