Happy Harvest

I thought if I made some fall cards, we'd have some fall weather.  So far .... no.  It got to 91 degrees today.  We have broken a lot of records with our 90 degree days this month.

This card uses a lot retired items.  The leaves are from Vintage Leaves and the matching dies, Leaflets.  If you don't have these items, there is a great set in the current Holiday Catalog - Gather Together that would work great.  I stamped the leaves on Melon Mango cardstock with Cajun Craze and Pumpkin Pie ink.  After die cutting the leaves, I used the dauber and sponged the edges.  The banner and sentiment is from Country Home.

We went to visit Ashley this weekend and took my mom and Sammie, my cat.  When we took Sammie to Ashley's last month, she tolerated the drive.  This time ..... not so much!  She bit Sonny once - tried for a second time but get him.  Needless to say, he was ready to throw her out the window!  I think she was like that this time because she didn't have much room in the back seat with mom back there.  Plus, the traffic was horrendous (as usual) and it took us 8 hours!  As soon as we got to Ashley's, it was on to dinner.  Ashley had reservations for 6:30 at an Ethiopian restaurant with two of her friends.  Sonny did not go - which was a good thing.  Mom usually will eat anything but not so with Ethiopian food!  It wasn't my favorite either but I tried everything.  We stayed around the house this time.  With mom and her walker, that makes it much easier.  I did some yard work and Sonny did a few "fix it" projects.  Mom loved sitting on Ashley's porch in the rocking chair or on the swing in the back yard.

On Friday, we noticed some things going on with Sammie.  She threw up a couple of times and started peeing in mom's bed and Ashley's bed.  There was blood in her pee so we took her to see the vet on Saturday.  Sammie is like a wild cat at the vet's so they had a hard time examining her.   The vet feels like whatever is going on with her is caused by stress so I think this is the last time she goes on a trip with us!  She got a antibiotic shot and the vet gave me some Gabapentin to give her when we were ready to drive back to NC.  It took Ashley and I a while to get it in her but it did help with the drive back.  She was mellowed out!!

When we got home last night I had a call from a neighbor who told me there had been a shooting on my cul-de-sac.  There are only 3 houses on our street!  We missed all the action.  We think someone was attempting to break into the home.  When the wife and child arrived home, she thought something wasn't right and called her husband and 911.  Her husband arrived first and I am assuming he is the one who shot the burglar in the leg.

Well, it's almost time for some Steeler football.  My team has been terrible this year so far - haven't won a game!  I am hoping for a win tonight.

Stampin' Up Specials

I just want to give you a quick run-down of some of the specials Stampin' Up is offering.

First off, if you are a fan of beautiful Designer Series Paper, you can buy 3 and get 1 FREE!!  Check out the details HERE.   My 3 favorites would be:  Bird Ballard, Magnolia Lane, and Perennial Essence.  I have also seen some beautiful cards made with the Come Sail Away and See a Silhouette.  What are your favorites??

The CLEARANCE RACK has been updated!!  You know how fast items go so if you see something you want, I'd advise you to order it now!  My hostess code is:  JX9U9E44

How about this SEASONAL GRID PAPER?!!  

Stampin' Up's grid paper is a great disposable placemat that protects your table or desk when stamping and crafting. Bring a festive feeling into your crafting space with our special edition seasonal grid paper. This gorgeously designed Christmas grid paper will add the perfect touch to your stamping set up. Available while supplies last.  Price is $9.00.

* 13" x 13" (33 X 33 cm)
* 25 sheets
* Double-sided: white with Mossy Meadow design on one side, white with Real Red design on the other side
* Metric & Imperial Measurements on both sides
* Product colours: Mossy Meadow, Real Red, white

Have you tried out Paper Pumpkin?  You know how much I love the kits.  The October and November kit will coordinate with each other (cards and tags.)

You can sign up HERE.



October Kit - makes 10 cards and envelopes
Coordinating colors:  Early Espresso, Pool Party, Poppy Parade and Shaded Spruce.

