Round Robin Swirly Birds

The Stampin' Up NC Demo group I am involved with has started a new program called Round Robin cards.   It is similar to the chain letters we used to do.  There is a list of 10 people and we send a card to the person below us when we receive our card (from the person above our name.)

So .... this is the card I received last week using the Swirly Bird set.  Isn't it great?  

And this is the card I sent .... again using Swirly Birds!

Happy 4th of July Swirly Style

Here is a card I actually mailed!  Not sure if it has reached it's destination so this is going to be a spoiler.  I used the great set, Swirly Birds along with the framelits to make the flag.  The banner & happy is from Thoughtful Phrases and the "4" is from the Large Numbers framelits.  Fun card!!

Happy 4th of July!  Stay safe and have fun with family and friends today.  Today is the day to celebrate America's freedom, honor its history and remember all those who fought to keep us free!

We drove into Mooresville last night to watch the fireworks put on by the YMCA.  They were good, despite the drizzling rain, but not long enough.  They only lasted about 15 minutes!  Boo, hiss!!  I know, in the past, they have been at least 30 minutes.  Oh well ... what cha gonna do??  Not any plans for today.  Sonny is doing his "prep work" for tomorrow's colonoscopy so we'll be staying close to home if you know what I mean!  Ashley is celebrating in Hawaii - she got the contract on the condo she wants!!  She and I are looking at dates for me to fly there and help with the move - probably mid-August. 

My mom is at camp for the first time in 60 something years!!!  She is attending a week long camp at Camp Dogwood for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  (My mom is legally blind.)  She has been so excited about getting to go this year.  Angela dropped her off yesterday along with another lady who lives in mom's neighborhood who will be her cabin mate.  I'm sure Angela's car was weighted down with all their stuff.  Both of them have walkers plus their suitcases, and Mom was taking a shower chair, a potty seat and who knows what else!!  The camp is located on the lake (just a few miles from my house) and they offer boating, fishing, swimming, tubing, arts and crafts, mini golf and various off campus trips.  I hope she has a great time!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th weekend!  Hope you are doing something fun and patriotic this weekend.  We started our weekend last night by going out to dinner.  Since I've been doing WW, I don't like going out as much.  It's just too hard to find something low cal on the menu!  But last night, I told Sonny I had been pretty good all day so I deserved a splurge!  And boy, did I!  We went to a fairly new Irish place in Cornelius and I enjoyed fish and chips!  Now, I didn't eat all the "chips" (french fries) - only about half and took some of the breading off my fish.  I also put vinegar on the fish instead of drenching it with tarter sauce.  And of course, I had a couple of beers.  Today we went out on the boat for most of the day.  It was pretty hot but we found a shady beach and pulled the pontoon onto it.  We bought a watermelon last night and enjoyed it.  My first watermelon of the year!

I did have a little time this morning to make a festive card to share.  I guess you've figured by now how much I love the Jars framelits and stamp set!  I actually CASE'd this card from one I saw on Pinterest.  Isn't it the cutest?!

Good news from Ashley this week.  She put a bid in on a condo that she liked in Kaneohe.  There were multiple bids on the condo but she was the winner.  Now they are in counter negotiations back and forth.  If all works out, she should have a contract early next week.  And in other news .... she called me last night and asked me if I would come out in August to help her get moved in.  Hmm - think that could be a possibility!!  Her car arrived a week ago and her household goods arrived on Friday.  They will go to storage until she is ready for them but she is happy to have her own car now.

Inkie Fingers!

Aren't sunflowers beautiful?  I made this sunflower using the Starburst Thinlit.  I can't believe how many different things you can do with that thinlit.  Don't know why it took me so long to purchase it!

I die cut the starburst and then used a circle die to trim off the longer edges.  I also die cut a circle for underneath the "sun."  Then I ran them both through the Woodland embossing folder.  The center piece is cut out with a circle die and embossed with dots.  A simple and fun card.

