Truly Grateful for NC Demo Quarterly

I am headed to my teenage "stomping grounds" tomorrow with Marianne.  We are going to a NC SU Demo Quarterly meeting in Shallotte.  But, on our way, we will be stopping by Lake Waccamaw which is less than an hour's drive from Shallotte.  Our family went to Lake Waccamaw for two weeks every summer with my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins .... and our maid who was like part of our family.  Oh the tales I could tell of my "coming of age" at Lake Waccamaw!  My oldest cousin, Landon, taught me all about smoking, boys, sneaking out of the house at midnight, boys, plucking my eyebrows, boys, etc. etc.!!  We had such good times.  I met a boy there when I was in high school and we were quite serious and had a relationship through my college years off and on.  Who knows what the future would have held if he had not moved to California!!  Not that I am not grateful and in love with my husband (even after 40 years!!) but don't you ever wonder - if some little detail had changed, how different your life could have been???

Our family had some sad news today.  My Aunt Carol passed away this afternoon.  She has been struggling with dementia for several years.  My cousin, Candy, who lives in Mooresville had her at her home for a long time until it just got too much for her.  So her sister, Jane, who lives in Raleigh has had her for almost a year.  She went to a Hospice facility on Monday and we knew the end was near.  Candy and her brother, Bobby, went to see her last weekend.  And today Candy took her daughter, Alex, to Raleigh one last time.   Alex posted the most touching tribute to her Facebook page this evening.  "Today at 3:30pm I stayed by my sweet Grandmommy's side and watched as she drifted off to heaven. I'm so glad God let me see her in time to say goodbye. I remember when I was a little girl, she would lay with me at night until I would fall asleep, and I'm so thankful I could do the same for her at her last moment of life. I will always love you Grandmommy ♡ RIP My beautiful angel."


Anyway, I have been furiously getting prepared for the Quarterly.  I am doing a presentation on Saturday and teaching them to make a tag booklet with shipping tags and the envelope punch board.  I'll be sharing my book soon.  I also organized the card swap and will share my Perfect Blend hybrid card with you later.  Marianne is in charge of the Christmas tag swap and I made a snowman tag (later share also).  Friday night we will be doing a shoebox swap with 23 people participating.  That's a lot of cards to make in one evening!  But it will be fun!  Here is my shoebox card using Truly Grateful.  I really like how it turned out.  I used Summer Starfruit for the base and Cajun Craze for the layer.  I stamped the background stamp onto the Cajun with Cajun Craze ink.  I die cut the Chocolate Chip label and a label from Naturals cardstock.  On the Naturals cardstock, I sponged Summer Starfruit, Cajun Craze and Crumb Cake ink.  On top of that I stamped the wheat.  I punched 2 small holes and threaded some strings from the burlap ribbon in them.  On top I stamped the acorn and adhered it with dimensionals. 

I''ve been working on my new computer today - love how fast it is!  But I think I may have to download all the elements I have bought over the years for MDS which will take me a little bit of time!  I'm hoping there is an easy solution to that but I will tackle that problem when I return.

OK - gotta go pack for my trip.  Have a great weekend!!  I probably won't be able to post again until Sunday.

MDS News

I got my new computer installed tonight and boy, is it super fast!  Guess I didn't realize how slow my old one was.  Now I just have to get my files organized and tidy up my desktop.

 Lots of news for My Digital Studio.  Several months ago, with one of the periodical updates, SU did away with the tool bar that was at the top of the page when you were creating in MDS.  Many of us were really upset by this and complained and complained and (did I mention?) we complained!!  Well, you know that squeaky wheel?  It got greased this week.   SU updated the software with some fixes.  One of the enhancements was a new customizable toolbar. That's right! You can now select which options you want to appear at the top of your screen in MDS.  Just go to View>Customize Toolbar or right-click on the toolbar itself and add or remove options.   I am super excited about this!

