Travel

Well, I thought I was on a roll with my blog posts but guess my rock got slowed down!!  In all honesty though, I have been out of town for about a week.  We drove to Mobile, Alabama on July 13 and 14 and met Ashley.  She was there for a friend's wedding along with several of her girlfriends that we also know.  So, it was a good little visit for all of us.  We stayed in Mobile from Friday - Monday and did a little sight seeing.  We were surprised to discover that Mobile is a smaller version of New Orleans downtown at night but not quite as crazy as NO!!  We took a historic tour on Sunday but were a bit disappointed with the tour.  The guy mostly just drove us through the historic districts to see houses.  We were hoping for more of a Mobile history tour.  On our own though, we went to the Mardis Gras Museum which was really cool and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception which was gorgeous!  I had hoped we could go to Fairhope which is a small city on the shore where Ashley's friend lives but the traffic on the interstate was horrendous and after sitting in it for a while, we decided to U turn and go back where we could walk around to see the sights!  We also wanted to visit the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion to hear Civil War stories but unfortunately, it was closed Sat., Sun. and Monday!  There was a restaurant that was recommended to us that looks out onto the bay 40 stories up but it was closed for renovation!  We were striking out all over so ended up checking out of Mobile a day earlier than we planned and driving to Montgomery to do some sightseeing.  We were all happy we did that because we got to visit the cemetery where Hank Williams was buried, Rosa Parks Museum, the first White House of the Confederacy and the state capital.  We walked a little on the Civil Rights Trail and went by Dexter Ave. Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached and the Civil Rights Memorial.  On the way to Montgomery, we stopped off at the Tuskegee driving by Tuskegee University and stopping at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Park where the black airmen fight was on two fronts - overseas during WW2 and racism at home.  It was really interesting.  We left Montgomery on Tuesday and stopped off in Atlanta dropping Ashley off at the Atlanta airport for her flight to Chicago for business.  We spent the night in Atlanta and met up with some old friends Wednesday for lunch.  We had not seen Jim and Melanie in 44 years!  We used to hang out with them and two other couples when we all lived in a singles apartment complex in Greensboro.  We all got married within a few months of each other and went our separate ways.  We have kept in touch over the years with Christmas cards.  It was great to visit and catch up after all these years!  Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Mardi Gras float - don't we look great???!!

A few of the capes worn by the Mardi Gras queens - aren't they beautiful?

I can be a Mardi Gras Queen!

This is my King!

Do you remember when the McDonald's looked like this?  I do!  This was one we visited on our trip (just for the bathroom!!)

We had brunch on Saturday at Spot of Tea to celebrate Lisa's birthday.

Ashley and her friends who came for the wedding - Ashley, Lisa, Debbie, Claudia and Courtney

The gates at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception - so beautiful!

Ceiling of the Cathedral

On Saturday, the streets downtown were blocked off for a pole vaulting competition!!

We wandered through this cemetary looking for the grave of Joe Cain who started Mardi Gras in Mobile.

We got caught in a torrential downpour of rain on Sunday night and were drenched when we got back to the hotel. About halfway back to the hotel, someone from one of the bars ran out and gave us an umbrella.  We returned it the next day!

These painted shells were all around town and so colorful!

Rosa Parks statue

Civil Rights Memorial - built as a monument for 40 people who died between 1954 and 1968.  Maya Lin designed this memorial and the Vietnam Memorial in DC.  It was inspired by a line in MLK's speech which is etched in the wall.

Civil Rights Memorial - that piece they are looking at is a marble dish filled with water and events of the civil rights is carved into the marble (see next picture)

Civil Rights Memorial 

Alabama State Capital

Dexter Avenue King Baptist Church where MLK began his civil rights movement.

Hank Williams grave

July Stamp Club Cards - Colorful Seasons

The day after we got home from our Alabama trip, I had Stamp Club.  Luckily I had done most of the prep work before I left so I just had to get everything set up on Thursday.  I only had 4 gals on Thursday with the rest coming tomorrow.  We did some great cards - one of the gals told me I had outdone myself this month with the projects!  I concentrated on one of my favorite bundles in the new catalog - Colorful Seasons (pg 147) and made a fall card, winter card and a spring/summer card.

