Make A Difference

 Watch this short movie - it is great!

The Make A Difference Movie - The Teddy Stallard Story - by Mary Robinson Reynolds | The MasterMinding Maven® - Full Length Version

Paper Craft Crew Challenge #8

I love Halloween.  I guess you are figuring that out from the recent cards I have been posting.  It used to be my favorite holiday besides Christmas.  I would decorate my house from top to bottom with spider webs, witches, ghosts, etc.  Now that it is just Sonny and I, I don't bother with it much anymore.  I'll put up a few decorations and find my Halloween garden flag but that will probably be it.  But I can make some great Halloween cards (wait till you see my eyeballs card!)

This card for the Paper Craft Crew (#8 already!) was made using My Digital Studio.  The pumpkin comes from the Storytime Kit that I used to make Jayce's ABC book.

Here are the supplies used to make this card with MDS2:

Background Color = PUMPKIN PIE

Embellishments: Designer Kits\Storytime - embellishments\Storytime - jack-o-lantern
Narrow Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon\Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon - knot (re-colored)
Stamps: Designer Kits\Days to Remember\Days to Remember - trick or treat, Color = WHISPER WHITE 
Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 4
Punches:  Borders\Scallop Edge Punch, Fill Color = BASIC BLACK; Labels & Tags\Get It Done - punch 1

Photos: Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\Days to Remember - designer series paper\Days to Remember - 14
Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\Days to Remember - designer series paper\Days to Remember - 3

So grab your stamps and supplies OR your computer MDS and play along with us this week.  Just follow my card above for the basic sketch.

Visit the Paper Crew Blog and see what the other designers did with the sketch.  There are some great cards there plus we have a new member, Justin.  He does great work and we are happy to have him join the crew.


Halloween Monday Mailers

I took a few supplies with me to Texas when I was there but it's always difficult to make cards without all my "stuff" surrounding me!  I think I will be tackle-ing her office/craft room when I go back in December!  She has recently had the inside of her house painted and she did her office in bright yellow.  She is a huge fan of Curious George and has a ton of Curious George things.  So she is planning on decorating her office in red and yellow.  I did not think it would look good at all when she showed me the paint chip in March but it actually looks pretty good.  We didn't have time to do much decorating in the room while I was there but I did recover a memo board/partition for her.  She was going to get rid of it because it was a pale green but I told her we could fix it up.  We went to Hobby Lobby and found some red material and to M's and got some bright yellow ribbon.  It turned out really good and will look great in there with the yellow walls.  She found some Curious George ribbon on-line and was going to order it but we decided it would just be too much and more expensive than just plain ribbon.  Plus, when she puts all her pictures and scrapbook items on it, the ribbon wouldn't show up that much.  We even took the little tacks that hold the ribbon on off and covered then with the red fabric. 

So, this is the first Monday Mailer I made to send.  I used the Woodgrain embossing folder (luckily, I gave Ashley my Cuttlebug when I bought the Big Shot!).  The stamp set is Bootiful Occasions.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Black, Rich Razzleberry, Cajun Craze, Whisper White
Die:  Apothecary Art, Woodgrain emb. folder
Black brads
Ink:  Razzleberry, black
Here is the second card I made using Wicked Cool.  I saw this idea somewhere - either on a blog or Pininterest of using the witches hat and shoes with the pumpkin.  Cool huh?  I sponged the edges of the pumpkin to give it some dimension and used dimensionals for the witches hat.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Black, Tangerine Tango, White
Stamp:  Wicked Cool
Punch:  1 1/4" Circle Punch (I think!)
Markers
Hope you enjoy these cards!  I had fun making them.

Monday Mailer Cards

It's been a great weekend.  We went to a "pig pickin'" barbecue Friday night.  We took the boat and it was so nice.  I am so happy with this cooler weather .... what a difference between here and San Antonio!!   I'll be opening our windows and turning off the AC this week.  Saturday I didn't go anywhere and got some stamping done.  It had been awhile.  And Sunday I did more stamping while watching the Panthers beat up on New Orleans.  In the afternoon, we went to Big Al's to watch the Steelers beat the Jets which made me a happy gal.  It was good to see all our Steeler friends again and to chant "Here We Go Steelers." 

