A Graduation Card and time to panic. LOL

My friends’ daughter graduated from High School this week.  Her party was yesterday which, of course, required a card.  Since I own exactly ONE graduation stamp and I used it on the card I made for her a few weeks ago when she had her Awards ceremony, this card was more generic in theme, but it used a NEW STAMP and also kinda used her school colors, orange and green.

The flower stamp is the new Perfect Poppies (background), which is (I think) the only background stamp to be offered in the clear mount option.  YAY!  The “Congratulations” is from an ANCIENT (2002) set, All Year Cheer 1.  Yes, there are some sets I will never get rid of.  The colors are Calypso Coral (I almost said Cameo Coral!) and Wild Wasabi and there’s a little bit of Daffodil Delight in the flower centers.  They were colored with an aqua painter using the “ink in the stamp pad lid” method.  Has anyone tried this yet with the new (foam) ink pads?  I wonder if you can still get a good squeeze of ink in the lid with those.  Hm.  The image was stamped in Basic Black (new pad, new not-so-purple-looking-ink!) on Naturals White card stock.  I only let it dry for about 10 minutes before I started coloring and had no issue with the new black ink bleeding, nor did I heat set it, but the Naturals cardstock is uncoated and does dry faster.  Your results may vary.  LOL
As for the other part of my post title, PANIC is setting in because, as of today, there are just THIRTY SEVEN DAYS until Convention!  How much do I have done on my swaps?  Um, that would be pretty close to NOTHING!
Yeah.  Bad me.  LOL  The shiny squirrels on the internet have been a big distraction lately.  I need to make some SERIOUS progress this week.  Next week we will hit the one month mark and if I don’t see some progress, I’m gonna freak out.  Of course the Holiday Mini is hitting mailboxes and will be on the demo website on Tuesday, adding another distraction.  We can pre-order from the mini on July 1, adding a whole new twist to Convention swaps…. I could use stuff from the new mini!  If I order on the 1st and 2 day expedite, I’ll get my stuff on the 5th, a WHOLE TWELVE DAYS before Convention!  *snort*  You see how the mind of a swap addict works?  It’s an illness, I tell you.  Based on the “review” from a friend who is lucky enough to have received the mini already, I think there are a few things I’d REALLY like to use on my swaps.  Which means the more I can get done, or at least partially done, before I see the mini for myself, the less tempted I will be to use new stuff.  Wish me luck!

Happy Anniversary, baby!

One of the nice things about having a hubby that doesn’t spend much time on the internet is that I can blog his anniversary card before I give it to him without any fear that he will see it.  Today marks NINETEEN years that we’ve been married.  How he has put up with me that long, I have no idea, but I’m sure glad that he has!

So here is the card I just made (yes, I waited until 2PM on our anniversary to make a card):

 

That’s a whole lot of retired SU product right there.  Let’s see…. the Bride Specialty DSP is retired.  The Riding Hood Red pleated ribbon is retired.  The silver (Encore) ink is no longer carried and the words are from a hostess set in the 2007 Fall Catalog called “So Many Sayings”.  The hearts are punched out of Riding Hood Red and mounted on Silver Glimmer paper that was cut with the scalloped heart Embosslit (can’t remember the official name, sorry!).  Those are two of the Silver Mini Brads on the Modern Label punched piece of black.  There are a bunch of dimensionals that were used – the DSP is “popped up” off the black mat, the upper heart is popped up, as is the sentiment piece.  It’s simple, it’s classy.  I likey.  LOL

Mother’s Day Card Number 1 is in the mail!

And my new Stampin’ Up! Catalog is IN DA HOUSE!  Woo hoo!  I still have to finish my mother-in-law’s card tomorrow and get it mailed, but it’s pretty much done, it just needs the sentiment stamped inside.  But, since she lives closer, I had an extra day to get that one finishes.  LOL  So, here’s the card:

The stamp is from the retiring Peace Within set.  The blues are Not Quite Navy and Pool Party.  You can’t tell from the scan, but there are little tiny pearl accents in the centers of the orchids.

My new catalog arrived yesterday, along with my new in color cardstock and ink and the DROP DEAD GORGEOUS new Christmas DSP, “Be of Good Cheer”.  I’ll be ordering another package of that, We haven’t carried a Christmas DSP I like this much in several years.  I also got a package of the new Naturals Buttons, which I also like.  I just have a hard time using buttons.  Since most of the buttons are round plastic things, they always just sort of look like either afterthoughts on my cards or they seem to detract from the focal image.  Hoping these new ones, being wood tone and more subtle, will be easier to use.

