LOVE You More...

Here's another version of the LOVE banner I made.

When I saw Janet's post, I wasn't sure which size scallop square she'd used, so I cut one from the 4x4" die (retired) and another from the Two Scallops Bigz die.

After making the one I showed here, I decided to finish the 4x4 one.

I could use the larger letters (I'd cut some for something else, which I'll share another time, so had a couple lying around to try) and cut the DSP to a larger size! 

I also used the Tea for Two DSP this time around - after all, LOVE isn't just for Valentine's Day!

You can also see last year's banner hanging below the LOVE banner - I cut a lot of hearts out of First Edition DSP for that one and decorated...






But back to the 2013 version!

Here are the individual pieces:

I used the doily Sizzlet for the silver glimmer scallop. But punching out all those little pieces wasa  lot of work!  I probably wouldn't do it again unless I had a LOT of patience! 

I used the Silver Glimmer paper and the heart punch for this one.  Also used a pink marker to color the 5/8" flower trim piece - LOVE those flowers!

That doily again - only about 1/2 is punched out - I gave up!

Same scallop made from Silver glimmer paper - notice NONE of the holes are punched out?

This version was too large to hang down, so I punched holes in all the pieces at once, using my Crop-a-dile and then threaded it on to Cherry Cobbler seam binding.

I think I like this one better - what do you think?
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I wanted to remind you about The Paper Pumpkin - a monthly subscription to receiving all kinds of wonderful surprises in the mail - all oriented around Papercrafting!

Do you like surprises?

Well, this is the item for you!

It's a Magical Paper Escape Every Month!

Sweep away the mundane-your creativity carriage awaits!

I'm Paper Pumpkin . . .
I come to your door each month (a fully decked-out creativity carriage). I'll help you to escape your life with some paper fun.
I come in a sweet box, but you'll really love what you find on the inside:
All the stamps, ink, paper, and accessories to create pinable projects. Create stuff like cards, journals, décor, and more!
Paper Pumpkin by Stampin' Up! is a new monthly kit program that anyone (even you) can enjoy!

Just click on the here and follow the link for more information!

I have the Try It kit - it's really cute!   I'll put it together and feature it on my blog one of these days.

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

LOVE You!

Isn't this CUTE?

I CASEd it from Janet Baker's blog (Thanks, sweetie!)

As soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to share it!  So, I had my stamp club ladies make it on Saturday, and then my Team Members made it last night.

Of course, everyone changed it up a bit to make it "theirs"!  Which is fine with me - that means that, over the years, somehow either Stampin' Up! or me has generated creative juices these ladies are now USING!

Want to see it a little closer?

Here ya go...

I used the larger of the two squares on the Scallops Square Duo Bigz die to cut the Basic Gray CS, then embellished with 2-3/4 x 2-3/4 pieces of More Amore DSP.  Then the 1-3/4 scallop punch was used on the Silver Glimmer paper.  Those were topped with circles cut from More Amore DSP.  I added one of those wonderful flowers from the 5/8" Flower Trim, which I colored with a marker.

 Finally, the LV & E were cut using the Timeless Type Alphabet Junior Sizzlets, which I just discovered has been discontinued (sigh...).   Well, size-wise, these worked fantastically, so we used them!  No sense letting them lollygag in the Stampin' Garage and not see the light of day!


And, speaking of love, here's something else I love!

Yep, that's my Velvet.  She was sitting on the end of one of the tables in my Stampin' Garage the other day and I actually got a great photo of her!

OH - DON'T FORGET!   SALE-A-BRATION (SAB) is ON, starting TODAY!  Call or email with a $50 product order and YOU can select an item from the SAB brochure for FREE!  Doesn't get better than that!

I Must Be MAD!

Yesterday I stopped by one of the big box electronic stores to LOOK AT a new phone.

The one I have had for 2 years is a flip phone.  At the time I bought it, it was "the bomb".

Well, times change, things move forward, and I'm still sitting still, apparently!  Cuz everyone I know texts now - and let me tell you, texting with that flip phone (just number keypads, remember?) is HARD!

So, after asking a lot of questions about monthly plan costs and going into "sticker shock" over the past week, I finally decided I needed to be pulled KICKING AND SCREAMING ALL THE WAY into the 21st Century.

So, after I looked and talked to the sales clerk, who was VERY patient with me and another lady about my age who was there with her daughter and grandchildren, I came home to cogitate...

