Pennants and more

That last post "So Missoula" got away from me.  Had it saved for publishing later but it took off on it's own.  Man! Am I have a hard time with the blog this week - first no e-mail for yesterday's post and then a run away post today.  Guess it's the upcoming full moon energy making life a little whacko :-)

Now on to what is really supposed to be today's post. . . .

This one is for Debbie at Memory Lane.  We recently shared some thoughts on all the cool things you could do with the new Pennants punch that's in the new catalog - which by the way will be here by the end of the day tomorrow.  While surfing the Stampin' Connection section of the demonstrator's web site, I stumbled on this handout from a very wonderful woman who put together all the ways you might use the new punch and the coordinating stamps sets.  You may have to click on the image to see it better.  This one is definitley on my wish list!  See you at the shop tonight!

So Missoula. . .

Posting this picture of one of the centerpieces from the 4th of July BBQ last week.

Some SU and MDS Updates

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  Mine was a little more easy going than last weekend which was really nice. 

Today's post is the FREE card template that Stampin' Up is offering for My Digital Studio.  Hope those of you that have MDS will go download it.  If you've ever ordered anything online from Stampin' Up, you  should be able to just log in, pick me as your demonstrator, order this and it should be available for you to download immediately.  Click here if you want it.  If you've never ordered online from SU then it may take overnight for the item to appear on your available downloads.

And while you're there, don't forget to download the latest updates to MDS.  They have the new In Colors for your color palette.

One last little piece of SU news to share with you if you're interested. . . .during August if you order 3 packs of designer series paper, you'll get 1 FREE.  Let me know if you think you're interested.

***Our new catalogs are on the way!!! - should be here tomorrow or Wednesday.  So I'll be sure  to get them out as quickly as possible. 

Guess that's it for now on the SU front.  Have a great day!

Sketch It

Hopefully Mom doesn't see this blog post until she opens her mail today.  This is this week's family newsletter card.  It's a one layer card using an old, old (I think retired??) stamp set called Sketch It.  Mona let me borrow a stamp magazine a couple of weeks ago and it was filled with card done on craft cardstock which I just LOVE and which was the starting inspiration for this.  I thought for a quick clean and simple card it turned out pretty cute.  I did make one boo-boo "creative deviation" :-) . . . .I accidentally got some stray ink on one of the cards when I went to stamp the sentiment (which by the way is another old, old set from Hero Arts).  So I added a little bling over the top to cover it up and then the flower just begged for a little bling too.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  See ya' next week.

This was last week's card for the family newsletter.  It used 4 different punches and my new Posey Punch stamp set.  The leaves behind the flower are from the bird punch and the label is the Designer Label punch cut in half.  I really liked how it turned out.  And I love the bright cheery colors.

Am looking forward to posting the really cute card Mona made and showed us at the shop on Tuesday (hint, hint Mona :-) . . .don't forget to send me the picture).  So stayed tuned and have a nice day. 

Geo Dies

I can't remember what night it was last week but I was really restless and went down to the craft room just to piddle.  As I was cleaning up I came across the Geo Dies I bought a few months ago and decided to play a little.  This started out as a card but ended up as a notebook for my good friend Jeannie.  I used my Bind-it-All to put it together.  I loved how it turned out.  And I especially love, love, love that paper.  Here's a couple of more views from the side and back.  Definitely will be making a few more of these.

Birthday Cards - Part 2

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

Wanted to share with you the cute, clean and simple card Mona gave me for my birthday.  As I mentioned a few posts ago, her current crafting resolution is to use up all the paper scraps she's accumulated.  Isn't this card just the cutest!!!  What an inspiration.  I don't think I'll ever toss a 1 x 3 strip of paper ever again! :-)

Birthday Cards - Part 1

Thank you Val for my beautiful paper toille birthday card.  It was one of your best yet and I feel honored to have it.  Finally!  . . .  instead of teasingly saying after you finish each of your fabulous  paper toille cards at the shop. . ."Can I have that?" . . . . I *really* CAN have it!!!  You're the best!  Hope you get just a few hours of rest and fun this weekend in between all your fiscal year end stuff. 

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Border Punches

Posting an oldie but goodie card from my stash as I didn't have time yesterday to get the other birthday cards photographed.  Last night Allan and I had a wonderful dinner with some friends we haven't seen in awhile.  I was telling Jeannie about the blog so she signed up.  This "Thanks a Bunch!" goes out to her and Glen for having us over and preparing such wonderful dinner and sharing their home.

Tonight's definitely a catch up night and of course finishing up the Last Chance Stampin' Up order.  Have a great day. 

Refreshed

Thanks my Gal Pals for a wonderful evening last night.  I have to tell you I felt refreshed when I got home.  Nothing like a little girl chatter to put the world back in perspective again. 

Posting Val's birthday card today.  Stay tuned the rest of this week for pictures of the beautiful cards Mona and Val made for my birthday.

You Gotta Check This Out!. . . .

You're never going to believe what this "paper" on this card is. . . .a cocktail napkin!!!  Marcia Hermann sent us a link to a tutorial she found on Splitcoast.  You gotta' check this out when you have time.  I can't wait to try it as I've got about 20 different napkins I've collected over the years (especially ones with a wine theme).  So cool!