I spent some time REALLY going thru the catalog today, highlighting what I have and putting little sticky flags on things I need to order June 1 for making Convention swaps.  I already have 2 swaps designed in my head, I just need to get the stamps in hand to see if what I’m picturing in my head will translate onto card stock.  For Angie’s Christmas card swap, I’ll be using the new Star Tree (single) stamp and probably the new DSP as well.  For Stacy’s 3x3 card swap I’m using the new Happy Hour set (can’t imagine WHY I’d go for a set called Happy Hour, right?).  One of the sets I was looking forward to getting, Daydream Medallions, is actually one that we will be receiving at Convention in our Make & Take supplies, so I will have to wait until mid-July before I can play with that.  Oh well.  And while I was very sad to see Triple Treat Flower on the retired list, I am looking forward to using its “replacement”, Quint-Essential Flower.  It’s the same theory, you stamp it multiple times in different colors and punch out and layer different parts of it.  I’m still grumpy about them retiring the 5 Petal Flower punch though.  It was a great shape to use for other things, like leaves. 

Other goodies on my list to order June 1 include more of this pretty In Color Stitched Satin ribbon, some of the new Stitched 1/4” Grosgrain ribbon, the new Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons (remember the old “crystal” doorknobs and drawer pulls in your grandma’s house growing up?  They are reminiscent of those), the new International Bazaar DSP, the new Butterfly punch and a “couple” of new Sizzix items.  One of the truly awesome perks of being a demonstrator is that we get to purchase one item on the first order in our birthday month at an additional discount.  I’m eyeing the new Sizzix alphabet for that since it’s $90.  I’m sure I will spend many more hours going thru the catalog and altering my June 1 order over the next 3 weeks…..

And for those counting, there are 68 days till Convention…..

“Swap Season” is here!

Since my last post, there have been a couple of BIG changes.  First, hubby is back working on someone’s payroll (instead of just consulting), HOORAY!  Second, we decided that I will attend Stampin’ Up! Convention this year after all!  DOUBLE HOORAY!
The new catalogs start shipping to demos this week.  I will have mine in my hot little hands by the end of the day on Wednesday, along with the new in colors (which I am ordering tomorrow).  There are 72 days before Convention.  It’s officially “Swap Season”.  So far, I have *only* joined 4 swaps and am hosting one.  I’m in two groups for two of the swaps.  I’m sure I will probably join the General Swap for the Stampin’ Addicts Meet & Greet as well.  Right now my swap commitment is 60 pieces.  I’m sure that will grow.  I usually end up somewhere around 100.  I also have started working on my roommate gifts for Mary Ann and Janice.  And I’m beading a new lanyard for myself.  Next on the list is to lose 5-7 pounds so I can fit into the pants I wore to Convention last year…..
I got some nice photos last night of the “Super Moon”  Here’s one of the 2 best shots.  The other one I posted on Facebook last night.  This one was taken with the lens at 280mm at ISO 400, f-11 at 1/320 (Canon Digital Rebel XTi):

Oh, ouch…..

Well the Stampin’ Up! Retired List is out.  Now, I don’t have a lot of sets (compared to some of my friends), but when I got a text from Janice saying that she lost over 60 sets, I knew the list was going to be UGLY.  I was right.  I own 41 “current” stamp sets.  I’m not counting the two Hostess sets I have, because I KNEW those would retire.  Two of those are from the Occasions mini which runs thru April 30.  Those may or may not appear in the new catalog.  I think one of them will.  That leaves 39 sets.  Of those, 27 are retiring.  Only 2 of the remaining 12 sets are the “old” wood mount.  Here is a picture of the “carnage”.  The sets with yellow tabs are retiring.  Ouch…….

Here is a link to the retiring products in the online store. 

I’m losing a couple of sets that I use a LOT – Sincere Salutations and Upsy Daisy.  There are several sets I am sorry to see go, but they’ve been around for a long time – Crazy for Cupcakes, Baroque Motifs, Season of Joy, Serene Snowflakes and Fifth Avenue Floral.  I’m also going to miss Triple Treat Flower, Dasher and Christmas Postcard from the A La Carte section of the catalog (ALL of those single stamps retired!  EVERY. ONE.).  We will find out on the 25th what accessories will retire.  Obviously, all the Stampin’ Around wheels that go with stamp sets that retired will go.  We know that the 2010-2012 In Colors (and all of the papers and embellishments containing those colors) will go.  A lot of the Designer Series Papers (sometimes ALL of them) go.  I’m betting we start to see some of the Big Shot embossing folders retire (like the rose that goes with Fifth Avenue Floral).  And then, May 1, we should have the new catalog preview.  We can order our new catalogs on May 8th.  It goes live on June 1st.  Since I’m not going to Convention this year (sniff!), I will probably place a nice order on the 1st of June to console myself.  LOL

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Quick post with the card I made for DH for Valentine’s Day:

The idea was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest made by Julie Marshall.  It’s been pinned and repinned a bunch of times, and when I tried to follow it all the way to her blog it says “blog not found”, so I’m guessing it’s one of those “private blogs” that people set up to share their stuff with a select group of people.  Guess someone Julie knows pinned it.  LOL

Everything but the stamp is Stampin’ Up! product – Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.  The hearts were cut with the new Framelits Hearts Collection dies in the Occasions Mini (125599 $26.95 USD) and then the white was layered over DSP, then onto the black mat and finally onto the white card.  Simple and elegant.

The stamp is by Paper Inspirations(who is going out of business, which is too bad – I have several of their sentiment stamps like this one) and is half the image with the rest of the text masked off.

