Hawaii Pictures

As promised, here are a few of my Hawaii pictures.  I still have about half of them to go through!!

Ashley met us at the airport with lei's.  Mom loved it!  We had a little problem leaving the Charlotte airport though.  Mom doesn't have a drivers license, only a NC DOT ID card.  Well, it had expired - but we had not realized it.  Luckily, they let her through using the expired ID and her bank card!  Coming back home, the Hawaii Security didn't say a thing about it!  She was hoping she'd be stuck in Hawaii!!

Her first walk on the beach.  The water was pretty cold - I never got in past my waist.

It was really windy and the wind was bothering her hearing aids so she clipped the beach towel around her ears!

We had lots of good food in Hawaii!  This was our final night on the way to the airport - garlic knots and pizza!

These mai tai's were pretty strong!!

Mom had her first shaved ice at Uncle Clay's House of Pure Aloha.  This is her with Uncle Clay.  She told him to come to NC and open up a shop!!  He taught her to do the "shaka."

This was taken on Ford Island which is just across the bay from Pearl Harbor.  We went to Pearl Harbor first and watched the film before boarding a boat that took us around the memorial.  Unfortunately, we could not go on the USS Arizona memorial because of something being fixed on the ramp but we got a pretty good view anyway.

This is a banyan tree on Ford Island.  It is huge and I'm sure, several hundred years old!!!  

A selfie from Ford Island.  The USS Arizona Memorial is over Ashley's shoulder.

Mother spent most of her time in Hawaii sitting on Ashley's lanai!  She loved sitting out there - eating her meals, talking to her friends, playing with her IPad.  She wanted us to put a bed out there for her!

We didn't get many pictures of the 3 of us!

We went to a luau at the Hale Koa.  This was one of the fire dancers.

In Waikiki, there is an International Market with this statue of Don Ho.  

We had dinner one night at the Hula Grill in Waikiki.  This was our dessert - with a bowl of chocolate syrup on the side since Ashley does not like chocolate!!

We did a lot of eating!  This was at the luau.

Every good trip deserves a beautiful sunset!!

Swap Cards from 2018-19 Catalog!

Hi!  I'm back from Hawaii - returned last Friday.  Had a great time of course and I think my mom had the time of her life!  I'll be posting some pictures as soon as I get them (over 200!) downloaded and edited!  In the meantime, I participated in a NC Demos Swap and thought I would share the cards with you.

This is the card I made using the new stamp set, Love What You Do.  Other products used were:  Black, White and Pineapple Punch cardstock; Stitched Shapes, Flourish and Layered Circles Dies; Lovely Floral Embossing Folder, Old Olive Sheer Ribbon and a little pearl.

This card was made by Robin Purdum.  She also used the Love What You Do stamp set along with one of our new In Colors, Blueberry Bushel.

Isn't this flamingo so cute from Fabulous Flamingo (a two-step stamp)???  This card was made by Wendy Grover.  The leaves on the background are from Tropical Chic (I think!)  

Here is another beauty using Accented Blooms.  There was no name attached to this card so I can't give anyone credit for designing it.  This stamp set coordinates with the Tailored Tag Punch.

This card was made by Barbara Hansen.  She used a piece of the Specialty DSP, Share What You Love.

I love this Lemon Lime Twist card made by Jennifer Granstrand.  The products she used are: Detailed With Love stamp; Blackberry Bliss, Lemon Lime Twist, Whisper White and Vellum paper; Seaside Embossing Folder; Silver Edged Ribbon; and Rhinestones.

These are just a few of the great cards I received in the swap.  I'll be back later in the week to share the rest of the cards.

NC Blog Hop - All About Storage!

Welcome to the NC Demos monthly blog hop.  I think you will like the topic this month!!  I am hoping to get some tips from my fellow NC demos!

Storage .... everyone's dilemma I think!  My daughter will tell you that I'm constantly rearranging and figuring out the best way to store all my stuff (and believe me, I have a lot! )  As crafters, we seem to accumulate soooo much!  And if you are like me, you don't want to part with anything!  Who knows when it will come into fashion again!  My craft room is made up of furniture that I have obtained from a variety of places!  My crafting desk is a wire basket system that my daughter had when she was in high school.  When she went away to college, my son inherited it.  When they were both gone, it came into my possession and has served me well over the years.  Along the back of the desk, I have a couple of plastic storage pieces that I recently got when our local craft store went out of business.  It holds my black and versa mark inks, blendabilities (in stamp boxes), and various items I use on a daily basis.

