No Matter the Weather

Can you believe I have made about 25 cards with the March Paper Pumpkin?!!  I've run out of ideas (and CASEs) though!  I have about 10 more cards to share with you and then I'll be moving on to something else.  My April Paper Pumpkin is on it's way to me.  I'm hoping I get it on Monday.  It's too late for you to order the April kit BUT you might be interested in the May Paper Pumpkin kit!  The Paper Pumpkin team loves planning fun surprises, so that is what is in store for us in May.  I haven't seen it of course, but it is supposed to be a fabulous kit featuring 2020-2022 IN COLORS plus Purple Posy which was an In Color this past year but because of issues they had with Purple Posy, they pulled it last summer.  So, as Paper Pumpkin subscribers, you will be the first to get your hands on the new In Color products - a full two weeks before you can order In Color items from the new annual catalog!  The new In Colors are top secret - for now!

MAY PAPER PUMPKIN

OK - a few more March cards.  I have 10 left to show you.  I'll put 5 up today and 5 more tomorrow!

I left this one as a note card and I had an envelope left to put it in.  Now to mail it!  I fussy cut the clouds and stacked them with dimensionals.

This was a super easy card.  I cut the note card in half and mounted the girl in boots onto Old Olive cardstock.  The label and flowers were punched out and adhered with dimensionals after wrapping a piece of bakers twine around and tying it on the label.  All these items were in the kit.

This Calypso Coral is bright!!  I die cut the rectangles with the Sweetly Stitched dies (Balmy Blue and So Saffron.)  The boots and label are adhered with dimensionals.

Can you see the shiny raindrops on the clouds?  I love those raindrops!  I stamped the boots onto green gingham DSP.  Notice the rain coming down from the clouds.  It took me a long time to figure out what that stamp was.  I used it on another card horizontally and as a background.  I wrapped some twine in a circle and put a piece of tape on the back of it to adhere it down to the card.  The label over the top helped hold it in place also.

Now for my favorite card of the day!   Details below.

Four Square Pop Up Card Fold

Front:

• Card Base: Petal Pink Cardstock 8-1/2" x 5-1/2". Score and fold at 4-1/4'.  
• Layer #2: Whisper White Cardstock 5-1/4" x 4". Glue to card base.
• Layer #3: Cut up the green envelope to measure 4-3/4" x 3-1/2" and glue to card front.
• Circles: Use different color paper and cut with a 2" Circle Punch and a 1-1/2" Circle Punch. Adhere with dimensions to card front.
• Sentiment: Stamp the sentiment on the circle that came with the kit and glue to card front using Stampin' Dimensionals. 
• Boots: Cut a single pair of boots from the die-cut and glue to the large circle using Stampin' Dimensionals. 
• Hearts: Glue to hearts to the other circle using Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.
• Bling: Add the sequins to the background. 

Inside:

• Layer #1: Add a layer of Whisper White Cardstock to each panel that measures 5-1/4" x 4". 
• Layer #2: Shaded Spruce Cardstock layer over both white layers that measures 5" x 3-3/4".
• Layer #3: Petal Pink Cardstock strip 8" x 1-1/2". Score at 2", 4" and 6". Glue to the inside by adding adhesive to the first section and the last section. 
• Rectangles: Cut (4) Whisper White Rectangles that measure 2" x 1-1/2". Glue to each section of the Petal Pink Cardstock strip. 
• Boots: Cut the remainder of the boots to create single pairs and glue one pair to each rectangle.
• Hearts: Glue one heart to each set of boots.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards today.

Boots and Umbrellas!

Where did spring go?  The furnace is going in my house!  I'm ready for the temps to get back in the 70s at least!   Last night Sonny and I played Music Bingo on-line again.  It is something different to do at home while we are stuck at home. 

Here are a few more Paper Pumpkin cards I made.

Paper Pumpkin + Under My Umbrella - a great fit!   The pink stripe piece in the background is the inside of one of the envelopes that I cut open.  I don't know if you can tell, but the boots are shiny.  I covered the boots with glue from the Fine Tip Glue.

