Hang In There

Well, today is the day.  Ashley is moving to Honolulu.  She and Bogart have an early morning flight from San Antonio and will be arriving in Hawaii in the afternoon.  I talked to her briefly Sunday and I don't think it has hit her yet - she's been too busy.  She has been staying at her college friends home for the past week and when she left their house Sun. morning she said the kids were all crying - that they won't see Bogart again!  She said she has too much to do to think about crying but will probably do so when Courtney drops her off at the airport this morning.

I made her this card a couple of weeks ago when she was trying to get everything done - selling her house, having her roof replaced because of the recent storms, trying to get all her papers signed and processed for her transfer, getting a airplane-approved carrier for Bogart plus all his papers for him to enter Hawaii.  He can't travel in the plane like he normally does but has to go in the cargo area.  Luckily, the airline she is flying is one of the few with a temperature controlled cargo.  But, it is still going to be a long flight for him with a lay-over in California.

This card uses the retired Sale-a-bration stamp.  I love this little chick!  The balloons are from Balloon Celebrations.  I stamped them in black onto Soft Sky cardstock and then sponged ink over them.  Lots of retired stuff on this card - the Washi Punch for the sentiment; the twine, the cloud stencil, and the Dots embossing folder.  No matter - it all makes a cute card!

I went to my 50th High School reunion this weekend!  I kept procrastinating and didn't sign up in time; plus I had promised my mom I would take her to my nephew's high school graduation in Charlotte.  Well, late on Friday, my nephew found out that he was not going to be allowed to graduate because he didn't take a computer class that he had to take to graduate.  So Saturday afternoon, Sonny and I drove to south Charlotte and got a hotel room and went to the reunion.  We were able to pay at the door.  Of course, name tags had already been made for everyone with their senior picture on it beside their name.  Yay!  I didn't have my picture on my name tag!  It was fun seeing people that I haven't seen since I graduated and trying to match up their faces now and then.

Paper Pumpkin - Manly Occasions

Thursday at 5:00 PM (MT): The flash sale is here! Sign up for Paper Pumpkin now and get your first kit for only $5 USD. Use promo code “ONEDAYDEAL” at PaperPumpkin.com today.




You've seen a lot of my samples from Paper Pumpkin.  I love getting a surprise in my mailbox every month.  I usually make one or two of the projects as the directions call for in the box.  Then I use the stamps and parts of the kit to create "out of the box" cards.   It's amazing what you can come up with when you have all the coordinated pieces.

Last month's kit was Many Manly Occasions.  I think everyone struggles with "manly" cards.  I pulled the April and May Paper Pumpkin boxes out at the May stamp club and let the gals make a card using the pieces in the box.  I wish I had remembered to take pictures as they were all different. Here are a few of the cards that I made from the May Manly Occasions kit.  (A lot of them are CASEd from cards I saw on Pinterest.

This one is pretty simple.  I punched the balloons out from the orange corragated paper that was included in the kit.

I got the idea from Dawn Olchefske.  I cut apart one of the lattice fronts of the card and came up with 3 pieces to use on 3 different cards (this one, the one above w/balloons and the heart punch further down.)  The flowers are punched using the Pansy Punch and the Petite Petals Punch.  "celebrate" is from the new Thoughtful Banners stamp set and Banners Punch (that I borrowed from my sister since my order has not arrived!)

I love the soft pastel colors and this is a great way to show off some of the new In Colors.  I used by Stamping Crimper (had to dig it from the back of the bottom drawer and dust it off!) to crimp a piece of white cardstock.  Then I sponged Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Peekaboo Peach, Bermuda Bay and Pool Party on it.  Next I adhered it to the back of the lattice front.  I punched out 3 balloons and tied white thread around them.  The banner is from the Thoughtful Banners bundle.

This card took a little patience!  I started out with a piece of Elegant Eggplant cut at 4 1/8" x 5 3/8".  Next I cut strips of Dapper Denim and Emerald Envy at 5/8" wide.  I used temporary tape to adhere the Eggplant card stock down so I could position the strips.  Using tweezers or the piercer helps to move the pieces around through the lattice.  When you get them all placed where you want, adhere the piece to the back of the lattice front.  I love the effect!!  'Happy" is a sticker that was Pool Party but I used my Elegant Eggplant marker to color it.

Below is what my mat looked before I glued it down.

This is the third card from cutting the lattice apart.  Pretty simple - the heart is from the Sweetheart Punch and the banner again from the Thoughtful Banners bundle.  I cut off 3" the front black piece and adhered the matted lattice piece to it.  (see picture below)

Hope these ideas inspire you to try Paper Pumpkin at the great price of $5 today!!

What a deal!!

If you have ever thought about checking out Stampin' Up's! Paper Pumpkin monthly kits, do I have a deal for you!  Get ready for a flash sale!  Starting at 7:00 PM (EST) on Thursday, you can get your first Paper Pumpkin kit for only $5!!!  What a deal!  But don't delay in signing up because this deal will only last a day.