I know I'm going to need a new computer this year.  Mine is 7 years old, the RAM can't be upgraded, and I've started getting way too many error messages about this not working and that not working...  So, that's on my list for expenditures this year.  BUT, I'm hoping to get a rebate on my taxes, and have decided I'll just wait til then to get the computer.

In the meantime, though, the phone I have is just awful.  Drops calls, voice connections are always garbled, if I move, I lose my caller.  It's a "pay as you go" phone and was my first venture into cell phones.

I'm not a phone person!

Yes, I will call you back if you call me, but I really don't like making phone calls (sound familiar to any of you who are Stampin' Up! demonstrators?  Hee hee).

So, good ole "pay as you go" was for emergencies, and basically, I lost a lot of money on it, since you have to renew every three months.  At one point, I think I had $50 on it.  Then I discovered a way to add only $10.00 at a time, which suited my usage much better...

So, back to my venture to the big box electronics store ---  Yes, I went back and jumped in with BOTH FEET!  I bought an IPhone AND an IPad...

Of course, now I'm frazzled from trying to learn to use not one, but TWO new devices!  True, they're Apple products, which, to me, makes them a whole lot easier to learn to use, but they're still NEW TOYS to me, so I'm struggling...

I know, in about 6 months, I'll be very familiar with both of them.  But in the meantime, if you hear a lot of screaming, just know it's me, trying to use one or the other of them and getting totally frustrated!

One of these days I'll be telling you how much I LOVE both of them.  But not today...

Sigh...  OK - back to climbing the learning curve!

If you have tips you'd like to share, please leave me a comment!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon...

The Wizarding WORLD...

of Harry Potter!

For Manager's Meeting this year at Leadership we got to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is in the Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure.

Hey, LOOK!  There's our awesome logo!

Shelli was standing at the front gate, waiting to greet all of us as we came in.

IT WAS A BLAST!

NO LINES!

FOOD! (and they told us we were only going to get hors d'oeuvres!)  Gosh, there were turkey legs, cornish pies, Shepherd's pies, fish and chips, cheeses, breads and FANTABULOUS desserts!

Here I am, greeting Selma, who is SUCH a sweetheart!  That's me on the left, Selma in the middle, and my friend Joanna on the right.  So great to see Selma at each event - I always make it a point to get a hug from her...

Standing in line to get Butter Beer - it was GOOD!

The conductor of the train, talking to one of our demonstrators.

The village - it looked just like I'd pictured it, but that MAY have been because I've watched a couple of the movies...

What a GREAT RIDE!  And NO LINES!  It took us forever to walk to the point where the animated pictures started talking to us.  I can't even IMAGINE trying to do this ride when the place is open to the general public!  They had little cubbyholes EVERYWHERE where they could create yet another snaky line!

The gal walking in and I rode together.  Neither of her friends wanted to go on this ride, so I asked if I could accompany her.  She has a 10-year-old and decided after riding it, maybe it wasn't for her!  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  

This was a "simulator" ride - wasn't sure what that meant until we started out.  It was exciting!  The best part of the ride, to me, was following Harry to a Quidditch game and getting to see everything from the air.  Of course there were monsters and dragons to be dealt with along the way, but we made it!

Really enjoyed visiting Harry Potter!  Wonder what wonderful place and things we'll get to see next year at Leadership?  They never disappoint...

Thanks for stopping by - come back again...

Four, Five, and Six cards...

Here's card # 4 that I made for swapping at Leadership.  This one used the More Amore DSP, along with some hearts I cut out using Framelits.  Several were cut out of the pink Core-dinations CS, embossed with a folder and sanded.  Another I just left plain Whisper White CS, and the largest I ran thru the Chevron embossing folder.  I also added a piece of Victoria crocheted ribbon, and a greeting I embossed with white embossing powder on Cherry Cobbler CS. 

Card # 5 was made using the More Amore DSP as well.  I added one of the laser cut hearts from that paper pack, then layered other hearts on top.  Greeting was embossing with white embossing powder on Cherry Cobbler CS.  Lastly, I added a piece of the AWESOME lace ribbon from the Artisans Embellishment Kit.  

I just LOVE that kit!  Lots of things to play with.  I may spend one blog featuring the pieces and parts from it in the future.  There sure are a lot of things one could do with it!  And I haven't even STARTED to run out of items to play with and ideas on how to use them!