I used another envelope inside for the card (green stripe.)  The scallop rectangle is from the Sweetly Stitched dies.

This time the envelope insert is the yellow striped piece.  I cut down the card with the girl and boots and layered it onto Calypso Coral.  

This one was so fun to make!  I used the negative part of the circle page after popping out all the circles.  I masked and sponged Balmy Blue and Pear Pizzazz onto the circles.  Next I flicked some Wink of Stella all over.  

March Paper Pumpkin Alternatives

I've almost finished with the March Paper Pumpkin.  I think I have enough scraps for 3 more cards.  Then what??!  I have a new stamp set I haven't used so I'll be making cards with Ride With Me next.  Stay tuned.

This is the first card I've made with the door stamp.  I used the SU Blends to color the door.  This would be a great stamp to send to someone who is moving into a new home.  (I'll have to remember that!)

This is a notecard that came with the Paper Pumpkin and I used Under My Umbrella for the umbrella and flowers.

I love these meerkats peeking out of the boots.  And how about the frog down in the corner - did you miss him?  

This is my favorite I think.  I found that border (?) in the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set.  I used Dapper Denim for this card which is a retired in-color but I had the ribbon to match plus the retired "crackle" paper that I stamped the boots onto.  Don't you love the sentiment?  Great for these crazy times.

I know one thing - I need to stop baking during this panademic!  The scales are starting to be mean to me.  Sonny is getting used to having sweets every night with his tea plus I'm eating my share of the cakes, cookies and pies I've been making.  I'm trying to make them a little healthy by using applesauce in place of oil in the cakes and Splenda instead of sugar in cookies.  Sonny finished off the chocolate cake on Monday and was looking for his next treat yesterday.  I ended up making an apple tart but did it in two days.  He was looking for it last night but I'd only made the dough so he had to eat one of his Little Debbie cakes!  I finished making the tart this morning.  The instructions said to eat it immediately!  So I had a bite!  It was fairly easy to make.  I made a crust and put in my fluted tart pan that I've had for probably 5 years and never used!  I peeled and cored 4 apples and used my food processor to get them really thin.  The apples went in on top of the crust and I baked it at 400 for 40 minutes.  When I took it out of the oven, I drizzled caramel sauce on top .... yum!

I want to let you know that the CLEARANCE RACK has been UPDATED!!  Check it out.  Items tend to sell out so if you see something you like, you'd better order.




You can add Clearance Rack items to the Ornate Garden Suite items you like from below!!  Kill 2 birds with one stone!

I have heard nothing but good things about the early release of the Ornate Garden Suite.  I haven't purchased it yet but my upline sold me on it when we were chatting last week so it is now on my next order!

If you want to get any or all of this suite, you can order on-line using my Hostess Code #64DUBG2H.

Check out the video!

Final Easter Cards

I hope your Easter was a joyous one and you didn't let this craziness keep you from believing in His message.   Our Easter was really quiet.  I watched our Easter church service on line, did a lot of reading and playing on-line games; I made a card or two; and figured out how to get my camera on my computer to work so I can participate in Zoom meetings.  It's funny - a month ago I had never heard of the Zoom app and now, everyone is using it.  I "attend" my Weight Watcher meetings via Zoom.  I made cards with a group of ladies on-line last week.  And Sonny, Ashley and I played Music Trivia with an on-line group.  Sonny and I were at our house, Ashley was at her Maryland house and all the other people who were playing were at their houses wherever they live so a lot of social distancing was going on!  Our friend who conducts the trivia games we attend at King Canary is now hosing this on-line Music Trivia on Zoom and Saturday and Wednesdays!

Here are a few more Easter card that I made and sent out.

This card can be made into any kind of sentiment, not just Easter.  I used a Sale-a-bration set for this card, Thoughtful Blooms.  I crinkled the ribbon up with my heat gun.

Love this card!  All retired stamps - Kinda Eclectic and Easter Message

Another Easter Message card, this time using the Easter Lily stamp.

Cute little lamb!

