Watercolor Winter Kit

I have found the best deal ever in the SU Holiday Catalog!  It is the Watercolor Winter Simply Created Kit (page 37).  With this kit and a few stamps (that you might have on hand or you can purchase), you can make at least 20 cards.  I made a lot more than that and just used additional card stock that I had on hand for the card bases.  The kit includes 20 cards, envelopes, die-cut letters and shapes, linen thread, watercolor brush and cardboard accents - all for just $24.95.  

At Convention this summer I attended a specialty class where we were able to play with the new Card Kit.  I loved this class and getting to work with the watercolor projects.  (I used a few drops of reinkers mixed with water to do the watercoloring.)  When I came home, I just had to finish all the cute cards.  The kit has enough stuff to make 5 each of 4 different card designs.  However, I didn't want the same cards so I decided to see what else I could make with it. As you can see (below), there is so much you can do with this kit and I still have stuff left over!!  These are the different cards I made with the kit.  I think I have made a total of 30 cards with the kit.  I also used the stamp set, Watercolor Winter Too.  (pg 37 - $11.95).

Freeform Text on Path for MDS Monday

My creation for MDS Monday is a page from my visit with Jeff, Darcie and Jayce last December.  I got some great action shots of Jayce eventually.  The challenge this week was to use the Freeform Tool on the text around the pictures.

Jayce had fun hiding from me whenever I got my camera focused!

My MDS page uses:

Background
     Designer Series Paper Storytime  16

Embellishments
   Designer Kits\Finest Simplicity - embellishments\Finest Simplicity - frame 2

Stamps
    OVERLAY STAMPS\Epic Overlays\Epic Overlays - lines, (along edges of project)
    Designer Kits\Days to Remember - family
    Designer Kits\Family Fun Photobook - fun 4
    OVERLAY STAMPS\Epic Overlays\Epic Overlays - best ever, 

I am going to get this page in on time this week!  Last week I designed my page but forgot to post it!!  I didn't realize it until I checked the MDS Monday blog post on Monday.

We are having a bit of FALL weather here and I love it!  Tuesday I don't know if it even got up to 60 degrees!  And today it has been misty all day and in the lower 60s - a good day for a bowl of chilli. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment in the morning and didn't check the weather before getting dressed.  I put my capris on with a 3/4 length sleeve .... my legs were a little chilly!!  

I also went to Davidson College yesterday for another testing session.  I finally FINISHED the Brain Games I was having to do at home.  I was so glad!  I was doing 4-5 of the games a week and each one took an hour of my time.  That's a lot of time I was losing!!  And they were getting harder and harder.  I will go back to Davidson in 8-10 weeks for my final testing session.  So far, I have gotten $100 for it but believe me, it is worth every penny!!

I Missed the Deadline!

Last week I did a scrapbook page for the MDS Monday challenge BUT I forgot to post it to their blog!!  Oh well - guess I didn't stand a chance of winning, huh?  Anyway, here is the MDS page I made.  The challenge was to use white, vanilla or ivory as the main color.  I thought this picture from our Alaska trip fit the bill.  I used the photo of the snowy Mount McKinley as my background.

As promised, here are a few pictures from the Steeler - Panther game that we attended on Sunday night.  It was really hot - still in the 80s when we left the game about midnight.  I had been hoping for some fall weather and had thrown in my sweatshirt thinking I would need it later in the evening but ended up not even carrying it in the stadium.  The Steelers beat the Panthers pretty handily - it was the first loss of the season for the Panthers so I was not so sure about that win in advance.

We went to the Olde Meck Brewery in Charlotte before the game for dinner.

As usual, Sonny made a few Steeler friends!

Great seats

The Panthers started leaving during the 3rd quarter!!  

Our Selfie!

Here are this week's Weekly Deals - good through next Monday.

Fall Quarterly

I had a great ... and busy weekend.  Marianne came over Friday after work and we loaded our things into her car and headed to Newton for Quarterly.  We worked on 25 Shoebox Cards and actually got them all finished before midnight!!  Since Newton is only about a 30 minute drive for me, we went home and slept in our own beds (well, technically Marianne slept in my guest bed!) and got up the next morning to head back to Quarterly for more fun.  We did a Card Swap and a Gift Card Swap and got some great cards.

This is the Gift Card that I made using the MDS version of the coffee cup from Perfect Blend (I shared the card swap in a previous post HERE).

We also had a contest that was optional.  I decided to participate in all four challenges.  We were to make a 3D Ornament, a Christmas card, an "Any Occasion" card and an "oldie but goodie" using a favorite retired stamp.  I was happy when my Ornament below won 1st Prize!!  I used the stamp set and framelits from Bright and Beautiful.  There are two pieces of chipboard in between the front and back of the ornament.

Back of Ornament

Front of Ornament 

Christmas Card using Bright and Beautiful bundle

For the Christmas card above, I embossed the tags and the stars with Gold, Cherry Cobbler and White Embossing Powder.  I used a piece of DSP from the Newsprint and layered a piece of Vellum over the top to soften it.  All the stars are popped up with dimensionals.

Marianne's Christmas Card won 1st place!!

Marianne's card - Get Your Santa On from Holiday Catalog

My All Occasion card

 The card above was fun to make and a new technique that I stumbled across on Friday morning.  I adhered the Dots Decorative Mask (page 205 in catalog - a deal for $2.95!) with Repositional Tape on top of a piece of Crumb Cake card stock.  Next using a dauber, I sponged White Craft Ink over all the dots.  I removed the Dots Mask and cleaned it.  Next I replaced the Dots Mask on top again - just moving it to the side and up a little bit and (with a dauber) sponged Wisteria Wonder, Coastal Cabana, and Melon Mambo ink on top of the White Ink.  It makes a cool background!  The cupcake is from Cupcake Party stamp set and I used the Cupcake Punch.  I stamped the sentiment from Remembering Your Birthday on Vellum with White Ink and embossed it in white before adhering it to the card.