November Kit - makes 24 holiday-themed gift tags of 4 various sizes and designs.
Coordinating colors are same as October kit.

The two kits coordinate; however, each kit is all-inclusive and can stand alone.

Hugs from Shelli

Where does the time go?  I wish I knew!  Maybe I should be a bit more organized or quit playing on the computer and get back to writing on this blog more.  We'll see!!  In the meantime, I have a few Paper Pumpkin cards to share with you from a past kit that Shelli designed.  The kit is called Hugs from Shelli and it was the May, 2019 kit and is just beautiful.  (If you don't know, Shelli is the founder of Stampin' Up.)

The cards below are alternative cards I made from pieces in the kit.  The cards we were given were actually note cards.  I cut them apart so I could make full size cards by using the Very Vanilla Thick Cardstock.  The ink colors I used were Pretty Peacock and Gray Granite.

The feathers on this card were colored with the SU Blends.  These feathers were stamped, colored and fussy cut.

The feather on this card is vellum and was already colored.

Most of the elements for this card came from one of the envelopes that was included in the kit.  I cut out the label with the flower at the top.  The striped pieces on the top and bottom are from the inside of the envelope.  

It has been so nice having Ashley on our same time zone!  She drove down to see us Labor Day and we stayed busy the whole time.  She got here in time to meet us at the King Canary Brewery in Mooresville for our weekly game of  Wednesday Trivia.  On Thursday, she and I drove to Hickory while Sonny played golf.  She was shopping for a new couch since the movers lost one of hers!  Our trip was a success and she purchased a nice love seat that makes out into a queen bed if needed.  Now, she has a bed on every floor of her house (3)!  So, plenty of room for guests.  She was able to fit the buffet table from my mom in her car but not the hutch.  So, Sonny and I are going to see her the end of the month and take the rest of the things to her as well as taking mom to visit her and see her new casa!

The Gift of Fall - part 2

I'm on my own for a few days while Sonny has gone to Pinehurst to play golf with a group from Newcomers.  That man is a golfing fool!!!  He plays golf usually four times a week and just can't get enough.  I've been trying to put some organization into my card collection.  I am trying to sort them into categories so when I need a card, I can find it and not have to dig through tons of cards.  I also need to donate a bunch of cards to some organization - I just have too many!!!  Got any ideas?   

Can you believe it's already the end of August?  Wow, this summer has flown by.  Ashley is coming to visit this afternoon.  She has some vacation that she needs to use so I am happy that she has chosen to spend some time with her mom and dad!  Plus, she is hoping to take a couple of pieces of furniture back with her.  Not sure if both will fit in her card but we are going to try.  My mom is giving her a buffet table that was my grandmothers and Marianne is giving us a china hutch that belonged to mom's cousin.  She found the receipt in the drawer when she was cleaning it out this weekend.  They paid $125 for it in 1948 and paid it on an installment plan!  I'm guessing $125 was a lot of money back then!  We'll see how well Sammie and Bogart get along this time!  Hopefully good!

Thought I'd share a few more of the August Paper Pumpkin kit, The Gift of Fall.

The blossoms for this card are vellum and just beautiful.  I fussy cut the Crushed Curry circle in the center and used the Stitched Shapes die for the sentiment piece.  I used a dauber for the "happy birthday" with Crushed Curry and Mango Melody inks.

For this card, I first used my Aqua Pen and inks (Curry, Razzleberry and Mango) to watercolor the background (onto watercolor paper.)  Then I stamped the girl from Beautiful You and colored her dress with Lovely Lipstick ink.  The sentiment just barely fit onto the Crumb Cake label that was included in the kit.

I stamped the birds from Free As A Bird onto white cardstock and fussy cut it.  The leaves and circles are included in the kit.  Stamp a simple sentiment on a banner and voila! a finished card to mail.