Happy Easter

What were you doing a month ago?  Whatever it was, doesn't it seem in some ways like a million years ago!  Because now here we are, one month into this COVID-19 quarantine.  It's been four weeks of social distancing and self-isolation.  Four weeks of disturbing and scary news.  Four weeks of trying to navigate a whole new world of working from home and remote learning for our kids AND a shortage of toilet paper at the grocery store.  Four weeks of fear and uncertainty.  Four weeks of a crisis unlike anything we've ever experienced in our lifetimes.

But that's exactly why it's so important for the sake of your sanity and mental well-being to take a step back every once in a while and just do a little self check-in.  How are you holding up?  Are you about to lose your mind or starting to find your groove?  Are you being productive or struggling?  The reality is that because this is something none of us have ever experienced, there's also no way to know exactly how to respond.  There's no rule book and no way to predict how it's all going to play out.

But, you have a choice!  You can sit there in fear, anxiety, stress and worry.  You can obsessively check the news.  And then, when it all becomes too much to think about, you can tune-out, where you stay in your pj's all day and start binge watching TV.  OR you can  take a different path and choose to focus on the things that you can actually control.  You can choose to make the most of this crazy time.

I'd love to hear some specific things you're doing to keep yourself busy and productive during this time.  What are you working on?  What's keeping you sane?  Hit "comment" below and let me know!  As you know, what's keeping me sane and busy is being creative.  I've made quite a few cards and actually mailed a lot of them.  Sonny says all the stamps I'm using are costing him money!  (I don't say anything about how much he's spending on the golf course every day!)

Enjoy your Easter!

Here are a few Easter cards I have made (and mailed!)

I used the 6x6 Gingham DSP (retired) and one of last year's Sale-a-bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice.  I used the Highland Heather Blends to color the flowers. 

Everything about this card is retired!   I went to my stash of non-SU designer paper and found this piece that I thought went well with the card.  The flowers and sentiment are from  Easter Message.  The die cut flowers on the side are from the Botanical Builder dies and the cardstock is an In-Color from last year, Berry Burst.

Another beautiful (but retired) card!  The stamp set is Oh So Eclectic and matching dies, Eclectic.

Aren't these bunnies cute?  I made several cards with this stamp.  It is really old (thus, retired) and was s single stamp that we could purchase way back in 2013  for $6.95!  Back then, we didn't have dies so I fussy cut the bunnies.  (Plus, it is a wooden stamp which tells you how old it is!)

Another beautiful card using Easter Message.  I stamped the cross in Versamark and heat embossed it with Gold powder.  I used a white pen to color in the cloak.  It is layered onto gold paper and then onto non-SU designer paper.  This is one of my favorite cards and I made several of them

Let's Hang Out Soon!

Another day ... another card!  I hope you are all safe and remaining at home as much as you can.  I keep saying this will pass.  We just need to follow directions and normalcy will return!  I know we miss the social interaction, but e-mail, Facebook and phone calls will have to do.  Hopefully, you are able to get out and walk around your neighborhood (with you mask on!) and enjoying the spring weather.

I've been so busy making Easter cards that I haven't even finished my favorite Paper Pumpkin.  That is on today's to do list!  I also have to make a cake.  I've been cooking (and eating) way too much during this craziness.  I bought a chocolate cake mix at the store on Tuesday and Sonny asked me last night when I was going to make it.  It's only been 2 days!!  So I promised I'd make it today while he was playing golf.  

Here's a card I made with Ashley's Rise and Shine stamp set before I mailed it on to her.  It makes me think of my friend who always has a cup of tea on her table.  Margaret - this one's for you!  Hopefully, we'll all be "hanging out soon."

The fold is called a Cascade Fun Fold.  If you google it on Pinterest or YouTube, you can see a video on how to make this fun fold.

I used a 3" square envelope and cut the flap off to make a little pocket for the tea bag.

Don't Worry!

