Under My Umbrella

I got some new stamps this week  ... and I am excited to be using them!  How do you like this card using the Under My Umbrella Bundle?  I love being able to use a punch for this instead of a die for a change.  Don't get me wrong - I love the dies but I also enjoy going back old school when punches were all we had.  This punch punches out the open and closed umbrellas as well as the umbrella handle.  Plus there is going to be a package of Designer Series Paper that will coordinate with this stamp set as well as 3 other stamp sets!  I just pre-ordered it but you can order it starting Feb. 4 (next week.)

For this card, I cut out watercolor paper with the Stitched Rectangles Die.  I used my Aqua Painter to watercolor Bermuda Bay, Highland Heather and Daffodil Delight on the side of the watercolor cardstock as well as down the side of the base card (thick Whisper White cardstock.)  I white embossed the umbrellas onto vellum and colored the back with my SU Blends (Bermuda Bay, Highland Heather and Flirty Flamingo.  I punched the handles out of Soft Suede cardstock.

Take a look at the Coordinating Product that you can purchase next week.  I put my order in yesterday and it has already shipped!!

Fun Fold with Painted Poppies and Feels Like Frost

Did you enjoy Sunday's Blog Hop?  There were a lot of creative ideas from those NC Demos!

Today I have a card with a different fold to it.  I am still using the Feels Like Frost Designer Paper and this time pairing it with Highland Heather and Painted Poppies.  But you could substitute any flower or leaf image for this card.

The base card is 11" x 4 1/4", scored at 2 3/4" on both sides (so the sides meet in the middle.)  The 3 long strips are 4" x 1".  Cut DSP to cover the 3 strips and the front side of the card about 1/4" smaller on all sides and adhere to card.  Center the 3 strips to the card.  The top 2 are adhered on the right side of the card and the one in the middle is adhered to the left side of the card.  I found it easier to adhere the center strip first and then the top and bottom to get them centered.  Stamp the flower and leaves and use dimensionals on them to adhere them to the center strip and you're done!  Not as hard as it looks, huh?

We are headed to play trivia tonight.  Wish us luck!

NC Demos Blog Hop - Let's CELEBRATE!!

I have not participated in the NC Blog Hop is a very long time so thought I would give it a try this month.  (trying to do 2020 right!)  The theme this month is CELEBRATE and don't we all love to celebrate good times!  

I looked up the meaning of Celebrate and here is what I found - 

verb (used with object), cel·e·brat·ed, cel·e·brat·ing.

to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities

to make known publicly; proclaim:

to praise widely or to present to widespread and favorable public notice, as through newspapers or novels:

to perform with appropriate rites and ceremonies; solemnize

verb (used without object), cel·e·brat·ed, cel·e·brat·ing.

to observe a day or commemorate an event with ceremonies or festivities.

to perform a religious ceremony, especially Mass or the Lord's Supper.

to have or participate in a party, drinking spree, or uninhibited good time

So much to celebrate!  First off I made a card for my daughter who is in the U.S. Army.  She found out last week that she is on the list to be promoted to COLONEL!!  Whoo Hoo!  The promotion won't be until June 2021 but that gives us plenty of time to plan the celebration!!  In the meantime, I am celebrating by telling everyone the good news!  Yes, I am a proud mama!  So several of those definitions will fit this celebration.

This is a simple card that was easy to make.  I love the Feels Like Frost DSP stack which was in the Holiday Mini and I still have a bunch of it left so I am using it!  I wanted it to take center stage of the card and also thought the sentiment says it all (even though it is also retired!)  It is from Incredible Like You.  I dyed the ribbon to match the Highland Heather card.

 I used the Rooted In Nature stamp set to create a masculine birthday card.  That is another great CELEBRATION!

The base card is Pear Pizzazz.  I used a piece of Tropical Oasis DSP (from Mini Catalog) on top of the Pear Pizzazz.   Next is a piece of Grapefruit Grove with a Whisper White scallop die cut from Stitched Be Mine Dies at the top and bottom.  On top of that is a layer of Whisper White card stock.  I stamped the tree cut out with Soft Suede and the flowers with Grapefruit Grove (all stamped on Whisper White paper.)  The leaves were stamped with Old Olive ink onto Old Olive cardstock and the top one is stamped on Pear Pizzazz cardstock.  Happy and birthday are both die cut using the Well Written Die set - one on Soft Suede cardstock and the other on Grapefruit Grove cardstock.  The ribbon is from the Magnolia Lane Ribbon Combo Pack.

I hope you enjoy my cards and will continue to the next stop on our hop.  Follow along with the blog hop and hop on over to Nedine's Celebration HERE.

Toni Campana

Jo Anne Hewins

Tina Lesson

Amy Kinler

Tracie Evans Langley

Frances Wagner

Sharon Maranich (you are here)

Nedine DuPree

Laurie Meier

Ariel Matera

2020 January Card Class Cards

Well, it's 2020 and has been for almost a month.  And what have I been up to this new year??!!!  Obviously, it hasn't been blogging and I apologize to my loyal fans who have asked me what is going on!  I have no excuse except probably laziness and staying busy playing Hand and Foot, Bridge, enjoying the holidays and making a few cards!   I spent Christmas at my daughter's house.  We drove to Maryland on Dec. 20 in time to celebrate her birthday on 12/22.  We had a pretty low key visit and I ate way too much!  We returned home on Jan. 2 and I have been trying to lose a few pounds since then!  I just made my WW weigh in last week by about 1 pound!

