ICE CREAM PARLOR 6" X 6" ALBUM

Happy Sunday Everybody!
Gosh, where did the month of May go?  It certainly didn't pass by fast because of me working outside.  I even had to pull some weeds a couple of days ago in the rain because I couldn't stand them any longer.  The sun is really trying hard to pop out today, so we do have something in Michigan to be happy about -- no rain, and "some" sunshine.  However, I do have to admit that while typing this post, I am looking out the window into my back yard/woods and don't think I have ever seen the trees, grass, and foliage look so full and awesome with the different shades of green.  I did finally turn the pond well pump on yesterday to start filling it up (usually it is full before Memorial Day weekend).  With all the rain this season however, the water level did go up about 3-4 feet so it saved on running the pump (aka:  running up the electric bill).  Yep, I am so ready to spend time outdoors in the sun!!!

As all of you know, this is National Scrapbooking Month (at least for 2 more days anyway).  And yes, I did do some scrapbooking but not with current Stampin' Up product.  Well, actually it was current when I started -- during the yearly Stampin' Up Sale-A-Bration Event.  So I thought I better post some scrapbooking before the month is over (yep, yep -- better late than never, that would be me).  I CASEd this entire album (20 pages) from Ronda Wade's March Retreat (album class).  I'm not sure if Ronda or Melissa Roberts did the design, but know for sure they both worked on it.  I did change quite a few pages, so it is a little different.  Either way, all kudos go to Ronda and Melissa.  I hope you like it, and remember these layouts will look awesome with any of the Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper. 


Sorry about the glare in all these pictures, but I was in a hurry to get this in the mail the day I took them so they are still in their page protectors.  Remember that you can click on any of these pictures to enlarge to get a better view of the accessories.

 

I used the Ice Cream Parlor Designer Series Paper & Quick Accents and Ribbon & Button Pack on all the pages (free Sale-A-Bration product).

 



I had a really hard time not keeping this album for myself, but I will make a 12" x 12" album for myself using the same layouts.

I love going to Ronda and Melissa's Scrapbooking Retreats for many reasons, and taking their classes are always a highlight of the event.  The next one is scheduled for October, so if you are in the East Lansing, Michigan area make sure you sign up -- you won't be disappointed!!

Until next time,
Sandi
"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the Earth." -- Colossians 3:2
"Father, thanks for showing me that letting go of old things can bring new rewards." -- Libbie Adams

LOVELY LETTERS GIFT BOX WITH CARDS

Happy Monday!!

Is it too late to post my Mother's Day gifts???  Probably so, but the good news is you can use this gift for any time of the year -- just change the Designer Series Paper.  Yes, my DSP was current when I made these -- just forgot to post.  This idea was totally CASEd from Ronda Wade and I fell in love with it immediately and had to share.  My customers also got to make the DVD gift box this weekend at my card event, as my gift to them for being such loyal customers.  They ended up loving my cards so much they wanted to pay more for their regular class so they could make them also.  So they ended up with their regular 8 cards, plus the gift box and four monogrammed cards and envelopes to store inside.

We had one of the best classes ever (for me anyway, and I think them also).  It was such a beautiful day outside that we sat out on my patio and chatted for a half-hour before I said they needed to get started.  The rest of the morning continued on the same vein:  lots of laughter, sharing secrets, and learning new stamping techniques (I even learned a couple of new things).  So I guess you want to see something, but you will have to wait until my next post to see their cards.  I wanted to just showcase the gift box and cards today.  I couldn't make up my mind what picture to show, so you are going to get a bunch.  Thank you Ronda for such an awesome idea!!


Product Used:  Clear-Mount Stamp Cases; Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper (Occasions Mini - Discontinued); Rose Red 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon; Lovely Letters Alphabet, Four Frames; and Share What You Do (Limited Edition 2010 Stampin' Up Convention Theme Stamp) Stamp Sets; Trinket Keys; Night of Navy Card Stock; and Scalloped Circles #2 Bigz Big Shot Die.

 

Close-up of one of the gift card boxes.



Another close up -- different color designer series paper and stamp.



Monogrammed cards inside of gift box (4 cards and 4 envelopes)

I made 5 of these for Mother's Day gifts in honor of my mother who passed away over 5 years ago.  I give them away as gifts because I know my mother would have truly, truly loved to have gotten one of these from me as she loved to send cards with notes.  It makes me happy just writing this because I know she is right here with me shaking her head "yes." 

Until next time,
Sandi
"When we love each other God lives in us and his love within us grows ever stronger." -- 1 John 4:12
"Lord help me to accept that my ways may not be others' ways." -- Patricia Lorenz

GRADUATION & BIRTHDAY

Wow, I just looked at the clock and can't believe my morning is just about over and I still have about 12 hours of work yet to do!  So what in the heck am I doing updating my blog?  I guess just because it has been a week and I didn't want you to forget me.  Oh yes, I have been working up a storm for a month now but just haven't had time to post.  Some of my projects are now discontinued (or in dormant stage I hope), but I will be showing these to you hopefully before the month is over.

