CLEARANCE!!

Stampin' Up! just added over 70 items to the Clearance Rack.  Check it out soon before they disappear! 
The Clearance Rack is an online store where you can get fantastic deals of up to 60% Off on retired Stampin' Up! accessories.

Lots of retired items are available in the Clearance Rack at great savings including Very Vanilla Designer Velvet Ribbon, Magnet Sheets, Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper and Side Notes, Bitty Box & Envelope Bigz XL Die, 12" x 12" Card Stock in various individual color packages, Classic Ink Stampin' Spots Collections, Crimper, Decor Blocks, Decorative Strip Cutting Pads, Flower Designer Brads, 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon in various colors, Ovals Originals Die, Simply Adorned Charms and Chains and Baubles and Trinkets, Designer Albums, and much, much more!

Don't forget that three of our retired Designer Fabrics (Candy Cane Christmas, Deck the Halls, and Sweet Stitches) are available for only $.99 each while supplies last!
Please keep the following things in mind about Clearance Rack items:

• all items are available only while supplies last and supplies can be limited
• all sales of Clearance Rack items are final, no exchanges can be made
• Clearance Rack items must be ordered online only, they can not be ordered through me
• minimum shipping charges do apply of $6.95 or 10% of merchandise ordered, whichever is greater
• you pay Stampin' Up! directly with a credit card
• no limits and no minimum purchase requirements
• you may order current catalog merchandise at the same time if you wish

To get to the site, please click on the ORDER FROM ME button on the top of my blog.  Then, click on the "Clearance Rack" link on the right side.  

October Stamp Club

This is Stamp Club week.  Tuesday I had 7 ladies and one cat at the gathering!  Sammie has really gotten a lot more playful in the past couple of months.  It used to be when I would have people over, she would go into hiding.  But, not any more!   I wish I'd taken pictures.  We'll see if she does the same thing today when my Thursday group arrives.

We made a variety of cards this month.  I had a request for a birthday card and I had to do a Halloween / fall card plus I have a few ladies that want to do Christmas cards.  So, I tried to fit them all in!

Not much stamping on this birthday card.

 Supplies:
Cardstock:  Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Polka Dot DSP
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Accessories / Tools:  Razzleberry ribbon, Scallop Punch, Cupcake Punch, Crimper, Sticky Paper, Glitter, Extra Lg Oval Punch, Designer Frames
Stamp:  Word For You (I think that is the name of it!)

 Supplies:
Card Stock:  Going Gray, Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Howlstooth DSP
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Black, More Mustard
Accessories / Tools:   Small Oval Punch (for pumpkins), Daubers, White Gel Pen, Ribbon, Perf. Preserved Framelits, Banners Frameslits, Ribbon (retired - from SAB)
Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Perfectly Preserved

This was CASE'd from Chic'N'Scratch.  She has a great video demonstrating how she made this treat holder.  I gave everyone a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup to put inside the pocket and we made a little 3x3" card for the back pocket.

The next two cards are Christmas cards.  I let the ladies pick which one they wanted to make.  We did the coloring on both cards with Watercolor Crayons.

Stylin' Snowman Stamp Set

Winter Memories Stamp Set

Paper Craft Crew 12

My MDS card for the Paper Craft Crew this week uses paper and embellishments from Pick Your Poison.  Although it is no longer available in the catalog, that is one of the great things about My Digital Studio - you can still get it digitally.

I used a lot of overlays with this card as well as the "splat" technique!

Check out what the other team members did with the sketch here.

I had Stamp Club today and Sammie sure tried to be a member of the group.  Every time someone got up from her chair, Sammie jumped in her seat.  Then she sat in the extra seat right between Joanne and Marianne and kept batting at them.  A while later, she climbed up onto a small bar that I have in the den and peeked around the corner at the girls!  She was really funny.  It's amazing how playful she has gotten in the past few weeks.

I was excited to learn that Heather is going to offer another MDS class.  I took her on-line class last month and really enjoyed it.  She and another SU demonstrator are going to offer a Christmas class starting Nov. 1.  The class will consist of 20 gift giving projects, 10 scrapbook pages, a minimum of 30 videos, sketch challenges and SO MUCH MORE!!! If you are new to My Digtial Studio, this class is still designed with you in mind!  All of this for only $20!  If you are interested in learning more about it or to sign up, click HERE.  Heather is so talented.