Card # 6  This may well be my "most favorite" card I made for swaps this year.  I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the DSP!  It's from the "Tea for Two" DSP and so far, it's the only piece I've used.

I added some of the flowers and the leaves from the Secret Garden set, along with a butterfly punched with the new punch from the Sale-A-Bration catalog.  And finally, a greeting, also from the SAB catalog, and a piece of the Calypso Coral ribbon that's in the ribbon/button bundle from the SAB catalog.

Whew!  That was a lot of cards to make for swapping!  I probably won't do that again!  Probably took more time to make these than it would have to make 50 of one image.  But, I did have to get my creative juices flowing in order to make them, so that's a good thing...

I'm back from Leadership and had a BLAST!  Still trying to get myself back together, but will post some pictures from there in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Three Cards...

Here's a third card I made a few of for swapping at Leadership.

For this one, I used the Print Poetry DSP packet again.  It's SO EASY!  Already cut to a great size.  There are four of each print in the packet - with 48 sheets total - that's 24 different patterns, since the paper is printed on both sides!

And, inevitably, I like BOTH SIDES of some of the papers, so it's hard to decide which one I REALLY like!  LOL

The price for the DSP packet is only $6.95!  Each sheet is 4-1/2 x 6-1/2...  Great value.

Anyway, I layered this DSP on to Crumb Cake CS, which I had run thru the Chevron embossing folder, then layered THAT on to Island Indigo CS.  The verse is from Feel Goods stamp set, which I then cut out using the Window Frames Framelits.

I used the Tangerine Tango ribbon from one of the Sale-A-Bration freebies and then I dyed the flower  (3/8" Flower Trim from the Spring mini) using some Tangerine Tango re-inker and water.  I just let them sit in the solution for about an hour and let them dry over night.  They came out very nicely, I think!

In all, I've made about 6 different cards to take to swap at Leadership and all of them used new product from either the Spring mini or the SAB catalog, so I still have a couple more to share with you!

And, of course, after I return, I'll have even MORE ideas to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by - come back!

Two Cards...

Here's a second card I made for swapping at Leadership.

This card uses the Parker's Patterns DSP from the Spring mini.  I like the bright and cheeriness of the Parker's Patterns DSP!

I cut a piece about 3 x 5-1/4, and scalloped the edge using the Scallop Trim border punch. Then I layered this on top of Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy CS. 

I stamped the "Celebrate" (from one of the awesome sets YOU'LL be able to get for FREE during Sale-A-Bration) and embossed it with White embossing powder on Midnight Muse CS, then punched it out using Decorative Label punch.  The greeting and the telephone booth both come in the Feeling Sentimental stamp set, available during SAB.

I embossed the telephone booth with our Cherry embossing powder and then tore around the image.  Tearing is such an easy thing to do, and I don't do it much anymore!  Must remember to use it more often...

I love that our Designer Series Papers (DSP) list the colors used in the whole pack on the pages in the catalog.  I just write the names of the colors on the outside of the clear packaging it comes in with a Sharpie and any time I want to use it, I don't have to go back to the catalog to select colors that will work well with it.  Even after it's retired (and, yes, I have lots of retired DSP!  LOL) I can still determine which colors will work, since I've written it on the outside of the package...

Sale-A-Bration starts January 22nd and lasts until March 22nd - TWO WHOLE MONTHS for you to earn FREE STUFF!  All you have to do is purchase $50 in product from either the big catalog or the Spring mini and you've earned something FREE from the SAB catalog!  And if you purchase $100, you'll receive TWO free items!

And this year, there's an embossing folder and even a PUNCH!

Would YOU like to receive free product?  Let me know what you'd like to order and the free item(s) you'd like, and I'll be happy to place the order for you!  But you must wait until January 22nd to receive the SAB items.  So start your Wish List NOW and get it to me around that time...

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

One Card...

Here's one of the cards I've made a few of to swap at Leadership in Orlando next week.

I just fell in love with the pattern on the piece of DSP, and built my card around it. 

The DSP is from the new Print Poetry DSP Paper Stack in the Spring mini.  I've come to love these Paper Stacks (there was one in the Holiday mini, as well), because the paper is cut to 6-1/2 x 4-1/2.  I generally cut each piece in half and can then make TWO cards from one piece of DSP.

That makes the piece I'm using 3-1/4 x 4-1/2.  Just about the perfect size!  Of course, I always have to layer it with CS, but that's OK.  Got LOTS of that!  LOL

This time I used Gumball Green as the card base and picked Marina Mist from the DSP to use as my second layer.