Today I am showing two birthday and graduation cards.  Both of the designs are the same but switched up the colors and/or layout.  I could make another contest out of this to see if somebody can guess all the slight differences between the two cards.  They used to do that in the People Magazine all the time, and they still might but I haven't read one in a couple of years.  I always loved playing it, as I do any game.  Anyway, I have to get back to work so here are my cards:

Birthday Card for my grandson featuring:  The Open Sea and Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Sets; Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper; and Distressing Tool Kit.



Slightly different version using some different accessories.



Graduation Card featuring: Word Play, Go Graduate (discontinued), and Something To Celebrate (Occasions Mini) Stamp Sets; Owl Punch; and Tasteful Trim Big Shot Bigz XL Die.

 

Same card, just a few differences.

So there you have it for today.  I have classes all weekend, but hope to update again by Monday -- or maybe sooner if I have extra time (that "CAN" happen you know).
Until next time,
Sandi
"Your word, O Lord, is eternal.  . . .  Your faithfulness continues through all generations. . . . -- Psalm 119:89-90

FABULOUS FLORETS AGAIN!!

Yes, Fabulous Florets is my new "in" stamp set for this month.  I can't help it.  I love Stampin' Ups' stamp sets because you get so much all in one package.  This one in particular has two types of stamps in one set:  bold and outline.  Plus you get a sentiment.  I could go on and on about how fabulous the quality, style, and designs are, but most of you that visit my blog already know there is not another brand out there that even comes close to giving you all this, plus keeping the prices below what you pay anywhere else.  I love "win-win" situations!!!

Today I'm going to show you what it is like in my world when I try to come up with a card design -- please don't laugh!  I hate even confessing to how long it takes me after watching my fellow RubberQueens stamp a card in 5 minutes and it's ready to slip in the mail.  The only time I am able to do this is when I am watercoloring with my crayons or doing a vintage card.  However, there just might be a couple of you out there hiding in the closet like me, and I want you to know there is someone else who has a difficult time coming up with a design.  My challenge to you is to come out of the closet and post pictures of your "out-takes."  Yesterday, I sat down and tried making my "out-takes" into some sort of a card.  So here goes:


This is the actual design I ended up swapping at the RubberQueen meeting.  I first did the embossed resist technique using our new Wild Wasabi and Tangerine Tango Embossing Powders, then brayed with Marina Mist Classic Ink.  I then dry embossed using the new Flower Garden Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and then sanded the embossed image using SU's Sanding Block to bring out the Whisper White Card Stock used for this layer.



I fixed this "throw-away" this morning by adding some of the new Beyond the Garden Designer Series Paper to cover up my boo-boo on bottom.  I also added the sentiment from the Cute by the Inch Hostess Level I Stamp Set,  and used some Pacific Point Classic Ink on the background.  This ended up being my favorite card (wish I would have thought of doing this for the swap!).

 

I believe this was my 2nd try at trying to figure out what I was going to do for my swap -- didn't like!

 

This was my 1st try -- YIKES!!!  Yep, that is a lot of Tempting Turquoise and Daffodil Delight Classic Ink going on there!!!



This was my 4th try -- which is very similar to final.  I decided I didn't want the sentiment on the card and switched out the Tempting Turquoise for the Marina Mist Classic Ink.



And I can't leave you without showing you this darling treat box/purse Ronda Wade demonstrated at her meeting.  Sorry, Ronda, for cutting off your head; but you would not let me take another picture.  At least I got your beautiful smile!!

So that's it for today.  Enjoy our beautiful weather and have a great weekend!

Until next time,
Sandi
"There is no feat in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. . . ." -- I John 4:18
"Jesus, when I'm afraid, help me submit my fears to Your love." -- Julia Attaway

FLOWER FEST WITH MESSAGES FOR MOM

Happy Friday Everybody!!

Two days of sun!!  I can hardly stand it.  The trees have tiny leaves on them, my flowers are up high, and there are dandelions in the yard!!! I have had lots of different things going on since my last post.  I had so much fun making cards at Ronda Wade's Summer Mini PJ Event.  And no, it ended up I couldn't wear my pajamas because I had to stop at the store on the way there.  I was a half-hour late, making poor Ronda worry sick as I am always the first one to arrive (I thought it started at 6:30, but it was 6 p.m.).  So she helped me catch up.  We made baggie books again, featuring 4 new stamps and product from the Stampin' Up Summer Mini Catalog.  We ended up with 20 beautiful cards that I will be CASEing many times over for sure.  Then to top my night off, I got lost twice on the way home (mind you, I only had about 10 miles to drive at the max).  It wasn't so bad because I expected it would happen when I saw I couldn't go back the same way, as the road was closed.  I have taken different routes many times, but for some reason it felt and looked entirely different at 10:30 p.m. (in pitch black darkness).  So I just kept driving around in circles until I found my way.  I never get upset or freaked out when I get lost because it happens all the time and I have a compass in my SUV (didn't take my GPS of course). 