This is a great fold - a Z fold card.  I used DSP from the Color Theory pack.

This is a great card for spring time or summer!  I just love the chair!

This is the winter card.  One of the gals said it makes a great Hanukah card!

This card takes all of about 5 minutes!  I wanted to showcase the Memories & More card pack.  The DSP is from the Color Theory pack.  Everyone will make a different card using the Memories & More.

Last but not least is our August calendar card using the glasses from Pocketful of Sunshine.  The background is made using a stamp from Lovely Inside and Out.  The letters I used on this are all retired.  Notice the shiny lenses of the glasses??  I applied some glue from the Fine Tip Glue for the shine!

Color Theory Memories & More

I want to bring your attention to a product in the catalog that you might have skipped over if you are not a scrapbooker but just a card maker.  It is the Memories and More suite on pages 190 - 193.  I have the Color Theory Card Pack (pg 193) and love all the things I can do with it.  The artist-designed, coordinating Memories and More card packs, with their included stickers and printed acetate sheets, make it easy to create more great projects with fewer supplies and less time.

Here are a few cards using some of the Color Theory Card Pack.

For this card, I stamped the seat of the chair with Versamark (stamp set - Colorful Seasons) onto some of the card patterns and embossed them with Clear Powder before cutting each one out.  They were adhered to the wooden chair that I stamped directly onto the Old Olive Color Theory DSP (pg 187).  The sentiment was also stamped with Early Espresso ink directly on the DSP.  I used my Blender Pen and a little Sahara Sand ink to make shadows under each chair.  This was so easy to make!

This card is one we made at Stampin' Up On Stage.  The flower was cut from one of the Memory Cards.  I stamped the flowers and sentiment onto the Old Olive card with Old Olive ink and onto the Island Indigo card with Island Indigo ink.  Another easy card to make.  The ribbon is the 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon.  

This card is one that my downline, Debbie, made for one of the Quarterly swaps.  Some of the leaves are already stamped onto the card and she added a few more that she die cut with the Seasonal Layers thinlits

Here is my Color Theory Pack.  It includes 72 total double-sided cards (52 3"x4" cards, 20 4"x6" cards, cardstock sticker sheets, printed acetate cards - 1 4"x6" and 3 each 3"x4").

Here are some other ideas for these cards:

The 3"x4" cards make quick and stylish note cards.  Write a note on one side and put it on someone's desk or in a lunchbox!

Stamp a greeting on a 3"x 4" card.  Layer the stamped card and a patterned card on a pre-cut, scored note card.  Write a note and place it into a coordinating envelope to mail or hand deliver.

Cut a card base in a coordinating color.  Cut a 4"x6" card to 4"x5 1/4".  Layer a printed acetate card onto a 3"x4" patterned card.  Add ribbons or embellishments for a finished project!

Create an album by adding coordinating patterned cards, journaling cards, and photos in pocket pages.  The catalog will give you inspiring examples of ideas using these Memories and More cards (pg 190-193).

Fun with Embossing Paste

When the Embossing Paste was first announced at Stampin' Up's On Stage, I didn't think I was interested.  But last month I decided to order it and see what the fuss was all about.  Well, now that I have used it, I am hooked!  It adds such a nice dimension to a card.  Here is my favorite card that I made using the paste.  I took a small bit of the paste out of the jar and put it on my Silicone Mat and mixed in 2-3 drops of Smoky Slate reinker.  Use the palette knife to get the color all mixed in and then using the Brick Wall mask (Pattern Party Decorative Mask - p. 201) smooth the paste onto the Smoky Slate card.  It doesn't take very long to dry.  For this card, I als used the Hearth and Home Thinlits to make the window.  I sponged a piece of white cardstock in Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise.  Next I cut out this cute little bunny with the birthday cake from the Birthday Memories Designer Paper.  I had to cut this one out but a lot of the images in the DSP can be cut out with a framelit!  I glued the bunny down to the sponged background.  I adhered a piece of window sheet to the back of the window and put it all together using dimensionals.  This whole piece was adhered to a Basic Gray card.  (The red ribbon I used is retired.)

