Swallowtail Dream Pillow Set

Craft Project Central has a great project for you today!!

This Swallowtail Dream Pillow Set is a fun way to use your stamps on velvet!  This set features a velvet dream pillow with a coordinating tag and matching gift card.  What a wonderful gift for a special friend!

Isn't this a gorgeous gift idea?  Michelle Wecksler designed this project for Craft Project Central, which is where you will find her step-by-step instructions.  Did you know that it's not too late to subscribe to this month's awesome Craft Project Central tutorials?  When you subscribe, you have until April 2015 to access this month's tutorials!

Sale plus a Paper Pumpkin Deal!!

EDITED TO ADD:  If you want to try Paper Pumpkin - the stamping kit that is delivered to your door each month, I have a deal for you!  You can order June's kit for 50% off (making it $9.97)!  Try it out and see what you think.  If you are not happy with it, cancel!!  Go HERE and enter the code SHELLIDEAL to get your 50% off!!

Starts Tomorrow (5/22)! Retiring Product Blowout. Save up to 50%!

Oh, how I was hoping Stampin' Up! would do this!  However, don't delay.  At these prices, the remaining retiring items will sell out quickly!

Get 25% - 50% off many of the retiring products - This special offer begins tomorrow, May 22 and is only available through June 4, 2014 (while supplies last). If you missed out on a product the first time, this is your last chance to get it before it's gone for good!

UPDATED RETIRING STAMPIN' UP! PRODUCT LISTS 

• Retiring Stamps (Available April 21-June 4, 2014, or while supplies last)
  • PDF
  • Excel file
• Retiring Accessories (Available April 21-June 4, 2014, or while supplies last)
• PDF
• Excel file

Be ready for the special pricing tomorrow!   

Challenge 94

For the Paper Craft Crew challenge this week, I definitely stepped out of my box!  I still used My Digital Studio to create the card but it is not my usual style.  I found a stamp set that I had downloaded that had these cool brush strokes and just randomly "stamped" them on the square card.  I kinda like the result!  What do you think?

Check out the rest of the challenge cards HERE.

Surprise Box

This is Post #2 for today!!

A “Surprise Box” is a fun way to cheer up anyone who is having a rough day, to entertain the kiddos if they’re having a “sick day” and are tired of being in bed, or to keep them entertained during a long car trip.  It’s easy to change the contents, so you can use the box over and over.  Each time it’s opened will be a new adventure.

I can't imagine that anything has been left out of this project!  The designer, Buffy Cooper, seems to have thought of everything, and you can find her complete tutorial at Craft Project Central.

Mickey and Minnie

My oldest granddaughter is living her dream.  She loves Disney and has been accepted to the Disney College Program starting out being a character performer.  Can't wait to hear which character she will be!  She and her mom left last week for Orlando.  I know it will be hard for Darcie to leave Torri there in a few days.  I remember how hard I cried when I left Ashley at Trinity University and then three years later, left Jeff at West Point.  Whew!  That was hard!  But your kids grow up and leave home and life goes on - at least that's what's supposed to happen!  I am so proud of Torri and know this is just the beginning of a great adventure for her.

This is the card I made for her and hope she got it before leaving last week!!

It's funny - I didn't use the Dress Up framelit much and now that it is retiring, I've used it twice in the past couple of weeks!  I made the Mickey head and ears with punches.  The dress is made using the Dress Up framelit.  I die cut two dresses.  The second dress was cut at the waist; split down the center; and popped up with dimensionals on top of the first dress.  The black ribbon at the waist hides where the dresses are adhered together.  The sleeves were made using circle punches.  The lace peeking out at the bottom of the dress is made using a piece of a doily.

Hope Torri liked the card.