For this card, I cut one of the colorful leaf tags in half and adhered them to the Thick Whisper White cardstock.  I tucked a vellu leaf and one of the vellum blossoms under the sentiment banner (which is the Crumb Cake label just turned over.)  Add a bow and a few sequins and you are done!  The sentiment is from a retired stamp set, Trust God.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards and will try and duplicate a few of them using your own products.

The Gift of Fall

Time is running out to redeem those Bonus Days Coupons that you earned last month!  You can apply your coupons to any order that you place during the month of August.  Yay!!

Here are the redemption details:

• Redemption Period Deadline: August 31, 2019, by 11:50 pm (mt)
• There is no limit to the number of coupon codes you can use on an order during redemption.
• Bonus Days coupon codes may be redeemed for any product (excluding Starter Kits, demonstrator supply items, and Paper Pumpkin subscriptions).
  • New prepaid Paper Pumpkin codes may be discounted with Bonus Days coupon codes.
• Bonus Days coupon codes may be redeemed one time only.

I don't know about where you live, but here in NC it has been almost cold this weekend!  I am so ready for fall!!  I have been making cards  with the August Paper Pumpkin - The Best of Fall.  It is a great one showcasing all those wonderful warm fall colors - Blackberry Bliss, Pretty Peacock, Crushed Curry and others.

Fancy Fold

We made a fancy fold card on Tuesday that I had seen demonstrated on Facebook last week by Rhonda Wade.

The butterfly was fussy cut from Botanical Butterfly which is retired.

Use a half sheet of card stock – folded in half for your card.  I used Basic Black for the butterfly card and Early Espresso for the magnolia card.

Open the card and run the top part through the Big Shot with the square framelit die – cutting a window in the front & top of your card.

Cut a 5” x 6” piece of Designer Paper and score it at 2” & 4” – making a tri fold.

Glue down the DSP on the inside of the card on the right side.

Use the square that was cut out of your card and adhere it back in place - only using glue on the right side adhering it to the DSP.

Decorate as you want.

When you pull the banner under the magnolia, the card will open so you can see the DSP inside.

Hope you give this fold a try!

Cards from Stamp Club

I have a few more cards to share with you that we did on Tuesday's Stamp Club.

This card is so simple to make but is so elegant.  I used the Magnolia Embossing Folder to emboss the piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock.  I find that if you spritz your cardstock before embossing, you will get a much better impression.  The card above was spritzed and the card below was not.

We fussy cut out one of the flowers from the Magnolia Lane Designer Paper and adhered it to the card with a dimensional.  The sentiment is from Well Said (in the annual catalog.)  The ribbons that I used on both cards has been retired but use what you have!

This was another easy-peasy card to make.  The thick white cardstock makes the base of the card.  The next layer is Lovely Lipstick and next is Rococo Rose.  I embossed the Rococo Rose piece with the Country Floral embossing folder (a definite favorite!)  Next I sponged white craft ink over the floral image and adhered it to the Lovely Lipstick piece.  The sentiment is from Flourishing Phrases, another great stamp set to have for it's sentiments.

Stitched Label Box

I actually have some cards to share with you today!  I had Stamp Club Tuesday and even though it was a small group, we had fun and make some cute projects.

First off - although we did this one last - was the Stitched Label Box.  I found this on Brenda Quintana's blog and love it so much.  I was hoping not to overwhelm my gals and had all the pieces die cut for them which helped a lot except when I gave them the wrong measurements for scoring!  Luckily, we discovered it early enough that we didn't waste too much paper.  You can die cut all the pieces for the box out of one piece of cardstock if you are mindful about placing the dies on the paper.  You will also need 2 pieces 10 3/8" long.  I used Whisper White Thick Card Stock for my box and the Bird Ballard Designer Paper.  You only need a 1/2" strip of DSP (10 3/8" long) so look through your stash  and pick something that you have just a strip of.  Some of the boxes we made today used the Magnolia Lane Designer Paper.  The stamping on the top of the box is from Good Morning Magnolia.

I hope you will try and make this cute box - it really is not hard!!