Are you as addicted to Pinterest as I am and many others that I know?  I have found such great ideas there.  Well, Stampin' Up now has a new Pinterest page—dedicated to all things My Digital Studio!  They are filling it up with lots of inspiration.  So go on, start repinning to your heart's content. 
Follow them at Pinterest.com/mydigitalstudio

Stampin' Up has come up with shaped postcards for MDS.  Just update your software, and you'll have access to these new shape options—perfect for wedding invitations, birth announcements, holiday cards, or every day greetings.
After you update the software, you can open up a 5" x 7" or 7" x 5" postcard, then go to View > Bleed Areas and choose either of the new options: Artisan Shaped Postcard or Scallop Shaped Postcard. Once you are ready to order your shaped postcard, just go to Project > Order > Card. The bleed area that you selected while designing your card will be the default option in the ordering process. Want to check out the other shape? No problem, just use the drop down and change it.
Don't forget, our postcards are double-sided, so we'll print on the back for you too. You'll also notice a new bleed area in your menu so that you can design your card with the end result in mind. Then, when you're ready to order, just select the shape you want in the ordering options.

Cards start at $2.25 US/$2.75 CAN and regular bulk discounts apply. Click here (US/CAN) for more information.   So go on, shape up those postcards.

The new downloads this month are cool too! 


Very Merry Tags

Snowy Soiree Ensemble

Christmas Collectibles

Holly Jolly Greetings Ensemble

Tailgating Ensemble

Ornament Punch


 

Chalk Talk Box

I received this cute Kleenex holder from my upline, Carol.  Carol used the Chalk Talk stamp set and embossed it in white. 

Kleenex holder opened

Carol sent one of these to each of her first line down-lines.  So they wouldn't get "smooshed" in the mail, Carol put each one of them in Jiffy cornbread mix box - perfect fit!  I don't know who she contacted, but someone from Jiffy sent her enough (unused) empty boxes for her to mail all the holders in.  This was evidently a big deal - they don't allow people to use their boxes for this type of thing normally.  So, Carol sent each of us a stamped envelope addressed to the Jiffy manager so we could send him a thank you.  So, next time you need a special box or packaging, try contacting Jiffy, Pillsbury, Kraft, etc.

I am getting a new computer this week and I am excited!  My nephew, Derek, is building me a computer.  I hope to get it on Wednesday!  My computer has just gotten so slow.  Guess there's no shame - I've had it about 6 years which I guess is pretty long for a computer. 

Cookie Monster

I have been working 24-7 on my projects for Quarterly next weekend as well as on calendar pages for my upcoming Calendar workshop.  I will be having the Calendar workshop this Tuesday.  If you live in the Sherrills Ford / Mooresville area, you are welcome to attend.  I have a few seats left.  Just let me know so I will have a packet ready for you.

I also had a few birthday cards to make.  This one is for a cute little boy who will be turning one and who likes cookies!


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This was such an easy card to make.  I used the Scallop Circle Sizzix die to make the card and Circle Dies for the mouth (in black), eyes and cookie.  I used the eraser end of a pencil dipped into Chocolate Chip ink for the "chocolate chips."

Sammie found a new viewing spot to keep her eye on me today.  The past couple of days she has been whining and acting like she wanted to get on top of my shelving unit where I keep my stamps, dies, etc.  So today I put her up there.  She loved it and learned how to get up and down by herself.  So, that is where she spent most of the day watching my every move!

I Freakin' Love You!

I received a sweet thank you card this week from Ashley.

 

She used the stamp set, Really Good Greetings and the Naturals White card stock.  Don't you just love it?

NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCED TODAY:

The Everyday Occasions Card making Kit was developed with the new customer in mind. It is intended to introduce--by way of a simple, fun experience at a great price--the arts of stamping and card making to people who have not yet experienced the joy of Stampin' Up! products. Why go to the store when a birthday, graduation, wedding or even a time for expressing gratitude comes up? The Everyday Occasions Card making Kit puts cards for all of those events right at your customers' fingertips, and best of all, they'll be handmade! The kit contains everything necessary (minus adhesive and scissors) to create 20 beautiful cards for almost any occasion, and it comes in a beautiful box to store them in.

But even those of us who are not new customers can use this kit to quickly make a card when you need one fast!  And you can always use your bling and other things you have in your stash to bling up the card.

This kit is:

1. Easy
2. Great for new card makers and experienced – EVERYONE
3. Includes 7 piece stamp set, block, ink spot, dimnensionals, bakers twine, all pre-cut materials and envelopes
4. Quality card stock and tags
5. Love island indigo and basic gray inks and they are the two colors included
6. Visual tips and tricks brochure
7. Silver glimmer paper and cute clips are part of the kit – I love these products.
8. It would make a great gift for a new card maker - think Christmas for your granddaughter, neighbor, daughter or son, etc.