Next to my craft desk is my computer table which is a 5 foot long table that my husband had in his office before he retired.  It is usually pretty covered up with bits of paper, catalogs, cards, etc.  That is where my computer sits.  Underneath this table I have a couple of Iris carts with drawers holding watercolor paper, glimmer paper, catalogs, 12 x 12 paper, etc.  On top of the table, at the back, is my pride and joy - my stamp pad holder.  My husband made this for me about 12 years or more ago and it is great.  There is a place for all my ink pads (current) with the reinkers right next to them.  I have them arranged in color families - In Colors, Brights, Regals, Subtles and Neutrals. There is one section left that I have retired ink pads in - unfortunately, I need more space for them!

But I have a solution!  My husband got a drawer from the hardware store, notched the sides and glued thin wood into the notches so they would hold ink pads.  He also made a cover that would slide thus closing the drawer.  So, if you needed to take your inks with you to a crop, etc. this would make it easy.   I use it now just for my retired inks.

Next is storage for stamps and dies!  I have a shelving unit that I use to store my stamp cases.  Right now, I have more retired stamps than current!!  I usually keep the retired stamps (that I haven't sold) on the right side of the unit and the current stamps on the left.  I have to make more room on the right side now though!  I just stand them up so I can read the titles and put them in alphabetical order. I store matching dies/thinlits inside the matching stamp set.  I put a stickered circle on the outside of the stamp case if they have thinlits or dies that match the stamp and how many thinlits are in the case.

My punches (current and retired) are kept on Ikea rods.  I have run out of room and not sure what I will do next!

I have been using my Paper Pumpkin boxes for organization too and they work great!  I just turn them inside out and I am able to write on the outside of the box the contents in each box.  I was accumulating so many of the boxes I didn't know what to do so I was really excited to do this.  I have boxes of reinkers; the small uninked ink pads; sheets cut for the inside of my cards; pearls, rhinestones; etc.

My newest storage hack has just happened.  I have been a Paper Pumpkin subscriber for several years and found I was not using the stamps that came in the kits because I didn't know what they were.  I had been throwing them in one of the Paper Pumpkin boxes that I showed you above but not labeling them.  Well for the past few weeks, I took care of that.  I researched to find the month, year and name of each Paper Pumpkin stamp set.  (I called Stampin' Up for this info and found that they could only give me the previous year.)  Yes, I know the info is on the little sheet that comes with the kits, but I only started saving those sheets last year and I have kits from 2014!  I cut cardstock 4" x 5 1/4" and put that inside one of the clear envelopes that SU sells.  Then I slid the stamp set in and using my Dymo Labeler, I labeled each of the stamp sets.  I had a basket that I wasn't using and they fit nicely in it!  Now when I get my Paper Pumpkin, if I am not ready to make the projects, I just put it in the basket until I have time to do it.  In organizing these stamps, I realized how far the Paper Pumpkin kits have come.  I had a few sets from 2014 and 2015 and they were pretty basic.  I am so glad SU has stepped up the Paper Pumpkin kits.  I love getting that little surprise each month and sitting down and figuring out what alternative projects I can make with it.  And when I travel to Hawaii to visit my daughter, these are so handy to take along and work on them on the plane or at her house while she is at work.

I just completed one of my favorite Paper Pumpkin sets, Wildflower Wishes from this past February.  If I hadn't organized them, I wouldn't be able to tell you the name of the kit or the month and year!!

I hope I have given you a little help toward organizing your stamp room.  Seems we all can use just a few good ideas for storage!  Thank you for joining me this month.  Now, hop on over to the next blog and get more storage ideas!!

Toni Campana -

 

Jo Anne Hewins -

 

Tracie Evans Langley -

 

Sharon Maranich - You are here!

Frances Wagner

 

May Stamp Club

I held Stamp Club this past Thursday and ended up with 7 ladies - 2 new ladies and 5 club members.  It was a little chaotic but I think everyone had a good time.  I tried to concentrate the cards on retiring products this month.