STITCHED LABEL BOX

2 ea. 2^nd largest Stitched Label Die (LABEL #1)

2 ea. 3^rd largest Stitched Label Die (LABEL #2)

1 of the 2^nd smallest Die  (LABEL #3)

Thick Card Stock

(1) 10 1/8” x 2” (BOX BOTTOM)

(1) 10 3/8” x 2” (BOX TOP)

Designer Paper – 10 3/8” x 1/2”

BOX TOP LID (w/Designer Paper)

Cut 10 3/8” x 2” piece of Thick Whisper White Card Stock

Adhere a 10 3/8” x ½” Designer Series Paper strip.

With Designer Paper on left, score down the 10 3/8” strip at 1 5/8” (on short side)

Turn ¼ turn to right (the scored line you just did should be at the bottom & the DSP at the top)

On long side, score at:  2 ¾” 3 7/8”, 5”, 7 ¾”, 8 7/8” and 10” 

Notch at each fold.

Adhere the piece end to end.

Adhere Tombow glue to notches

Attach the 3^rd largest Label Die (Label #2) to box lining up both long sides w/label die piece & press down to adhere.

Attach the largest Label Die (#1) to bottom, centering it.

BOX BOTTOM

Cut 10 1/8” x 2” piece of Thick Whisper White card stock.

On short side, side @ 1 5/8” mark.

On long side, score at 2 5/8”, 3 ¾”, 4 7/8”, 7 ½”, 8 5/8”, 9 ¾”

Fold your score lines & notch (V) at each score line.

Adhere the piece end to end like you did for the lid.

Put the box top over top of the box bottom to hold the shape.

Adhere Tombow Glue to tabs & adhere the largest Label die (#1)

Now stamp on Lable #2 & Label #3, color & adhere to Box Lid

You can find this video at Qbee’s Quest website

Traveling again!

I was traveling again.  Last week we loaded up Sonny's truck and drove to Maryland.  We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies with the truck loaded with things we were taking to Ashley's house - bed, mattress, bicycle, armoire, our suitcases and my cat and her stuff!!  It's not too bad a drive to Silver Spring until you get to the DC area where the traffic is awful.  I would not want to fight that traffic every day!!  Sammie (my cat) had never gone on a long trip before and she did really well.  But she was very happy at Ashley's for the first 3-4 days.  She didn't want Bogart (Ashley's cat) anywhere near her and she let him know it by hissing.  She found a little cupboard at the floor level in one of the bedrooms and that is where she stayed for several days.  When the movers delivered the stuff, we didn't have to lock either cats up.  Bogart stayed under one of the beds and Sammie stayed in her little hidey hole cupboard and wouldn't come out!  

Sammie liked looking out the window.

This was taken after we were there for a week and they were tolerating each other!

Her Hawaii things arrived bright and early Monday morning and were there until about 4:00.  Most everything arrived in good shape ... except they could not get her queen box springs upstairs!  The house was built in 1930 and the upstairs were added in the 60s I think.  The stairs going upstairs and to the basement are really narrow going up (or down) and also narrow from side to side.  There are 3 levels to the house with three bedrooms upstairs and two bedrooms on the main level which she is using as an office and a small den.  Downstairs is the basement with half of it finished (kitchen, den, bathroom.)  She has ordered a split queen mattress and should be able to get it upstairs.  On Thursday, her things she had in storage in Texas arrived.  It wasn't much at all except - her couch was not in the shipment!!  Who knows where it is?!  Ashley has had problems with the company who handled that part of the move since Day 1.  Now they are doing a search for her couch!  By the time we left on Sunday, we had emptied all of the boxes and Sonny had made several trips to the dump to get rid of the boxes.  But there still is much to be done.  Now it is up to Ashley to figure out where everything goes!

Sonny was in charge of checking off the boxes as they were unloaded from the truck.

The front living room - all the boxes were moved from this room - hurray!!

Empty boxes waiting to be loaded in Sonny's truck for a trip to the dump!

Stained Glass Pizza restaurant - relaxing before the crazy begins!

Remember Me???

