USPS .... grrrr

 I'm not so sure about the US Postal Service!  Hope it does better with our votes in November.  This is what has happened to me.  I had a package sent to me from New York on Sept. 24 - over 2 weeks ago!  Every day I would get an update on my package (through the Informed Delivery - informeddelivery.usps.com)   It seemed my package was going around the world and back!   I needed the package for a card making event on Sept. 30 .... obviously, that didn't happen!    See below all those trips back and forth to Greensboro?  What the heck??  I went to the post office a couple of times a week asking them about the package and showing them the tracking info I had.  I was told that is common now because of the COVID virus!  That is a bunch of BS in my opinion.  The whole think was verging on ridiculous!  Last Thursday, the person who was sending me the package visited his post office and found out that supposedly, it was never in Greensboro (see all the mentions of Greensboro below) and in fact it had been sitting in Syracuse, NY all this time!  When they GPS-d the package & we asked about it, that escalated the search and sent it along to ..... (wait for it) Greensboro again!!  It is supposed to arrive at my house TODAY.  We'll see - I'm not trusting it!  

You might want to consider voting in person & not trusting the Post Office!  Wish I had done that now but I mailed my ballot a couple of weeks ago.  Sonny is not trusting the P.O. & will be standing in line.

You also might want to start on your Christmas cards and get them in by November 1!!

Scan History

TODAY

   

Expected Delivery

between 12:00pm and 1:00pm

SHERRILLS FORD,NC 28673

   

Oct 10

   

7:59 am

Out for Delivery, Expected Delivery Between 12:00pm and 1:00pm

SHERRILLS FORD,NC 28673

   

Oct 10

   

7:48 am

Arrived at Post Office

SHERRILLS FORD,NC 28673

   

Oct 09

   

6:42 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Oct 09

   

In Transit to Next Facility

   

Oct 08

   

4:17 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Oct 08

   

3:49 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Oct 08

   

1:47 am

Departed USPS Facility

HYATTSVILLE,MD 20785

   

Oct 07

   

11:32 pm

Arrived at USPS Facility

HYATTSVILLE,MD 20785

   

Oct 07

   

10:28 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

BALTIMORE MD DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Oct 07

   

4:59 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

BALTIMORE MD DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 28

   

1:12 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 27

   

10:44 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 27

   

4:18 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 27

   

3:32 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 26

   

9:46 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

GREENSBORO NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 26

   

6:07 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

ROANOKE VA DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 26

   

7:49 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility

NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 25

   

3:52 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 25

   

1:57 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility

SYRACUSE NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 24

   

9:10 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility

SYRACUSE NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

   

Sep 24

   

3:10 pm

USPS in possession of item

AUBURN,NY 13021

Celebrate - the Season and Fall!

Well,  almost a week later since my last post and I have no excuse!!  Just laziness.  I am addicted to a card game on-line (Hand and Foot) and it seems like I play it all the time!  I have even gotten my sister, Marianne, addicted to it too!  I did play cards with real people on Monday and Tuesday though.  Hand and Foot Canasta on Monday and bridge on Tuesday.  During this pandemic, I have played Hand and Foot with the same 3 gals every week.  We started in May and we are still going strong and look forward to it every week.  We take turns going to each others homes.  We all bring our own lunch and the hostess prepares a dessert for us.  It's been fun trying out new dessert recipes.  (Maybe that is why I have put on a few extra pounds!)

I have made a few cards lately and have some new stamp sets that I haven't opened yet.  Here are a couple I made this week.

I used the blender brushes to blend Highland Heather and Pool Party in the middle of the card and stamped the trees from Winter Woods in Memento Black ink.

A lot of stamp sets went into making this card.  I stamped the daisies (Daisy Lane) with Pretty Peacock on Mint Macaron cardstock and punched them out with the Daisy Punch.  The center is stamped with Bumblebee ink.  The leaves in the background are done a different way.  I used Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Bumblebee cardstock and the dies from Gather Together and Rooted in Nature.  The Cajun leaf was stamped with Cajun ink and die cut.  For the Bumblebee and Old Olive leaves, I pressed the dies into the ink and onto the cardstock.  Then I die cut them.  The Crumb Cake leaves are from Bouquet Bunch framelits (retired).  The sentiment is from Celebrate Sunflowers.  I adhered all the flowers, leaves, etc onto a circle from Stitched Shapes.  I adhered a 1 1/2" piece of Plaid Tidings across the bottom of the card.  I added a bit of bling using the 2019-2021 Faceted Dots.

Love Fall!

Sonny and I have been making little day trips for the past couple of weeks.  Last Saturday we drove to Ronda, NC to Raffaldini Vineyards.  Sonny is not a wine drinker so this was a big deal that he went without complaining!  Although, he did sneek a beer in while we were there!  We took our own chairs and sat outside enjoying the beautiful views of the vineyards.  It was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy a nice lunch from a really good food truck.  Looks like these grapes are ready to be harvested!