I got my last August Monday Mailer cards when we returned from Texas this week.  I actually got a bit of a bonus and Carren sent me two cards!

Both of these cards are stamped on Very Vanilla - layered onto Very Vanilla.  The stamp set is Scentsational Seasons from the Holiday Mini catalog.  The tree on the right is punched out with the matching framelit and DSP is behind the cut out.  The same thing is done with the mug card.  Very simple but pretty.  A good one for mass producing your Christmas cards.

Home again.

I'm home!  We got back late Wednesday night.  Sammie was sure glad to see us when we got home ... she didn't have any water or food left so we got home just in time.  She didn't want to leave my side and even slept right next to me all night which she doesn't normally do.  All day today, she has stayed close and even now, she is curled up in the chair next to me. 

Thought I'd share a few pictures I took while I was in Texas.  We got to meet my nephew, Jack and his wife, Katrina with their cutie pie baby, Jack IV.  They call the baby IV ... I called him Jack!!  Just don't know that I would want my son to grow being called IV (like "ivy"), would you?  But he is a doll baby with the biggest eyes.



He loved drinking from the straw!

  On Saturday, Ashley's best friends came over with their twins (Alec and Julia) who are so cute.  They were born when Ashley was deployed and will be 2 in January.  We played in the pool with them and they were little fishes.



Bogart's favorite way to drink is straight from the faucet!!



Paper Craft Crew Challenge

For today's Paper Craft Crew Sketch Challenge (whew - that's a mouthful!) I decided to go with a Halloween card.  It won't be long.  I've noticed the stores already are stocking Christmas .... what's wrong with waiting till Halloween is over????  Too early in my opinion.

I am still in Texas .... leaving to fly home this afternoon.  It's been a great working visit and I'm always sad to leave but it won't be long until Thankgiving when we'll be together again.  Ashley took off work all last week and we did a LOT of work in the yard and got a lot done.  Monday when she went back to work, I decided to tackle the front yard.  I put down black plastic on one side of her shrub bed and Sonny poured 10 bags of mulch over it; dug up about 10 small nandina bushes and moved them; planted a few other plants that she had bought at Lowe's on Sunday; and trimmed up some of the larger shrubs that are already established.  It looks pretty good but boy was I hot, sore and tired Monday night!  It was nice to jump in the pool when I finished.  Yesterday I worked inside making slipcovers for one of her window seats and pillows and hanging a few pictures.

We had a little extra bonus last night.  One of Jeff's best friends from high school was in town doing some work.  Scott came over and we visited a little while before going out to dinner.  It was really great to see him.  Sonny had not seen him since his wedding and it had been 3 years since Ashley and I had seen him in College Station shortly after his first child was born.  We had a great visit.

OK - on to the card I made.  Here is the sketch that I had to work with:

Here is my card:

How do you like that folded corner?  It took a bit of maneuvering but I finally got it!  The stamp is a single stamp in the Holiday Mini Catalog (I think!) 

Happy Birthday card

Before we came to Texas, I had to get caught up on a few birthdays.  Here is one of the cards I made:

I just love the colors in this card.  The stamp set I used was Raining Flowers.  It is a set I got last year at SU Convention and I haven't really used it much.  But I really like it in this card.  I stamped each flower three times and raised each layer up with dimensionals.  Then I put a pearl in the center of each flower.  I embossed the white layers of the card with the Dotted Embossing Folder  So, how do you like it?

Here are a few pictures I've taken since I've been in Texas.

I snapped this in a hurry from the backseat of the car as we were driving to dinner -  a beautiful Texas sunset.

Ashley and Sonny at dinner ... Mexican of course!  We convinced Sonny to sit outside in the courtyard.

We toured the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory last Wednesday. Yum!!

Bogart is at the door watching us in the back yard.  He likes to keep his eye on us - either at the door or sitting in the window.

Bogart's favorite way to drink his water!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I made this 12x12 page on MDS2 today.  It is part of my "homework" from the MDS class I am taking.  Don't you love it???!!!  It's that time again.  Tomorrow is the first game and I remembered to bring my Steelers Jersey so I am ready for some football!!  Love this time of year.

