Altered Bag Swap

Someone sent me this today in one of those forwarded emails that goes around and around.  I normally delete them - sometimes without reading them ... But the first sentences of this one really spoke to me.  I need to follow what it said but it's just hard!

 "There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living."

"Today may there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

 It's hard when you have people in your life that you love and that are so very important to you but they just like the drama of conflict.  Life IS short and I need to remember that.  So glad I have others in my life that make me happy and I am able to concentrate on them.  I hope you have people in your life that make you happy!

This card made me happy when I received it on Monday.  It is the anniversary card Ashley made and sent to us.  She used bits and pieces from a scrapbook kit that we got at a crop last year.  I think it made a great card!

At Quarterly last weekend, we did an Altered Gift Bag swap.  There were some really creative gift bags.  Unfortunately, when I got home, my bags were missing.  I just figured Marianne had them in her stuff but she didn't.  I'm hoping they turn up eventually but my sweet friend, Judy, who went to the event as my guest felt bad for me and gave me HER bags from the swap!  That wasn't necessary and I argued with her but didn't win so a big thank you to Judy!!

Tina Lesson made the middle bag and Marcia Enns made the baby bib bag - really cute!

Tammy Pedone made the beach  bag in the center.

Marianne made the cupcake bag and Lynn Creech made the "Happy Day" bag

Debbie Michael made the two bags on the right and left

Pat Wilkinson made the flip flop bag and Patti McFarland made the one on the right

MY Bag

To make my bag, I took a white lunch bag and cut it down to about 5".  Cut a piece of DSP  at 6" x 6" (I used the Polka Dot Parade in green) and adhere it to one side of the bag.  On the other side of the bag, adhere a piece of 6" x 12" DSP.  Fold over a flap from the 12" DSP whatever size you want.  I adhered a white scallop to the bottom of my flap and a small piece of Glitter paper.  What I like about this bag is the closure.  You can just slip the ribbon off the top to open the bag.  I made the flower with the Spiral Die.  I CASEd this bag idea from Rhonda Wade.   

Paper Craft Crew Challenge 88

Time for Paper Craft Challenge!  Here is the card I made with My Digital Studio this week.  I did a pretty easy card this week because I was in a bit of a time crunch to get it done and posted on the site before I went to play Bunco in my neighborhood.

Make sure you check out the other creations from the Paper Craft Crew HERE

Here is the sketch we used this week:

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41 Years and Going Strong

Today is my 41st wedding anniversary!  Wow!  That's a long time.  I shared a few pictures today on Facebook that brought back a lot of memories.

Ashley sent us these beautiful flowers today for our anniversary.  My bridesmaids carried yellow daisies in their bouquet at our wedding.  Sonny used to give me a bouquet of daisies each year for our anniversary with a rose for each year.  That stopped a few years after we got past a dozen roses!

I made this card for Sonny today.  I loved the card he bought for me (Hallmark) but when I looked on the back at the price, I about had a stroke!  $6.00!!!  Just shows the cards we make are worth more than we think!

inside of card I made for Sonny

Anniversary Card for Sonny

 I used the Sale-a-bration set, See Ya Later and Hello Watercolor stamps to make this card.  The card stock is Daffodil Delight and Pacific Point.

Mooresville NC Quarterly is in the Books!

Oh, what a fun weekend I had!  It's hard to believe after all the planning and creating, the Mooresville NC Quarterly has come and gone already!  I think Marianne and I did a good job and pulled it off!   She and I arrived at the hotel around 1:30 and got to work setting up the room and unpacking our cars!!

Packed Car!

Lots of stuff to carry in!!