The DSP varied in colors and they had the option to use this side with the script or the other polka dotted side.  The retiring stamp set is Garden In Bloom.  I used the Scalloped Tag Punch on this card.  I will miss this stamp.

  

For this card, I used Oh So Eclectic (yay!  it's NOT retiring.)  I cut the flowers out with the matching dies to this set in Soft Sky and Peekaboo Peach (both retiring as is the seam binding I used.)

This was a fun card!  The retiring items on it are the raindrops and the sentiment - both from Sprinkles of Life.  The umbrella and girl are from Beautiful You - definitely NOT retiring!  Another choice for rain is a diagonal line stamp from the retired Gorgeous Grunge.

Instructions:

Ø  Position the long white panel onto the white layer and temporarily hold it in place with washi tape.

Ø  Stamp the image of the lady across the narrow panel with black ink so the top of the umbrella and her ankles are stamped on the larger white panel and the rest of her is on the narrow white piece.

Ø  Lightly stamp rain.

Ø  Stamp umbrella onto DSP.

Ø  Stamp sentiment at bottom right.

Ø  Color the girl with Blendabilities or Watercolor pencils.

Ø  Adhere bottom of umbrella onto narrow panel and the top of the umbrella on to the card.

Ø  Mat the narrow piece onto black cardstock carefully positioning it so umbrella & legs line up.

Ø  Adhere to white cardstock with dimensionals.

The retiring item on this card is the Color Theory DSP.  I have used this paper a lot!  The stamp set is one that was in the retiring Occasions Catalog but will be in the new Annual Catalog called A Good Day.  The Layering Circles framelits makes it a super easy card.  I used Blendabilities to color the images.

I probably won't be blogging much in the next couple of weeks.  I am taking my Mom to Hawaii to visit Ashley.  Ashley surprised Mom with a ticket to Hawaii for Christmas and Mom has been counting down the days.  She is so excited.  Wish me luck on this venture with my almost 90 year old legally blind mother!!  I borrowed a wheel chair from a friend so that should make it a little better.  Luckily, Ashley is very patient with her and will be a great help.

I have my two latest Paper Pumpkin kits that I have not opened yet.  I am planning on taking them on the plane to work on them during the long flight.  We fly from Charlotte to Phoenix (4 1/2) hours and from Phoenix to Honolulu (6 hours).

2018 COLOR REVAMP

 Variety is the spice of life, especially in the world of color.  Stampin' Up makes a point to keep up with trends in the market.  They decided this year it was time to give our color collections a make-over.

There are still 4 core color collections - Brights, Neutrals, Subtles, and Regals.  

Changes by Core Collection:

Neutrals

• Whisper White, Basic Black and Very Vanilla have moved to the new Basics Collection.
• Chocolate Chip is retiring.
• Night of Navy has moved here from the Regals Collection.
• Mossy Meadow (an old favorite) is returning and is part of the Neutrals collection.
• Merry Merlot and Gray Granite are brand new colors.

Brights

• Real Red, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie are all moving to the Regals Collection.
• Tangerine Tango and Tempting Turquoise are retiring.
• Returning favorites are Poppy Parade, Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana.
• Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green and Gorgeous Grape are new colors.

Subtles

• Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder are all retiring.
• Mint Macaron is returning.
• Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue and Highland Heather are all brand new.

Regals

• Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Island Indigo, Perfect Plum and Rose Red are all retiring.
• Blackberry Bliss is returning.
• Shaded Spruce is new.

The In Color Collections will still operate in the same way.  A new In Color Color Collection will debut every year while the oldest collection will retire.  This year 2016-18 Color Collection is retiring to make room for 2018-2020.

Aren't these colors great?!

If you need some ideas of how to mix and match these colors, look no further!  Stampin' Up has created a free on-line Color Coach demonstrating coordinating colors for the new and returning colors.  Use the links below and downline your own color coach.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CORE COLOR COLLECTION COLOR COACH

CLICK HERE FOR THE IN-COLOR COLLECTION COLOR COACH.

Wildflower Wishes

I think the Wildflower Wishes Paper Pumpkin (February) was my favorite one so far.  It came with sentiments that you could punch out and adhere over DSP.  I did that on a few but I also used the negative space to create my sentiments.

This card is made following the kit instructions.

But on this card, I temporarily adhered the letters (which are sticky on the back) and sponged around them.

