New Catalog!!!

I got the new Stampin' Up catalog a couple of weeks ago and have enjoyed looking through it, seeing the new stamp sets and dies as well as all the great card samples. I love the new "In Colors", that is 6 colors of ink, paper, ribbon and markers that are only available for the year that this catalog is current. All the new goodies in the new catalog will be available for purchase beginning on July 1st. We are down to the last 2 days of the old catalog so if there is a set you want that is being discontinued, lmk asap so I can place it on my last order from that catalog.

I have a couple of sneak peeks today. We had a Stampin' Up Team meeting Saturday and I got some cards in our swap that were made with new stamp sets from the new catalog. The first one is my swap. I used the Big Shot machine to cut the new Rich Razzleberry cardstock with the scalloped circle die. I folded it in half first so there is a fold at the top which I tied the organza ribbon around. I cut circles of Bermuda Bay and white and I also ran the white cardstock through my Big Shot with a polka dot texture plate. I love the texture that the texture plates add. I used gold ink to stamp the bamboo with a bird stamp from the Asian Artistry set. This is a new level 2 hostess set. I love the little bird but decided to go with the dragonfly from the set instead. I stamped him in Bermuda Bay and punched him out with the 1 1/4" circle and matted it on a Rich Razzleberry circle. I stamped the quote from this set, also in gold, on Rich Razzleberry cardstock and punched it out with the new modern label punch. I love this punch and it is even better because it works perfectly with the word window punch. I'm sure I'll be making more cards from this set soon so you can see how sweet the little bird is and you can see the other stamps in the set.

The card beside my card is made by Nancy Reeves using another level 2 hostess set called Wings of Friendship. I love that little bird! He is embossed with black for a very elegant look. The Thanks So Much sentiment is so lovely, it came from a level 3 hostess set called Kind and caring thoughts. I wish I could write that pretty! My handwriting has always been terrible.

Here are 2 more swap cards made with a new stamp set called Circle Circus. It is a great set, perfect for lots of backgrounds and flower centers. The one on the left was made by Leslie Allen and the one on the right didn't have a name on it. They both use Bermuda Bay cardstock as a base. I'm loving the new "In Color" colors. The only one of the 6 new colors not represented on Leslie's card is Soft Suede, a nice medium brown that is on the next card.

These last 2 cards are the cards we made at the meeting. I'm very tempted by the Autumn Days set that the pheasant and the wheat shafts come from. It is a wonderful set for cards that will be sent to men but it also has fall-like stamps and pine cones and a berry bough that could be used on Christmas projects. It is a very versatile set. The other card also uses the Circle Circus stamp set. This set is great to make a background for your card as in the previous picture or to use as accents as demonstrated in this card. I'm imagining all kinds of scrapbook pages using this great stamp set!

I was going to post these Saturday night but my camera wasn't talking to my computer so I tried again Sunday, nothing. It finally decided to cooperate today so I'm finally getting a post done. I have been so busy that I haven't posted as regularly as I'd like to. We are getting good veggies out of the garden but I'm thinking the weeds are winning sometimes! I picked a few yellow squash and zuchinnis last night and steamed them to go with our supper. Yummy! We have lots of lettuce and the tomatoes are growing good. The corn is almost waist high so another few weeks and we will be eating fresh corn on the cob. I am most disappointed in the beets. I don't know if I planted them too deep or what but only 2 plants came up. Beets are my favorite vegetable but I only like them fresh from the garden, not canned. I'll have to go to the farmer's market to get my beets this year I guess.

Gone Camping

Wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted! It has been a busy 2 weeks. Last week was my church Girl's Camp and I am the craft director so I was busy preparing the week before last and busy teaching (in a big old barn) last week. It was a wonderful week, I love teaching at Girl's Camp every year. Not that I don't enjoy when the girls are there in my classes but I think my favorite part of camp is when I'm in the barn alone and can hear the girls outside, chattering, running and laughing and having fun. That is what life is supposed to be like for girls between the ages of 12and18. That is the life I remember as a teenager. Things are so different now and girls seem to live a less carefree life.

Another cool thing about Girl's Camp is the certification program they have. It is a 4 year program where they learn to do different camping skills and build upon the previous year each time. That builds their confidence as well as teaching them a lot of skills. I remember when I finished the 4 years when I was a girl (oh, so many, many years ago) feeling like I could take on the world. After all, I could catch a fish, prepare it and cook it over a fire that I had built without matches!

This year was the year of the storms. The 4th year girls came up on Monday and learned some advanced skills before the other girls came up on Tuesday. We had a flag ceremony Tuesday about noon and then took pictures for them to use on the scrapbook pages they would make on Thursday. Before we had finished taking all of the group pictures, someone got word that a bad storm was coming so we gathered all the girls in the barn. I don't know how many cows this farm used to support but that is one huge barn! There were about 75 girls there as well as around 4o adult leaders. We weren't even crowded, that is how big the barn is.