Fall Beauty

Sorry I've been MIA but have just been on the go here.  Friday, I played mahjong and when I was through, I met Sonny for a meeting at the fire station regarding our neighborhood and the state taking over and maintaining our roads.  After that, we drove into town to see a movie.  We saw Taken 2 and he got his movie picking privledges back since it was a good action packed movie.  On Saturday, I volunteered at the Sherrills Ford Library Fall Festival and did face painting for a few hours.  After that, I HAD to go check out the new Hobby Lobby that opened last week in Mooresville!!!  I also stopped by Stampers Alley and had a nice visit with Brenda - it had been too long!  I didn't buy much at Hobby Lobby but it is good to know that it is there when I need something and can't wait for SU to ship it. 

On Sunday, Sonny and I drove up to the mountains to check out the fall foilage.  It wasn't great but what we did see was pretty.  It really depended on what altitude you were out whether there was color or not.  We drove through Blowing Rock hoping to have lunch there but the restaurant was packed and we didn't want to wait.  So we went on to Boone and finally found a restaurant that didn't have a line coming out the door!  The foilage in that area really hadn't changed much yet.  So we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and started climbing.  We got to Linville Falls and walked down to see the beautiful falls.  The leaves there had changed and were very pretty.   We did discover that there is not much red in the foilage this year - mostly orange and lots of yellow.  We left Linville Falls around 5:00 and within an hour we were socked into the clouds.  It was scary to me not to be able to see ahead of the car so I kept trying to fall asleep!  We ended up in Asheville and found a hotel for the night.  The fall color was spotty at best in that area - with some of the trees already bare.  On Sunday, we drove over to Lake Lure and had lunch before heading back home.  They are expecting the leaves to change there within the next 10 days.  But, we had a beautiful view of the lake while eating lunch.  That is a place I want to return to and rent a place and just have a relaxing weekend.

Enjoy the pictures!

Our view from the outside patio having lunch at Lake Lure

Lake Lure view from restaurant

Trees along the road after leaving Asheville



Not many reds in those mountains!



Linville Falls

Lake (or river??) at Linville Falls



Linville Falls

SU Christmas Gift to YOU!

Check out the OCTOBER promotion details HERE.

SU Scrap Map Challenge

We are notorious in our family for keeping our house pretty cold in the winter.  But, it works for us and we don't tend to be sick very much.  When I am in a place that is too hot, my nose and throat get so dried out so in the winter, we keep our thermostat around 70 and just put an extra layer.  So far we have not turned on our heater even though the nights have been dipping down in the 40s and the days are hovering around 70ish.  Actually, our house is so well insulated that it is colder inside than outside!  Last night we had our first fire.  Sammie did not know what to make of the flames in the fireplace and kept her distance curled up on my lap.  Since it has been colder, she has been sleeping in our bed but makes sure she stays on my side!  Yesterday morning she even snuggled down under the covers with me and Sonny captured our picture.

So with the cooler weather, I can get more in the mood for making Christmas cards!  They have all the decorations out in the stores so I guess we better get ready!!  I am going to have a Stamp a Stack for Christmas cards in November and I am trying out different cards for it.   I really got on a roll yesterday and made 4-5 cards.

Stampin' Up also has been having a contest on the MDS site each week with different challenges.  I have entered it a couple of times with no luck but I will keep trying.  This week it is to design a card or scrapbook page using their scrap map featured below.

Here is the page I created using some of my pictures from our London trip.  I used a lot of overlays from Hip and Handsome to make the background paper look grungy.  I used the new Ripped Pages technique for the background papers.  On most of the elements on the page, I used the Color Picker technique where I matched papers and elements to my pictures.  You can just hover over a color in a picture and match to a color.  I tried to do that with the purple paper to the purple in the flowers.  The text around the page was matched to the cream color in the paper also.  I used the new Freeform tool to "square" my text.  The word "london" is an alphabet punch filled with bits of the photos!  Such fun to create this while watching tv last night.

Christmas MDS Card and Paper Crew Challenge #11

It's Wednesday!  Time for my Paper Craft Crew Challenge MDS Style.  There are a lot of layers on this card.  I love to use the Overlays to make my own backgrounds and I used two on this one - the Hip and Handsome Overlays and Textured (which is listed as a stamp.)