This offer is just for new subscribers.  You don't want to miss it!  Go to my online Paper Pumpkin sign up page by clicking in the box marked Paper Pumpkin above.  Use promo code ONEDAYDEAL to get the special one day offer.

This special price applies to one kit for June, 2016.  After the first month, the price for the subscription will return to $19.95.  BUT, keep in mind, you can cancel at any time!  This offer will end on Friday, June 10 at 1:50 AM (EST.)

Happy 90th!



 

My friend, Margaret's mom will turn 90 this month.  Margaret and her whole family - two daughters and their children - have all gone to England to celebrate her birthday.  I made this card for her.

 

Using the stamp set, Number of Years, along with the Large Number framelits makes this card an easy one.  I cut the numbers out of Blackberry Bliss to match the card.  The colors I used in this card are Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive and Watermelon Wonder.  The DSP is from Sale-a-bration and is now retired.

I am patiently (ha) waiting for my new catalog order.  I got up early Wednesday morning to put my order in as fast as I could before going to Newcomers coffee.  I thought about doing two-day shipping but it was an extra $40 - that could buy another stamp set AND a framelit!!  So, I am waiting.  It is supposed to be delivered on Thursday.  Then I will be sharing some of the new stamp sets.

Happy Birthday Times 3

This is a card I made several months ago using a stamp set from Sale-a-bration.  But you could do a very similar card with any other stamp set.

I really like the emboss resist technique.  In this card, I stamped "happy birthday" 3 times using VersaMark ink.  Next I embossed all 3 of them with clear embossing powder and my trusty heat gun.  The final step was to sponge over the embossed images with ink.  I used Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder and Crushed Curry.  I scattered a few sequins around and made a couple of little banners at the top - a pretty quick and easy card.

Pretty Packaging

I just realized I didn't share my gift packaging for Mother's Day.  Who wants plain jane wrapping??? Not me!

I bought my mom a couple of shorts outfits.  They fit into one of my Paper Pumpkin boxes and I wrapped it with kraft paper.

Next came the decorating.  I made a belly band from some DSP that I had in my stash (retired).  Next I die cut flowers and leaves using the Botanicals Framelets and glued them to the package.  I fed a piece of twine through and voila! a pretty package.

Of course, my mom wanted to save the arrangement so we had to carefully get if off the package!

Butterfly Birthday Resist

I love this kind of magic resist technique!

I made a mask using the Butterflies Thinlets.  With the mask temporarily adhered to Color Me Irrestible DSP (retired) paper, I sponged Lost Lagoon ink.  I used the smaller butterfly die to cut out a butterfly from white paper and sponged the eges.  Next I cut out an even smaller butterfly from Night of Navy card stock with the Bitty Butterfly punch and adhered some pearls in the center.  The Lost Lagoon card is stamped in the background with one of the stamps from Timeless Textures.  I used the Tags & Labels framelets for the Night of Navy and DSP pieces.

Today is the last day to order from the retiring All Occasions Catalog.  I will be putting in an order tomorrow for new goodies!!  If you would like to order something, please let me know & I can share the shipping with you.

Happy Memorial Day

Hope your long weekend and Memorial Day were restful and fun.  Ours was pretty quiet.  We took the boat out on Saturday - first time this year!  Believe it or not, but we have not even turned on the A/C in our house!!  Our house is so shaded that it stays fairly cool.  My craft room is starting to get a little warm so the A/C will probably be switched on in the next few days.  But, June & no A/C is a record for us.  Sunday we went out for breakfast and then to the movies in Mooresville.  Afterwards, we ran a few errands before returning home.  Today started out overcast so Sonny went to the Y and I lazed around the house!  I did make a wreath for the front door.  I've seen these wreaths made with red, white and blue bandanas but I couldn't find any (cheap anyway!).  So when I saw this material at JoAnne's, I bought it.  The Craft group in our neighborhood is making them this week and I was going to make it then.  But I decided to go ahead and put it together today since I had time and wanted to hang it on my door.  Plus, I was afraid I would have a conflict on Wednesday night with the Stanley Cup game.  Pittsburgh won their last play-off game last week and that win put them into playing for the Stanley Cup!!  We are excited - the first game in tonight.

I die cut stars from glitter paper and hot glued them to the wreath.

When we were in town on Sunday, we drove by the YMCA and saw this awesome flag display.

Each flag had a card on it with a veteran's name - either "in honor of" or "in memoriam"

May NC Blog Hop - New Catalog Sneak Peeks!!

It's the last Sunday of the month which means it's time for the NC Demos Blog Hop!

Welcome to the NC Demos Blog Hop for May, 2016.  We are grateful that you stopped by to take a look at our creations this month.  Get your Wish Lists out because this month we are featuring projects using items from the NEW 2016-17 Annual Stampin' Up Catalog!!  We hope to provide you with lots of ideas.

As demonstrators, we are able to pre-order a few select items from the new catalog before it is released.  This time (for the first time!) I decided not to purchase any new stamp sets and only bought the new In Color card stock and ink pads.  So that is what I am concentrating on in my blog creations today.