Last week I had Stamp Class in my home.  I had a couple of new gals join us and I think they really enjoyed being creative.  Here are  the cards we made:

Lovely Lily Pad stamp, Petal Pink ink and wash on watercolor paper

I used (retired) Powder Pink for this magnolia (Good Morning Magnolia stamp).  The striped background is with the (retired) Brushstrokes background stamp.

The gals had their choice of the pink card above or this Mint Macaron card.  I colored white ribbon to match the card.  The leaf is from Daisy Lane stamp set.

A great masculine Valentine.  

This was my favorite!  Hearts are from the Stitched Be Mine dies - in vellum, Powder Pink and Whisper White.  

Easy using Painted Poppies stamp in the Mini Catalog.  We colored the flowers with a Blender Pen and Berry Burst ink (retired)

I hope you have enjoyed these cards!

Stamp Club

I am trying to get ahead for Thanksgiving this year.  I have the table set, several of my casseroles ready to go in the oven, the decorations on the table .....  I hope to be able to enjoy the day and not spend it in the kitchen!  Don't get me wrong - I don't do it all on Thanksgiving.  Sonny deep fries the turkey outside, my sisters bring food, and Ashley makes a few things.  I don't want to have too much down time or I'll be munching on the appetizers!!  I'm trying a couple of new dishes this year.  Instead of my normal mashed potato casserole, I have made a scalloped potato dish and I'm trying out a pear/cranberry chutney dish and a corn casserole.  We'll see if they get a thumbs up!

I had Stamp Club last week.  There weren't many there but we had a nice time visiting and creating.  Here are the cards we made:

I love this snowman and the Designer Paper that goes with it!

I think this was the favorite of the gals this month - and so easy!  We did a lot of sponging and tone on tone stamping with Crumb Cake.  I used the Rooted in Nature stamp set.

I love this one with the colorful butterflies from Butterfly Gala.  I colored them with the Blends.

I punched out the vases from the Mosaic Designer Paper.  Didn't they turn out great?  I love that paper.  I used the Stamparatus to line up the flowers before adhering the vases to the card.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are able to share it with family and friends.  We'll have 10 at our table this year - the more, the merrier!

Birthday Cards - a little late!

My birthday was in October & I received so many pretty cards.  Thought I'd share the the hand made cards with you!

Isn't this one gorgeous?  My good friend, Judy, made this one.  It is sparkly as she embossed the outline of the image in gold.

I love these tropical flowers!  This one was made by my English friend, Margaret.

Such a fun card from Joyce who has been in my stamp club since I started it!

Another card from one of stamp club members, Anna.  Love this image.

This card is from another Sharon or "Girlfriend" as we refer to her.  Love the Swirly Bird die cut pumpkins.

And another friend from stamp club made this pretty card.

(the front of the card above)

This card was made by my sweet daughter with a little help from her Paper Pumpkin kit.

My sister, Marianne made this card.  I love the vases of flowers.

I got this card from my NC SU Demo friends - such a great group!

Isn't this cow cute?  My upline, Carol, sent me this card.

Getaway pictures from Outer Banks

I just returned from a fun trip with my daughter, Ashley.  I drove to the Outer Banks last Thursday and Friday.  I spent Thursday night in Durham with one of Ashley's friends who was there for work and on Friday I finished the trip (with Claudia in the passenger seat!) and joined Ashley and another of her friends, Debi, in Kill Devil Hills.  We were there for the Alternate Routes Getaway Music Festival which was a lot of fun!  It was sweet of the girls to include an old lady like me and it made me feel young again (that I could hang till after midnight each night with them!)  The music was good and the weather was perfect!  The music started about 6 each night and different groups performed for about 1 1/2 hours each night.  Here are a few of my favorites.

He is with the band, Red Wanting Blue which I had heard when we visited Ashley in DC this summer.
Listen HERE for my favorite song of theirs.

Brendan James was my favorite .... and he is so cute!!

Guitarist for Alternate Routes

On Saturday, we took the wild horses tour and it was super.  I expected to see the horses on the beach but they were mostly off the beach and up where the houses were.  How would you like to have horses grazing in your back yard and going into your carport to leave a ton of poo!!  That's what they do!

Can you see her pregnant stomach?

Another fun thing we did was in Kitty Hawk.  I had read a book a few years ago by Nicholas Sparks, called Every Breath which had a mailbox in the story called Kindred Spirits.  This mailbox is in Sunset Beach, NC and was put there about 35 years ago as a place to stop and share stories.  There is a similar mailbox in Kitty Hawk called The Little Red Mailbox.  The goal for the mailbox is for anyone who comes to the beach to write a message of love and hope, or you can read the messages others have written ... which is what we did.  Inside the mailbox is a bound journal and a pen - an invitation to anyone who wants to share their thoughts.

We visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla before doing our horse tour.  We didn't climb to the top though.  I have been having knee problems a little bit and didn't want to chance it.  So instead we wandered around the grounds and in the gift shop.

Claudia, Debi, Ashley and me

View from our hotel balcony - not bad!