Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!  Hope your weekend was a nice one and you were able to spend it with family and friends.  I had a very relaxing weekend.  I worked on my Ireland scrapbook Saturday and Sunday on My Digital Studio.  I am trying to get it finished before June 15 which is when Stampin' Up's sale ends.   Wish me luck!!  Saturday night Sonny and I went out to eat fish at Galway Hooker.  Since I had been working on my Ireland scrapbook, I was craving some fish and chips although Sonny had the fish and chips and I decided on Flounder Picatta and it was delicious!!  Add in some Jalepeno Mac and Cheese and Sauteed Green Beans .... yum!!  Today Sonny and I decided to take the boat out.  We packed the cooler and got all our stuff together BUT when we got in the boat, it wouldn't start - the battery was dead as a door nail!  Sonny went back to the house and get the battery charger.  We sat out there in the boat at the dock for a couple of hours but it still wouldn't start.  So, we came on back to the house.  Now Sonny just has to figure out what the problem is or get the battery replaced. 

Someone sent me a really nice tribute for Memorial Day.  Please read it and remember what the holiday is truly all about....not just a day off from work, but a day to remember our real heros. I am honored that both of my children served their country (and my daughter is still in the Army). My grandfather, step-father and father all served their country too.

Real Heroes ~ By Sharon Lee Riguzzi


Memorial Day is almost here: Barbecues will be held. Parades will be marched. White shoes will come out of hibernation. The sounds of kids playing outside after dinner waft through open windows. Weekly garage-sale flyers cover telephone poles so we know where to go to buy someone else’s stuff that has cluttered their attic and basement for years. And for many, this weekend opens up the world of pools and beaches.

But with all of the excitement of the unofficial beginning of summer, I, like so many others, sometimes forget (or as is the case with so many of today’s kids, don’t know) what the Memorial in Memorial Day signifies. This day started way back just after the Civil War as a time for us to honor and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice- their lives.

Most of you have heard of the play and movie Six Degree of Separation. I’m bringing it up because I’m guessing we all know of someone, or know someone who knows someone, who has served our country. My suggestion for the week is to ask around at work, among friends, at your book-club discussions, “Who has lost a family member in service of our country?”

The purpose? To see that we all have been touched in some way–some closer than others-or other by these heroes. In their honor, tell the family member how much you appreciate our freedom because of brave people like their fallen soldier. At the same time we can be teaching our kids that we are so lucky.

So whether or not you have kids marching with their little league team, scouts or band, make it a point to go to the local parade to give your support. And if you see an old-timer wearing a too tight uniform or a faded army hat, stop and shake his hand, and thank him too. Watch him well up with pride. Because years ago, he took action to get what we wanted: learned to recognize all of the wonderful traits each of us possesses; found the inner strength to make a difference.

And by your shaking just one veteran’s hand, I guarantee you will make him feel great – and so will you.

Now how about the new in colors????  I have some of the card stock but I just ordered the inks today and can't wait for them to arrive!!

WHICH NEW IN COLOR IS YOUR FAVORITE?  Please leave me a comment below!

Strawberry Slush :  Lighter and softer than Melon Mambo.  Brighter than Rose Red. 
Pistachio Pudding: A modern and "minty" spin on Certainly Celery (retiring)

Crisp Cantaloupe: Lighter and softer than Calypso Coral. More peach than Blushing Bride (a returning color).
Coastal Cabana: Lighter than Island Indigo. Richer than Pool Party.
Baked Brown Sugar:  Warmer than Crumb Cake.  More gold and lighter than Soft Suede.

 

Happy Birthday

I made this birthday card recently to send to a friend.  This is another retired stamp set - Patterned Party.  It is a great card for birthdays.  And how do you like the little owl peeking his head out?  I used the good ole' Owl Punch to make him.  I just love this punch!!

You can do a lot with this set.  One of my gals from Stamp Club told me today that she used the 9 and the 0 for her mother's 90th birthday party this past weekend! 

Serene Silhouette Sympathy

For your information, here is the time line for ordering from the OLD and NEW catalogs:

Friday, May 31 – last day to order from the Spring Mini Catalog
Friday, May 31 – first day to order from the 2013-2014 Idea Book and Catalog
Monday, June 3 – last day to order from the 2012-2013 Idea Book and Catalog

What does this mean?  It means that Friday, May 31 is your day!  That’s the one day when all three catalogs are open for business.  On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, you can order from the two main catalogs, but the Spring Catalog is off the table.  Contact me with your order OR you can order on-line yourself and have the order shipped directly to you by using code #N4PTTCS7.

