Happy Easter

What were you doing a month ago?  Whatever it was, doesn't it seem in some ways like a million years ago!  Because now here we are, one month into this COVID-19 quarantine.  It's been four weeks of social distancing and self-isolation.  Four weeks of disturbing and scary news.  Four weeks of trying to navigate a whole new world of working from home and remote learning for our kids AND a shortage of toilet paper at the grocery store.  Four weeks of fear and uncertainty.  Four weeks of a crisis unlike anything we've ever experienced in our lifetimes.

But that's exactly why it's so important for the sake of your sanity and mental well-being to take a step back every once in a while and just do a little self check-in.  How are you holding up?  Are you about to lose your mind or starting to find your groove?  Are you being productive or struggling?  The reality is that because this is something none of us have ever experienced, there's also no way to know exactly how to respond.  There's no rule book and no way to predict how it's all going to play out.

But, you have a choice!  You can sit there in fear, anxiety, stress and worry.  You can obsessively check the news.  And then, when it all becomes too much to think about, you can tune-out, where you stay in your pj's all day and start binge watching TV.  OR you can  take a different path and choose to focus on the things that you can actually control.  You can choose to make the most of this crazy time.

I'd love to hear some specific things you're doing to keep yourself busy and productive during this time.  What are you working on?  What's keeping you sane?  Hit "comment" below and let me know!  As you know, what's keeping me sane and busy is being creative.  I've made quite a few cards and actually mailed a lot of them.  Sonny says all the stamps I'm using are costing him money!  (I don't say anything about how much he's spending on the golf course every day!)

Enjoy your Easter!

Here are a few Easter cards I have made (and mailed!)

I used the 6x6 Gingham DSP (retired) and one of last year's Sale-a-bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice.  I used the Highland Heather Blends to color the flowers. 

Everything about this card is retired!   I went to my stash of non-SU designer paper and found this piece that I thought went well with the card.  The flowers and sentiment are from  Easter Message.  The die cut flowers on the side are from the Botanical Builder dies and the cardstock is an In-Color from last year, Berry Burst.

Another beautiful (but retired) card!  The stamp set is Oh So Eclectic and matching dies, Eclectic.

Aren't these bunnies cute?  I made several cards with this stamp.  It is really old (thus, retired) and was s single stamp that we could purchase way back in 2013  for $6.95!  Back then, we didn't have dies so I fussy cut the bunnies.  (Plus, it is a wooden stamp which tells you how old it is!)

Another beautiful card using Easter Message.  I stamped the cross in Versamark and heat embossed it with Gold powder.  I used a white pen to color in the cloak.  It is layered onto gold paper and then onto non-SU designer paper.  This is one of my favorite cards and I made several of them

Let's Hang Out Soon!

Another day ... another card!  I hope you are all safe and remaining at home as much as you can.  I keep saying this will pass.  We just need to follow directions and normalcy will return!  I know we miss the social interaction, but e-mail, Facebook and phone calls will have to do.  Hopefully, you are able to get out and walk around your neighborhood (with you mask on!) and enjoying the spring weather.

I've been so busy making Easter cards that I haven't even finished my favorite Paper Pumpkin.  That is on today's to do list!  I also have to make a cake.  I've been cooking (and eating) way too much during this craziness.  I bought a chocolate cake mix at the store on Tuesday and Sonny asked me last night when I was going to make it.  It's only been 2 days!!  So I promised I'd make it today while he was playing golf.  

Here's a card I made with Ashley's Rise and Shine stamp set before I mailed it on to her.  It makes me think of my friend who always has a cup of tea on her table.  Margaret - this one's for you!  Hopefully, we'll all be "hanging out soon."

The fold is called a Cascade Fun Fold.  If you google it on Pinterest or YouTube, you can see a video on how to make this fun fold.

I used a 3" square envelope and cut the flap off to make a little pocket for the tea bag.

Don't Worry!