This picture was taken in the grocery store the day of the Super Bowl.  It was an awesome sight.  The pictures of the food on the side are some of the good eating we do when we are in Pittsburgh.  The top two pictures of the fries and hot dog are from the "O" (Original Hot Dog) stand which is located right beside the Pitt campus.  It has been there for more than 50 years so you know it's good.  We always have to make a visit there for fries and a hot dog.  My first visit there is still a joke to us.  I had gone home with Sonny from NC to meet his parents.  We went to Pittsburgh for some sightseeing and stopped off at the "O".  Being a Carolina gal, I ate my hot dogs with chilli and mustard usually.  So, that's the way I ordered it at the "O".  Little did I know, they did not know what hot dog chilli was and served my hot dog with their type of chilli - with beans.  Sonny's dad looked at me pretty strangely as I was picking out the beans from my hot dog.  30+ years later and we are still laughing about it when we go to Pittsburgh.

The next picture is of my favorite food!!  It is an Italian Hoagie from Danny's.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  Danny's is another institution in Pittsburgh - been there at least 50 years probably.  There used to be a drive in theatre behind the restaurant and Sonny said they would come over from the drive in and get sandwiches and go back & watch the movie.  Our kids grew up eating there whenever we would visit.  Although there were a few times when Sonny & I would sneak out, leaving the kids at home with grandma and head over to Danny's for a quick hoagie.  (Although it is probably 30 minutes from Sonny's home!)  When Marianne went with us to Pittsburgh, we got her hooked on the hoagie too.  We usually get a "to go" box to take back with us.  They layer the meat, onions, tomatoes, etc. in a pizza box and give us the bread and signature Italian dressing so we can make them when we get home.  I've just never found a sandwich as good as Danny's anywhere else and we are constantly looking.

The final picture is funnel cake!  So yummy!  But truthfully, it's the same funnel cake you can get other places.  I don't even know where that picture was taken.  Once when Marianne and Harrison went with us to Pittsburgh to a game, we ate at an Italian restaurant close to our hotel and ordered funnel cake for dessert.  We still talk about that dessert.  It was like funnel cake on steroids!  It was huge and fed all of us.

Well, time for this gal to "hit the hay."  Hope you enjoyed my culinary page about Pittsburgh AND you will be cheering on the Steelers tomorrow like I will be!

Back to Spool time

It's Back to "Spool" Time!   Kids are going back to school and that means it's also the time of year that crafters get back to card making, scrapbooking, and creating special holiday gifts!

In September, you'll receive a FREE package of the gorgeous 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon with every $40 purchase. You can choose from any of the new 2012-2014 In Colors - or spend $200 and get all five colors! Of course, you'll find lots of new favorites to shop for in the new Holiday Catalog, but it is also a great time to stock up on adhesives so you'll have just what you need for your holiday crafting. If you buy 1 each of our 8 most popular adhesives, you'll qualify for that free spool of ribbon!

Oh, and before I forget, by popular request, the 31% off Digital sale has been extended until September 14th, so dive into some digital crafting, too!

Just a quick post to share with you my Paper Crew Challenge card this week.  I used MDS2 (as usual) and had fun with these hexagons.

We worked out in the yard most of the day Tuesday pulling weeds and cleaning up some of the mess that the contractors left in Ashley's yard.  There are a lot of issues with the work that was done and Ashley called the contractor to come by today and look at things - fence, concrete work, sprinkler system not working, trash and planks from original fence just left laying in the yard, etc.  He was not happy when he saw some of the shoddy work that was done and told Ashley he would make it right.  We've got the irrigation people coming on Thursday and hopefully, some of the other workmen to fix things.  We went to the movies Tuesday night to see Bourne Legacy.  It was pretty good.  We are going to Brenham on Wednesday to take a tour of the best ice cream company in the world .... Blue Bell!  I have been there before but it was on a weekend and the tours are not offered on the weekend. 

I lost a good friend and fellow Stampin' Up demonstrator this weekend.  I just learned of her death today.  I knew she was close to the end but was still shocked and saddened.  Becky was such a great gal and always so upbeat even while she was fighting for her life for the past year.  She will be missed by a lot of people.