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Don't you hate it when you need a sympathy card?  I needed to send a card to a friend who lost her husband recently.  He had been sick for a while and in Kay's own words " I’m thankful that Bruce and I had this time during the past year or so while he’s been ill, to talk and cry and laugh and share feelings, to ask forgiveness of each other for past hurts and to grow closer as we walked this journey together. "  Isn't that what we all would ask for?  Just a chance to enjoy those final days together.

I haven't had this stamp set very long but I really like it.  I always seem to use Thoughts and Prayers for my sympathy cards but now I will have another "go to" set for sympathy cards.

The card is Island Indigo although it doesn't look like it in the picture and is embossed.  I stamped the tree with birds in Black StazOn ink on Shimmery White card stock.  Then I used my Aqua Painter and lightly brushed Summer Starfruit over the bottom and Island Indigo across the middle.  I matted the piece with black card stock, tied a black ribbon around the piece and stamped the sentiment from Thoughts and Prayers.  Very simple - took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Sketch Challenge 43 MDS Style

Here is my card for the Paper Players Sketch #43 this week.  I used My Digital Studio to create it.  

Make sure you stop by the Paper Craft Crew Blog to check out what the other players have made HERE.

Recipe for MDS card:

Background     Color - matched to the DSP
Embellishments
    _Designer Kits\Christmas Jingle - borders\Christmas Jingle - ribbon piece (re-colored)
    _Designer Kits\Fan Fair - embellishments\Fan Fair - border 1
    Paper Doilies\Paper Doilies - whisper white (re-colored)
    _Designer Kits\2013 Quotable Calendar\2013 Quotable Calendar - beyond yourself
    Hodgepodge Hardware\Designer Brad - circle2

Stamps
    _Designer Kits\Convention 2012\Convention 2012 - frame corner, Color = BASIC GRAY      _Designer Kits\Convention 2012\Convention 2012 - frame corner, Color = BASIC GRAY 

Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch,
    Flowers\Fun Flower - 4,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\Keep in Touch - designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 2
    Flowers\Fun Flower - 2,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\Keep in Touch - designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 4

Photos
    Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\Keep in Touch - designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 1

Button Buddies Flower

I'm home and getting for Stamp Club this week.  We left St. Augustine this morning after breakfast and headed north.  We stopped for a delicious fried chicken dinner at the Front Porch restaurant in South Carolina.  I had the best fried squash I have ever had!!  Sonny actually made the suggestion to stop at this restaurant since he has been there before with his shooting buddies.  Usually he doesn't care for good ole' Southern cooking but he enjoyed the fried chicken as much as I did - plus mashed potatoes and gravy!  My mouth is watering.

This is one of the cards we will be making this week in Stamp Club.  I didn't use Button Buddies enough but I will be holding on to it for a while.  It is such a fun set.  For this card I used a combo of old and new colors - Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry (new) and Riding Hood Red (retiring).  This was a super easy card to make.  Just stamp 2 of the flowers directly on the card and the third flower on scrap paper - I used Naturals cardstock for this card.  The card can be punched out with the Scallop Punch.  Add a button to the center, a flag with a sentiment on top of a strip of DSP and voila, an easy card!

Still in Florida!

I'm still in Florida!  We have been having so much fun!  Sonny has been such a good sport about the beach and the sand - gonna owe him big time!!  It has been so relaxing.  We spent most of the day out on the beach - we would go out around 10 a.m. and walk a couple of miles before settling down in our beach chairs to snooze and read our books.  Then up to the room for lunch and back to the beach till around 3:30 pm.  After we showered and got ready, we would go into the town of Fernandina for dinner and a few drinks.  Last night we found a piano bar that was a real treat.  Today we checked out of the motel and decided to drive down to St Augustine while we were so close.  We toured a chocolate factory (free tastings!!) and hopped on a tour trolley to learn a little about the city.  I found a local winery for a free tour and tasting so I was happy!  We went ahead and got a hotel for the night so we could find a sports bar to watch the Penguins play-off hockey game.  (It is now in it's 2nd overtime!)  Tomorrow we will have a long drive back home but we both have obligations on Tuesday so have to get home.  Plus Sammie is missing us I'm sure.  Angela was a big help and came over to feed Sammie a couple of times while I was gone but she told me Sammie was not very sociable.  Guess she's pouting since we're gone!

My new hat!

footprints in the sand

Sonny snoozing

Seashell in the sand

Early morning sun on the ocean

Posting from Florida!