Well, our anniversary celebration was sure different this year!  I had an on-line workshop with Weight Watchers at noon .... and I lost a pound although I don't know how!  After that, Sonny and I went to BJ's (spent over $100!).  Our next stop was lunch at the Chick Filet drive in which we took to Aldi's and ate it in their parking lot.  We were looking for milk, bread and clorox.  Aldi's didn't have my bread or the clorox but they did have grapes for 25 cents a pound so I stocked up on them.   So we added a stop at Big Lots and found clorox AND toilet paper!!  We have not bought any TP since the craziness happened since we are usually buy TP in quantity at BJ's so we picked up a pack.  What an exciting day!  On the way back home, we picked up a pizza to eat for our anniversary dinner.  When we ate the pizza, we both remarked that it just didn't taste as good as normal.  Well, this morning I found the ticket they included with the pizza and they had marked in capital letter NO CHEESE!  Who eats a pizza without CHEESE?!!  Now, I know why it didn't taste right.  Luckily, I have mozzarella at home so when we eat the rest of the pizza, I'll be adding the cheese!

Well so much for that interesting monologue!  Tonight (Wednesday) I am going to attend a virtual stamp class from another Stampin' Up demonstrator.  It is open to the public so if you are interested in this FREE class, e-mail Melissa Stout at melissa@thestampdoc.com at least 30 minutes before the class starts (8 pm EST).  

We will be making 10 quick cards that you'll be able to create in the comfort of your own home. Gather the items listed below--they don't have to be from the same suite, just grab whatever you have on hand.

 

WHEN:  Wednesday, April 8th at 8pm ET

WHERE:  Your House

To sign up for this class, you can RSVP on her Facebook event or email her at melissa@thestampdoc.com

If you'd like to follow along with what she is creating, get this stuff:

• 2 sheets DSP (from same pack)
• 7 sheets coordinating card stock; at least 1 needs to be Whisper White or Very Vanilla
• Stamp set with greetings
• Ink pad
• punch for greetings
• spool of ribbon

She will be doing this as a private event on Zoom. You will need to download the Zoom app (FREE) before the meeting on either your laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

A link for the meeting and a password will be sent to all participants by email approximately 30 minutes before we begin.

Happy Anniversary to me!

I have lost count of the number of days we have been in lock down mode without a change in sight.  Hope you are stocked up on your toilet paper and paper towels!! 

I have been making Easter cards like crazy.  After this week, I don't want to see another bunny!!

Here are a couple I have made.

This is a really old Stampin' Up stamp set but it is so cute.  I don't even remember the name of it and think it was offered as a single stamp.

I made this one for my grandson - hope he doesn't think it's too juvenile!  This was from a Paper Pumpkin kit that we got in March 2017!  If I hadn't just done all my organizing, I would not have remembered about these stamps!

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Tomorrow is our anniversary.  Wonder what take-out we can find to celebrate with!!  47 years tomorrow!  Hard to believe.  Here is the card I made for tomorrow.

This was and old Paper Pumpkin kit

Too bad I can't stamp straight!  Oh well, he won't notice it.
I love the sentiments though.  The top one is from Dandelion Wishes and the bottom one is from Well Said.

Organize with Evernote!

I'm pretty proud of myself!  I have entered all my stamps - retired, current and paper pumpkin and my dies - into the Evernote program (free!)  I even entered the new stamp set I received on Monday!  Now to keep up and keep them organized!

These are my retired stamps!  It's funny - while I was entering them into Evernote, I reacquainted myself some of the oldies but goodies and pulled 3 or 4 out to make cards with.

These are my dies / thinlits.  I have to admit I have a few more of them that I haven't entered yet.  That's tomorrows job.  I had them in a basket but they outgrew their basket so I moved them to this plastic tub.

These are my current stamps!  My retired definitely outnumber the current.  And in another couple of months, I will be moving some of these over to the retired side.  Actually there are 3 or 4 Sale-a-Bration sets in this group that should actually be retired since Sale-a-Bration is over.

These are my Paper Pumpkin stamps.  I have them inside the clear envelopes that Stampin' Up sells.  On the side is a paper list of all the stamps so I can quickly look at it to see what I am looking for.  They are organized in the envelopes with the date and month and title of the stamp sets.

Here are a few cards I made from an old Paper Pumpkin kit from December 2016.  It was meant to be a journal and came with a Rotary Stamp instead of photopolymer stamps.  It included patterned paper and printed window sheets.  I didn't need a journal or scrapbook so made them into cards.