Yesterday we drove up to Hendersonville hoping to get some apples.  Didn't see any for sale so I think we are a little early for the apples and the fall foliage - another couple of weeks.  We ended up having to make a little detour along the way.  We stopped at QT for a bathroom break and Sonny happened to look at the tires.  We had a screw in one of the tires so we found a Discount Tire store and got it fixed before heading west!  We had a great meal in Hendersonville at a German restaurant.  The restaurant is a favorite of Sonny's.

We found this brewery with chairs and table outside so we stopped off and enjoyed a beverage.  The last time we were in HendersonvilleI love ( a year or so ago), this was called Sanctuary Brewery!

Hendersonville is another town that has these painted bears!  They are going to be auctioned off later in the month.

I love fall!  So, I have been having fun making a few fall cards using the Gather Together stamps and dies.

I'm debating if I should color those pumpkins.  I sponged color lightly over the Very Vanilla cardstock and then used the "splatter" stamp in Soft Suede.  I also sponged Soft Suede on the edges of the piece.

I love using the Plaid Tidings 6"x6" designer paper.  I die cut the leaves in Copper Foil paper, Cajun Craze, Cinnamon Cider and Rich Razzleberry.

Again, a good use of the Plaid Tidings designer paper!  Leaves are die cut from Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider and Cajun Craze.  I used Wink of Stella on them.

More World's Greatest Paper Pumpkin Cards

 Here are a few more cards using August Paper Pumpkin and I still have more!  I'm telling you the Paper Pumpkin Kit is worth the $$ for all the cards you can make with the kit.  I know some people don't like the fact that they don't know what the theme is and don't like being surprised each month.  I don't know - I think that is part of the fun of it especially at this crazy time.  It's nice to have a surprise!

This was such a fun card to make!  I just used the negative from the circle punch out piece and using blenders colored the circles with Crushed Curry and Flirty Flamingo.  

These are the blenders that I used.  I bought one at Walmart or Walgreen's in the Cosmetic department and I liked it so much, I went searching for them on Amazon.  I was able to get a box of 7 for about $10.  Here is a link to them if you are interested - CRAFT BLENDER  BRUSHES  

After using them, you can either wash the color out or do what I do and just rub it onto scrap paper and most of the ink comes off.

I cut one of the cards apart (blue argyle) and added a piece of Crushed Curry cardstock behind it for this simple card.  I used the Daisy Punch and the 1 1/2" punch for the flower. 

Another shaker card.  This is a record for me.  I have the hardest time making shaker cards.  9 times out of 10 I forget to put the window sheet in place before going further on the card so I have to take it apart and start over!!  I only did that once though on these cards!  I added some sequins that I had left over from another kit and used the Balloon Punch for the birthday balloons.

I love simple cards!!  Can't get much simpler than this one!

Another simple card.  I used a piece of the ribbon that came with the kit.

I hope you've enjoyed these World's Greatest Paper Pumpkin cards. 

World's Greatest #1

Hope you remembered to check out the stamp sets that are on SALE today only.  I just finished placing my order - what about you?

I've been busy working on my August Paper Pumpkin.  I think I have made enough and am ready to move on to something else!  August's theme was World's Greatest.  The cards are specifically designed to celebrate life's champions.  It was good timing for this kit I thought.

I used the vellum leaves under the ribbon and popped up the celebrate circle.

Everything on this card came from the kit (also the same goes for the card above and below this one.)

 

This card is a shaker card.  Again, everything for this card was in the kit - even the foam backing and window sheet!

This is another shaker card.  I mounted it onto a piece of thick white cardstock.  

STAMP SALE!

 Stock up on stamp sets at a stellar price!!  For one day - TOMORROW 9/23 - You can purchase select cling and photopolymer stamp sets at a 15% discount.  This short, stamp-tacular sale only happens once a year so you don't want to miss out on the savings.

Click the link below to view the list of stamps on sale. 

 STAMP SALE!

 When putting in your on-line order, please use my Hostess Code #UJ9JFRAG

More swapping plus a cute baby!

 Before we look at cards, I want to share with you this adorable baby!  Meet Abigail Webb, my great niece.  I haven't seen her in a couple of months and wow, how she has changed in those few months!  She is 4 months old and such a good baby.  I had the family over for dinner Saturday night and we all took turns holding her.  It's been a long time since I held a little one!

OK - now to more of my swaps that I will be mailing off this week.

This is my swap for Artistic Expression (pg. 108-132 in catalog)  The stamp set is on page 120, Birds & Branches.  I love the die (Birds and More) with the circular opening and the leaves and flowers.  I mixed together Frost White Shimmer Paint (pg 147) and a little Pear Pizzazz ink and painted the leaves.  I used the same technique on the bird and the little flowers.  The card is Soft Sea Foam. 

