Steelers MDS Monday Challenge

MDS Monday had a great challenge this week with their weekly sketch.  I just discovered yesterday that my sketch was featured on the MDS Monday blog for the pick of the week a couple of weeks ago.  This week the challenge is to create a page highlighting something you love.  Well, there are a lot of things that I could have picked from - family, life, travelling, etc.  But, I decided since it's now football season, to pick STEELERS FOOTBALL!!  I went through some of my older photographs to pick out a few favorites.  This was good timing since Sonny and I will be going to the Steeler - Panther game in a couple of weeks thanks to a very good friend who is giving me her tickets!!

I used several stamps and elements from MDS.  My favorite tool to use is the Search tool in the bottom right.  I can just put in any word and it finds all stamps, embellishments, punches, etc. that are associated with it.  I used mostly the Game Day stamp set for this layout.  I created my own Subway Style words for the top and the bottom instead of using DSP.  I like the way it turned out.

Embellishments
    _Designer Kits\Downtown Grunge - embellishments\Downtown Grunge - frame5
    _Designer Kits\Downtown Grunge - embellishments\Downtown Grunge - frame2

Stamps
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Decorative Overlays\Decorative Overlays - grid, Color = 0,0,0
    Game Day Football\Game Day Football    
    Sporting\Sporting - score,
    Game Day Football\Game Day Football - 10 yards,
    Designer Kits\Lemonade Stand\Lemonade Stand - i heart this
    Game Day Football\Game Day Football - ball,

Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color = BASIC BLACK 19,27,29
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color = BASIC BLACK 19,27,29
    Basics\Oval Punch, Fill Color = BAKED BROWN SUGAR 174,142,94

Halloween Fry Box

Time for the weekly specials from Stampin' Up.  Remember, these are available through next Monday.

It's time to start thinking about making treats for the kids for Halloween.  This is a swap I received at convention that I thought was really cute.  It uses the Fry Box Die found on page 233.  

And here is another that I found on Pinterest:

I'm Back with Paper Craft Crew Sketch 108

I'm baaaccckkk!!  We had a great trip and a great visit with Ashley.  But you know how it is - as great as it is to travel, there's no place like home!!  Sonny and I feel like all we did this past week was eat!!  Guess that means I won't be doing much cooking this next week!!  (A gal can hope, can't she???)  We left early Wednesday morning in order to get Ashley to Ft Belvoir by 3-3:30 so she could in-process for her course. Fort Belvoir was a huge base - not what I was expecting at all.  It is only about a 30 minute drive (depending on traffic) to Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church and DC.  The base is practically a city in itself with a population of about 7,000.  We spent Wednesday evening in Alexandria just wandering the downtown area and having dinner at an Irish Pub we remembered from when Ashley was stationed in DC.  Thursday evening we took the metro to Bethesda and walked to our favorite restaurant to have strombollis.  Friday we met Ashley's friend, Debbie for dinner in Falls Church.  Saturday we drove to Arlington to check out the National Harbor which is 350 acres of shopping, waterfront activities, offices, hotels, etc.  There is a Carousel and a Ferris Wheel there.  We did not see the Carousel but you couldn't miss the Ferris Wheel.  Neither Sonny nor I like Ferris Wheels so we had to disappoint Ashley and say no to a ride.  We thought it would be too hot but I have since learned that the gondolas on the Ferris Wheel are climate controlled.  Maybe next time we visit .... it would be great to see the Washington DC skyline from 180 feet in the air!  

Of course, Sunday found us searching for a Steeler bar to watch the nail-biter game!  We won but considering we were ahead 24-3 at halftime and ended up making a field goal in the last 5 seconds to win the game, it was the usual Steeler nail biter to the bitter end.  The bar that we found was PACKED with real Steeler fans!  It was standing room only by the time we found a parking spot about 6 blocks away.  This morning we got up early and made the drive back to NC in the rain.  We have two happy cats who were glad to see us walk in the door.  We are babysitting Ashley's cat, Bogart, while she is at Ft Belvoir for four months.  In fact, while we were gone, they somehow set off our motion detector on our house alarm. Marianne called me about 5:30 a.m. Friday morning since they called her when they couldn't reach us at home.  She was on her way to work so was able to meet the police at our house to make sure all was ok. She had to call Angela to come over since Angela had the spare key to our house!  Family is nice!!

I did this card before I left for the Paper Craft Design Challenge using My Digital Studio.

Here is the sketch:

Stars

I love the Star Framelets and this star stamp set from the holiday catalog.  This was such an easy card.  I used Naturals card stock and embossed it with the large dots folder.  I used half a daily and a piece of Cherry Cobbler ribbon.  The large star is embossed with gold powder.