Today I want to show you my Mother's Day card I made yesterday using the new Flower Fest Stamp Set in the Summer Mini.  My mom passed away 5 years ago, but I honor her by making cards for my daughter's instead as they are mother's and need kudos also.  I didn't think I would like this stamp set as it is so different from what I typically buy.  However, I can't resist stamp images that you can use with our punches.  I ended up loving the card, what do you think:


Product Used:  Flower Fest and Messages for Mom Stamp Sets; Daffodil Delight, Early Expresso, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and Shimmer White Card Stock; Bold Brights Brads (Daffodil Delight); Basic Pearl; Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, and Wild Wasabi Embossing Powders; BIGZ L Petal Cone Big Shot Die; and various punches.

 I've been doing a lot of stamping the last couple of weeks, but mostly trying to catch up on my stacks and stacks of  discontinued half-started projects.  I have so many card designs cut and packaged left over from the last 3-4 years (yes, I can't believe it either).  So my goal this Summer is to get all these cards completed.  I did about 40 so far (just a drop in the bucket).  These cards were "fix-up" cards and/or precut cards that needed to be assembled featuring the discontinued Watercolor Trio Stamp Set (which I so wish would have been carried over to the new catalog), discontinued Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper, and some current product.   Even if you do not own this discontinued product, I wanted to post pictures because I loved the designs and knew it would be easy to substitute with any stamp set you might have on hand.

I hope all of you have a beautiful Mother's Day, even if you are not a mother, I'm sure you have served as a fill-in mother (which is even better yet).  Personally I think everyday should be Mother's Day, but then it probably wouldn't be as special if we celebrated every day.  Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time,
Sandi
"As a mother comforts her child, so shall I you. . . ." -- Isaiah 66:13

FABULOUS FLORETS MEETS NATURE WALK

Happy Royal Wedding Day All!

Okay, I was up at 4:30 a.m. this morning (yes, I overslept a little), to see probably my last Royal Wedding.  It was well worth the early morning, who doesn't love a fairytale.  I was sad and happy at the same time.  Sad that Princess Diana was not there physically to be with her son when he get married, and happy for the new bride and groom, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  Every once in a while you would catch a glimpse of Princess Diana in Prince William, as when he gave the shy sideways glance with his eyes looking up.  Don't you just love fairytales!!  And didn't you just love the beautiful hats worn by the ladies.  I always seem to buy new hats when I am in a new store or traveling, but then end up only wearing them once.  But I love them, and think we should go back to wearing them all the time (I'm ashamed to admit that when I was much, much younger, this was the highlight of going to church; to wear a new hat and see what others would wear). 

Prince William just kissed his new bride, so I guess I need to get going to start my day.  Seems kind of stupid but I need to take a shower and then put on clean pajamas so I can go to a PJ party tonight.  Yep, even old folks have PJ parties if they are a RubberQueen.  Thank you Ronda for keeping us young, and including a stamping night at the same time.  Tonight we will be doing 5 new baggie books to showcase the new 2011 Stampin' Up Summer Mini Catalog.  Woohoo, can't wait.

Here is a new card featuring a sneak peek at one of the new stamps in the Simmer Mini catalog, the Fabulous Florets Stamp Set.  What an easy stamp set to use, with bold and line stamps all in one set.  I also used two stamps (the bird and butterfly) from the current Nature Walk Stamp Set, which you can still get until tomorrow.  I stamped the green foliage in Old Olive Classic Ink, and watercolored the rest of the images using Stampin' Ups Wonderful Water Color Crayons before cutting them out.  My main crayon colors for the flowers were Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Cajun Craze, and Daffodil Delight.  The bird was done in the Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, and Basic Black Watercolor Crayons.  And finally the butterfly was done in Baja Breeze and Pacific Point Watercolor Crayons.  The first picture is my completed card that was done first.  Then I went back and decided to see if I could fix a Whisper White panel I had started on my first try, but got smudges on the foliage from my hand and threw away (don't you just hate when you do that!!).  Later I pulled it out of the trash and decided to see if I could salvage.  So the second card is my "fixed" version of my "throwaway"  -- I think it was worth fixing up.  My inspiration for this card came from a very old "store-bought" card that I had kept because I loved the flowers and bird  -- how about you???



My first card.

 

This is my "fix-up" card -- do you think it is good enough to send???