Check out the flier HERE.

ALSO .... if you haven't gotten the great Envelope Punch Board yet, you may have to wait a bit on it. The supply is running low.  Stampin' Up has had an overwhelmingly positive response to the new Envelope Punch Board--so much so that that they have nearly sold through the supply weeks sooner than they anticipated! SU has already taken steps to restock the inventory, but the new supply will not arrive in the Distribution Center until mid-October. They anticipate that the Envelope Punch Boards will be placed on backorder in the next few days. 

Paper Pals Sketch

This week's Paper Pal Sketch was an easy one.  I used the digital kit, Follow Your Bliss.  I really like the color combo in this kit.  There are some great cards this week.  Make sure to check them out here.

I went out to lunch today with the Newcomers Out to Lunch Bunch.  We went to Jeffrey's in Mooresville and I had a delicious meal of shrimp and grits.  If you are not southern, you probably are saying "what??"  I was not familiar with the dish growing up but since I have moved back to NC, I have discovered it.  I think the first time I had shrimp and grits was visiting Ashley when she lived in DC.  We went to a soul food restaurant for her birthday and Ashley ordered them.  Since then, I have had them several times and they are always prepared a bit differently.  Today's had shrimp, Andouille sausage, and spices with yummy buttery grits.  It was delicious!  After lunch I headed over to the Department of Motor Vehicles to take my driver's test.  I passed and didn't have to wait too long.  The only "hiccup" was that since I hadn't planned on going to DEA today, I didn't have my checkbook and they don't take credit cards  - only cash or check.  There was a lady there getting her license renewed also who had been at lunch with me and she told me it would be $20.  Well, wouldn't you know it, I had $19!!  So she lent me a dollar.  When I finished the test (only had to do vision and signs), the man told me it would be $32!  Oops!  Guess I'm "young" enough that I get more than 5 years worth of renewal (it's $4 per year).   So I had to leave and go to the bank and get cash; then go back to pay and have my picture taken.  I should have my new license in a couple of weeks.  Yay! 

September Stamp Club

I think it is going to be a long football season for the Steelers this year!  I just finished watching them get beat AGAIN.  They are now 3-0 for the season - no wins!!  Isn't that crazy??  I can't ever remember a start to the season like this one.  Sonny will be hard to live with this winter.

I had Stamp Club last week and we made some great cards and learned a new technique.

We made this card using the Faux Cloissone Technique.  I did this technique years ago and forgot about it until we made Belinda's card in the shoebox swap a couple of weeks ago.  I thought it would be a fun thing to do with my club gals.  They loved it!  The flower is from Secret Garden so we used the die to cut it out instead of having to cut it free hand.  The butterfly is cut with the die from Backyard Basics.  To do the technique:

• ·       Select a colorful page from a glossy magazine.
• ·       Rub your Embossing Buddy over the part of the magazine page you want to use.
• ·       Ink the Secret Garden flower stamp with Versamark ink and stamp on the magazine page.
• ·       Pour Gold Embossing Powder over your image.   Tap off excess powder.  Use the heat gun & emboss the gold powder.

 

 This card uses the Peekaboo Sizzix die.  I really have not used this die as much as I should have.  I just forget about it.  But it is so easy to use and makes such a cute card.  The stamp set is Halloween Hello. 

This card turned out so pretty!  I used Natural Composition DSP and rubbed white ink over the DSP with a dauber.  Then I wiped the ink off the flowers with a paper towels.  It's like the ink resist technique.  The stamp set is from Serene Silhouettes.

 This was my favorite card!  I used Shimmery White cardstock and just did a color wash with my Aqua Brush.  You just have to be careful and not get the card stock too wet.  First we used painters tape and taped the edges of the card stock.  I squeezed my ink pads to get ink in the lid to paint with.  I used Soft Sky for the top half; next Marina Mist; and finally Soft Saffon and a little bit of Baked Brown Sugar for the sand.  Then stamp the birds and sentiment.  I love this stamp set!
 

Lost in the Maize Maze!

