Here we are... 44 years later!

Hey there stampers!  Happy Friday!

You know how I love sunshine, but lately I've been loving the slightly cooler temperatures--- so nice to go to sleep in the cool.  I hate having to keep the house closed up and the a/c running all night, so I'm definitely a happy camper since I can open up the house and let the cool breezes in.  Hope you are enjoying the cool too!

Forty-four years ago today, August 15th, 1970 John and I were married at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa, California.  I was 23 and John was 26 and we thought we were quite mature.  Looking back, it is laughable because I don't think either of us were anything approaching mature.  Oh well, life has a way of taking care of that, doesn't it?  Today we are off to Eugene to visit the King Estate Winery.  We've been wanting to make the trip for a couple of years and have just never found the time, so today we are making the time.  We'll take a tour, taste, and then treat ourselves to a delicious lunch in their dining room.

On Saturday, the twins turn 5, which seems unbelievable.  It seems like they were born just a couple of years ago.  They are growing by leaps and bounds and they certainly keep their parents and grandparents on their toes.  Here are the cards I made to celebrate their 5th birthdays

Luke William gets the green version, white Benjamin Isaac gets the blue card.  Hope their mom will save the cards I make!  The colors are Old Olive and Pacific Point.  The smiley octopus is from the Sea Street stamp set.  The sentiment is from Remembering Your Birthday.  I like this set because it has a greeting for the outside and then a saying for the inside as well. I used the Tiny Triangles embossing folder to give a little texture.

I'm excited for my Flower Fiesta event that is coming up on Saturday, August 16th at 1 o'clock at my house. It's going to be a fun afternoon of stamping, fun, friendship, and food.  And then on Sunday I'll be traveling to Northeast Portland to Shirley's house for her annual lunch and card party.  It is always fun to reconnect with her and her family, friends, and neighbors!  I designed a pretty card for her party that says "late summer" to me.  I'll be showing it to you on Monday, so please come back then for more stamping inspiration.
Have a relaxing weekend, everyone!
Susan

It's Hip to be Square...

Hello stampers and welcome back!

Did you ever rock out to Huey Lewis' great song  It's Hip to be Square?  I still play my Huey Lewis CDs and still love that song.  But what, you ask, does that have to do with card-making??  Well, it means that I have another square card for you today, of course!

Check it out...

This was a quick and easy card to create using the new Choose Happiness set on page 118.  Both the flower and the bird image are from this set, but for the sentiment, I used the hostess set called Hello Love on page 239 of the catalog.
Here's the inside

So it says... A little birdie told me  it's your birthday!  The other sentiments that go with "a little birdie told me" are:  "you're getting married!" and "you're having a baby!"   All I can say is that little birdie is working overtime and he'd better watch it!  Sounds to me like that birdie is a bit of a gossip.

I used two of the new In-colors that look so great together... Hello Honey and Blackberry Bliss.  You could easily put this card together in under 10 minutes... if you're quick you could probably make it in under 5 minutes.  There's no Big Shot required for this card, just some quick stamping and punching and assembling and DONE!

I've got one more quick thing to show you before I go.  I made this great storage thing-y for my Blendabilities markers (remember, they need to be stored flat, just like our regular markers so that all of the ink doesn't run to one end).  All you need are some Crystal Light containers and a hot glue gun and you can make one just like this in no time.

If Stampin'Up! comes out with more colors later on, I can always add another container to the bottom row, one more to the second row and an additional one to the top row.  The best thing is that it doesn't take up a lot of room on my desk and it keeps my Blendabilities out where I can see them and remember to use them!

I'm working like a little beaver on my next techniques class... the Paper Torture class.  We are going to tear, mask, sponge, spritz, wrinkle, squish, cut, brayer, pierce, emboss, bleach, and punch our way through three great cards on Thursday, August 21st at 7 pm at my house.  Oh, and of course there'll be some stamping in there too! Come and learn some fun new ways to "torture" paper!  You'll have fun and go home with some new ideas.  The cost is just $10, or the class is free with a $30 purchase.

Please come and visit with me again on Friday, when I'll have more stamping inspiration for you!
Hugs and Happiness!
Susan

Hello, Monday!

Hi there, stampin' peeps!