Surprise, surprise!  Remember me?  Sorry to be such a bad blogger but the summer has been like a whirlwind!   I was in Hawaii for 3 weeks which I think was the last time I blogged anything!  The visit to Hawaii was a lot of fun.  I went there to help Ashley with the move back stateside.  The day that the movers came to box up her things was terrible.   The packers were supposed to come one day and then the crew to load up the crates was supposed to come the next day.  Well, the packers came and packed up a couple of rooms before saying they had to leave for another job.  The next day they didn't show up until noon after several phone calls from Ashley to the moving company.  At 7:30 at night, they still hadn't done a thing in the kitchen!  We were pretty mad to say the least!  They finally finished around 11 pm.  We got to the hotel in Waikiki a little past midnight!  We stayed in the hotel about 10 days.  I was so thankful that Ashley's condo was on the other side of the island because the Waikiki side is LOUD!

I had a couple of mishaps while I was there this time.  First, I almost missed my flight!  I was sitting in the AMEX Lounge at DFW airport enjoying my breakfast when I got a call on my cell phone from American Airlines wanting to know where I was.  The plane was in it's final boarding and the doors were going to be closing in 3 minutes.  I took off running and luckily was able to get on one of the golf cards and he got me to the gate in time.  I think I had set my watch wrong and thought I had plenty of time.  A lesson learned - always put your cell phone number on your reservation!!

The next mishap was at the end of our trip.  We were at the beach enjoying the sunshine.  Well, the waves on that side of the island are a lot stronger than on the windward side which is what I was used to.  As I was getting into the ocean a huge wave knocked me backwards.  I could barely get back up or walk.  I thought I had pulled my hamstring because I hurt from my butt all the way down my leg.  Our flight was three days later and I drank several margaritas that day to combat the pain of sitting on the airplane for 6 hours (Phoenix) and another 4 hours to Charlotte.  When I got home, I went to the doctor.  By that time, the bruising had started and she told me just take some Tylenol for the pain.  By the end of the week, I was bruised from my waist to my knee and I was carrying a pillow around to sit on.  Since then I have heard about a man from Raleigh died when a wave knocked him backwards and he hit his head PLUS a retired Charlotte police officer who broke his neck in July at the beach when a wave drove him into the sand.  He will recover but had to have screws in his head to hold a heavy duty cervical collar in place for several months.  Guess I was the lucky one!

My bruising - after 2 weeks!

Ashley was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in a ceremony while I was there.  It was presented to her by the Hospital Commander, COL Mary Krueger.

The rest of my summer has been uneventful!  I have been doing water aerobics every morning at our subdivision's pool and it has really helped my normal aches and pains.  My mother turned 91 last week and is doing pretty good for a woman her age who is legally blind and has lost her hearing in one ear.  Ashley came for a visit in early July to get her cat, Bogart.  We flew Bogart to Charlotte while I was in Hawaii and Sonny took care of him until I got home.  Ashley closed on her house in Silver Springs on July 15 and has been "living" in her house on an air mattress when she isn't staying with her girlfriends in the DC area.  Her household goods are supposed to be delivered next Monday (8/5) so hope this side of the move goes better than the other side did!  Sonny and I are driving up to Maryland Saturday to help with the unpacking.  We will have Sonny's truck filled to the brim with furniture she is taking from family here plus a piece she bought while she was here in July.

I really have not done much stamping this summer except on my Paper Pumpkin kits.  I wasn't so sure about the In Colors this time but since I've been using them this week, I have changed my mind.  My favorite (I think) is Pretty Peacock but I also love the Terracotta  Tile and Rococo Rose!  I made a couple of cards with the Young At Heart set - it's a really good one for us "old timers!"

If you are thinking about what to order from the annual catalog, take a look at the Pressed Petals Washi Tape.  It is something you would overlook in the catalog which is what I did and then I saw it being used and Wow!  It is really pretty.  You just pull the individual petals off the roll and create your own beautiful flower.  Just do a search and you will see lots of different projects using this washi tape.