MDS Monday 103 - Saguaro National Park

I almost let the challenge for MDS Monday get away this week without doing a page using the sketch.  It is a fairly easy one this week.  I dug through some of my old photos and found these pictures from 2005.  We went to visit Jeff and his family and they took us to Saguaro National Park.  It was amazing!  Who knew cactus could be so beautiful?  I learned to identify the saguaro cactus from the yucca and the barrel cactus and the prickly pear cactus .... who knew there were so many different cacti?  The kids were pretty young at the time.  It's hard to believe looking at these pictures now that Torri is 6 months pregnant and Kennedy will be graduating from high school this year!

Hope you enjoy my scrapbook page and a look back at a happier time.

Check out the sketches by the design team and the sketch I used for this page HERE.

Lovely Amazing You

It's a beautiful day here today but just a tad on the cold side!!  As I'm writing this, it's 3:30 pm and it's only 38 degrees!  I played Hand and Foot today and a couple of the gals said they have put away their "Cuddle-Duds" and heavy coats.  I'm not there yet but hopefully in a week, I will be.  We play cards and Mahjong at the Mooresville Bowling Alley and it is always freezing in there as it is at the NY Deli where I play bridge on Mondays.  So I still wear my Cuddle-Dud under my shirt along with a sweater to stay warm at these places.  I need to get some fingerless gloves because my fingers get so cold.  (and it's not because I don't have enough meat on my body!!)

 These are two of the projects we made at Allison's house on Monday night.  The first one would hold a candy bar in it.  It uses the Photopolymer stamp set, Lovely Amazing You.  I just love this set.

The next card is a Shaker Card.  Allison said this was the first shaker she had done (and she has been a demonstrator for ten years!)

Well, short post today.  We are meeting the family for Angela's birthday dinner.  Her birthday was Feb. 1 but this is the first time we could all get together!

10 Years with Stampin' Up!!

I have a Quarterly Meeting coming up in a week and half.  So, I worked on coming up with a swap card, shoebox card, 3x3 card and 3 D project last weekend.  As usual, I went through a few ideas before I settled on one.  (Although I am still working on coming up with a design for the 3x3, and shoebox cards.)  Here are two of the cards I made but ended up not choosing them.

This one uses a great photopolymer stamp called Flower Patch.  I love the flowers in this set AND it comes with matching framelit dies (although I didn't use them on this card.)  I punched the center out with the Deco Labels framelits.  

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

I love this card mainly because I love the Four Feathers stamp set!  The only reason I didn't pick it was I would have to cut out a lot of feathers for the number of cards I have to make.  The sentiment comes from Feel Good, stamped in Blackberry Bliss.  I embossed one of the feathers and stamped the two smaller feathers in Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey.  The multi-colored feather is sponged with Blackberry and Honey and then stamped (in black Memento ink) with one of the stamps from Wetlands.  I love the effect it makes!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

I hit a milestone in my career last month.  I celebrated my ten year anniversary as a Stampin' Up demonstrator!  I received this pin and letter.  It's hard for me to believe I have done this for ten years.  I have loved every minute and still say, Stampin' Up is one of the best companies to work for.

Paper Craft Crew Card

I finally finished off my Feb. Stamp Club today.   I can do those 4 cards in my sleep!!  But I think everyone liked them and we had a fun time making them.

Our weather has really been funny.  Monday it was almost 70 degrees and today I don't think we got past 40.  Sure hoping spring is coming soon. 

I got my 10 Year pin in the mail last week from Stampin' Up.  It's hard to believe I've been a demonstrator for 10 years!  I have enjoyed every minute being creative with Stampin' Up products.

This is my card for Paper Craft Crew this week.  I got most of My Digital Studio files downloaded onto my new laptop and made this card:

Isn't this a pretty baby card? 

Here are the Weekly Deals:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

February Stamp Club

My February Stamp Club continues to drag itself out.  I have had gals come last Thursday, Saturday and the final two are coming on Tuesday .... all due to Mother Nature!  But we will get there.  I thought I'd at least share the cards we made this month in club:

Isn't this a great masculine card?  And oh so easy!!  If you haven't taken a look at the Adventure Bound Paper Stack in the Occasions catalog along with the Hello You Thinlets Dies, run (don't walk) to your catalog and look at it!  You can make some great cards with very little effort with this paper.  I put the paper on the table with some card stock backings and let the gals create their own card.

This beauty is a bundle that you can purchase - getting the Butterfly Thinlet Dies and the Basic Butterfly stamp set.  They makes beautiful cards.  The stamp set also coordinates with the Bitty Butterfly and 3/4" Circle punches.

This card had lots of parts to it but was another simple one to make using the Saleabration DSP and the pretty embossing folder.

This set is one of my favorites in the Occasions Catalog - Painted Petals.  I love how the Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant all blend together.