Have you signed up for my Flower Fiesta, coming up this Saturday at 1 pm at my house?  If not, I've still got some spots left.  Why not send me a quick email to sjrstamps@gmail.com and let me know that I should save a spot for you?
Why would you want to come over and stamp with me on Saturday??  Well, let me list a few reasons for you:
 First of all, it's a free event.  Of course orders are encouraged and appreciated, but there's no fee for attending.
If it's hot, I'll have the a/c going, so you're assured of spending a cool afternoon.
There will be some fun and friendly people here.  Have you ever noticed that most stampers are really nice and helpful too?  If you are having any kind of difficulty, they'll help you out!
There will be tasty snacks.  I always try to have good food, because it's not a party without yummies. Because this is a fiesta, you are going to be enjoying some delicious South-of-the-border treats.
You'll make three great, flowery cards and get the envelopes to go with them too!
Door prizes!

Here's the third card you'll make on Saturday

Isn't this a cutie?  It measures 4 1/4  by 4 1/4 so it will fit into a regular envelope (no extra postage required)!
I love square cards...but then I love anything that is just the slightest bit different than the usual 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 card.  I'm loving these colors together too... Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, and Mossy Meadow, plus Whisper White.  These colors look so clean and fresh together.  The DSP is from the new paper stack called All Abloom ( page 185).  I used the new Tiny Triangles embossing folder (page 227).  The flower and leaves are cut with the new Flower Frenzy Bigz die (page 232) and then I ran the flower through the Big Shot with the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Four You (page 19) and is stamped in Mossy Meadow (love this new color!).
Now that you've seen all three cards that you'll make at the Flower Fiesta, please join us for this fun afternoon!
Have a wonderful Monday and above all, keep cool!  It is going to be a scorcher today so stay in the shade and drink lots of water if you have to be outside.  My thought is that today would be a fabulous day to stay inside and stamp.  Please plan on coming back on Wednesday, because I have another fun square card to show you.
Hugs and Happiness,
Susan

Flowery Friday

A happy hello to all of my stamping friends on this beautiful summer Friday!

 I can hardly believe that the first week of August has come and gone.  I'm loving this gorgeous weather, now that things have cooled off just a bit!  I'm hoping our sunny warm weather will last well into October!  Well, a girl can dream, can't she??

Today I want to show you the second card that you'll make if you come to my Flower Fiesta event on Saturday, August 16th at 1 pm at my house.  I love how this turned out!

 

This fabulous black and white Designer paper is called Back to Black ( page 187 of the annual catalog).  I love the very graphic patterns in this paper!  It makes it so easy to create a very clean and classic card when using the classic color combination of black and white.  Add one bright color, such as the Rose Red I used here, and you've got a great color scheme for a card, an outfit, or a room.  You just can't go wrong with black and white!

The beautiful three-dimensional rose was made using the Spiral Flower Originals die on page 233 of the annual catalog.  Just run the card stock through the Big Shot with this die and then roll the spiral-cut paper up.  The center of the flower was made by cutting almost through a strip of Crushed Curry card stock with the Fringe Scissors and then rolling it up tightly.  The sentiment is from the stamp set Oh My Goodies on page 9 of the annual catalog.  I cut it out using the Deco Labels Collection Framelits on page 231.  I used the same framelits to cut a larger label shape in Rose Red to place behind the sentiment, which helps it pop off the Back to Black designer paper.

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend, stampers! I'll be back here on Monday with another card to inspire you to pull out your stamps, ink, and paper and create something beautiful.

Hugs and Happiness,
Susan

Be You (tiful)

Hello stampin' peeps!  Hope everyone is feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this fineWednesday morning.

Thanks for coming back to see what I've got to show you today. I hope you've signed up for my Flower Fiesta that is coming up on Saturday August 16th at 1 o'clock in the afternoon at my house.  If your name is not on the list, send me a quick email and I'll make sure to save a spot for you.

Here's just one of the pretty flowery cards you'll make that day...