The ladies started arriving around 4 pm and got busy working on shoebox swaps.  We had 31 cards to create.  I wasn't so sure that we'd get them done in time to get any sleep.  But everyone followed the rules and made their cards simple enough to be able to complete quickly but they were also great cards.  A lot of the work had been done in advance so it made it much easier for us to complete the cards in record time. Marianne and I finished our cards around midnight.  She went up to bed about midnight and I hit the sack around 1 a.m. Although there was too much going through my head to be able to sleep well.  We were up and at it by 7 a.m. Saturday morning.  We had our breakfast and set up Saturday registration and started our meeting at 8:45 a.m.   After a short business meeting and introduction of everyone, Allison was able to start our first project at 10 a.m.  She did a great job (I'll be sharing the project later) and all the ladies loved making their Spring Collage Frame.  Next was lunch - sandwiches that we got from Harris Teeter (thanks to Marianne's hubbie for delivering them!)  After lunch, Jo Anne led us through three projects using the Scallop Tag Punch.  Oh so cute!!  (haven't taken pictures of them yet)  Next Karen taught us her version of the Card in a Box.  (I still have to finish mine - I was getting too tired by then to have the patience to finish!!)  We ended up finishing a lot earlier than I had expected so the girls who had a distance to drive were able to get a head start on their drive - or as it turned out, they had time to go to Ikea to do some shopping before hitting the highway home!!  All that and six Prize Patrols!  Everyone went home with prize merchandise as well as welcome bags that Marianne and I had put together.  Our "welcome" bag contained several items that Marianne and I had made including chapstick (decorated with a belly band that I made in MDS); bottle cap necklace or key chain; pouch made with the Petal Cone Die (retired) with straws and lemonade in them; "crackers" made with Envelope Punch Board; and a foam pad for stamping.  

chapstick

My Shoebox Card made with Petite Petals in Primrose 

March Thank you's

For my March thank you notes, I used a variety of stamps.

 This card was so easy!!  Unfortunately, the punch I used is a retired one.  I punched colored card stock circles and adhered them behind the punched areas - in shades of blue.  I used Gorgeous Grunge for the ink splatters.

This was another easy one.  I again used Gorgeous Grunge in Pacific Point and Real Red for splatters.  Next I used Hello Lovely (pg 22 of catalog).  I stamped the thank you stamp twice - once in red and once in Pacific Point and cut it apart.

 I think this one might be my favorite one.  I love these chevrons from the Oh Hello set (pg 34).  The small arrows are from one of the photopolymer sets.

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 These cards turned out thanks to my favorite tools .... the Stamp-a-ma-jig!  It made lining up the chevrons so easy!!

This card is my Washi Tape card!  I used the tape to decorate the card and then stamped with the Hello Lovely stamp.

Our Quarterly starts tonight.  Marianne and I are going over to the Holiday Inn after lunch and start setting up.  The gals will start arriving around 5 to work on the 31 shoebox cards!  My car is packed to the brim with decorations, prizes and supplies for the event.

Word Bubble Rainbow Love

Welcome to spring!  Yesterday and today were beautiful days!!  I'm loving it so far.  The weather man is calling for rain on Friday and Monday and the temps to drop next week - highs only in 60s.  So guess I'll enjoy it while I can!!

The beautiful sunshine prompted me to create a bright and cheery card.  In fact, I loved it so much, I could't stop and made 3 cards using the same theme.  I may be doing this one in club this month.  We'll see!

I used the Word Bubbles Framelits and the Just Sayin' stamp set.  They can both be purchased as a bundle from the Occasions catalog for $37.25 (clear) and $43.95 (wood).  This set did not grab me when I first got the catalog but I have really used them a lot.  Check out my "rainbow" cards using the framelits and stamp:

Here are some great ideas that were shared in January on Stampin' Up's corporate blog:  Check it out HERE.

Don't Worry! Be Happy!

Here are this week's weekly deals which end on Monday -


It's time for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  This is my MDS card for the challenge -

 I used the DSP from the Watercolor paper that can be found in the Occasions catalog.

Make sure to stop by the Paper Craft Crew Blog to check out the other cards made with this sketch.

Spread the Joy!

I don't go to many concerts but I felt like I was at one Saturday night.  I listened and watched the live stream (on my computer) of the first iHeartRadio Country Festival live from Austin, Texas.  It started at 8:30 and I finally called it quits at 1:00 a.m.!  I think Luke Bryan was singing the final song.  I felt like I was really there with the crowd.  The artists were great - Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Eric Church, Lady Antebellum, Hunter Hayes, Carrie Underwood, Jake Owen and Dan + Shay.  Each artist sang at least 4 songs and many sang more than that.  It was awesome!!