We arrived at Ford Belvoir a little after 3 in time for Ashey to get processed in.  After unpacking, we drove to Alexandria which was only about 10 miles away.  We had dinner at an Irish restaurant we remembered from a few years ago and walked around town.   She starts her course tomorrow.

It is a little difficult to type all this on my Kindle so I'm calling it a night.

For All Things

Sorry for the lack of posts.  Ashley arrived on Friday a.m. and it has been non-stop since!!  When we picked her up at the airport, we headed over to The Original Pancake House in Charlotte for breakfast and then a quick stop at the Peach Stand in Denver on the way home for a box of peaches - yum!!  After dropping her stuff - and her cat, Bogart - at home, she and I drove into town to Kohl's for her to get a Ninja Blender and to Target.  When we got back home, we packed up and went out on the boat until dark.  Saturday morning she and I left the house at 8:30 a.m. to go to a Stamping Extravaganza at Allison's house.  It was great and we left with 20 cards and 4 projects.  When we finished our stamping, we stopped off at Stein Mart to check out the Labor Day specials before meeting Sonny at the Galway Hooker for dinner.  Sunday morning, again we set out early to attend church in Charlotte at Myers Park Methodist Church.  That is where Sonny and I were married 41 years ago and I haven't been in that church since.  I thought Ashley would like seeing that beautiful church.  When we left there, we headed over to Old Meck Brewery for lunch a few brews.  It is a neat place off South Boulevard in Charlotte and has a biergarten outside.  It was too hot to sit out there but I bet Sonny and I will return in the fall.  We took a tour of the brewery that was fun too.  After a couple of hours there, we drove over to the NoDa Brewery.  It was really crowded and did not have near the atmosphere of Old Meck.  We also went to another brewery right next door but basically walked in and walked out it was so crowded!  Then back to Old Meck hoping to meet up with Margaret and Graham who are in town visiting their daughter and the new baby.  Unfortunately, they were running late and we could not wait for them.  We had to meet my family at 6 in Concord for dinner.  We had a nice visit with my brother and his family and Mom and my sister before heading for home - exhausted!!!  This morning, it was nice to not have anything scheduled.  Ashley and I stamped a few cards and now we are getting ready to go out on the boat to RELAX!!  I need it!  Tomorrow we have lunch plans with my mom and we are getting messages in the afternoon.  We are hoping to also get together with Margaret and Graham before leaving on Wednesday a.m. for D.C.

I don't think I have shared this card.  I got this single stamp as a Convention give-away.  The "dots" are a technique I learned at convention.  Scribble a Blendability pen onto the (non-stick) Silicon Mat and drop Crystal Effects on top of it.  Let it dry and you have colored dots.

I will be in Washington D.C. until next Monday so I am not so sure about posting to my blog.

For All Things with a Technique

Well, I guess you know what I was doing today (besides cleaning bathrooms - ugh!)  I decided I needed a new blog header and since it is approaching fall, decided on a fall theme.  Although the weather is not quite fall-like yet!  Just heard the weather forecast and it is to be in the 90s for the next few days with a few afternoon thundershowers thrown in.  That will make Ashley happy.  Last week when we were having wonderful lower temps, she was hoping by the time she arrived, we would be hot again.  Well, it will be so she will be happy.  Although you would think someone coming here from Texas where it's over 100 every day, would be hoping for the cooler weather.  Not my girl - she thrives on the heat!

I did have time today to work on my final shoebox card for this weekend.  I can't share it with you until next week but I do have a fall card to share.  I bought the For All Things stamp set at convention.  I love the watercolor look to the stamps.  I think fall is my favorite time of the year - maybe because my birthday is in the fall (although I don't think I am going to have any more birthdays unless I can count backwards!)

I used a technique that we learned at convention on this card.  I tapped my Soft Suede ink pad all over the raised portion of the Honeycomb Embossing Folder.  Next I put my Very Vanilla card stock inside the folder and closed it.  Then just using my hand, I rubbed over the folder, transferring the ink to my card. Make sure to use caution closing and opening the folder so you do not smear the ink.  It makes a faint pattern - some areas darker than others.

I stamped everything directly on the card using Soft Suede, Tangelo Twist, Hello Honey and Soft Suede.  I scattered a few sequins on (using glue dots) and tied a Mellow Moss ribbon.

To see other cards using thiis technique, check out the Stampin' Up Blog HERE.

Keep This Memory

Shh .... I'm supposed to be cleaning!  But MDS was calling me and I wanted to put a page together of a happy time in our lives.  We were so proud when Ashley graduated from medical school and officially joined the Army.  And what made us even prouder was the fact that our son, Jeff, was there for the occasion and was the one who pinned her bars on.  The ceremony was held at The Alamo in San Antonio and was quite impressive.  Hopefully, Ashley will have time to see this today and it will cheer her up a bit.  She is in Cleveland for work and will be returning home on Thursday .... and flying here on Friday.  Yesterday she found out that one of her interns from the Transitional Program (she is the program director) hung himself.   She was really upset and feeling a little guilty that she was not there and the guy who is taking her place while she will be gone is having to deal with it on his first day.