Blast from the Past - Oldie but Goodie

This set is one of my first Stampin' Up sets almost 10 years ago - Garden Collage.  I still love it!

Sunday night Sonny and I went to the Panther - Steeler game and had a great time!  I will share a few pictures of that tomorrow.

Packed and Ready to Go!

I have been busy packing my supplies for Quarterly.  Marianne is coming over when she gets off work and we will be heading to Newton for the NC Demos Quarterly.  We always have so much fun!!  We will be super busy tonight doing our Shoebox Cards.  We have about 30 to do!  Wonder how long we will be working on those!  Since Newton is close, we will come back to my house tonight and travel back to Newton in the morning (bright and early).

Sammie thinks if she gets in my bag, she can go too (and get some peace and quiet away from Bogart!)

Instead of doing a card for my Shoebox, I decided to do one of the Tag A Bags.  I was going to buy a notepad to go in each one but with doing 30, even if they were $1 each, that would be $30 so they can furnish their own notepad!!

I used the Bigzz Flower Die, the clothespins on page 208, doilies, ribbon and two stamp sets - For All Things and Four Feathers.

Tomorrow we will be doing several projects, swaps and have a few card contests.  Here is my swap card:

I used the For All Things stamp again and stamped the leaves in Coastal Cabana, Pistachio and Cantalope.  I used the Wooden Leaves that are in the Holiday Catalog.

True Friends - Paper Craft Crew Sketch

This is my card for the Paper Craft Crew Sketch this week.  It was a fun sketch utilizing Word Bubbles.  I found this quote in MDS and cropped it to make it fit into the Word Bubbles below.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hoe you have time to check out the rest of the designers cards HERE.  They are really great!

Label Card Thinlit and Weekly Deals

Since the Label Card Thinlits Die is on sale in the Weekly Deals this week, I decided to make a Halloween card to showcase the die.

I turned the Label sideways.  I cut the bat's wings freehand and used the Owl Punch for the body.  He's hanging upside down on the branch from the Bird Punch.

Front of card

Card opened

There are some great deals this week in the Weekly Deals - even a stamp set from the Holiday Catalog!!  Whoo Hoo!!  And it's one I've had my eye on too.

Sweetheart Punch

$15.95 $11.96

Wooden Elements Embellishments

$4.95 $3.71

Happy Hour Wood Stamp Set

$29.95 $22.46

Label Card Thinlits Die

$32.95 $24.71

Yippee-Skippee Wood Stamp Set

$18.95 $14.21

Gold 1/8" Ribbon

$4.95 $3.71

Tangerine Tango Baker's Twine

$2.95 $2.21

Write Stuff Ii Digital Kit - Digital Download

$9.95 $5.97

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Stamp Club Cards

First off I have to say how excited I am that my MDS got chosen again this week on MDS Monday!!  I loved making the Steeler page!!  Check it out HERE.

Sonny and I are sure being entertained by these two cats.  Thought I'd share a few pictures I took this weekend.

Sammie and Bogart were chasing each other.  Bogart decided to hide - guess he forgot the rest of his body was sticking out!

Bogart took over Sammie's place on my desk and is trying hard to keep his eyes open.

Couldn't hold those eyes open any longer.  It's tough being a cat!

When I feed them in the morning, Bogart won't let me get the food in his bowl before he is up on the counter eating it while I'm dishing it out.  Sammie is much more lady like.  The only problem is Sammie is not used to eating her food in one gulp.  She has a few bites and then walks away.  Guess who finishes it off????

I have Stamp Club this week.  Here are two of the cards we will be making.

This card uses the Back to Black DSP.  I colored in all the flowers with my Blendabilities.  I love this because you can make your background paper any color you want.  I have a huge jar of buttons - most of them retired.  That is what we will use on the card.  Everyone will have different color buttons and will color their DSP to match the buttons they choose.  The saying is from Perfect Pennants and I used my markers to color the stamp.  Don't those buttons look like Lifesavers??

I recently got the Feathers Bundle from the Holiday Catalog.  I had seen so many cute cards using feathers and the Bundle is pretty inexpensive  ($20.25).  I used strips of DSP (3/4") from the Trim the Tree Paper Stack (also Holiday Catalog).  The Designer Brad is retired but you could substitute a button instead.  I just like the simplicity of this card.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Remember 9-11.  Remember the 3,000.  Remember we are a strong nation together.  We will NEVER forget.


I think I mentioned that I am keeping Ashley's cat, Bogart for the next 4 months while she is in DC.  Well, that is proving to be quite entertaining.  I think Bogart and Sammie (my cat) are finally adjusting to each other.  Sammie likes to lay on a towel on a small wire grid shelf that I have on my craft table.  Well, today Bogart decided that looked like a good spot too but Sammie was already there.  So, he proceeded to go under the shelf and stretch out.  Sammie was so funny.  She scratched at the towel to get it out of her way so she could see Bogart underneath and when that was not working, she just peered her head down to check him out.  They finally decided neither was hurting the other and both fell asleep.  All this was going on while I was sitting there trying to get my cards done for Stamp Club next week!

Bunk Bed for the cats!

Finally .... sleeping!

 This is the card (and the sketch) I made for this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

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