While listening to the concert, I did a little creating.  I have this stamp set, Spread the Joy, that has not seen ink yet.  Wouldn't you know it - right after I got it a few months ago, it was retired.  Oh well, I really like the saying on it and will continue to use it.  The stamp was created by a Stampin' Up employee, Emily.  Stampin' Up held a design contest and this was the winner.  Here is how Emily describes the set:  "The theme—Bucket List—was tricky! Although I do want to go skydiving and visit all 50 states, a big part of my bucket list is becoming what I want to be—so my set is a reminder. “Spread the Joy” reminds me to let loose and enjoy life; to leave love notes for my husband and kids; to be brave when life is stormy; and to do the things that really matter! I’m particularly proud of the jam and bread—100 percent my husband’s idea."  Cool, huh?




What's on your bucket list?  I still have a few things on mine but I am marking a lot of them off and not sitting around dreaming about them!

I used the Hardwood background stamp (in Occasions mini catalog) for the background and stamped it in Pool Party.  The die cut piece is from Apothecary framelits.  There is not a framelit or punch for the oval saying so I hand cut it.  I don't think I would have thought about putting these colors together - Pool Party and Crushed Curry - but I got the idea from my Color Coach (a great tool) and I really like it!

Marianne and I got together this weekend and put the finishing touches on the Quarterly that we are hosting this weekend.  I think we are ready!!  I am hoping by the weekend Sonny will be back to his old self.  He is still feeling poorly.  He went to the dr. on Thursday and started on an antibiotic and a pill for his cough and I thought he would be rallying by now.  But I woke up during the night and he was missing from his side of the bed.  He ended up sleeping in his chair last night and is still asleep this morning.  He's getting pretty grumpy from feeling bad for so long and I don't blame him.  The weather is supposed to be in the 80s later in the week and I know he wants to be outside!!

Petal Parade .... going, going ..... almost over!

Sale-a-Bration is fast coming to an end.  You have until Monday to take advantage of getting something FREE!!  So I made several cards this week using some of the items from the Sale-a-bration catalog.

I have not really used this stamp (Petal Parade) much so decided to dust it off and stamp with it before it's too late!!  I also used the twine in Summer Starfruit that is a Sale-a-bration item.  I really love the twine and hope it will be an item in the new catalog this summer.  The DSP pieces I cut into banner shapes.  As much as I love the Sweet Sorbet DSP, the piece that I used here (with the black and multi-colors) is not my favorite and I have had a hard time figuring out how to use it.  But I really like the way it pulls the other colors out in this card.  So, looks like if you just use a small piece in a background, it will pull your card together.  I lined the Summer Starfruit and Pool Party arrows up using my favorite tool, my Stamp-a-ma-jig! Love that tool!  In fact, I lost mine a few months ago (still haven't found it) and have had to replace it.  I also used it to line up the sentiment.  I love how that sentiment (from Perfect Pennants) fit perfectly beside the pennants.  Believe me, I did NOT plan it!!  I don't tend to plan when making a card - I just stamp.  Sometimes that's a good thing, other times not so much.  On this card, I was originally going to stamp the sentiment on top of the stamped flowers.  When I looked at the card I decided there was too much white space at the top so set out to find a sentiment to fill it up.  This one was perfect, don't you think?

Don't know if you can tell, but I took this card outside to take my picture .... in the SUNSHINE!!  It's not warm but the sun did shine yesterday.  On Tuesday, we had a little more snow mixed in with rain in the afternoon!  Crazy!!  Today's temps are supposed to almost get to 60 degrees so we are getting there!  I just hope the weather will be nice for our Quarterly weekend (April 4-5).  I have been really busy getting everything made for it.  Can't wait to share some of the things I have made but I want to wait until after Quarterly so as not to spoil the surprise for those who read my blog.  Marianne and I have made some cute things (in my humble opinion!!)

Sonny is still feeling poorly although he did go skeet shooting yesterday against my advice.  He is in charge of the Catawba group and felt like he had to go.  But when he got home, he called the doctor and is going to see him today.  It's about time!  I'm still fighting it - I'm congested and have been really sleepy.  I went out yesterday and ran a few errands.  It was good to get out of the house but I took a nap about 6:00 pm!  I think I am just getting a cold and I can handle that!

Imagination can take you Everywhere!

Time for Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  I have missed several of the challenges lately for one reason or another.  But I made sure I did my card early this week and got it posted.  I opened up My Digital Studio for my card as usual.  I really love this card I made this week!

I used DSP from Sweet Sorbet and the cork flowers and embellishment on the side are from Sale-a-bration.
This was a fun sketch with all the banners and the word bubble.  Why don't you give it a try and post your creation HERE