For this card, I used the letters that were punched out and adhered them to the banner.  So many choices with this kit!

On this card and the one below, my new Stamparatus came to my rescue.  I was able to just move the top plate (with the sentiment stuck to it) down a notch and stamped "celebrate" in Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise.

I used Brusho to create the background of this card.

It took a while to get all the flowers arranged above but it was worth the effort!

The leaves on this card are vellum.  I just sponged the green ink over them.  I didn't think they showed up as well with the clear vellum.

Life's Celebrations

Things are really busy for my nephew, Derek and his girlfriend.  They bought a house shortly after Christmas and have been busy fixing it up.  And ....well, she is not a girlfriend now - she is his fiance!  Derek surprised her and proposed to Morgan Easter weekend.  They were on their way up to the mountains to join Marianne and Greg on their camping trip.  Derek pulled over somewhere on the Blue Ridge Parkway and they hiked to a romantic spot and he popped the question.  None of us were too terribly surprised!  They will be getting married next year.  Below is the card I made for them.  I used Sunshine Wishes (which is retiring) and used a retired small flower punch for the flowers.  The card is gold so I embossed the bottom part of the "congrats" with gold embossing powder.

This was the inside:

In the midst of all that, Morgan has been working hard on getting her Masters (MBA) at Queens University while working at her job (and fixing up their house).  This past Saturday, she graduated!  We are all proud of her.  They had a party at their house Saturday to celebrate graduation, new home, and the upcoming nuptials!

This was my house warming gift to them.  I kinda copied it from one my daughter in law made!  It was easy to make with supplies from Hobby Lobby and my trusty hot glue gun.

This is the card I made for Morgan for her graduation.  I used bits and pieces of an old Paper Pumpkin kit.  A little card and gift card are in the little envelope on the front.

PAPER PUMPKIN DEALS FOR EVERYONE!!

You have seen the Paper Pumpkin kits that I love.  Well, now is your chance to try them out cheap!! 
Starting today - WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - enjoy up to 75% off the Stampin' Up Paper Pumpkin crafting kits and refills listed below.

This sale is for everyone - even if you are not a Paper Pumpkin subscriber.

As of May 9, these kits will be permanently deleted.

CLICK HERE to see all the bargains!

Not sure what Paper Pumpkin is all about?  Click HERE for a video explaining it.

Click HERE to see the actual kits and to shop for them.  But, remember to refer to the chart above for pricing!!  I want you to get the best deal!

More ..... Paper Pumpkin from March

I've made several more cards using bits and pieces from the March Paper Pumpkin.  I honestly have to say that I am sick of this kit now!  I've made 20+ cards using the kit.  Now, I am going on to other things .... maybe the April Paper Pumpkin!  You'll have to check back to see.

Last week Sonny and his Texas friend, Graham, joined a few of the Lake Norman Golden Boys for their annual spring trip shooting skeet in South Carolina.  Normally, Graham's wife, Margaret, stays with me while they are gone but she was in England this time taking care of her mother so I was on my own.  You know, sometimes that's not so bad!  I had Stamp Club on Tuesday and Thursday which kept me busy.  But, it was nice to eat when and what I wanted for dinner and just do whatever I wanted!  But it was good to welcome Sonny back home on Thursday. 

I had a nice surprise yesterday.  My half-brother and his wife contacted me that they were coming to NC for a quick visit.  They have been on the road for 2 weeks from Texas, where they live, visiting family in the Pennsylvania area and seeing sights along the way.  We met them for dinner last night and my NC family joined us.  My sister, Angela, met my brother for the first time!  My mom and other sister, Marianne, had met him in the past on their visits to Texas when we lived there.  It was so fun!

OK - now to the cards I made with Paper Pumpkin.  I'm not going to add a lot of commentary on these cards because I think they are pretty self explanatory.

For the sentiment, I used the Tailored Tag Punch from the Occasions catalog (and will be in the new annual catalog!)

The Crumb Cake scallop comes from one of the envelopes included in the kit.

I used the Circles dies for the Crumb Cake scalloped circle.  The Fresh Fig half scallop is the flap cut off from one of the envelopes in the kit.

The wooden flower is one of the elements that Stampin' Up included in the Paper Pumpkin as a thank you gift.  I used a dauber to color it with Fresh Fig ink.