Ashley's Creative Cards

Ashley was here for a fast week and we stayed pretty busy, as usual.  We stayed home on Friday and most of Saturday and played around in my craft room.  Ashley made some great cards and I managed to take pictures of them before she packed them up.

Beautiful Butterflies!  She got the inspirations from this framed picture.

This is a mask Ashley used to make the flames on the card below - Gorgeous Grunge stamp

Candles and flames using Gorgeous Grunge

A simple but elegant wedding card for one of Ashley's best friends from medical school.

Paper Craft Challenge

This was my sketch challenge for last week's Paper Pals Challenge.  I decided instead of doing a card this week, I would do a scrapbook page to represent fall and our recent trip to Greenville.  I used the Wonderfall kit for this.

 

 

A Card for Kimberly

Here is a card I made using My Digital Studio.  One of my Stampin' Up fellow demonstrators is going through a tough time and I made the card for her.  Kimberly Van Diepen's (StampinByTheSea) husband suffered a stroke last week ... actually he had two strokes suffering the second one after he was moved from ICU to a regular room.  He is doing better now - still hospitalized - but making progress as he was able to sit up for 3 hours today.  Hug your loved ones - you just never know.  Kimberly's prince (that is what she calls her husband - their's is a true love story!) is only 43 years old - too young for this to happen!

Greenville Mouse Hunt

We picked Ashley up last Friday night at the Greenville/Spartanburg airport and spent the weekend in Greenville.  It was a lot of fun.  She ended up bringing Bogart (her cat) with her and didn't get charged for him.  He was in his carrier and she draped her coat over it, got on the airport and slid it under the seat.  Bogart is a mute cat so he didn't make any noise.  Sammie was not excited to see Bogart when we got home Sunday night though!  Hopefully, they will start getting along soon.

We stayed at the Hyatt in downtown Greenville and spent Saturday just wandering around downtown and shopping.  I got a couple of Christmas presents bought so that was a good thing.  A lot of the trees were showing off their beautiful colors.

 

 

 

While we were there, we went on a mouse hunt!  For his senior project at Christ Church Episcopal School in 2000, Jim Ryan proposed the idea of installing a family of nine unique mice sculptures in surprising places along Greenville's Main Street from the Hyatt to the Westin Poinsett Hotel. His original idea spun from the book, Goodnight Moon, which he and his mom read every night when he was small. There are nine mice pictured in that story. Ryan made his way through the red tape involved in any city project and then raised the money, with the assistance of donors and the mayor, to complete his project.  Greenville sculptor, Zan Wells, actually created the mice. She and Ryan became a team, and Wells sculpted nine individual bronze mice, each one with his own look, character, and special place on Main Street.  Ryan and Wells placed the mice in their permanent places, thus creating Greenville's fanciful downtown scavenger hunt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!  Wishing you the happiness of  good friends, the joy of a happy family, and the wonder of the holiday season. Have a magical thanksgiving!  Hope you enjoy your turkey and all the fixin's today.  My family will be coming plus a few other friends to give thanks with us.  I love Thanksgiving!!  I just wish my son and his family could be with us but they will be in my thoughts all day.

Here's a chuckle for you today -

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;
His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of..... Black November;
"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three,
"And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin;
"And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head;
"Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald 'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink;
"And then comes the worst part!" he said not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing".
Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked;
I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes;
I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;
But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;
And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;
So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;
I haven't a worry! , so I eat and I nap;
She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said: "Christmas is coming..."

          **Poet Unknown


After enjoying your Thanksgiving, take some time to look over the weekly specials!!

 

Stamp Club Projects

These are the projects we made this week at Stamp Club.  The angels were a big hit using the Sizzix Bow Die.  I did a search on the internet and found several different versions and mine are a combo of several different ones.

This card uses the single stamp, "Be Merry" which is actually a tag.  I used a strip of DSP to cover up the "To/From".  We stamped the tag with white craft ink and then embossed it with white embossing powder.



This was one of my favorites.  I finally sucked it up and bought the Typeset Alphabet Sizzix Die.  I used cardboard that comes inside the DSP cut into 1 1/2" squares; then I stamped in Garden Green one of the stamps from Tape It.  I used the sticker tape from the Goody Goody set in between the green.  Next I die cut the "j" "o" and "y".  The ornament is from Mosaic Madness and "Christmas" is from the polymer stamp, Endless Wishes which unfortunately is sold out.

I just love these colors - Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie and Brown Sugar.  I used the single stamp, Magnificant Maple and Gorgeous Grunge to make the background on the thinlit card.

Holiday SALE!

Dates: November 20-December 2, 2013 It's time for online holiday shopping! During these 13 days only, you can get incredible discounts-up to 50 percent-on some of your favorite products! This is the perfect time for you to stock up on some of your favorite items or get gifts for your crafty friends and family.

The Fine Print

• This sale is the same as the annual Online Extravaganza sale of years past--just with a simpler name.
• Discounts range between 20 and 50 percent-awesome!
• Discounted products are available on all order types (customer, workshop, and online).
• Hostesses who have earned a 50%-off item may not apply that discount to an already-discounted product.
• There's no minimum purchase required to participate in this promotion. Sale on!
• For product bundles, you need to use the bundle item numbers provided. If you use individual item numbers, you won't get the discount-bummer.
• You can buy additional products from any of our current catalogs on the same order. 

Below are just a few of the items that are for sale.  To see the complete list, click HERE.

Merry Warm Wishes

I found a card similar to this one on the web.  It's one of my favorites using the Snowy Day stamp set.  Most people use that set to make the snowman but there is more to the stamp than just a snowman!  I like to use a stamp set for more than just one thing and this is one of those sets.  I really love the framelits and hope we will be getting more words soon!

 

I was happy on Sunday to see my Steelers WIN - I didn't expect it but I was happy to take the loss in my football pool.  Last year I came in 2nd in the football pool (Sonny came in 1st) and got the $$ winnings.  This year there is no way either one of us will come close to winning.  My picks have just not been on target this year.  Now if the Panthers can pull it off ... watching the game now - 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter and tied up.  Come on Panthers!

Fall Leaves

Fall - what a beautiful season!  I was pulling into our driveway one day last week and had to stop the car and take this picture of our house hidden by the trees with all the leaves that have fallen in the yard and in the driveway.  These leaves keep Sonny busy!  It's really hard to see our driveway when we are backing out ... in fact, last year I ran into one of trees because I couldn't make out where the driveway was and where the yard was.  We work our leaf blower overtime!!

This is the backyard right after Sonny blew all the leaves off the yard.  Note how tall they stacked up on the edges of the yard,

Almost looks like it could be a ski slope - imagine that the leaves could be snow drifts!!

Saturday was a busy day at my house.  We had the first Christmas Stamp a Stack.  Boy, was I tired by the end of the day.  In fact, I laid down on the couch and slept for an hour and I am not normally a napper.  Here are the rest of the cards that were made:

Northern Flurry embossing folder used

Marianne created this card using the Snow Day stamp set.  Isn't he cute?

More Christmas Card SAS

I've been working fast and furiously on my Christmas Stamp a Stack for Saturday and Monday.  I have the cards made, the packages bundled up and I am now working on some great door prizes!  I love giving my customers and friends special hand made gifts.   Here are a few more of the cards we will be making on Saturday.

Christmas tree from Lovely As A Tree

Gift Card Holder - Starbucks anyone?

Cute little elf shoes made from the Top Note Die!!