With the summer just flying by, I thought we should be stamping in bright summery colors, because soon fall will arrive and we're going to want to switch our color palette to the richer, warmer tones of autumn.  So this card is my nod to summer.  Let's stamp with these light and bright colors as much as possible while summer lasts.  The colors I used are Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Blushing Bride, and Daffodil Delight.  The flower was made with two different punches... the Blossom Punch and the Fun Flower Punch.
The stamps are from the Flower Patch photopolymer stamp set on page 158.  If you haven't tried this type of stamp yet, give them a try.  They stick to the blocks amazingly well.  There's no chance of them falling off at all.  When doing two-step stamping like this, the completely clear stamps make it so easy to line up the images... no Stamp-a-ma-jig needed!

For those of you who are hard at work today, take comfort in the fact that you're over the hump and on the downhill slide into another fun summer weekend.  Have a great Wednesday and don't forget to come back on Friday for another pretty Flower Fiesta card.
Do something creative today!
Susan

Calling All Technique Geeks...

Hi stampers!  Happy Monday to all!  I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing summer weekend.

Today I'm featuring the last project that we'll be making this coming Friday at Technique Geeks.  I saw a demonstrator make this card in one of my classes at convention and I thought it was a fun and different design.  I'm always on the lookout for something a bit different to share with you, and I thought you'd like it too.  Of course I changed the colors...I'm not one who likes to copy exactly.  Here you go... please take a peek and see if you like it.

For my card stock colors I chose Crisp Cantaloupe, Daffodil Delight, and Whisper White.  The ink colors are Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding and Memento Tuxedo Black.  I used the Oval Accents Bigz Clear die for the Big Shot, then ran it through again with the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  The stamps are from Kinda Eclectic and I used some of the Thick Baker's Twine in Crisp Cantaloupe as an accent behind the flower.  The oval was cut with one of the Ovals Collection Framelits.  This card will need a larger envelope, but that is easily accomplished with the Envelope Punch Board.  Check the bottom of page 194 to see this wonderful tool.  You can easily make 66 sizes of envelopes with this ingenious product.  It is a must-have for any card-maker.

May the week ahead be a happy one, as we continue to enjoy our fabulous Northwest summer.
Don't forget to come back here tomorrow and click on the Weekly Deals button to see what goodies Stampin'Up! has on sale this week.  There's sure to be something you need (or want)!
Do something creative today!
Susan

Hurrah for August 1st!

Helloooo stampers!

I'm so excited today... for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I can now place my order from the new Holiday catalog.  I've been waiting for this day ever since I first laid eyes on the catalog at convention.  There are so many wonderful stamps and accessories that I cannot wait to get my hands on!

The second reason I'm excited is that today my customers  (that's YOU!) can order all of the colors of the new Blendabilities alcohol markers.  Stampin'Up! phased these in slowly to make sure they had enough product to meet the demand and avoid back orders on this very popular new product.  Now you can order the final 6 sets:  Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Melon Mambo, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, and Wisteria Wonder.

Oh, and I'll have to admit that I'm excited that the weekend is almost here as well.... gotta love these summer weekends!  Hope you have some fun plans!  My Seattle daughter and grandchildren will be arriving on Saturday afternoon.  Then my California daughter and her two daughters will be arriving on Monday, so we'll have both daughters and all 5 grandchildren here.  It will be crazy, but in a good way!

Here's a fun project that we'll be making at the Technique Geeks class next Friday night at 7 pm at my house.  It's made with the cute new French Fry box die for the Big Shot.

I used a sponge dauber to make large polka dots both inside and out.  Sorry, but the Hershey's nuggets are hiding the dots.  Here's another photo without the candy...

I used Coastal Cabana card stock for the box, then stamped flowers from the Flower Patch set and cut them out with the Flower Fair Framelits... so quick and easy, and cute to boot!  I'll give you a cello bag and some of the Coastal Cabana Thick Baker's Twine, and you'll be able to bag up a treat when you get home.
Wouldn't these be fun favors for almost any gathering?  Little containers like this are perfect for packaging all sorts of favors for baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties, weddings,--- just about any occasion you can think of.  It would also make a cute birthday gift with a gift card tucked inside along with the candy.  Or go all out with airline tickets to Paris or keys to a new car (just kidding, folks!)  If you were giving a new car as a birthday gift, the least you could do would be to place them in a Coach purse!

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!  Please come back on Monday when I'll attempt to entice you into coming to my class with another pretty card.
Hugs and Happiness!
Susan