I used the new set "Feel Goods" for my verse/saying and cut it using the Window Frames Framelits, then popped it up.

I cut the leaves from the Secret Garden Framelits after I stamped them in Gumball Green, which I also popped up.

It still needed SOMETHING, so I added a bow made from the Island Indigo ribbon that YOU will be able to get in the Sycamore Street Ribbon and Button Pack FREE during Sale-A-Bration...  Nice ribbon - ties nicely and seems to stay tied, which can be a problem with some ribbons - they're too slippery!

Then I added one of those WONDERFUL new flowers from the 3/8" Flower Trim - they're awesome!  I just cut one off the strand, added a mini glue dot and stuck in on the card beside the ribbon.

And finally, I stamped the butterfly from another SAB set (Bloomin' Marvelous) in Summer Starfruit and punched it out using the Bitty Butterfly punch (page 13 in the Spring mini).

Here it is again, so you don't have to scroll back up to the top to see it.

I get really bored making a lot of the same thing - MY WAY is to create each card anew - but then I've only got one of each and I'm pretty selfish - I don't want to give any of them away!

So, this year, I'm going to try to create TWO of the same thing each time.  That way, I have one for my very own, and I have one to give to someone when I need a card!

At any rate, because I get bored so easily, I've ended up making many different cards to take to swap at Leadership.  So are in the same vein (i.e., same base card but different embellishments), and others are the same, but in very limited numbers.

I'll share another the next time I post.

Thanks for stopping by - come back!

An Unexpected Christmas Gift

If you've followed me for any period of time, you know I'm "into" flowers.  Both the paper kind and real ones. 

It's been really COLD here lately - well, OK, cold for San Diego.  I think we've had frost a couple of nights, something we rarely experience. 

The picture of thermometer shown above was taken about 10 AM one day shortly before Christmas.  And it's SUNNY!   So, you can imagine it's probably much like where you might live - and you're used to it!

Normally by 10 AM, our temps are between 50 and 60 so we're not!

And then I looked around on the patio and saw this:

This is an epiphyllium.  A pink epiphyllium...  And it's almost ready to OPEN!

Unheard of in December!  As far back as I can remember, epis, as they're affectionately called, have bloomed later - like April or May!

But this year, I got an unexpected Christmas gift - this beautiful bloom

Here it is the next evening - like around 4 PM. 

And here it is Christmas Day, early in the AM:

It's totally open.  It's beautiful!  And it's NOT supposed to be blooming at this time of year!

Well, at least in MY experience...   But I stopped at a local nursery to get some wildflower seeds the day before this picture was taken and when I mentioned it's eminent bloom, the check-out gal said, "Oh yes, they LIKE cool weather!"  Well, as far back as I can remember (and I've had epis for at least 25 years), I've never had one bloom at Christmas!

And I'm not sure I remember this particular one blooming before, either.  It's a lovely shade of pink.

Normally, when these bloom, they open at dusk, last all the next day, and then die.  I've given them away over the years - they're very stunning in person and people are always impressed at their size.  Most do not have an aroma, although I have one that does...

But this one is STILL blooming, on New Year's Day.  I'm in shock!

Epis are very easy to cross pollinate (according to the books I've read), so there are MYRIADS of colors of these in the world.  The Safari Park, which is associated with the San Diego Zoo, has an entire building dedicated to epis.  It's a beautiful place to visit when they're blooming. 

I'm so pleased with my Christmas gift!  And so pleased that its bloom has lasted SO LONG!  Now I'm looking at the others, in hopes we might get early blooms on all of them this year, but so far, none of the rest are even looking close to blooming... 

By the way - our sunset Christmas evening was equally as impressive:

This was taken from the back patio of a friend's house.  She's closer to the ocean than I am, and has a more uncluttered view of the west than I have.  I may have to run over and visit her on other evenings when I can tell we're going to have a great sunset!  I'm so enamoured of beautiful sunsets!

Sorry no stamping to share this time around, but I've been busily working in my Stampin' Garage and will have something to share in my next post.  I've been playing with items from the Spring catalog, which goes LIVE tomorrow AM.

And shortly after that (January 22nd) Sale-A-Bration starts - FREE STAMPS!  Gotta love that!

Did you get the catalogs I had mailed to you?  If not, feel free to contact me and give me your mailing address and I'll be happy to get one out to you!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!