I'm not sure how it would have survived a tornado but with the 70-80 MPH straightline winds we had that day it was just fine. I felt safe while the rain was pelting and the lightening was flashing like crazy. After a couple of hours the storm lifted and we could go out to assess the damange. Lots of tents were blown down and several were ripped beyond repair. Of course, there were lots of wet sleeping bags and clothes and some ruined food but overall, things were good. We were able to do some of the certification requirements in the barn so we didn't get too far off schedule.

Wednesday we made birdhouses for our craft and many of the girls came to enjoy their craft time. I always have some beads out for the girls who aren't interested in the other crafts so there were some girls who created necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

Wednesday night was skit night so the girls were excited about putting on their skits. We always invite their families to come watch the skits so there was another 100 or so people there for that. Well, guess what happened - another storm! This time there weren't the high winds expected but lots of rain and lightening. We were actually able to fit everyone into the loft of the barn and had plenty of room to do the skits up there. We had to stop a few times because the rain was pounding so hard that we couldn't hear the skits but the youth leaders (the 16 and 17 year old girls) would lead the rest of us in songs and games during those times. By 9:00 the skits were over and I was just trying to decide if I should wait for the rain to let up a little more or if I should go ahead and go home.

That is when I realized - I had left my car windows down! I knew it had rained VERY hard for over 2 hours but didn't find out till later that it had rained 5 inches! I ran out to the car and it was really wet. I had a sweatshirt I had brought because it sometimes gets chilly at night so I put that on the seat as I hopped in. I soaked up the water that was in the panel on the armrest that has the ELECTRONIC controls for the windows and door locks and hoped that they hadn't shorted out or anything. Luckily they worked so I got the windows rolled up. By the time I got home my jeans were totally soaked. It took 2 long, hot days for the seats to dry out!

So, that is what I've been up to. It was a busy couple of weeks but fun ones too. I guess some of you are wondering about the drawing for blog candy that I had planned to do last Monday. I had 6 correct answers to the question about the wedding invitations. Nikki and I both liked the lower right invitation the best. Travis liked the upper left one the best. Sooooooo, the winner is: Quon! Congratulations, Quon, I will get your stamp set to you right away.

6 Wedding Cards

My baby boy is getting married in September. Why is it that even though he is 27 he is my baby boy? The colors they picked for their Fall wedding are persimmon and fern. The fern matches perfectly with Stampin' Up's Always Artichoke but there wasn't an orange color that matched the persimmon so I used Bazzil's Saltillo. On a couple of the cards I also used Bazzil's metallic Rusted cardstock to give the invitations some shimmer. I also splurged on the striped satin cardstock for the first card. All stamps are from the To Have and To Hold set except the background stamp for the last card was stamped with the discontinued French Flair stamp. Which card do you like best? Travis and Nikki picked different cards but Nikki and I picked the same card! I like this girl!

Since I'm excited about Travis getting married and it's been a while since I offered blog candy, I'll put all the ones who pick the same card that Nikki and I did in a hat and give away a stamp set to the winner. Good luck guessing the right card! Just in case you can't see them well enough, just click on the picture and a really big picture of them will pop up. You will be able to see the detail better but it is still a fairly bad picture. I already sent the cards to Nikki so I can't take a better picture. I'll draw next week, probably on Monday since I'll be away at our church's Girl's Camp for the rest of the week. Boy, will I be behind on my emails by the end of the week!

New Catalog!

The new catalog is going to be released on July 1st, that's less than a month away! I can't wait to get it and see all the new sets. If you would like to check a list of what sets in the current catalog are retiring, click on the last chance sign on the right of my blog, it will take you to both the accessories and stamps that are retiring. The accessories are going to sell out fast, the list is updated every day. Stampin' Up manufactures it's own stamps in their own factory so the stamps will be available until June 30 but the accessories are gone when they sell out. Some of the accessories are 50% off too! If you see something you really want, better just order it from my Stampin' Up website because it will be about a week before I send in another order.

I did get a sneak peek at the new level 2 and 3 hostess sets and they are great! I should get the new catalog in the next week so I'll have to find a lot of time to check out the new stuff.

How do you like this graduation card? I used the chipboard owl from the On Board So Tweet chipboard set. I covered him with the brown print paper from the Parisian Breeze designer paper and punched the wings with the scalloped circle and then double punched them with a circle punch to remove part of the scallops. I showed how to do this in my October scrapbook class if you want to go back and see how I did it.

The eyes are chipboard circles colored with the Whisper White ink pad and then I punched holes with the Crop-a-Dile (it punches right through that chipboard!) and put the green rhinestone brads in.

The cute grad hat is punched from the largest Tag Punch and the Key Tag punch. I took a piece of Bashfull Blue ribbon and tied a knot in one end, then I clipped up the sides of the ribbon all the way to the knot. I raveled all the vertical threads from the ribbon so it looks like a tassel. It was actually quick and easy to make the owl.