The new 2016-18 In Colors are:  Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.  I keep changing my mind about which color is my favorite one!  I don't know if you noticed, but I have also used the new In Colors in my Blog Banner "splats" and in the letters above.

One of my favorite tools in years past was always the Stampin' Up Color Coach.  Unfortunately, SU retired it a year or two ago so I have made up my own using the In Colors.  Click on the chart below to see it better.  Of course, these are not all the combinations .... see what you can come up with!

I made a bookmark for my club members to show them the new colors.  Love the ribbon!!

My first card uses a technique called Bouncing Brayer.  When was the last time you used your brayer?  Ha!  Dig it out and try this technique.  Ink up your brayer in your choice of ink and place one edge of the brayer near the cardstock center.  Press the brayer to the cardstock but don't roll it.  Lift off paper.  Continue this process moving the brayer about 1/2" - 3/4" each time.  Makes a unique background.  I did mine in Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy and Flirty Flamingo.

My next card uses a stamp set that was in the Spring Mini Catalog and is carrying over.  It is called Grateful Bunch and comes with a coordinating punch.  I used ink from the lid of the pad and watercolored the flower with Sweet Sugarplum ink.  The leaves are stamped with Emerald Envy.

This is the card opened up - a fun fold!!

Next I decided to try another background that I created myself.  I masked the card with a circle and sponged in-color stripes.  (I used a striped mask that was included in the retired Banner Kit but you could easily use a ruler or cardboard.)  I stamped the leaves from Grateful Bunch (Emerald Envy) and stamped the flowers from the same set using the In Colors.

This one is my favorite!  I cut strips of In Color cardstock (1") and angled them onto a Basic Black card base.  After trimming the edges, I adhered the piece to the Dapper Denim card.  The sentiment is from Cottage Greetings and the punched flowers are from Grateful Bunch.

I hope you have gotten some inspiration for using the new In Colors from my projects.

Your next stop on the Hop is Sue Root -

You may just be starting the Blog Hop or may have come from Tracie Langley's blog.  The full line-up listed below will help you move along from blog to blog so you can see all the projects.


 Michelle Irinyi - http://makingmemorieswithmichelle.weebly.com/home/nc-demos-blog-hop-marquee-messages

Melissa Kerman - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/thecraftingtreehouse/blog?directBlogUrl=/blog/60800/entry/thoughtful_banners_with_sweet_sugarplum

Tracie Langley - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/traciesallaboutstamping/blog?directBlogUrl=/blog/86481/entry/nc_demos_may_blog_hop

(YOU ARE HERE) Sharon Maranich - http://inkiefinger.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-nc-blog-hop-new-catalog-sneak-peeks.html

Sue Root - http://stampin-with-sue.blogspot.com/2016/05/nc-su-demos-new-catalog-blog-hop.html

Pam Staples - http://wp.me/p3p2VA-1pB

Frances Wagner - http://wagstamps.blogspot.com/2016/05/nc-su-demo-hop-team-meeting-swaps-gifts.html

May Club Cards

I held my May Stamp Club on Tuesday and we made some fun cards using a lot retired items.  You only have a few days left to buy these retired items!!  So if you know of something you really want, order now.  I would appreciate it if you used my May Hostess Code:  4FAMTZF3

Base:  Crushed Curry – 8 ½” x 5 ½”, scored & folded

Whisper White – 5 ¼” x 4”

It's My Party DSP (retiring) – 1 ½” x 5 ¼”

Color Squares – Melon Mambo; Mint Macaron, Crushed Curry – 1 3/8” square

Party Punch Pack Cupcake and Candle (retiring)

·        Punch the Candle Punch first in the white square (1 1/8”).   Slide it all the way up as far as it will go & punch.  Then take the Cupcake Punch & put it in so that just a bit of white is at the bottom.

·        Stamp sentiment at bottom.

·        Line up squares and assemble. (Use grid on your grid paper to make it easier to line up.) 

·        On Watercolor Paper (could also use Shimmery White paper), make a watercolor wash of 3 colors.

·        Colors I used are:

o   Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango & Melon Mambo

o   Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria, Cucumber Crush

·        Die cut white paper using the Hexagon Hive thinlet (retiring).

·        Stamp sentiment on scrap white paper from Feel Goods (retiring) stamp set and die cut using Labels framelits (retiring). 

·        Assemble card.

·        Stamp Swallowtail (retiring) using Versamark and heat emboss it with your choice of embossing powder.  (Black embossing powder is retiring and is already sold out.)

·        Use markers and color the butterfly.

·        Cut out with Paper Snips.

·        Wrap your choice of ribbon around Newsprint Designer Paper (retiring). 

      All of the ribbon used above is retiring ....  except for the purple card - that is the new rouched ribbon in Sweet Sugarplum.

·        Adhere DSP to card.

·        Cut 2 banners out using Banners Framelets (retiring) and adhere to Newsprint paper.

·        Adhere butterfly to card.

·        Stamp sentiment and cut out with Bitty Banners (retiring).

·        Use Wink of Stella for accent on butterfly.