The Newcomer's monthly outing was to the Rural Hill Amazing Maize Maze on Friday.  The Maze is the largest one in the southeast - a seven acre corn maize with over two miles of interconnecting paths.  Many of the paths were dead ends and we found ourselves going around in circles many times!  It was a lot of fun though.  There were nine of us so we decided to split up into three teams and see who finished first. (guess whose team that was!!!!)  We were given a game board and had to find 12 mailboxes that held map pieces in the maze and tape them to our board.   As you find more mailboxes you slowly build your map and find the way out. It took us an hour and 45 minutes and we walked almost 3 miles!!




The group - hot and tired!

We sorta cheated - we couldn't figure out how to get to the path we wanted to so we cut through the corn!!

Ahhh - the path to get out .... we think!

My team members - Toni and Joanne

Wednesday was Jeff and Darcie's my (son and daughter in law) ninth wedding anniversary.  I can't believe it's been nine years!!  The day they got married we woke up to rain in the morning but shortly before they said their vows in an outdoor ceremony, we saw the most beautiful rainbow.  I'm sure they've had moments that weren't rainbow moments over the years but their love has grown stronger and they are happy.  That's all that matters.  Rainy wedding days are supposed to be good luck.  Guess it was for Sonny and I since it poured on our day .... 40 years ago!  Wednesday was not a rainbow type of day though for Jeff and Darcie.  The night before the water softener that was in their garage exploded as Jeff was trying to add salt to it and dumped gallons of water in the garage and into their kitchen.  It ended up costing them an unexpected $2,000.  Sometimes you get rainbows; sometimes not!  This is the card I made for them using that great Owl Punch.   How do you like it?

 

 

Shoebox Swap Cards

Here are some more of the cards I made at the Shoebox Swap at Allison's (who likes to see her name on my blog!!) shoebox swap.  I have been sharing them this week with my Stamp Club gals.  It's great to have these cards to share .... that way I don't have to buy all the sets!  (I try to anyway though!)

I'm not sure if I remember who did which card but I am going to try.  (Allison - let me know if I get one wrong.)

Good color blocking and using different embossing folders on Sharon Measmer's card.

Using the Chevron Punch and Expressions Thinlits Dies (pg 36 - holiday mini) Belinda made this colorful card.

Creative way to make a wreath - Sharon Measner used the flower from Betsy's Blossoms (pg 87)!  Great card!

A great fall card by Allison.  She used Pretty Prints embossing folder, Expressions Thinlits and that great burlap ribbon.

I think this was one of Allison's cards (??)  Great use of the single stamp on pg. 23, O Holy Night.

Love this punch art bat!!  Kathryn made this great Halloween card.

Perfect Blend, MDS style

I have been seeing such great cards made with Perfect Blend stamp set.  But I don't drink coffee so thought that would be an odd one for me to purchase.  I know lots of people who are big coffee drinkers - my mom and my sisters - but not me or Sonny.  And I don't think either of my children drink it either - I know Ashley doesn't but not so sure about Jeff.  Anyway, off the subject!!  I know you could always use the cups in the stamp set for tea drinkers but the sayings are also about coffee.  So I was really happy that SU offered Perfect Blend last week in the weekly downloads.  Now I can print the cups out and use them any time I want as well as create a card in MDS with them - like I did for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week.

Another great download last week was Burlap Ribbon.  How do you like those burlap ribbon flowers?  I recolored them to try and better match the brown on the cups.

  Background
     Color = SOFT SUEDE 
Embellishments
    Burlap Ribbon\Burlap Ribbon - flower (re-colored)
    Burlap Ribbon\Burlap Ribbon - flower (re-colored)
    Grosgrain Ribbon\Crumb Cake Grosgrain Ribbon (re-colored)
    Grosgrain Ribbon - knot\Crumb Cake Grosgrain Ribbon - knot (re-colored)
    Baker's Twine\Baker's Twine - Crumb Cake
    Baker's Twine\Baker's Twine - Crumb Cake bow

Stamps
    Friend by Definition\Friend by Definition, Color = BAKED BROWN SUGAR 
    Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 4, Color = CRUMB CAKE
   Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 4, Color = VERY VANILLA 
    Perfect Blend\Perfect Blend - cup
    Perfect Blend\Perfect Blend - coffee & friends
Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color = CRUMB CAKE
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color = VERY VANILLA 

So, what do you like to drink in the morning?  Coffee or Tea???