I lived up to my blog name yesterday and got some really inky fingers!  I mistakenly put my fingers on the Dapper Denim ink pad yesterday and this is the result:

 Look what I got in my last Stampin' Up box!!

Sammie has been my constant companion the last few days I have been working in my stamp room!  She crawls into that box and curls up and sleeps the day away!  At night she is downstairs with us and gets in her "Bo Box."  For those who don't know, that is a box from Bojangles that my sister & mom brought to her!

NC Blog Hop - My Favorite New Stamp (Jars)

It's the last Sunday of the month and that means it's time for another NC Demos Blog Hop!  This month we are each featuring our favorite new stamp set from the new annual catalog.  I am totally in love with Jars of Love - the stamp set and the framelits!  Oh - there are so many ideas running through my head for this set.  I used this set last week at Stamp Club and we made two different cards.  If you missed that post, check them out HERE.

This is the very first card I made with Jars of Love - flowers being poured out of the jar.

First I stamped the jar in the top left of the white card stock in Memento Black Ink.  Next stamp a bunch of flowers in the jar and coming out of it using Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo and Mint Macaron inks.  I used my fringe scissors to cut a little grass from Old Olive card stock, wrapped a piece of the Sweet Sugarplum ribbon around it and adhered it to the black panel which is then adhered to the card base (Sweet Sugarplum).  Die cut several flowers and adhere them to the grass.  Finally put a small pearl in the center of the die cut flowers and stamp your sentiment.

This next card is my favorite and it is a shaker.  It would be perfect to welcome a new baby!

My first step was to stamp the background pieces onto Whisper White.  For the mint macaron stripes, I brushed off the dust from the Brushstrokes Background stamp (don't know why I haven't used it much) and just stamped it on an angle.  (Another one that would work for this is the new Diagonal Stripe background stamp.)  I blotted some of the ink off the stamp before putting it to the paper and spritzed it a little bit with water because I didn't want it too dark.  The background piece on the bottom - Pink Pirouette - is made using the same Diagonal Stripe stamp and just stamping once horizontally and next vertically to achieve a checkered look.  Use a black fine marker to make stitch lines around the edges. I punched the large star using the Star Framelits from Soft Sky and stamped on it with one of the Timeless Texture stamps.  The small stars at the top are from the Star Framelits also. There is a piece of white twine wrapped around the top of the card before adhering it to a Mint Macaron card.  The jar is stamped twice on Thick White Cardstock in Mint Macaron ink and die cut.  I stamped a background piece one one of the die cut jars with different sized star stamps that I found in different sets in pink and blue.  I die cut a piece of acetate in the jar shape and adhered it to the back of the second die cut jar.  I used strips of dimensional tape on the edges but BEFORE you remove the backing on the tape, fill your jar with tiny stars and sequins.  Then take the cover off the adhesive and adhere the star stamped background on the back of the jar and acetate.  Stamp the jar lid with Versamark and emboss it with gold embossing powder.  Die cut and adhere to top of jar.  Punch out the tiny hearts in Mint and adhere them to the jar lid.  Wrap a piece of white twine around the jar and adhere it to the card.  Tie a piece of ribbon in a bow and use a Glue Dot to adhere it to the card.  Adhere a button to the ribbon.  I used my computer to type the saying and cut it out.


My next card was really simple to do.  I stamped the jar image onto a piece of vellum using Staz-on black ink and die cut it.  I die cut a piece of gold glitter paper and adhered it on top of the vellum.  Next stamp several of the leaves onto Whisper White card stock (3 3/4" x 5 1/2").  Stamp a couple of them full strength and a couple of them "second generation."  Adhere the vellum jar on the page using dimensional strips to the edges.  Tie a piece of ribbon around the left side before adhering the white piece to the Pool Party card.  I used a piece of retired Pool Party glitter ribbon.

My final card was also a simple one and a fun one to make!  I have flowers coming out of the jar above so this one needed fireflies coming out (or lightning bugs - which term do you use?  I say lightning bugs.)