Well, our anniversary celebration was sure different this year!  I had an on-line workshop with Weight Watchers at noon .... and I lost a pound although I don't know how!  After that, Sonny and I went to BJ's (spent over $100!).  Our next stop was lunch at the Chick Filet drive in which we took to Aldi's and ate it in their parking lot.  We were looking for milk, bread and clorox.  Aldi's didn't have my bread or the clorox but they did have grapes for 25 cents a pound so I stocked up on them.   So we added a stop at Big Lots and found clorox AND toilet paper!!  We have not bought any TP since the craziness happened since we are usually buy TP in quantity at BJ's so we picked up a pack.  What an exciting day!  On the way back home, we picked up a pizza to eat for our anniversary dinner.  When we ate the pizza, we both remarked that it just didn't taste as good as normal.  Well, this morning I found the ticket they included with the pizza and they had marked in capital letter NO CHEESE!  Who eats a pizza without CHEESE?!!  Now, I know why it didn't taste right.  Luckily, I have mozzarella at home so when we eat the rest of the pizza, I'll be adding the cheese!

Well so much for that interesting monologue!  Tonight (Wednesday) I am going to attend a virtual stamp class from another Stampin' Up demonstrator.  It is open to the public so if you are interested in this FREE class, e-mail Melissa Stout at melissa@thestampdoc.com at least 30 minutes before the class starts (8 pm EST).  

We will be making 10 quick cards that you'll be able to create in the comfort of your own home. Gather the items listed below--they don't have to be from the same suite, just grab whatever you have on hand.

 

WHEN:  Wednesday, April 8th at 8pm ET

WHERE:  Your House

To sign up for this class, you can RSVP on her Facebook event or email her at melissa@thestampdoc.com

If you'd like to follow along with what she is creating, get this stuff:

• 2 sheets DSP (from same pack)
• 7 sheets coordinating card stock; at least 1 needs to be Whisper White or Very Vanilla
• Stamp set with greetings
• Ink pad
• punch for greetings
• spool of ribbon

She will be doing this as a private event on Zoom. You will need to download the Zoom app (FREE) before the meeting on either your laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

A link for the meeting and a password will be sent to all participants by email approximately 30 minutes before we begin.

Happy Anniversary to me!

I have lost count of the number of days we have been in lock down mode without a change in sight.  Hope you are stocked up on your toilet paper and paper towels!! 

I have been making Easter cards like crazy.  After this week, I don't want to see another bunny!!

Here are a couple I have made.

This is a really old Stampin' Up stamp set but it is so cute.  I don't even remember the name of it and think it was offered as a single stamp.

I made this one for my grandson - hope he doesn't think it's too juvenile!  This was from a Paper Pumpkin kit that we got in March 2017!  If I hadn't just done all my organizing, I would not have remembered about these stamps!

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Tomorrow is our anniversary.  Wonder what take-out we can find to celebrate with!!  47 years tomorrow!  Hard to believe.  Here is the card I made for tomorrow.

This was and old Paper Pumpkin kit

Too bad I can't stamp straight!  Oh well, he won't notice it.
I love the sentiments though.  The top one is from Dandelion Wishes and the bottom one is from Well Said.

Organize with Evernote!

I'm pretty proud of myself!  I have entered all my stamps - retired, current and paper pumpkin and my dies - into the Evernote program (free!)  I even entered the new stamp set I received on Monday!  Now to keep up and keep them organized!

These are my retired stamps!  It's funny - while I was entering them into Evernote, I reacquainted myself some of the oldies but goodies and pulled 3 or 4 out to make cards with.

These are my dies / thinlits.  I have to admit I have a few more of them that I haven't entered yet.  That's tomorrows job.  I had them in a basket but they outgrew their basket so I moved them to this plastic tub.

These are my current stamps!  My retired definitely outnumber the current.  And in another couple of months, I will be moving some of these over to the retired side.  Actually there are 3 or 4 Sale-a-Bration sets in this group that should actually be retired since Sale-a-Bration is over.

These are my Paper Pumpkin stamps.  I have them inside the clear envelopes that Stampin' Up sells.  On the side is a paper list of all the stamps so I can quickly look at it to see what I am looking for.  They are organized in the envelopes with the date and month and title of the stamp sets.

Here are a few cards I made from an old Paper Pumpkin kit from December 2016.  It was meant to be a journal and came with a Rotary Stamp instead of photopolymer stamps.  It included patterned paper and printed window sheets.  I didn't need a journal or scrapbook so made them into cards.

for the Well Dressed Man!

I have been collecting stuff to send to Ashley.  I had several stamp sets that she had put on one of my recent orders that she was patiently waiting for.  So, yesterday I made a few cards with her stamps and then packed everything up and sent Sonny to UPS to get it all to her.  I used one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets that I didn't get (wishing I had now!)  I thought the cards I made turned out super.  I'm always needing masculine cards and this set did the trick.  It was in the second release of the Sale-a-Bration stamps and is called Well Dressed.

This card reminds me of my grandaddy.  He always wore a hat like this over his bald head.   I remember one time shortly after we got married that we went with my family to Myrtle Beach.  Grandaddy had property in Hallsboro, NC which is about an hour's drive from the beach.  Sonny and I drove him to Hallsboro to check on his property in our car which was a convertible.  Well for some reason Grandaddy didn't bring his hat and his head got sunburned!  He ended up tying a bandanna around his head to protect it!  He looked so funny.
The DSP on this card is from the Country Club suite.  I used my Stamparatus to evenly space out the hats.  I stamped the hats onto the Whisper White.  Then I stamped them onto the DSP and heat embossed them with black powder.  I glued them on top of the hats on the white cardstock.

I am trying to use up some of my In Colors who will be retired the end of May.  This one is Call Me Clover which I think I only used at Christmas.  It pairs nicely with the Crushed Curry though.  It features a fun fold.  I cut the Clover cardstock 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".  I used the Subtles embossing folder for the front flap.  The Crushed Curry piece measures 2 1/2" x 4 1/4" and scored at 1/2"; cut the Whisper White measuring at 4 " x  5 1/4".    Attach the Crushed Curry piece to the back of the Whisper White piece making a flap.  This will be adhered to the inside of the card. The vellum circle is punched at 2".   I stamped the umbrellas with Call Me Clover - stamping one at full strength and the other one stamped off.

Inside of the Well Dressed card.

This is definitely a bright card!  Again I used the out-going In Colors - Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel and Red which is not an In Color.  I hardly used the Pineapple Punch at all.  It is definitely a BRIGHT yellow!  The Stamparatus again came in handy for this card.

Recipe for the card:  Card base is 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4", then trim  the folded card to 4 1/8" wide. 

Cut 1" strips of green, blue, and red and tape them together on the back and cut out with the largest Stitched Rectangle Die.

Whisper White front panel is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" & cut out with the Stitched Rectangle Die.  

This will be perfect for my golfing addicted hubby!!  I love this DSP.  This is a very simple card.  I used Night of Navy, Crumb Cake and Real Red and cut the banners with the Banner Punch.

 I hope these cards give you some inspiration.

Stay safe!

April Paper Pumpkin - All About Family

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!

You know how much I love the Paper Pumpkin kits.  I'm not fooling you on that!  I know some don't like the fact that you don't know what the kit looks like in advance.  But, I like the surprise of opening the box and "oohing and aahing" over what's inside!  The March kit knocked it out of the park I thought.  So, I am anxiously awaiting to see what April has for us.   So this much I know about the April kit - It will be a fun, family appreciation themed card kit for you to share your hearts with those you love most:  mom, dad, daughter, son, sister and brother.  The kit will include Mother's Day and Father's Day sentiments.  The Paper Pumpkin team knows that everyone's clan is unique.  With that in mind, they provided sentiments that would include anyone in your life who feels like family; for instance, "brothers" and "sisters" who have helped you along the journey of life.  The kit contains supplies for 8 cards and envelopes.  I always have bits and pieces left over to make several alternative cards.  The coordinating colors in the kit are:  Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz, Shaded Spruce and Soft Sea Foam.

You need to subscribe by April 11 to receive the April Kit.  You can subscribe HERE.

 

Crazy Unsettling Times

If you had told me two months ago that we would be where we are now, I would have thought you were joking.  Back before everyone knew what the terms "social distancing" and "stay-at-home order" meant, we were just crafty gals stampin' and having workshops.  And now effective (yesterday,) Monday, March 30 through April 29, our state of NC is under a mandatory stay-at-home order meaning non-essential businesses must close to the public.  But what is considered an essential business has me stumped.  Yesterday, I drove to Mooresville (first time in 2 weeks) to pick up some groceries at Aldi's and tape refills for my tape gun at Hobby Lobby.  I was assuming that Hobby Lobby, Michael's and Jo Ann's would be closed when the stay-at-home order went into effect but no, they are considered essential!??  I'm sorry, I don't understand!  There was a note on the door that they are considered essential because they sell material (to make masks with) and also office supplies??!!  Our Hobby Lobby is right beside Lowe's Hardware.  There was hardly a parking spot left at Lowe's!  I'm sure there were more than 50 or 10 people (whatever the number is supposed to be) in that store and not keeping the 6 foot distance.  When I was at Aldi's there were a lot of people who were not being socially distancing.  I felt like I was in the minority there and had to keep going to another aisle while the aisle I wanted cleared out!   Ashley told me she went to the Dollar Store yesterday and had to ask the man standing behind her in line to move back.  She said he didn't seem to understand even though there were tape lines on the floor 6 feet apart.  What is it going to take for people to understand how serious this is!

I feel sorry for all the small "mom and pop" restaurants that are suffering from this.  After I left the grocery, I stopped at a small mom and pop hoagie shop and took my sandwich home to eat.  I urge you to support your local small businesses now.  They have bills to pay and little to no cash flow makes that very difficult.  The big corporations will receive bail outs because they are deemed "too big to fail," but that is not true of the little guys.  Did you know that local small businesses make up about 49% of the economy?

It's human nature to feel stressed at this time, especially when our day-to-day lives don't look the same as they used to.  When things are more out of our control than usual, it's helpful to remember and focus on the things we do have control over.  By reducing or preventing stress, we're not only taking care of ourselves, we're able to be better caretakers for others.  Paying attention to and managing stress can help us stay on track with our overall health and wellness, develop new routines, and remember what's important to us.

We will get there even if we fail to develop a vaccine, discover new drugs, or eliminate the virus through public health action, though any of these are welcome because they would hasten the end of the crisis.  By staying home when we are sick, minimizing mass gatherings and reducing physical contact, we can dampen the epidemic, reducing the number of cases and the speed at which they occur.  We can get through this if we work together and remember there is SUNSHINE on the other end of this tunnel.

Check out the sentiment on this card - great for these crazy times.

Today is the last day to get Sale-a-Bration items!

I used some Sale-a-Bration items on this card - the vellum, the Lily Impressions DSP, and the Lovely Lily Pad stamp set.  I stamped the lily onto watercolor paper and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  Then I used my Aqua Pen and a little Blackberry Bliss re-inker to color the lily.  Oops - just noticed I am missing a sequin!  I had 3 on the card so just imagine the third one right above the lily!

NC Demo's March Blog Hop - saying good bye to In Colors

Welcome to the NC Demo's March Blog Hop.  This month we were to use one of the out-going In Colors (Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel, Lovely Lipstick, Grapefruit Grove.)  The card can ONLY use one of the retiring In Colors.  We can use Whisper White or Vanilla cardstock and black ink but all other ink and cardstock has to be the single retiring In Color.   I had to really put on my thinking cap for this one!  But then I remembered I still had my daughter's Sale-a-Bration stamp set, Rise and Shine!  The In Color I picked is actually one I hardly used - Call Me Clover.  I think I have only used it at Christmas time.  It was just a little too green for me!  But I like how it turned out on my tea mugs.  My favorite In Color in this set is actually Grapefruit Grove - I'm really going to miss that color!  