We are in Florida - Fernandina Beach - enjoying the sun and sand.  We arrived yesterday afternoon after a stop Tuesday night in Sumter, SC in time to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game.  (That was a challenge - to find a sports bar that carried the hockey game in Sumter!)  Last night Sonny and I wandered arround the shops and bars downtown.  We ended up at the Thirsty Pelican and joined a trivia game.  We didn't do too well but it was fun anyway ... and the food was excellent!  Today I spent most of the day on the beach soaking up the sunshine.  It was a perfect day - overcast all day so I didn't just burn up.  Sonny was a sport and sat with me for a couple of hours.  Tonight we met some friends who live in Jacksonville at the Green Turtle for a couple of drinks and then on to an Italian restaurant for another wonderful dinner.   When we got back to the hotel a little after 8 pm, I wanted to watch American Idol since tonight was the finale.  I forgot that I could not get the sound on the tv to work last night - but only on Fox which is the station that carries Idol.  I went to the office tonight to tell them about it.  Turns out our tv is the only one it seems that the sound does not work on Fox!  The TV in the office and in the empty room next door both work.  After about a half hour of fooling around with the tv with no luck, I finally convinced the gal to just let me sit in the empty room next door to watch the show.  She first told me I would have to pay a cleaning fee if I did that!  But she finally called the owner who ok-d it so I was able to watch the finale.  I liked both of the gals who were in the finale and wasn't surprised at the outcome.  (I'm not saying who since I don't think Ashley has seen it yet since she is in Vegas this week!)

This week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch was a great one.  I made my card Tuesday night while we were in Sumter but didn't have time to post it.  That's the great thing about MDS.  I can make a card while I'm traveling by just using my computer!!

I used the kit Big Top Birthday for most of the card.

Make sure you check out the other cards from the design team HERE.

My Mother's Day Card

I received a beautiful Mother's Day card from my sweet daughter.  What a lot of work went into this card .... especially knowing that she does not own a square punch!  She cut all these squares out with her cutter.  Wow!  She told me that this would have been an easy card to make using MDS.  So I thought I'd give it a try!

I made my "inchie" card into a birthday card.  So, what do you think?  Ashley's is better because it has a lot more elements but an MDS card is very "doable"!!

Sonny and I are headed to Florida tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary a little late.  It's been a long time since we took a little vacation - just the two of us.  He is not a big fan of the beach and I think I could live at the beach.  But, he is being a good sport.  We are staying on Amelia Island at Fernandino Beach which I think is a pretty quiet little beach.  I've got a few good books packed, my sunscreen and my bathing suit .... ready to relax!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope your day is special!  We are taking my mom out to eat this afternoon.  We are hoping to miss the crowd by going around 3 pm. 

I've been busy the past few days trying to learn how to use my new smart phone!  It's sad when a phone is smarter than a person!!  The kid I bought the phone from at Verizon ran through the instructions so fast my head was spinning when I left!  I'm planning on going back to take a class on how to use my phone and find out about all the apps.  In the meantime, I did learn how to play Words With Friends!  I had dinner last night with Marianne and Greg and she helped me out with my new phone.  Although I think my phone doesn't like me.  Every time I power it on I get a little green man who I'm guessing is the Droid laying down.  He stays like that for a while before continuing to power on.  Not sure what that is about.  Looks like I killed him!

I've been working on making cards using the retired card stock and stamps sets that didn't make it into the new catalog.  Button Buddies is one of them.  It was one of my favorites when it first came out but I have to admit, I didn't use it near as much as I thought I would. 

This one was easy!  I just stamped the flower in the Button Buddies set with white craft ink and embossed them all with white embossing powder.  Then I glued a button in the center of each flower.  The card stock is Certainly Celery.

Wonderful Mother's Day Card

Well, the Red Cross has disappointed again.  We got a call yesterday that they had opened a shelter for the local flooding victims and needed volunteers to man the shelter.  We told them we could work it from 1-7 today since I had a meeting this morning.  The shelter was set up in north Charlotte and when Sonny and I arrived, there was no one there.  And I don't mean no clients, but no workers ... no one!  I called the Lake Norman office to see what was going on and was told they had closed the shelter at noon.  Didn't we get a call?  NO!!  Sonny and I both have cell phones and had them turned on but nothing and when we arrived home, there was no message waiting for us there either.  You know that old adage, three strikes and you're out?  Well, we're OUT!   Every time we've worked a shelter, there has either been no one needing our services or one person.  It would make much more sense to put one person in a hotel rather than all the manpower necessary to set up a shelter!

OK - on to other things.  I made a Mothers Day card for the Paper Craft Crew challenge using MDS.  I love using this trick with ribbon.  I used the grosgrain ribbon bow and cropped it so I just had one loop; copy, paste and voila, two loops.  It's a pretty simple card but I think I will be printing this one out for my mom for Mother's Day.  Now I just have to find a gift for her.

Make sure you visit the Paper Craft Crew Blog site and check out what the other members have done with the sketch.  And while you're at it, make your own card using the sketch.