Check out this video from Stampin' Up for the "how to's" of using the paste.  Just a couple of tips that I'm not sure are mentioned in the video.  When you get your paste, the jar will only be half full.  That is the way it is supposed to be.  It settles in shipping.  Each jar has 4 fl. oz of volume.  It dries pretty fast so I would recommend keeping the lid on it as much as possible.  Also if you scrape it back into the jar after using, make sure you push it all down towards the bottom of the jar.  If you leave some on the rim, it will dry out.  There is also a picture of using the paste on page 176 of the catalog.

Here is another card I made with the paste.  

I used a piece of the glossy cardstock that I made last week with a reinker technique (see HERE) and another mask with the Embossing Paste and colored it with Marina Mist reinker.  The leaves are from Vintage Leaves which also have matching framelits.  To make the flowers multi colored, I did the Baby Wipe Technique.  I dropped a few drops of reinkers on to a baby wipe, thus making my own custom stamp pad.  The colors I used were Early Espresso, Lemon Lime Twist, Marina Mist and Soft Suede.

I had a little bit of the colored paste left over and instead of throwing it away, I added a little Lime Twist reinker to the blue and applied it to another piece of card stock that I had available.  I'll be using it later to make a card.

June Stamp Club

Last month in Stamp Club, I had the gals do two pretty labor intensive cards but I think they really like them.

First we did a waterfall card.  These were real popular when I first got involved with Stampin' Up.  At the spring Quarterly, we made one of these cards and I decided that my gals would love making one. I gave them 3 choices.  Surprisingly, the flower one was the most popular!  You can find instructions to make these cards on Splitcoast Stampers.

Garden In Bloom

Sprinkles of Life

This Little Piggy

Next we made a card using a window sheet.  I used the retired DSP for the background.

This is the inside of the card.

Instructions:

After creasing the vanilla card at 4 1/4", put it in the trimmer and remove a 1/2" piece, then remove an additional 1-1/4" piece. The 1-1/4' space will form the window and the 1/2" piece will adhere to the window sheet to create the full sized card.

 Add strips of Post-it-Notes to mask off an area for sponging.

Sponge the background LIGHTLY w/Soft Sky & a little Crumb Cake on the bottom.

Stamp the seaweed with Crumb Cake.

Adhere Window Sheet to card, lining up the right edge with the card.

Adhere ½” strip to the backside of the Window Sheet – again matching up the right edges.

Adhere DSP to left side of the card front (covering up the area you taped the Window Sheet onto the card front. Best adhesive for this is the green Tombow Glue so you will have wiggle room to get everything in order.

Adhere ½” strip of DSP to front of card on right side.

Stamp fish on scrap paper, cut out and adhere to card front.

Stamp fish “bubbles” on inside to match the fish

Our next card was much easier!  I used Seaside Shore to make this card.  I again used the retired By the Shore DSP.  Everyone had different strips do the finished cards were all different.

This was our calendar for July using the wonderful Colorful Seasons.

If you live in the Lake Norman area and would like to join my Stamp Club, we meet on the 3rd Tuesday and Thursday (your choice) at 1:00.  Let me know and I will set a place for you!

Ribbon of Courage

Hope you had a great 4th of July.  Ours was pretty quiet this year.  My mom stayed with us Friday and Saturday nights and I took her to Camp Dogwood on Sunday afternoon.  This is a great summer camp right on the lake (and about a 10 minute drive for me) for the blind and visually impaired.  This is mom's second year to attend and I hope she enjoys it this year as much as she did last year.   Although she got off to a rocky start.  She found out last week that her friend and roommate was not going to be able to come per doctor's orders.  She was not so sure about rooming with someone she didn't know!  When I got her registered, one of the counselors, Jeff, came up to her and welcomed "Miss Becky" back.  He told her he was not her counselor but he was going to take her to her room and get her settled.  Along the way, they met up with her new roommate who seemed very nice to me. Jeff told mom he was saving a place for her at dinner that night.  He told us that mom was the best camper he had ever had!  And mom told me Jeff was the very best counselor.  He took her tubing last year and she was quite impressed with him.  She was supposed to do archery today - that should be interesting!  A blind person trying for the bulls eye!

