Blended Bloom

 

We said good-bye to Ft Lauderdale yesterday morning, dropped Ashley off at the airport, and headed north.  Our plans (I thought) were to drive as far as Brunswick, GA and stop for the night.  Pittsburgh was playing hockey (Stanley Cup play offs) at 8 pm and I had already scoped out a place for us to watch the game there.  Well, best laid plans .... or .... I should know my husband better!  When I looked up from reading my book, we were crossing the line into South Carolina!  We ended up stopping in a little "po-dunk" town that had 2 motels and a lot of fast food restaurants.  We did find a regular restaurant next to the motel for dinner but ended up sitting in the motel room to watch the game.  (Pittsburgh ended up losing in over-time.)  We are getting ready to get back on the road.  Next stop (other than gas) I hope will be Front Porch Restaurant for fried chicken.  That is definitely NOT on Weight Watchers but it is soooo good and I have been pretty good this past week even if I was on vacation. 

 

I wanted to share this card I made a couple of weeks ago that uses a single stamp that is retiring.  I am not sure if it is still available to purchase since I have not checked the Retiring List this week.  But if it is, I would recommend you purchase it!  I love it and don't think I have used it enough.  I stamped the flower on Shimmery White cardstock and used my Aqua Pen and the ink that I squeezed into the top of my ink pad (Watermelon) to color the flower.  For the darker areas, I used the Watermelon marker.  I cut the flower out and used dimensionals to pop it up.   For the background, I made a rectangle mask and used sponges to color the area in Tangerine, Old Olive and Marina Mist.  I stamped the swirl from Everything Eleanor in gray ink.  The "hello" is die cut from Basic Gray and glittered with my Stella Pen.  

  

 

 

Happy Spring in a Box Card

 

Hi!  Miss me?  I am in Florida and have been laying out in the sun every day this week!   Love it!!

 

Here is a Box Card I made before I left.  It was a fun card to make.  I got the dimensions from another website that I don't have with me.  When I return, I will share the website.  My friend, Kathryn, made several of these in different sizes and shared them with us at Allison's a couple of months ago. 

 

Sympathy

Thought you'd enjoy this picture of Ashley and I at a Mexican restaurant in San Antonio.  Fun!

 This next picture was taken on Mother's Day.  I don't have many pictures of us 3 girls with mom.  Of course, I always tower over all of them!

 

I needed a sympathy card for a friend of Ashley's who lost her grandmother last week.  I love this white on white!  I used Botanical Blooms thinlets for the flower and leaves and added a bit of Marina Mist as a mat for the card.



 

 

This is the inside of the card.  I typed the sentiment and glued it inside.  I love the message.  When my dad died in 2001, Marianne sent me a card (we had different dads) with this message and I read it over and over.  It really helped me in that trying time.  Feel free to use it in your own sympathy cards.

 

Octopus Birthday

I am still playing with the soon to be retired stamps.  This octopus from Sea Street is just so stinkin' cute!  I stamped him in Cucumber Crush (a color I really haven't used much).  I stamped the balloons and cut them out - drawing in the strings.  The little cupcake and the balloons are from Party Wishes - a great stamp set from the Occasions Catalog that will be retiring also.  Another retiring item that I will really miss is the Washi Label Punch.  It was just the right size for some of the sentiments.  

I don't have any sneak previews for you .... yet!  My order is supposed to be come on Wednesday. As demonstrators, we are allowed to pre-order a select few stamp sets and accessories.  I have only ordered the InColor stuff - paper, reinkers and stamp sets.  I decided to save my money and order products that are on my wish list from the new catalog along with everyone else in June.  I think this is the first time I haven't ordered a stamp set from the pre-order sets!