Charleston, Blendabilites and Endless Wishes

I was in Charleston last week and had a great time.  We met Ashley there.  She was attending a medical convention of some sort (and was one of the lecture-ers!)  But she still had time to spend with us.  We took a  bus tour around the city Wednesday morning before she had to go to work.  On Thursday our plans got changed around a bit. Originally, Sonny was going to go to Fort Sumter with one of Ashley's friends who was flying in from Houston and I was going to go to one of the local beaches.  Well, best laid plans .... first off, it was pouring rain most of the day Thursday so the beach was out. And to top it off, Julie missed her flight and instead of arriving in Charleston at 11 a.m., she didn't arrive until around 5 p.m.!!   So Sonny and I drove over to Wadmalaw Island to tour the Charleston Tea Plantation where Bigelow American Classic Tea is made.  It was very interesting to see what goes into making a tin of tea.  I didn't realize that tea is grown from a version of the camelia plant.  Right down the road from the tea plantation, we found the Firefly Vodka Distillery!  They have a tasting room where you get a tasting shot glass (to keep) and you can select 6 alcohols to test.  I had only heard of Firefly sweet tea vodka so I was surprised they have many flavors of the sweet tea vodka but also rum, bourbon, liqueurs, and moonshine, too!  You do only get a sip of each, which ends up being about a shot in total.  Despite the fact that Sonny is not that into infused vodkas or 'fruity flavors,' we both had a fantastic couple of hours here. Indeed, at the end of it, the tasting was just a very small part of it. We walked away with Lemonade Vodka for me, Apple Pie Moonshine and Chocolate Pecan Pie Liquor for Sonny!  For a beer drinker, he surprised me!  The Irvin House Vineyards was next on our list!  It is owned by the same people as Firefly.  Sonny does not drink wine so he came in and sat next to me during my tasting.  The wine was right up my alley .... a sweet muscadine wine!  They have 5 varieties of wines and I walked away with the Magnolia Wine (for my health you know)!! Muscadines, once thought of as "the fountain of youth", have been praised for its significant levels of resveratrol, an organic molecule and powerful antioxidant. A study by the National Institute of Health found that muscadine wines have seventtimes more resveratrol than other wines.  

Good to the last drop!

Vineyards

Me and Waddy having a "cuppa" tea

 

tea fields

I was playing around last week with my Blendabilities.  I really love them!!  They blend really well and makes me look like a great water-color-er (is that a word???).  Anyhoo ... here are a few images I colored using the markers.

For the Birds stamp - Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities

Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities

Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities

K-Cup Holder

This pretty box will hold three K-cups and is a perfect gift for any coffee lover! These boxes go together quickly, so you can make several for gifts, vendor shows or it also makes a great class! The coordinating buckle-card adds just the right touch to this ensemble.

This great project comes to you designed by Laurie!

To get the instructions for Laurie’s project, just subscribe to Craft Project Central May!  And if you have a minute, please leave Laurie a comment on her project!  Have a fun crafting weekend!

Nothing makes a better impression than a hand-made gift bag. Make this elegant gift bag and fill it with some yummy treats or a special gift. It is perfect for any occasions, from birthdays to weddings. Great for a stamp camp, or as a class project.

 

To get the instructions for Monika’s project, just subscribe to Craft Project Central for May!  And if you have a minute, please leave Monika a comment on her project!  Have a wonderful crafting day!

Mother's Day Cards

I got a couple of Mother's Day cards today in the mail.  Wonder how long I can "milk" Mothers Day??!!!  Both cards use punches on the front.

This is the card Ashley sent.  Isn't it great?!!  She used a butterfly punch with dimensionals.  And the two buttons .... love it!  I particularly liked the gift certificate that was inside too!!

This next card is from my upline, Carol.  She used a flower punch on the front with the Polka Dot DSP behind it.

I am heading to Charleston, SC tomorrow.  Sonny and I are driving down and meeting Ashley there.  She has a conference there this week.  Charleston is such a great city.  I haven't been there in about 14 years.  Ashley and I took Marianne there for her 40th birthday.  I'm ready for a little R&R!!  It's been about 5 months since I took a trip ... too long!!

Happy Weekend!

Hope your weekend was a good one.  Ours was bittersweet.  Our friends, Margaret and Graham have been here all week and we took them to the airport Saturday morning.  We met Marianne and Greg and after we went to the airport, the four of us enjoyed breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Charlotte.  Marianne and I each got the Dutch Baby, one of their specialities.  It is an air filled yeasty pancake served with lemon syrup, lemons, butter and powdered sugar.  Yum!!  It was delicious but I didn't eat anything the rest of the day!!  (I didn't count the calories!)

After breakfast, we drove around Charlotte reminiscing as we drove past our Grandparents house and the house we were living in when Marianne was born.  Then we went to the memorial service and the celebration of life for our cousin, Bobby.  It was a really nice service with many sharing their stories and memories of Bobby.  He was such a "bigger than life" guy who never met a stranger whose flame was snuffed out too soon.  May he rest in peace.

Today we picked up my mom to take her out to lunch.  When Sonny walked by her hanging fern plant that was on her front porch, a bird flew out and perched on her roof.  Upon further investigation, we discovered there was a nest with an egg in it in the fern.  The mother bird kept her eye on us and her nest.  When we went inside, she resumed her perch in the fern on her egg.  I was able to get some pretty good pictures.

We thought it was just a pigeon but a couple of people have told us it looks like a Mourning Dove.

We had a nice bar-b-que lunch with Mom, Angela, Marianne, Greg, Derek and Harrison at Sonny's where all mothers ate for free!  That makes it a little better for everyone!  After lunch, we went to BJ's and then home.  I had a few cards to make to mail out as well as coming up with ideas for Stamp Club this month.