STARTING TODAY!  Stampin' Up! has added FOUR new products to the Sale-a-Bration list of free gift choices.  Earn an exclusive, free Sale-a-Bration gift with every $50 you spend (before shipping and tax).  Sale-a-Bration ends March 31.

IMPORTANT BLENDABILITIES UPDATE!  Unfortunately there have been quality issues with the Stampin' Up! Blendabilities Markers.  They are currently unavailable (including as a Sale-a-Bration gift) and back orders cannot be filled.  I'll keep you posted when the problem is resolved, and they are available for purchase again.  I know this is frustrating for those who were planning on ordering them through Sale-a-Bration, but I'm glad that Stampin' Up! believes that quality comes first.

Quilt Tour for MDS Monday 102

This is my other layout for MDS Monday 102.  I was really stumped with this challenge and hope that I did it right! 

I took these pictures a couple of years ago when I went on the Iredell County Quilt Tour with the Newcomer's group.  It was so cool to see these quilts painted on barns and other buildings.  I used some of the Project Life downloads for this

Check out the other layouts from the MDS Monday Design Crew HERE.

Snow Day with MDS Monday 102 Challenge

This week's MDS Monday's challenge was a tough one for me.  Are you familiar with a daily or weekly scrap page - one that documents a day or week in life?  Well that was what we were supposed to do with our page this week.  Project Life layouts are a great tool to documenting everyday life.

So, I actually did two layouts.  This is the second one I did.  I will be sharing my first one tomorrow.  When we got the big snow on Thursday, I thought - bingo! this would be a great way to document my day. 

I thought the soft colors of Lost Lagoon and Pool Party were perfect for this snow page.

For other ideas, make sure you check out the MDS Monday blog.

Paper Craft Crew 132

It is snowing like crazy outside right now!  It's been snowing a couple of hours - fat wet flakes - and our yard is completely covered.  It is supposed to keep snowing until about 3-4 a.m. to give us about 7 inches!!  All the snow from yesterday had melted away except for a little bit in front of our garage door but now it is back in full force!  The poor school kids are going to have to go to school all summer at this rate!  And of course, I had moved my stamp club to tomorrow from last Thursday when we were snowed in.  As of now, I have one gal who lives in the neighborhood and can walk here coming Thursday; one coming Saturday; and two coming on Tuesday!  Haven't heard from the others yet.  I'm glad I was able to get my hair cut today and go to my chiropractor.  Tomorrow I'll be making a snowman!

Since it's Wednesday, it's time for  Paper Craft Crew challenge.  I actually made my card this week and didn't use My Digital Studio!!!

How do like these bright colors?  The card base is Hello Honey.  I stamped the stars for a background all over the Whisper White card stock.  The middle piece with the Honey background and white stars is the Irresistibly Yours (Sale-a-Bration).  And I even "fussy cut" SHINE from Banner Blessings!  (Products used can be found below.)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Ashley gave Sonny a film converter for Christmas so we could convert our 35 MM slides to pictures so I could make a book with them.  Well, I found a really old picture of me with my parents and Angela from Easter - who knows what year - probably in the mid 50s.

Don't know about you growing up but at Easter I always had a hat and a corsage!  And I'm betting my grandmother made my dress!

More of the White Stuff!

Would you believe we woke up this morning to more snow!!  It was just snow this time and no ice mixed in so it did not bother the roads as much.  But Sonny's skeet shooting got canceled and I decided to stay home instead of meeting a group in Davidson for lunch.  Sonny and I escaped in the afternoon and drove into town to get a sandwich.  It hasn't gotten above freezing today but tomorrow's high is supposed to be in the mid 40s!!  Yay!  Maybe I'll be able to have my Stamp Club on Thursday after all.  When I looked at the long range forecast, looks like we'll be in the 60s next Wednesday!!


Sonny and I spent a couple of hours today going through old photo slides that we had.  Ashley bought us a converter for Christmas.  We did pictures from 1982 and 1983 today!  So you can see, we have a long way to go!  Plus in the years before that, we had a movie camera and have those reels somewhere.  I'd like to find them and get them converted also.

New Items Added to Sale-a-Bration.  Starting March 1 and running through March 31, there are four new items you can earn during Sale-a-Bration – and they are all GREAT ones.  Earn one of these with each $50 order – OR add them to a Starter Kit when you join my team .   




Here is a card made with one of the new sets.  It was colored with Blendabilities!





AND let's not forget - Tuesday Weekly Deals

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Colorful Birthday Card

This card just makes me smile!  I think it is the bright colors.  What do you think?

I used the SU Decorative Mask (Circles) to make the circles on the card - with Mossy Meadow, Calypso Coral and Blackberry Bliss - and my dauber.  I stamped the candles on scrap white card stock and cut each one out.  I also cut out "you" from the sentiment and "fussy cut" it.   A happy birthday card for someone special!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog