3 x 3 Mini Book with Purse

I made this cute little 3x3 mini book (and little purse to put the book in) this weekend to send to someone special.

I found the instructions and video for the little purse here.

The little book is made with some little note cards that Stampin'Up offered several years ago along with the Daffodil Designer Paper.  I followed instructions for the book on Patty Bennett's website.  She made the book using the Best Dressed 3x3 note cards.  I scoured all my stamps to come up with sentiments to put inside the book.  What do you think?

There are so many options for this little book.  I am thinking about making one with scripture for my pastor.  They would also make a cute baby brag book, or a graduation gift .... lots of ideas!

Clumsy Clara Checking In!

I'm starting to feel a little back to normal!  Playing cards with friends on Monday helped a lot.   I went to our neighborhood pool the past two mornings for water exercise class.  The water is still a bit nippy but once you get in and get wet, it's not bad - even refreshing.   My back is not liking me doing anything but I have got to do some kind of exercise and I am being careful.  I just take an Aleve when I get home and get out the ice pack.  I have found that it is limiting what I can do though which I don't like.  I can make one card and then I have to take a break.  My friend called me Clumsy Clara and my mom and husband want to give me a walker!  I get no respect!!  ha ha!

I hope by the time I get all the goodies I ordered yesterday from the NEW Annual Catalog, I'll be good to go and I'll be able to make lots of cards!  I ordered a lot more than I usually do but I figure I haven't spent much money in the past 3 months so I gave myself permission to splurge!  It took me about 2 hours yesterday to get my order in.  I kept getting error messages and the wait time to talk to Stampin' Up was crazy!  But I finally got it all in the computer.  Now just to wait for my order to be winging it's way to me!  I ordered a few of the new Stampin' Blends, all the In Color reinkers and stamp pads, some shimmer paint, Playing With Patterns DSP (6x6), Playing with Patterns Ribbon Combo Pack and the Stampin' Blends Storage Trays (pg 145).  The stamp sets I got are:  Blossoms In Bloom, Celebrate Sunflowers, Sending Sunshine, Drybrush, Tasteful Touches and some dies to match some of the sets.  Now looking over my order, I realize I ordered a stamp pad twice and neglected to make one of the stamp sets a bundle.  I think a lot of that was due to the error messages and how many times I had to close the order and come back to it.  I hate when that happens, but it's ok.

Here are a few cards I have made this week.

This card uses current product!!!  The card is Old Olive cut at 7 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".  I matted the Ornate Garden DSP onto Terracotta Tile cardstock.  The flower image is stamped onto watercolor paper and colored with my Aqua Pen and ink refills.  It is adhered to the front flap just on the left side.  I cut a 1" piece of Terracotta Tile cardstock to mat the small strip of DSP on the inside right of the card.

I know we all like to look at our Designer Papers, maybe even take them out of the package and stroke them sometimes .... but come on, let's share the love and get cutting into those lovely designs or you'll be like me and have a LOT of left over DSP when a new catalog comes along!

I used the Tailored Tag punch and the Sale-A-Bration Golden Honey DSP for this card.  I did a lot  of layering using the Rectangle Dies.

By doing all the layering on both cards, I was able to get 2 cards out of it.  (I like the first one better!)

Over The Rainbow Paper Pumpkin Style

LAST CHANCE ITEMS!

Today is the last day you can order your retiring favorites before they are gone for good.  Be sure to check out the items that are still available (many are discounted) as they will only be available for purchase today.

2020-2021 ANNUAL CATALOG GOES LIVE ON JUNE 3rd!

It's that time again - a brand new annual catalog! How exciting!  It goes LIVE on Wednesday (2 pm EST) and you can be sure that I will be ordering all my new favorites bright and early!  There's so much to love - new suites and bundles galore, wonderful designer papers and lots of really wonderful embellishments!  If you have ordered from me recently, you should have received your catalog by now.  If you didn't, please let me know and I will get one sent to you.

PAPER PUMPKIN

I have been playing with the colorful May 2020 Paper Pumpkin craft kit.  It features 4 out of 5 of the 2020-2022 In Colors:  Bumblebee, Just Jade, Magenta Madness and Misty Moonlight.   This kit is full  of rainbows and sunsets!

These new In Colors should brighten and lift your spirits!

I gave this one to a friend.  I just love this card!  I used a retired Washi Label Punch to make the pajama pants.

Instead of a martini, let's have a Quarantini!

Lots of  fussy cutting here!
 For this  one, I used the negative part of the cloud that I had punched out and carefully cut all around the negative space.

I used the Seaside Embossing Folder on the Magenta card.

Part of the cloud is adhered to the back of the card and the "hey" cloud is holding the card shut.

I made a belly band on this card.

This is one of the cards with the instructions in the kit.

I used the Circles Dies and layered Purple Posy, Misty Moonlight, Just Jade and Magenta Madness. 

Do you know that last year this time, I was laying on a beach in Hawaii!!??  Oh how I wish I was there now.   So speaking of rainbows, sunshine and Hawaii, I thought you might enjoy this animated rendition of "Over the Rainbow" by a Hawaiian musician, Israel Ka"ano.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

OVER THE RAINBOW

Blender Labels (part 2) and Share Sunshine Fun Fold cards

I have had requests for the Blender Labels that I had on my post yesterday.  So here it is -

BLENDERS

Keep in mind that I did not create this but another Stampin'Up! demonstrator did and was nice enough to share it with others.

I have made several cards with the SHARE SUNSHINE PDF from Stampin' Up.  It is a digital file meaning you can download it to your computer and print it out.  I printed the file out on Whisper White cardstock and just cut out the one I want each time.  This PDF file will only be available until June 2 so if you are interested in purchasing it, you should order now HERE.  Remember 100% of the proceeds will go to the COVID-19 efforts.

Here are a few of the cards I have made using an easy fun fold.

I used some really old DSP on this card - do you remember it?  It is one of my all time favorite DSP that Stampin'Up! has had.  It is called Everyday Enchantment.  When SU retired it, I stocked up on a couple of packages of the DSP.  

Using more retired DSP.  This was in a Sale-a-Bration package called Botanical Butterfly.

More of the Botanical Butterfly DSP with Highland Heather cardstock.

The card base is 9 1/2" x 4 1/4", scored at 5 1/2".  Score the strip that you cut off for the card base at 3/8" and adhere it between the card and DSP. 

Would you believe I fell AGAIN this morning!???  What is going on!  I was carrying a large plant outside so it could get some of the rain that is getting ready to come down.  When I stepped outside on our deck, it was slick as could be with the rain and I fell right on my butt!  I didn't get hurt but I had a hell of a time getting up because the deck was so slick!   The plant survived it too!

Stampin' Up! Blends Organization

I am so excited today .... I am getting my hair cut!!  It has been way too long.  I've been wishing I had long hair so I could just pull it up in a pony tail.  I have to admit a couple of times I've gotten out my Stampin' Up! shears and taken a little hair off the sides and top.  Who knows what the back looks like.  Sonny's is bad too.  He stopped by Great Clips yesterday to see if he could get a cut and I'm sure they laughed in his face.  They told him it was a 2 1/2 hour wait and would be that way for a couple of weeks!  Heaven forbid that he let me make an appointment for him with the gal who does my hair but that would cost too much for him (or so he thinks!)

Well, our NC Quarterly meeting has been canceled.  It was originally scheduled for early June and it got moved to July 25.  Now it is moved to June 2021!  And I have all my swaps almost done!  Not sure yet what I will do with all of them.  I'll probably look around for someone doing a mail-in swap and sign up for one of those.  One of the NC demos is working on an idea for a Facebook Virtual Shoebox swap along with some of us doing Facebook Live videos of projects.  I have agreed to be a presenter .... now I just need to figure it out!

Yesterday I worked on a project to make it easier to use my Stampin' Up! Blends.  I have them on my desk in a acrylic cosmetic holder.   Since I have filled up the cosmetic holder up, I am planning on ordering the Stampin' Up! Blends holders with my next order.  You get 5 storage trays for $14.

 

Anyway - back to yesterday's project.  I used a PDF file that another demo had posted that printed out all the color of the Blends so when they are laying on their side in the holders, I can see the names of each Blend without having to pick every one up to read the color on the side. 

I printed the PDF on white cardstock.  I put scotch tape on top of the printing to protect them a bit and used a small circle punch to punch each one out.  Then I adhered each one to the Blends lid with a glue dot.