Background:  Color = POOL PARTY 

Embellishments: 

_Designer Kits\Joyful Times - embellishments\Joyful Times - blue ornament 1
_Designer Kits\Joyful Times - embellishments\Joyful Times - green ornament 1
_Designer Kits\Joyful Times - embellishments\Joyful Times - red ornament 1
Taffeta Ribbon\Real Red
Taffeta Ribbon\Real Red - bow
_Designer Kits\Home for the Holidays - embellishments\Home for the Holidays - flag gifts (re-colored)Designer Kits\Holly & Jolly Embellishments\Holly & Jolly Embellishments - believe_Designer Kits\Joyful Times - embellishments\Joyful Times - red flower
Blossom Builders Rhinestones\Blossom Builders Rhinestones - 7mm Poppy Parade

Stamps:
Hip and Handsome Overlays\Hip and Handsome Overlays - 12, Color = VERY VANILLA Textured\Basic Black Texture, Color = VERY VANILLA
Textured\Basic Black Texture, Color = VERY VANILLA
Textured\Basic Black Texture, Color = VERY VANILLA
Textured\Basic Black Texture, Color = VERY VANILLA
Creatively Yours\Creatively Yours - created by, Color = WHISPER WHITE

Punches:
Labels & Tags\Labels Collection 1, Filled with: Designer Series Paper\First Edition - designer series paper\First Edition - 4


I actually created two cards for the challenge while I was at it.  Here is the second one:

Here are the supplies for it:

Background:  Color = 85,85,50

Embellishments
_Designer Kits\Very Merry Twenty-Five - embellishments\Very Merry Twenty-Five - top note label
_Designer Kits\Very Merry Twenty-Five - embellishments\Very Merry Twenty-Five - very merry 25 label
Designer Rosettes\Designer Rosettes - pointed old olive
Vintage Faceted Buttons\Vintage Faceted Buttons - small 1
_Designer Kits\Home for the Holidays - embellishments\Home for the Holidays - flag trees

Stamps
Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 1
Natural Composition Overlays\Natural Composition Overlays - 9, Color = VERY VANILLA
_Designer Kits\Eventful Year\Eventful Year - joy, Color = 165,29,45

I worked the Soup Kitchen yesterday and we made an old family favorite casserole that my mom used to make when I was growing up.  My mom was not much of a cook but a neighbor gave her this recipe and it was a good one for her to make.  I can't tell you how many times I've made it. I love to makeand take it to new neighbors or when you need to take a dish to a shut in, etc.  You can freeze it too and have it anytime. The people at the Soup Kitchen really enjoyed it.  If you want to make it, here is the recipe:   6 LAYER CASSEROLE 1 lb. hamburger meat (raw) layer of onion layer of green peppers layer of thin sliced potatoes 1 cup rice canned tomatoes on top   Cook 350 degrees for 1 hour.   I played Bunco and Left,Right,Center last night in my neighborhood.  I haven't joined the ladies for bunco in almost 2 years.  I don't know why.  I enjoy it whenever I go.  But it is always held on the 2nd Tuesday which is when Soup Kitchen is and I usually just don't feel up for it.  Tonight I was hungry though and knew Sonny would not want much for dinner since it is his shooting day and I was tired of soup!  I ended up winning one of the prizes for the most binkos so it was a productive evening as well as fun and I got to visit with some neighborhood friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

How to take care of your Sizzix Dies

I am trying to get a head start on my Christmas cards as well as my samples for my upcoming Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack.  This card was so easy!  I used the Sizzlit die, Delicate Doilies (pg 191) for the wreath.  I adhered the wreath to a 2 1/2" Whisper White square of card stock and popped the square up on my card.  The DSP at the bottom is from the Festival of Prints stack.

The key to using these dies that have a lot of intricate work on them is to first wrap packing tape all over the the cutting side of the die.  That way, the little bits of paper don't get caught in the die.  It makes it so much easier!

Here is another card using a Sizzix die.  This one is the Large Paper Doily (pg 191).  The red circle is embossed with the dotted embossing folder and punched out with the 2 1/2" Circle Punch.  The ornament is from an old favorite, Delightful Decorations (pg 10). 

Both of these cards are simple to make - just a few dies, paper and stamps!

I am still fighting my sinus "gunk".  I thought I would be able to sleep better by not taking the decongestant at bedtime.  Well, wrong!  I went to bed at 11:00 Sunday night and was still tossing and turning when Sonny came to bed at 1.Again, I was awake every hour.  I think I finally fell asleep for any length of time around 5 am.  Guess I just can not take any drugs with pseudoephedrine.  I have been reading about it today and notice that it can cause insomnia.  Well, in the trash this medicine goes!  I felt pretty crappy all day Monday but went ahead and played bridge since I had signed up to play.  Figured I couldn't sleep anyway so I may as well do something fun.