Life is so short.  We need to keep the good memories and do away with the bad ones!  I am in hopes that Robin Williams' death will awaken people up to depression and they will get help in their lives when they suffer from that disease.

OK - enough depression - on to happy!!

I have done another MDS Monday Challenge.  The challenge on MDS Monday this week is to use Overlays.  I love using overlays and do it quite often on my scrapbook pages.  On the page above, I used the Texture Overlay in white over my background paper and set the opacity at 60%.  I used two overlays over the large square punch - a checked overlay from Tickets and Tags that I recolored to match the uniforms and the Hexagon Overlay from Keep In Touch in white. In keeping with the hexagon theme, I added a few hexagons (paper filled from Keep This Memory) and tucked them under the pictures.  The "memory" text is from Keep This Memory.  I even played around with the top picture where Ashley is being sworn in and blurred the guy next to her so she would stand out.

Background
   Designer Kits\Keep in Touch - designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 10

Embellishments
     embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)
    embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)
    embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)
    embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)

Stamps
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Be Awesome Today - texture overlay,
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Tickets & Tags - overlay,
    _Designer Kits\Days to Remember\Days to Remember - picture perfect memory,
    _Designer Kits\Keep This Memory\Keep This Memory - arrow,
    _Designer Kits\Keep This Memory\Keep This Memory - keep this memory

Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color
    Basics\Hexagon Punch,  Filled with: designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 4
    Basics\Hexagon Punch,  Filled with: designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 8
    Basics\Hexagon Punch,  Filled with: designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 2

Convention Pics

Thought I'd share a few more pictures from Inspire, Create, Excite Convention 2014.

This was a HUGE flower that was made from Designer Series Paper.  There was a display of all the DSPs with a flower made from the paper on each one.  I don't think these petals would have fit in my Big Shot!!  But I loved the paper flowers!

This was a swap that I admired but didn't receive.  A gal had it in the bus that was taking us over to the Home Office so I snapped a photo of it.  I love my Star Framelits and will be CASEing this card in the future.

This uses Kinda Eclectic stamp and has a small note pad inside.

I just love this Snowman "Lollie"!!  If you have the Designer Rosette Bigz Die (pg 232), this would be easier to make.  I think I will also be CASEing this one too!

Sitting on the Dock Birthday

Whew!  So much for a relaxing weekend or a weekend to be crafty.  I spent the whole weekend cleaning out my craft room and the attic which is a walk in attic connected to my craft room.  It was getting too hard to find anything!  I cleaned out stuff I have had for years - can you say 4 bags of trash????  Yep, that's right. I know now that I do not need any more kits.  I have a box full of finished mini scrapbooks that I made at CKC in the past few years.  Guess I'll have a good supply for gifts!!  Plus, I have a whole huge Rubbermaid container with kits and projects that I haven't done yet!!  None of them are Stampin' Up which is probably why they are still sitting in the container.  They were "must have" items when I saw them at CKC or wherever or are partially done because I didn't have enough class time to finish them.  I have a few of them sitting out on my desk now that only need a couple of things to finish them off so I am going to do that.  Plus I found a bag full of card kits that I bought from QVC about ten years ago!!  So I am going to finish them off tonight while watching tv and give them to my mom to use.

We had plans on going on the boat one day this weekend but the weather foiled us which was probably a good thing because it let me get my job finished.  (Well, almost - I still need to clean off my desk but tomorrow is another day!

I made this card earlier in the summer.  I used the Hardwood stamp to create a pier for this bird (made using the bird punch).  Thought it would make a nice birthday card for a man.  In fact, think I'll send it to Austin to my brother since his birthday is Wednesday.

MDS Monday Ireland Scrapbook Page

The challenge sketch this week from MDS Monday was one that used lots of photos!  That's the best thing for me.  I have a hard time weeding through my photographs after a trip to just pick out a select few.  I see other people's scrapbook pages where they have just used one or two pictures.  Not me!  I tend to want to share them all!!  So that is one of the reasons I liked the sketch this week.  I decided to use some of my pictures from our Ireland trip.  That was the most awesome trip.  And I got to relive a few of the moments while putting together this page!  Hope you like it!  The main focus of the challenge was to include a map on our page. I had downloaded this map after our trip so it was easy to use it for the background and circle some of the places we visited.  The focal picture is Sonny and I walking through St. Stephens Park early one morning.  What a gorgeous place!  I used several elements from Project Life for this page.