I stamped the jar onto a piece of scrap white card stock and die cut it. (but you could just as easily stamp direct to the card.)  I used daubers to sponge a bit of Soft Sky around the edges of the jar and then adhered it to the left side of the card.  Next stamp the fireflies in black ink on the jar and flying up and off the right side of the Whisper White.  Use a Daffodil Delight marker and color the wings.  I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to put a tiny bit of glue on each firefly and sprinkled Gold Glitter on them.  The "Just Sayin" is from Crazy About You and the other sentiment is from the Jars set.   Mount the white card onto a piece of black card stock and then onto the Daffodil Delight card.

OK - that's all for me.  But not for you - continue along with the Blog Hop and see what the other NC demos' favorite sets are!  The full line up below will help you move along so you can see all the projects.

TAMRA DAVIS
JO ANNE HEWINS
TRACIE EVANS LANGLEY
SHARON MARANICH (you are here)
FRANCES WAGNER

HOSTESS CODE info

JUNE HOSTESS CODE:  49DUAQCN

Here is HOW to shop online and use the HOSTESS CODE:

• Order On-line HERE  (be sure my name, Sharon Maranich, is shown in the upper right corner.)
• Create your own personal account OR sign in if you already have an account.
• Start shopping by adding products to your "Shopping Bag"
• At anytime before checking out, you will need to enter and apply the HOSTESS CODE. (see screen shot below)  Don't forget to click APPLY
• Complete your shopping
• Then check out.

If you are in my club and are unable to come, this is another way you can put your order in and it will still be counted as your club obligation.  Plus, it will be shipped directly to your house.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge with Swirly Birds

Once upon a time .... I used to do a lot of card challenges.  Splitcoast Stampers have several challenges every week - from color challenges to design challenges.  A lot of stamping blogs also offer different challenges.  With this card I am doing a design challenge from the Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch (say that 10 times fast!)  They are celebrating their 200th challenge with this design.  I was a member of the Paper Craft Crew when it first started and did weekly cards for a few years as a member of the team.  Back then, I mainly did digital cards for the challenge since that was when Stampin' Up still supported My Digital Studio.  Sadly, that is not the case anymore (and I am still sad about it!!)  I decided to get out my new Swirly Birds set.  This is the cutest stamp set!  It's funny - when I first saw it in our pre-order, I did not like it so I didn't purchase it early.  Well, guess what was on my first order when the new catalog came out!!!

I used several stamp sets on this card.  For the Dapper Denim striped background, I used the  Diagonal Stripes Background Stamp (pg 125).  For the light Flirty Flamingo center background, I used one of the watercolor wash stamps in Work of Art, stamping off once before stamping on the white card stock.  I like the combo of denim and pink in this card, what do you think?

Here is the sketch if you are interested in making a card with it.  You might want to visit Pam's blog since she is giving away a pretty good prize this week!  (Sunny Girl Scraps)  Also stop in at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge Blog and see the other cards for this challenge.  Many of team members are also giving away blog candy.

Bless Your Heart!

I really like the Starburst Framelit.  I don't know what took me so long to order it but when I started seeing some cards others had made with it, I bought it.  So glad it carried over to the new annual catalog!

In this first card, I die cut the starburst in Real Red and put it on a black card base.  The DSP and ribbon sticking out of the sentiment circle are all retired and some I found in my (huge) stash of retired items!!  The sentiment is a new stamp set, Layering Love.  When I shared this with my Stamp Club gals, a couple of them commented that this card would look great in red, white and blue.  Hmmmm - maybe another idea to share!!  Stay tuned!

 This next one was an experiment using some retired Envelope Paper (Delightful Dijon).  I die cut the Starburst with Delightful Dijon as well as the Envelope Paper and put it on a background of Envelope Paper adhered to a white card.  I just turned the top layer of the Starburst image a light bit to the right so the Dijon cardstock showed on the side.  I fussy cut the Layering Love sentiment and adhered it on top of a Dapper Denim star.