I hope you had a nice Mothers Day.  Ours was pretty low key.  Ashley called me after church to wish me Happy Mother's Day.  She had taken me shopping at Chico's while I was with her last week in Texas.  We went over to Marianne's house around 1 pm and played cards with mom and had dinner.  We decided on Mexican - Marianne made tacos and beans; I made a Mexican quiche, fresh salsa and guacamole and Angela did strawberry shortcake.  I think Mom enjoyed it.  Angela bought Mom, Marianne and I each a beautiful orchid.  I'm taking bets on how long Marianne's plant will last.  She did not inherit Mom's green thumb.  If anything, hers is black!  I'm hoping for good luck for mine!!

We had a bit of excitement in this area yesterday.  Sonny had gone up to the gas station to get gas for his boat when he heard that a section of I-150, our main road to and from Mooresville, was closed due to an armed gunman and a stand-off with the police.  Evidently the incident started about 4:30 a.m. and the highway was not opened back up until around noon.  I think it started as a domestic situation and the police ended up shooting out his tires.  Here is an article about the incident.  We waited until hearing that the road was clear before going to Marianne's.

Resist Happy Birthday

The emboss resist technique is such a good technique and a favorite of mine.  I love to use it - makes a card really pop.  On this card I stamped Happy Birthday (from a Sale-a-bration set) with Versamark ink.  Next I used Sponge Daubers to rub ink (Mint Macaron, Watermelon and Daffodil Delight) over the Versamark.  Next use a paper towel to rub the ink off the Versamark.  That's it - easy, peasy!

I had a great visit with Ashley in Texas.  Mom and I flew down last Wednesday.  We just hung out by the pool on Thursday and Friday while Ashley was at work.  I filled up on my favorite Texas foods - Rudy's BBQ, Mexican food (twice!), Josephine's T-Bone steak to name a few.  Ashley's best friends and their kids came over on Sunday for a cook out.  The pool water was too cold for me but the kids didn't have any problems jumping in.  On Monday, we went to the Botanical Gardens and I took bunches of pictures of the beautiful plants.  I will be sharing them as soon as I get them downloaded from my phone.  Tuesday Ashley took us to the airport and we headed back to NC.

April Club Cards

I haven't had time to share my Stamp Club cards for this month.  We met last week and made these cards.  I had designed the cards before the Retiring List came out and I was trying to predict which stamps were retiring.  I guessed correctly on some of them.

This first one uses Blooms for You which is retiring.  It is a single stamp.  Other stamp sets used were:  Hardwood Background Stamp; Tin of Cards; Papillion Potpourri; and Something to Say (retiring).  I used Early Espresso on everything except the middle of the flower which is Soft Sky.

The only things retiring on this card is the DSP - both the Botanical and the Color Me Irresistible which is a resist paper that I sponged with Mint Macaron.  Thank goodness this stamp and die set will carry over.

I will be sad to see The Open Sea leave.  It was such a great set for masculine cards.  I did my first - successful - Reflection Technique on this card.  I stamped the water on the bottom with Pool Party using one of the stamps from Timeless Textures.  Don't overlook this stamp set - it is a good one for lots of different backgrounds.  Next I stamped the ship in Early Espresso on the card AND on a piece of acrylic transparency.  I turned the transparency over, line it up with the ship and rubbed the ink onto the card.  Easy, peasy!!  The sun is from Kinda Eclectic stamped and embossed in white.  I sponged Soft Sky on the top.

This card was a fun one to make.  I stamped the flower from Watercolor Words with Versamark and used Clear powder to heat emboss them.  Next I spritzed the card with water or you can just use your Aqua Brush to brush on clear water.  Make sure you are using either Watercolor Paper OR Shimmery White Paper.  I used the Shimmery White.  After the paper is damp, brush on three different colors from top to bottom letting each one blend into the next.  I used:  Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette and Rich Razzleberry on the pink one and Bermuda Bay, Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise for the blue one.  I am sad to see the Corner Punch leaving us but that is the only retiring item on these cards (oh - also the thick twine.)