Scraps, scraps and more scraps

Happy Monday.  Hope everyone had a good weekend.  The weather, although a little cool in the evenings, couldn't have been more perfect.  But that translated to not much time in the craft room this weekend.  So here's a card I made week before last with some scraps from the Linen Closet paper pack, Soft Vines stampin' wheel and the Punch Bunch stamp set.  It's hard to tell from this picture but the paper strip that runs the width of the card in the middle is a really pretty subtle stripe. with the same colors as the plaid and the plaid paper has some glitter to it.  Much prettier in real life.

Mona mentioned last week that she's excited to show us some of the cards she's making as she too as she's been digging in her scrap piles, promising herself to try to use more of what she already has rather than buying new.  Now what fun is that!  Just teasin'.  I guess it's like anything else in life - it has to be balanced!  :-)

Hoping to get back to our Tuesday nights tomorrow night.  We've had kind of a rough go of it scheduling wise.  But I also know June 30th (Fiscal Year End) is Thursday and with 2 of the Gal Pals being accountants it couldn't be a more crazy time of the year.  So the 3rd Gal Pal (me :-) ) is willing to hang in the wings if necessary.  Just let me know. 

Butterflies are Free

This is the front and back of this week's family newsletter card.  The front was a clean and simple design I picked up from the Simplicity blog.  I used my SU butterfly punch and the "Flight of the Butterfly" stamp set I got for my birthday.

The back was a beautiful picture Allan took of a butterfly fluttering around the hanging basket on our deck.  I found a beautiful quote from Hans Christian Anderson. . . .

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." 

Here's wishing you a little sunshine, freedom and some time with the flowers this weekend. 

Storage Idea

This post is especially for Val.  Was surfing around the Stampin' Up demostrator site and stumbled on this idea.  She uses extra clear stamp cases to store some of her loose/small items.  Kind of clever and sure looks pretty on the shelf.  I know Val is on an organization kick in her craft room and she also has a bunch of these extra cases so hopefully this idea may come in handy.

Have a good day today.

Happy Belated Birthday

Well Blogger is giving me problems today and I can't seem to get any images to upload.  So while I figure out what the issue is, let me just wish Val a belated Happy Birthday and a Get Well wish.  Mona and I decided to postpone our Gal Pal dinner and craft night until we can all find a better time to take a little breath from all that's going on and enjoy the warmth of our friendship.

And this is for Mona. . . .

. . .love leaves a memory no one can steal. 

Thank you so much for sharing your story of your grandmother yesterday.  It touched my heart and lingered with me all afternoon.  I'll be thinking about you this afternoon.

You Are Special

You are special - a message for my good friend and fellow Gal Pal Val.  Hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday and that June-a-palooza was a fun celebration last week.  I hope life work isn't beating you up too bad.

Realized as I was cleaning up my "Cards for the Blog" folder that I never posted a picture of this card - one of the family weekly newsletter cards and also the one I used for the swap with my Stampin' Up teammates.  Love the Pocket Silouhettes stamp set.  Really want to get back to it soon.

Simple Hearts

Am just loving the new paper pack I got at JoAnn's a few weeks ago.  Use some of the scraps to make this really simple hearts card.  Kind of torn between leaving it as is or adding a sentiment to the bottom.  Somehow the clean and simple and pure look of it as it is just appeals to me.  Maybe because I'm feeling like my life and brain are so cluttered these days and the simplicity of this feels so calming.  Any thoughts?  Feel free to leave a comment on this on the blog.

Have a good Monday.

For You

This was a card that came out of my "experimenting" time on Tuesday.  Sorry the camera washed it out a little.  I've been wanting to do that paper piecing and embossing technique that turns out kind of like quilting.  So I took some scraps from some other cards I made, pieced them side by side, cut them using the top note die and then ran them through an embossing folder.  Finished off the card with one of my new stamps - the a la carte "For You" stamp - and my new 5 petal flower punch.  One of the patterned papers was glittered so I ran a glue pen along the edges of the flower and added some glitter there to tie it all together.  I still want to play some more with this but for a 1st effort I kind of liked how it turned out.

Hope you all have a good weekend and that we get some dry spells so I can finish a few things out in the yard.  Take care.

Hybrid Cards for Father's Day

Here's the 3 cards I made for Father's Day.  They are hybrid cards in that I used the elements from the Open Sea digital kit for My Digital Studio - both the paper and the stamps - and then combined them with other papers and embellishments.  I really liked the way they turned out. 

But I have to confess. . .they are 3 different designs because I messed up the printing of the elements that many times :-( .  I've still got a learning curve to get over with My Digital Studio in terms of measuring things out so I can make efficient use of the printer cartridges - especially when printing out portions of the designer papers.  I'll pass along the tips as I figure them out.  In the meantime, those "mess ups" are just wonderful oppotunities for "creative deviations"!

Cricut Man outdid himself!

Check it out!. . . .this is the birthday card Allan made for me.  I was just blown away.  I LOVE IT!  Boy, his card crafting sure has come a long way :-)  Of course the Cricut has something to do with that as the only reason he's even remotely motivated to make a card is just the chance to play with one of the only electronic gadgets used in cardmaking.  He told me he even cut the squares of paper for the matting of the sentimeent and the stars with the Cricut (vs. a papertrimmer).  I can only imagine the fun he must have had.  And I have to say he was really stealthy about it as I didn't have a clue someone had been in my craft room.

And speaking of the craft room, it was a joyful day yesterday.  Spent most of it in the Girl Cave playing with my new toys.  Used several stamp sets for the 1st time.  Made some really cute clean and simple cards which I'll be showcasing this week.  Also got the Father's Day cards done which turned out super cute.  So lots to share.

See ya' soon.