Perfectly Preserved in Water

Hope your weekend was a good one.  Mine was.  Friday night Sonny & I went out to eat at a new-ish pizza restaurant in Mooresville, Salty Caper.  I just love that name!  Saturday Marianne and I went to a Follk Art Festival in Sherrills Ford.  It was fun and there was some neat things there although folk art is really not our style.  But I got an early birthday present out of the outing!  The last booth we visited had flowers - about 5 feet tall - that were made out of metal.  They were so cool and priced to sell.  There were a lot of people milling around and buying them.  So Marianne bought me one and we brought it home and "planted" it in my yard - a bright yellow sunflower. 

Saturday was National Card Making Day and I had all intentions of making some cards.  Unfortunately, I have been a bit under the weather this weekend.  I thinkit  is sinus stuff.  My throat has been real sore.  Saturday night before I went to bed, I took a decongestant tablet.  It helped but I had a hard time sleeping and looked at the clock by my  bed every hour!  I'm not taking one tonight that is for sure!  I took it this morning instead.  But I'm still feeling rather achy and yucky.  I'm scheduled to play bridge tomorrow and I have a dr. appointment for another issue so hopefully, I'll feel better.

Here is a card I made a few weeks ago using Perfectly Preserved.  There is so much you can do with this set.  I really like it and I haven't even touched the surface.  I stamped the jar on card stock and using a mask, sponged Turqoise on the bottom to look like water.  Then I stamped the flowers using markers.  I stamped one set with Daffodil Delight and overstamped it with Tangerine.  The DSP is from the Festival Prints in the holiday mini catalog.

close up of "water"

It was a nail biter game today with the Steelers which seems to be their favorite way to play!  They pulled it off in the last few seconds against Philadelphia.  But, the Panthers didn't fare so well.  Marianne had tickets to the game and I told her she better pull off the win for them.  But, she didn't listen!

Winter Memories

Well, it's not winter yet, but I just got this set from the Holiday Catalog, Winter Memories, and have made my sample cards with the set.  My favorite stamp in the set (and the reason I couldn't resist buying it) is the ice skates.  I've never gone ice skating in my life (and don't foresee that I ever will) but I love those skates. 

I cut the skates out separately and adhered them to the embossed oval that is popped up.  The white piece is also embossed with the Sizzix embossing folder.  

I actually didn't even realize the snowmen were in the set I was concentrating so much on the other 2 stamps.  I stamped the image with Early Espresso on the Naturals Ivory card stock.  I used Watercolor Crayons to lightly color in the image.  The red Core'dination card stock was embossed with the Woodgrain folder and sanded.  But then, I put the tape on the wrong side!  So not much of the sanding really shows through but I think it is just enough.  Plus when I took the picture of the card, I realized I had adhered the image upside down (!) but I was able to pull it off without doing any harm and turn it around.

This card was the hardest one for me for some reason.  I kept coloring it too dark when I used my markers.  So, I finally just used my ink pads and my blender pens and it worked much better.  The DSP is from the Festival of Prints found in the Holiday catalog.

Life is better with your girlfriends in it!  I had a great time yesterday visiting with my girlfriends.  Everyone needs to have good girlfriends.  It's funny about our relationship - over the years we've gotten together whenever we could but with me living in Texas for most of my married life, a lot of the times it would be a couple of years in between visits and then it would just be for a quick lunch visit when I came home to see my family.  But when we are together, it's like we are still back at ECU living across the hall from each other in Umstead Dorm.  I find myself telling these girls things I've never told anyone before and we cheer and comfort each other in our trials and tribulations of life.  Last night as we sat and reminisced over our glass(es) of wine, I remembered a meal we ate at a local restaurant when we were in college.  It was pizza steak and I have never found it again.  It was ground meat with cheese and sauce on the inside and a type of pizza sauce over the top.  They both remembered it too and said they could almost taste it.  Who knows ... it would probably not be as good now as we remember it!  Next we discovered that all three of us have recurring dreams that we are on campus but can't find our schedule to know where our class is or can't find the building that our class is in and we are frantic.  Jackie said sometimes in her dream she has missed the entire course and doesn't find it until it is time to take the final exam.  My friend Brenda is going through a lot of medical tests right now and Jackie and I are praying hard for her.  She has been having some debilitating chest pains and they have not pinpointed the problem yet.  My guess is anxiety pain but I am not a doctor.  Hopefully, she will be given some relief soon.  She drove back early this morning for a test on her gall bladder and said she had to pull over shortly after leaving Jackie's because she started having one of the chest pains.  The test she had today turned out negative as did the heart test and scope test she had last week.  Her doctor increased her blood pressure meds today and told her to stop drinking alcohol for a while.   Brenda is one of these people that takes on way too much - in her family life and her social life plus the fact that she is the most high strung person I know which doesn't help.