This card is pretty much like the red and black card above.   I just added a little bling.  Don't you love that saying "Bless Your Heart"?   You can find it in the Jar of Love stamp set.  We had a discussion yesterday at Stamp Club about Southerners using that sentiment.  I am a Southerner but that is not something I say a lot.  One of the gals (who is from the north) said she had heard that was the Southern way to say "F U" .... what????  I don't believe that!  I tried to set them straight but since I was the only Southerner in the group, not sure if they bought it!  What do you think????  Comment below please!

Serene Serenity DSP

These are the other cards we made this month at Stamp Club.

This first one was super simple! (I actually CASEd the idea from Stamp with Brian who CASEd it from someone else!)  I used a piece of DSP from the Serene Serenity pack.  This paper is filled with gorgeous inspirational pieces on one side and the other side has abstract patterns that are great for backgrounds.  I paired the DSP with Delightful Dijon and it matched perfectly.  The card itself is Tip Top Taupe - a color I have not used very much.  The sentiment uses Thoughtful Banners (a must have!) punched out with the Duet Banner Punch (both borrowed from my sister but on my "must have" list.)

This next card served double duty this month.  It was my swap card for Allison's monthly meeting as well as a card for my club ladies to make.  It showcases all the new In Colors.  I made a template with the Starburst Thinlit and sponged the color onto the white card.  The flowers are from Crazy About You and Flower Patch and punched out with the corresponding punch (Flower Medallion) and die (Flower Fair thinlits.)   The sentiment is Hello You Thinlits.  And for the finishing touch, I added a bit of silver metallic thread under the flower.

Hope your weekend was a good one.  We drove over to Reed Gold Mine on Saturday.  I didn't strike it rich though!  In fact, I didn't even pan for gold!  Reed Gold Mine was the first place gold was discovered in the U.S.  They were putting on an American Revolution reenactment that I though Sonny would enjoy.  It was ok but something to do on a Saturday!  Sunday we spent most of the day on the lake "chilling."  Ashley is house hunting in Hawaii.  She has discovered that her money will not go too far there in the housing market.  She spent most of Friday with a realtor looking at homes and was pretty disillusioned that evening.  She only saw one condo that she would even consider.  They are all pretty old, small and very expensive - like 2 bedrooms for $600,000+.  Sunday she went out on her own visiting a few open houses and found one condo that she really liked - again pretty small for the money, but that's the price she'll have to pay for living in Hawaii I think.  At least it made her feel better - that there are a few nice places for sale there.  The problem is the nice ones go almost as soon as they hit the market so you are going to have to be in the right place at the right time.  The one she found yesterday will have 2 weekends for open house before they will even start to take offers.  I so wish I could be there to house hunt with her.  I love to do that plus I have been with her every place she moved to look for houses. 

Jars of Love

These are two of the cards we made in Stamp Club this month.  I just love the Jars of Love stamp set along with the coordinating framelits!  For the card below, I also used a piece of DSP from the Serene Scenery stack (another favorite!)  And how do you like the embossing folder????  It is new also and sure to be a favorite.  I stamped the flowers in Peekaboo Peach, Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.  The jar is stamped with Bermuda Bay and the leaves are Mint Macaron.  I used a little trick on the jar and flowers.  I punched out a circle and adhered it at the top of the jar with just 1/2 of it showing.  That gave me something to glue the flowers down to and made it much easier.

I had a hard time deciding which new sets to introduce to my club members this month.  I didn't want to overwhelm them by doing a different stamp on each card so I concentrated on just a couple new sets.  Here is the second card I made using the jars.

This one is a shaker card.  The DSP is retired (It's My Party) in Mint Macaron with a piece of the Peekaboo Peach ribbon down the middle to hide the seam.  I stamped the jar in black and used my marker to go around the edges in Mint.