This stamp set is a Reversibles set, so some of the stamps are two-sided with an image on each side of the stamp for more creative options.  It can also be used for the tea drinker (me!) and the coffee drinker.  It's not too late for you to earn this Sale-a-Bration stamp set but you need to hurry.  Sale-a-Bration ends on March 31!!

I stamped the mugs in the background on Whisper White cardstock, stamping off on each of them so I would get a lighter color from the mug on the front.  I mounted that layer onto Call Me Clover which then was mounted onto Thick White Cardstock.  Next I layered a piece of vellum on top.  With black ink, I stamped the steam and the sentiment.  (I won't tell you how many times I had to stamp the vellum because I kept smearing the ink!  That happens with vellum.  So, on my third try, I decided to heat emboss the sentiment with clear powder!)  On scrap paper, I stamped the mug with the stars and heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder.  Next I fussy cut it out.  There are dies to match this stamp set but I don't have them.  It's not a big deal to cut the images out.  I made a tea bag tag and attached white twine from the bag to the cup.

How are you surviving the Coronavirus pandemic?  My daughter is an Infections Disease doctor so I was a little worried about her.  But she also works at the military medical school in Bethesda.  She is deemed to be an essential member of the university so will not be on the front line taking care of patients.  Instead she is having to find placements for around 400 students who were in other places around the globe and US doing field work or residencies.  Not to mention, the president of the university announced last week that they are going to graduate the 4th year students as of April 1.  Now what they will do with these graduates is another problem since they are not technically a doctor yet!   

During this pandemic, I have been busy in my craft room.  I have made a lot of cards in the past couple of weeks and predict that I will be making many more.  Luckily my Paper Pumpkin arrived about the time everything went crazy so I have made a lot of cards with the kit and put them in neighbors mailbox or paper tube to cheer them up. It was one of the best Paper Pumpkin kits we have had to date.  I've also been using Evernote to organize my stamps and dies.  It makes a searchable catalog and I can search my stamps and dies by using keywords. 

I hope you stay safe and healthy during this pandemic.  There will be a time after the pandemic when life returns to normal.    We can get through this if we work together and remember there is sunshine on the other end of this tunnel.

OK - enough depressing talk!!  I hope you will visit the rest of the demos and see what they came up with for the monochromatic masterpiece!

Amy Austin-KInler 
Jo Anne Hewins   
Tina Lesson
Ariel Matera - 
Tracy Marie Lewis
Libby Foreman 
Toni Campana
Frances Wagner
Tracie Evans Langley
Laurie Meier
Sue Root: 
Tamra Davis
Sharon Maranich - YOU ARE HERE
Sue Stapp - 
Nedine Depree

Stay safe!!

No Matter the Weather

I'm feeling pretty productive.  Yesterday I was able to put all my Paper Pumpkin stamp images into Evernote.  It was actually fun to remember a lot of the past kits.  I still need to go back and enter key words on each one but I think I'll have lots of time to do that!

I actually took a walk today.  Every day this week I've told myself to get off my butt and go walk.  Well, Monday and Tuesday were out because it was raining.  Wednesday and Thursday it was too cold.  Today I didn't allow myself to find an excuse since it was almost 80 degrees.  So, I bundled up a few cards from the March kit and popped them in friends mailboxes along the way.  The March PP Kit is really a good one for what's going on in our country.  One of the sentiments is "No matter the weather we're in this together."  Fitting don't you think?  Most of these cards are alternates that I made up myself or CASE'd them from other sources.

I used watercolor paper for this one and fussy cut all the boots.  I used Blueberry Bushel, Lovely Lipstick, Call Me Clover and Crushed Curry.

I love this little bunny!

This is one of the original cards from the kit and a favorite of mine.

These are some ferocious storm clouds!!  I used Basic Gray which came with the kit but next time I'll use Smoky Slate I believe.

I cut out one of the umbrellas from the Pleased As Punch DSP.

The background paper is the Golden Honey DSP that is available with Sale-a-Bration.  I used the SU Blends to color the flowers in the background.  The white piece is die cut with the Sweetly Stitched dies.

The background paper for this card is from Tropical Oasis DSP.



Enjoy these spring pictures from my walk today.