Obviously, this is my birthday swap card.  I used the Playing With Patterns designer paper (6"x6").  I love the colors in this paper - Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy and Purple Posy.

There was not enough of one pattern to make all 15 cards so I varied the designer paper on each card.  The layout is the same on each.  I used the Happy Dies and stamped "birthday" with Well Said stamp set.

Swap Cards

 I have been working on some swaps for Stampin' Up's Onstage Convention which is usually held each November in Salt Lake City.  Unfortunately, with COVID that is not going to happen.  There will be a virtual event and one of the demonstrators is having a swap that I will be participating in.  I have been working on those swaps and they are now ready to put in the mail.  I signed up for Masculine, Artistic, Birthday, Holiday Catalog, and Fun Fold swaps!  Several of the swaps I was able to use the cards I had made for the NC Demo Quarterly that was supposed to happen last May but, again, COVID made that event impossible. 

Below are a couple of the swap cards I made.

I don't usually make many Halloween cards or buy Halloween stamp sets but I loved this designer paper from the mini catalog.  You can find Plaid Tidings 6"x6" designer paper on page 57.  The patterns can be used for holidays and well as all year long.  I love plaids!  I also bought the Festive Post stamp set (page 63, mini catalog) because I can use it for several holidays - Christmas, Halloween, and Valentines  The stamp set coordinates with the Rectangular Postage Punch.  When I can use a punch, I love it!  I dyed the white ribbon black using my Stampin' Blends!

This is my Holiday Catty swap. 

This next card is one I was able to use from the NC Demo Quarterly cards.  I stamped the tree root with Soft Suede that I stamped off first so it wouldn't be so dark (from Rooted in Nature) on Very Vanilla cardstock.  I stamped the tree on top of it with Early Espresso ink and the sentiment in Soft as Suede (full strength).  Next I ran the piece through the Big Shot embossing it with the Subtle 3D embossing folder and then matted it onto a piece of Early Espresso.  I ran another piece of Very Vanilla (5 1/4" x 4") through the Big Shot embossing it with Tin Tile 3D embossing folder and sponged Soft Suede ink lightly over top of the embossed areas.

Masculine Swap Card

This Rooted in Nature stamp set is a great one for those hard to make masculine cards!

 

Fun at the beach!

 Looks like I've pulled a disappearing act on you, huh?!!  My trip to Emerald Isle was wonderful - it was just too short!  The time seemed to fly by.  Ashley and I went to the beach every day while Sonny left bright and early to drive to Cherry Point Marine Base golf course.  The condo that we stayed in was great and we had a nice view of the ocean from our balcony.  We drove to Beaufort on Friday and to New Bern on Saturday to explore the towns.  New Bern was my favorite!  In 2010, a non-profit organization recruited local artists to implement hand-painted designs on life-size fiberglass bears to coincide with New Bern's 300th anniversary.  The bears are all over the historic downtown as well as in outlying areas.  They are adorned with hats, flags, flowers and other creative features.  Originally there were 50 bears erected but today there are over 70!!  You can get a Bear Town map and do your own tour of the bears which is what we did.   Here are a few of the bears we saw:

Sleepy Bear in front of a motel

Harvest Bear

Sonny with Mitchell Bear

Dr Paw

Ashley & I at the Hospitality building with their bear

View from our balcony

Probably the only time we got Sonny on the beach!!

Relaxing!

My toes in the sand!

Don't Miss This!

 

It's the beginning of a new month and there are so many exciting things to tell you!

Stampin' UP! just announced a great promotion for anyone interested in becoming a demonstrator.  Our STARTER KIT is just $99 & you can customize your kit with $125 worth of merchandise that you choose.  But that's not all!  New demonstrators will also receive enough cardstock pieces to make 16 cards, a pack of Rhinestone Basic Jewels, the So Much Love stamp set, and the Queen Anne's Lace stamp set.  PLUS, Stampin' Up will provide a free prepaid code for a month of Paper Pumpkin in each Starter Kit during September's promotion!  This is a fabulous deal!!  You could order the new STAMPIN' CUT & EMBOSS MACHINE for just $99 & receive all the goodies from the Starter Kit too!

 The Stampin' CUT & EMBOSS MACHINE is now available for purchase ($120) and you can add it to your Starter Kit (above).  

Guess what else is available today… the Magnetic Cutting Plate! This thing is a GAME CHANGER! It’s a thin, fully magnetic sheet with self-healing cutting surface!!! 

The CLEARANCE rack will be updated today with a lot of great buys!

Shop with me ... Follow the link to my Online store and make your purchase!

With a new month, comes a new host code (found at the top left of this blog).  Please remember to apply this month's host code to any order UNDER $150 (before shipping & taxes.)  If you place an order of $150 with me (before shipping & taxes), do not add the host code so that you can earn & spend your Stampin' Rewards for yourself.