Memorial Day Weekend in Maryland

I hope you enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend.  I did.  We drove to Maryland to visit Ashley on Thursday, returning home yesterday (Tuesday).  It was so great to finally see her again!  We did a lot of work in her yard Friday, Saturday and Monday!  Her yard just looks beautiful with all kinds of flowers in bloom.  We filled up 5 big trash cans with yard waste plus also putting a lot in her compost pile in the back yard.

Back yard with Clematis growing up the fence as well as honeysuckle.  Peonies in bloom too!

The back of her backyard is like a jungle!  But there is a path to the compost pile behind all those trees.

It's nice to sit in the swing after a long day of weeding!

More peonies and waiting for the hydrangea to bloom.

We had to borrow the neighbors trash can to get all the clipping in.  

This is right next to the street - lilies, ivy, lavender ....

Ashley laying down mulch.  Someone just dumps a big load of mulch at the end of the street for anyone who wants it.  Sonny wheeled the trash can down and filled it up several times.

Honeysuckle - so pretty!

Peonies are so beautiful.

On Sunday, we took a break and met a friend of Ashley's at Cobbler Mountain Cidery in Virginia.  Everyone was practicing social distancing so it was great.  We took our own chairs; Debbi brought her dog and we enjoyed yummy ciders.

The cidery used to be a winery but now only makes ciders.  It is a family run business on their 90 acre farm.  There were a bunch of campers (primitive) all over the place enjoying the beautiful day.

The only drawback to the whole trip was my fall!  Every time I go to Ashley's, it seems I do something to injure myself!  When she was in Hawaii, I fell down a couple of steps and fractured my ribs.  Another trip to Hawaii, I got knocked down by a giant ocean wave and had a huge hematoma on my hip - right before it was time for me to leave and sit in the airplane in pain for too many hours.  This time, I slipped in the shower and fell out of the shower backwards hitting my back on the side of the tub.  Of course this was the Monday night before driving back to NC on Tuesday.  I'm loving my ice packs!  (And no alcohol was involved!!)

Flowering Foil

Hello!  I am still following the Stay at Home order and working on a few swap cards.  Our NC Quarterly meeting will be held July 24-25 after being moved back from the early June.  So, Marianne and I hope to attend this gathering in the mountains of NC.  I have not attended a Quarterly in a couple of years.  There was a time I never missed one if I could help it so I am excited to go to this one.  The card swaps I signed up for (so far!) is Masculine card (done!), Fun Fold card (working on it), Anniversary/Wedding card (done!), and a General card.  We will also have a Shoebox card swap on Friday night and several card competitions that I'm not sure if I will enter yet.

Today I am patiently waiting for my Paper Pumpkin kit to arrive!  I have seen several people around the country announce that they have received theirs and have even made cards with the kit.  Hopefully, mine will be in the mailbox today!

I'm excited because tomorrow, we are driving up to Maryland to visit Ashley!  I haven't seen her since February and Sonny hasn't seen her since December.  Her county (Montgomery) is still on lock down as well as Ashley's military orders of no travel over 100 miles so we won't be going out to eat or doing any sight seeing!  I am hoping the weather will be nice and we can enjoy her back yard.  We do have plans to go to a cidery in Virginia.  We'll take our own chairs and sit outside hopefully in the sunshine and enjoy their delicious ciders.

Here is a box with cards that I have made recently.  I used the foil paper that was a free item during Sale-a-Bration.  It was fun to color this paper with my Blends.

This is the box.  I colored the flowers  with Balmy Blue and Daffodil Delight Blends.

This is the same paper as the card above.  I just made it brighter with Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry and Night of Navy Blends.

Again - same paper, but very different look.  This time I went with pastel colors of light Blends and a few Copics to get the pale colors.

The flowers are in gold so I added a little edge of gold with the die from Stitched Be Mine.  I used the Highland Heather Blends to color the background of the piece along with the ribbon!

For this card, instead of coloring the background, I colored the flowers and leaves.

I colored the background on this card and layered it onto a piece of gold foil paper.  The sentiment is embossed in gold.

I had a small strip of this flower piece of DSP left so I colored it in blue and adhered it to the card.

My last card really pops, don't you think?!  You might need your shades for this one.  I colored again with Blends in Flirty Flamingo and Granny Apple Green.  I found a piece of pink glitter paper from another Sale-a-Bration so I die cut Happy Birthday and adhered it on the card.