Some unfinished business:  the answer to my previous post:  baby mice!!!  How sick, sick, sick!!  She had to buy them for my granddaughter's pet snake's food.  And Tamie Ackerson thinks she has problems with all her pets!!  I will never look at a snake again without thinking about those baby mice. 

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog; and for those of you that take time to leave a comment, you make my day by giving me feedback and letting me know who belongs to those "numbers."   Sometimes I get comments from people named "anonymous" and I feel bad because I cannot acknowledge your comment.  So if your comment has the your name posted as "anonymous," I would love it if you signed your name and (if you like/can), provide your e-mail address, and blog address.  I love to visit the blogs of people who comment.

Sandi
(I thought the following verse appropriate to remember based on my fetish for hats.  I'll try to do better Lord.)

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” -- 1 Peter 3:3-4

BIRTHDAYS AND FLOWERS

I know you won't believe this, but it has been so long since I have posted that I can't think of anything bright and intelligent to pass on and make it worthwhile for you stopping by my blog.  Normally I'm so intelligent with all this great information and exciting things that happen in my life that I could write a book.  My only excuse is that I have been in "birthday" mode for the last two weeks.  And probably will be until the first week in June.  However, I will promise (in writing) right now, that I will do something fantastic to share by this time next week.  I know I will be stamping a lot because I have many more cards to make and am working on finishing an album tonight. 

I did throw an awesome double birthday party for my two youngest daughters on Monday (it was suppose to be Sunday, but all of the family members took part in the 5K Race for Cure breast cancer fundraiser).  Absolutely too cold for me, plus I was cooking all day.  My girls put in their birthday dinner orders and this is what I made:

1. A pork roast and 2 beef roasts (they all wanted leftovers to take home).
2. Homemade egg noodles in gravy (just thinking about this makes me bloat up!!).
3. Homemade biscuits.
4. Mashed potatoes (about 5+ pounds).
5. Fresh steamed broccoli.
6. Fancy salad with stuff in it that I don't like (green onions and Feta cheese).
7. Light hors d'oeuvres of fresh pineapple and cantaloupe (which they devoured so they couldn't take any home).
8. Two homemade (that's from "scratch" folks) cakes (one for each birthday girl) -- this request is on all my kids/grandkids list this year.  You would think they never get homemade food, when I know for a fact both my daughters make everything from scratch and a lot healthier food than I make.
9. And of course ice cream (no it was not homemade, as grandpa wasn't in the mood to make it -- has to be hot outside he said).

They all stuffed themselves and gave me all kinds of kudos (they know they better by now or it won't happen again).  And after talking about all that food, I have to tell you what my daughter (Trisha of course) brought over for cake decorations.  She hands me this sack and said it was for the top of the cake.  So I open it up and inside is this baggie and I look at it closely, then screamed and threw it in her face.  It was so very disgusting -- you will never in a million years guess what was in the bag.  As a matter of fact, it is so disgusting I am going to let you guess.  Another one of those posts to check to see if you have read this far -- LOL.

Huh, for somebody that didn't have anything to say, I still managed to write a chapter in a book!!  I'm sorry I don't have a card to show you, but I can show you some birthday party pictures and a picture of "one" of my Big Shot flowers I made for table favors (another thing the girls have been bugging me to make for them).  I made four identical flowers that can serve as either a hair decoration or pin (I put a barette and pin on the backs).  I found four vintage buttons that belonged to my grandmother that matched perfectly. 



Here is my granddaughter, Holly, with her flower.  I made them in the same colors as one I did for Holly last month for a gift for a friend of hers and she had told me then that she wanted another one just like it for her.



Here is Holly's older sister, Emily, with her flower.  Must have been steamy in the room as my camera lens had moisture on it.

 

Here is a close-up of Holly.

 

My daughter Tricia, in the middle of her daughters.

 

My middle daughter, Deborah, with her youngest son/my grandson, Nicholas.  You probably can't tell in this picture but his cousin Holly got the same eye glasses as he did.

 

Birthday girls with their cakes -- the table looks so bare after removing all the food.  You will note that Deborah (on right) has tissue in her ears because Tricia gets so excited and loud on her birthday (wonder where she gets that from).

 

And of course, we have Holly again who takes right after her mother and great-grandmother (notice I skipped a generation).  She loves to take pictures of herself just like her mom.  I couldn't figure out why she was spending so much time in my bathroom.  Of course I found out the next day on Facebook when I saw all these pictures.

Okay, there you have it -- a day in my life with my family doing what I love to do the most -- celebrating!!  Don't forget to guess what was in the bag my daughter brought over to put on the cake.  I will give you one other hint (besides the fact that I screamed).  The contents were pink.

Until next time,
Sandi
"And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. . . ." -- Luke 22:44
"Jesus, lead me to pray passionately in the midst of anguish, knowing that in prayer I grasp the hand that pulls me up to You."  -- Carol Knapp