Saturday night we drove into Mooresville to have dinner at a restaurant on the lake where we hoped to watch the fireworks after eating.  Well, we waited for 2 hours - until 10 pm! for the fireworks show with nothing happening!  It had been raining earlier in the evening so we figured it was too wet for them.  So, we returned home.  I called on Sunday and was told they have rescheduled them for next Saturday, July 8!  Strange!!  Last night we planned on going to Mooresville again for the YMCA's fireworks.  Well, it started pouring down rain about 6 and when we went outside to get in the car around 8:30, it was still raining so we went back in the house.  I think they did have the fireworks around 9:30 but we weren't there.  So tonight, we just watched the fireworks on TV from New York!!  Better luck next year - or next Saturday!!

I had time today to play with a new stamp set - Ribbon of Courage - that I knew I had to buy as soon as I saw the new catalog.  This stamp set was inspired by Million Dollar Achiever Patty Bennett in memory of her mother.  

This card uses a technique with Glossy Cardstock again similar to the Oh So Eclectic card I did last week.  I sprayed the glossy cardstock with the spritzer filled with alcohol.  Next I dropped 2-3 drops of reinker (Peekaboo Peach and Bermuda Bay) and let it run.  To help it spread around, I sprayed more of the alcohol.  I used a tissue to pick up some of the ink that pooled along the edges.  I love these colors together!  Who would have thought?!  I stamped the hearts with Archival Black ink and used markers to color the flowers and Wink of Stella to make them sparkle! 

This next card made me think of my sister, Debra.  I miss her every day!  She was actually my step-sister (we shared a dad) and we didn't get to know each other until the mid 70s when I moved to Texas where she and my dad lived.  There was about a 10 year gap in our ages (I'm the oldest!) but that didn't matter. We both had a daughter and a son that were the same age (within a few months) and we used to take family camping trips together.  She was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer shortly after I moved to Washington state (2003).  The last trip we took together was when she and Jack (husband) came to visit us at our new home in Washington.  The 4 of us went to Victoria, Canada for a few days and had such a good time.  They were supposed to come visit us in NC for Thanksgiving but sadly, that was not to be.  She died at the age of 50 (too young!) November 16, 2007. Can't believe it has been 10 years.

We had this picture made shortly after her hair grew back in from the treatments.

OK - back to the details of the stamp set.  I used the new in-color, Powder Pink with Basic Black card stock and love how it pops!  I stamped the ribbon with Memento ink and used my blender pen and the ink pooled in the lid to color the image.  The ribbon is cut out and a pink ribbon is cut out with the thinlet in the set and raised with dimensionals.  I love the sentiment.  It is so true - Live every moment - you never know when it will be your last so Live, Laugh and Love!


I have an organization tip for you.  I have always kept all my framelits and thinlits on a magnetic sheet and in their plastic envelope.  I filed them all in a basket in alpha order.  I often would not remember if a set had a matching die or not.  So now I am putting the dies in the box with the stamp set.  I have adhered a green sticker on the sets that have matching dies and written how many dies are in the set on the sticker.  That way, I can quickly count them to make sure I haven't misplaced one of the dies before putting the stamp set away.  I still have framelits in my basket - the ones that don't match a stamp set like the Stitched Shapes, Ovals, Circles, etc.  Maybe this will work for you.