My postings may be a little sporadic for the next week (aren't they always???)  I am "leaving on a jet plane" tomorrow for Texas - my final trip for a few years.  I am taking my Mom to spend a little time with Ashley before she moves to Hawaii.  I have been doing really good on Weight Watchers but don't think I will be counting points next week as I enjoy Mexican, BBQ, and steaks at Josephines!!

Goodbye, Farewell - April Blog Hop with NC Demos

Welcome to the April NC Demos Blog Hop.   If you just arrived from Melissa's blog, isn't her Kleenex box cool?!!

Our theme this month gave us a lot of leeway.  We could choose cards that feature the retiring products, Mother's Day cards or Feminine cards.  My choice was retiring products.  I lost about 18 stamp sets not to mention several thinlits and punches.  Many of them did not surprise me since they had been around a while but I am still going to miss many of them! 

The first few cards I used a new technique that I had never done before - the Whitewash Technique.  There are several You-Tube videos that you can find to show the technique.  Basically, you stamp and emboss the image.  Next paint the image with the white re-inker (I used Aqua Brush.)  After that dries, add a little color to the image with a marker.  Then use your blender pen or Aqua Brush and blend the colors.  After it dries, you can go back and add a little more color as needed.

My first card uses Swallowtail stamp for the butterfly.  I also used the retiring DSP Typeset and the sentiment from And Many More (which is a great set for sentiments.)

The next two cards are made with Vivid Vases, a single stamp.

On this card, I also used the Curvy Corner Trio Punch which I love!

 This beauty uses three retiring stamp sets - Trust God, Everything Eleanor and the single stamp, Blended Blooms as well as the retiring Candy Dots.

Next I did a couple of cards using the blending technique with my sponges using Serene Silhouettes.

Next it was time for a little watercoloring.  I spritzed my Shimmery White cardstock with water and then using my Aqua Brush, colored Melon Mambo, Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight all over the card.  I cut another piece of cardstock using the Hexagon Hive Thinlit and adhere it on top of the watercolored piece.  The sentiment is from Feels Good.

 This is one of the cards we made in Stamp Club this month using the single stamp, Blooms for You.  The "seize the cake" sentiment is from the retiring set, Something to Say.

This final card also uses Blooms For You, Everything Eleanor (sentiment) and the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  This is one of the cards I made from pieces of the Paper Pumpkin April kit.

Hope you enjoyed my portion of the blog hop.  Continue along heading to Laurie Meir's blog next.

Below is a list of all the participants and their links:

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyi

Melissa Kerman

Sharon Maranich

Laurie Meier

Sue Root

Karel Standish

Pam Staples

Frances Wagner

Thanks for stopping by!

Pink Botanical Blooms

Thought I'd share another pretty card that Margaret made when she was visiting.   See ... we really do work when she's here!!

This card uses the beautiful Botanical Blooms.  Margaret was really stuck on these flowers and made several cards with them.  This one is actually a gift holder when it is opened.

I love the pinks!  I have not use these flowers in these colors yet .... but on my list.

Botanical Blooms

Last week when my friend, Margaret, was here visiting, she looked through my stash of cards that I have either made or received from various swaps.  She found one that my sister, Marianne, had made for a Shoebox Swap in January and decided she wanted to make it using the Botanical Blooms DSP and stamp set.  Doesn't it look great?

I so love this paper but unfortunately, it will not be in the next catalog.  So .... if you love it too, now is the time to purchase it!  You can bundle it with the stamp set and framelets and save 15%.  The stamps and framelets will be carrying over so no worries there.

Also - don't forget about the retiring In Colors.

Retiring

Well, Stampin' Up! has not given us a PDF file for the retiring items.  BUT you can access them by going to - ORDER ONLINE above & when you get there, look on the left side for Retiring Items.  You can access the stamps in one group and the accessories in the other group.

Remember, please use the HOSTESS CODE P2MX7S76 IF your order is less than $150.

Happy Shopping!!