I have another project I’ve been working on, but in the every so miniscule chance that any of my DIS Diva friends read my blog, I’ll be waiting to post that until after our annual get together next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

I don’t like these.

At a certain point in your life, you come to realize that you are sending out sympathy cards on a more “regular” basis.  We reach a point where our friends are losing parents more regularly.  And when people in our own generation start to “disappear” more often.  Doesn’t make it any easier. 

This card was made for someone I’ve never met, but whose story I have a connection to thru a friend.  And a story I feel a distant resonance with because of things in my past as well. 

I don’t know much more about the family other than the “public details”, but I felt compelled to make a card for the family.  Maybe because of the complete senselessness of the whole thing.  Maybe because of a few similarities between them and myself.  Whatever the reason, this is the card I am sending to the family.  I like the simplicity of the layout and the fact that there are three images here is now coincidence.  It’s a trifecta of sadness that I can only hope that God can bring peace and resolution to.

 

the colors are white and Wisteria Wonder.  The ribbon is the 5/8” white organza, dyed with Wisteria Wonder reinker.  The flowers are from the Upsy Daisy set and the sentiment is from my most used set ever, Sincere Salutations.

Peace and God’s love to the C & P families and friends.

I stamped something different, for once!

 

I had to make a birthday card for my mother last night.  I can’t remember what I sent her last year, so I figured I’d better make something “new”.  I saw a card on Pinterest and knew when I saw it that I would be CASEing (CopyAndShareEverything) it.  The original card can be seen on Chiaki’s blog.

Here is my version:

Mom likes green.  The colors used were Celery, Olive and Pear (the retired DSP is from the hostess 6x6 pad).  The white layer was stamped with my favorite Birthday greeting stamp in Olive and then run thru the Big Shot in the Dotted embossing folder.  Then I punched the heart out and attached a square of DSP behind it.  That was then attached to a piece of Olive cardstock, leaving a tiny 1/16” border and the Celery Taffeta ribbon was added.  Then that was mounted on a piece of Celery cardstock and finally adhered to the card which is Naturals White.  I like using that for my card bases as it has more backbone to it than Whisper White

I have to make another birthday card tonight.  I’m going to a party tomorrow.  The guest of honor recently turned 40 and we are all supposed to wear black to the party, so I’m thinking the card will be done in black.  Probably with red for accent, but I may go with turquoise.  We’ll see.  Thanks for stopping by!

The “Go-To” design

As a stamper, I am always challenged to do something “new”.  Well, I’m just not that creative.  Sorry.  I’ve got a couple of familiar layouts I tend to gravitate to.  Just like that familiar pair of jeans or sneakers that you reach for because you know that they will be comfy, no matter what. 

I’ve got a design that I have used a LOT this past year or so.  If I need to do a card in a snap, chances are, it will look like these.  If I do a bunch of cards at a sitting, yeah, this might be the result.  These are the birthday card I sent out a bunch of in 2011 and one of my Christmas card designs.  Most of what’s here is retired Stampin’ Up! product.  The Specialty DSP on the birthday card is probably my favorite DSP ever.  I’ve used almost 2 full packages and still have one package I’ve only sampled out of.  The red on the Christmas card is retired, as is the stamp.  The ribbons and colors are all current, as are the rhinestones and the oval punch and embossing folder.  It’s simple.  It’s pretty.  It mails for one stamp.  I like it.  It’s all good.

 

 

A new year, a new blog!

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to blow the dust off my blog and try and blog at LEAST once a month. I was going to continue using my old blog, but I realized that I hadn’t used it since October of 2009 and the nice template I had for it no longer existed on the internet and it was too much work to set it all up again, so I figured I’d just start over!

This blog will be a mix of stuff I create, photos I take and tales of my trips to Disneyland and other happenings in my life.

Today I am sharing a card that I made for a swap over on Stampin Addicts (a forum for mostly Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and their customers).

This swap was for our Sale-A-Bration mini catalog that starts on January 24th and runs thru the end of March this year. The stamp I chose is one that is actually featured in the current catalog (on pg 18), Triple Treat Flower. It will also be available as a freebie during SAB. The sentiment is from one of my favorite sets, Sincere Salutations (pg 160) The patterned paper (DSP) is from “Everyday Enchantment” and is exclusive to this year’s SAB catalog. It is one of 12 designs in the package. The cardstock colors are two of the current “In Colors”, Pool Party and Calypso Coral and I also used Island Indigo for the sentiment and the Bakers Twine (which will be in the Occasions Mini that goes live on January 4th), and So Saffron for the center of the flower. The flower was created using the Fancy Flower and 5 Petal Flower punches (pg 210), the 1/2” circle punch (pg 212) and Stampin Dimensionals (pg 206).

If you ever have any questions about something I share here or about Stampin’ Up! products, just leave it in the comments and I will do my best to answer you in a timely manner. Also, bear with me as I tweak the appearance of this new blog until I get it to where I want it. I’ll probably go thru a whole bunch of fonts!