Inkie Fingers meets Oh So Eclectic

I had lots of fun yesterday playing with one of the new stamp sets.  I got Oh So Eclectic when I went to Virginia Beach for SU's On Stage.  I wasn't too thrilled about it at first.  But, oh how I have changed my mind!  This stamp set creates a wonderful soft watercolor look with no effort on your part.  It is a two-step stamp so you can use the images by themselves or layer them to get a different look.  And the added bonus is the framelits that you can get if you purchase this set as a bundle.  There are 13 dies in the set.  These dies have a unique feature - the flower pieces nestle together to create the two layered look.  So you can use just one flower image or use the two together!  

Here's one of the cards I made yesterday using a technique that I will tell you about.

So what do you think?  Love it like I do???  The background paper uses SU's new glossy paper.  It's been so long since I played with glossy paper, I had to think back to some old techniques.  Here's what I did.  (note:  you might want to wear gloves - see my fingers below!)  Cut a piece of glossy paper in half (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")  Spray one of the pieces of glossy paper with a spritzer filled with alcohol - get it pretty wet.  Next pick two reinkers - I used Lemon Lime Twist and Bermuda Bay and drop several drops onto the glossy paper.  Next I picked up the paper and let the ink run all over the paper.  Then take the second piece of glossy paper and put it on top.  You can give it a twist or just pull it straight up.  Now you should have two background pieces of paper to use!  2 for 1 - I like that! Let it dry and then use it to make a beautiful card!

See my inkie fingers -

I also did a piece using Melon Mambo and Dapper Denim (I picked up the wrong ink refill -  thought I was using Flirty Flamingo ink instead of Denim.)  So I'm not so crazy about it.  But wanted to show you this cool imprint on the paper.  When I realized what I had done, I grabbed a paper towel and lay-ed it over the paper to blot up some of the ink - see the impression of the paper towel - it's texturized! The colors get muted as it dries.

The Berry Burst flower on the card was stamped with VersaMark  on watercolor paper and embossed with gold embossing powder.  Then I "smooshed" some ink in the lid of the Berry Burst and painted the flower with my Aqua Pen letting the color run out to the edges.

Eclectic, what does that mean? According to the dictionary…

ec·lec·ticəˈklektikadjectivederiving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
synonyms: wide-ranging, broad-based, extensive, comprehensive, encyclopedic

Stampin’ Up! loves the idea of broad and diverse range of sources that they used the ‘Oh So Eclectic’ stamp set on the cover of the new annual catalog. I love the bright colors, water coloring possibilities and so much more!

Stampin’ Up! trainer, Shannon West, demonstrates many of the eclectic ways that the Oh So Eclectic Bundle can be used to create fun and interesting projects!

Here are pictures of other items included in the Oh So Eclectic Product Suite - ribbon, DSP, thinlits, card stock pack and overlays!  I'm loving the DSP although I haven't ordered it yet.  Stay tuned - I made a card using the DSP as inspiration!   

Crafting Forever

I'm back!  It's summer time and I've been super busy!  Most of today was spent getting ready for my bridge group tomorrow.  I have 12 gals coming in the morning for a day of bridge.  I made a quinoa salad (that Sonny turned his nose up on!), a watermelon and blackberry salad, and some Pumpkin Chocolate cups (a new recipe I wanted to try.) 

Yesterday Marianne and I went to Allison's Stampaganza and made a bunch of different boxes.  I have a box for every occasion now.  I'll be sharing them later.  We also did some swap cards and I got a lot of new ideas for some of the new stamps in the catalog.  I want to share my cards with you today.  

This first one was pretty labor intensive.  Luckily I only had to make 6 cards to swap - it's not one that you'd want to make a bunch of!!  I found an apron template on line and used it to make this cute card using Crafting Forever.  The labor intensive part was in cutting out the pens, paintbrushes and scissors!!  I stamped them all in black and used markers to color them.  

I used all the new in colors to make the cards.

My second card also uses Crafting Forever.  It has a surprise inside!

Do you remember making paper dolls when you were little?  I loved them!  So this took me back to my childhood.  They are attached to the inside with a glue dot under the hand of the doll on the right and the one on the left.  No adhesive in the middle.

For these cards, I used the DSP from the Color Theory stack.