NEW FRIENDS IN DC

We were in DC this past weekend and made some new friends. The first one above is this police horse. The police in DC sometimes ride horses. This one was friendly but tried to take a nip at JP.
This photo is the most amazing to me. I can't believe that squirrels eat French Fries. This is one that does. Well, maybe they all would if we passed them to these creatures. Some little boy had french fries and was tossing them to the squirrel who just loved them. JP saw this and he too passed a few.
My camera caught this pretty close up, but in actuality, the squirrel was only about 3 feet away. They came right up to our outside tables at the National Mall.

HAND MADE BIRTHDAY CARDS FROM FRIENDS

I'm loving all these wonderful cards I'm receiving in honor of my birthday. I just want to share a few with you! This first card above is from Rita Gorrick. All I can say is how clever. She took the ornament punch (which is still available by the way) and just cut the tip off the bottom to make this vase. This is so neat!
Cathy Stritch made this card. I don't think she knew that I loved Sunflowers when she made this card, but a little bird probably popped the idea into her head. This is a retired SU! set that I absolutely love and wish I owned. Just goes to teach me that if I see something I love, I need to buy it before it retires. Cathy's choice of colors is terrific for this card.
Katie Ford never disappoints. This card is just lovely. Katie used the Sale-a-bration set Happy moments for this card. Get your set Free before sale-a-bration ends on 3/31. Such happy colors Katie and I love how you turned the scallop circle punch into a flower blossom by just cutting into the punch at each scallop. Neat idea!

More Birthday Cards Coming!

A VISIT TO WASHINGTON DC

A BIRTHDAY TRIP TO SEE
THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS

Sunday, we headed down to Washington, DC to see the Cherry Blossoms. I love to see these gorgeous trees all along the Tidal Basin! So beautiful each year. They are certainly out on time despite the crazy winter weather we had here! I would say that they are right on schedule for blooming and were about 70% full bloom. This coming Sunday which is Easter, they'll be even more gorgeous. Here we are as a family sans Luigi and Moochie at the Washington Monument.
Bill took a fabulous photo of JP and I. I was so happy to be here. They asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday (which is today, by the way - March 30th) and I told them I wanted to go to PF Changs for dinner and I wanted a Pandora Bracelet. So they nixed the PF Changs right away. Neither of them wanted to eat Chinese, so I told them well then I need to go see the Chery Blossoms. They both obliged. JP was really interested in seeing the monuments again. I have more gorgeous photos of those that I'll share later.
This is another great photo Bill took of me. I'm wearing a blouse that almost matches their gorgeous color and I have a cherry blossom necklace on that my friend Mary Jo Beskinski gave me! I just got my hair cut yesterday.
These were such a pretty sight. I will probably try to make plans to go back next year. My good SU! friend Cathy Stritch (who also just had a birthday) told me that there are bus trips and cruises you can take. I think if I can plan ahead a little bit, I can get a group to do that next year. If you get a chance and are in the area, head on down to DC to see these gorgeous Cherry Blossoms!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

AMANDA MADE ME A DOUBLE DISPLAY CARD

Oh my gosh this Birthday card is just gorgeous and even more so up close. Amanda Hindle spent quite a bit of time making this double display card for me and a similar one for Dale Trott (her birthday was 3/3). I just had to show it to you! The detail is amazing!
Amanda used the Occasions Mini Stamp set Vintage Vogue as the main set for this card and then added a few extra sets such as Well Scripted (birthday sentiment), whimsical words, and a Flower For all Seasons (the last 2 sets she earned FREE for sale-a-bration which ends at midnight 3/31). The envelope is hand stamped and hand glittered just like the card!
Look at how wonderfully glittered this card is! Awesome Amanda!
Oh, and the designer paper is my absolute favorite from the mini catalog called Shades of Spring. Luckily this paper is available in the Occasions Mini until the end of April.

I have received some wonderful cards for my birthday and I'm going to showcase them
over the next few days. I had a very nice and very busy birthday weekend (my birthday is actually today...March 30th) so I'm a bit behind in blog posts! So I'm getting started today.

Happy Birthday to Me!

BLUE-GOLD DINNER

Last night we attended JP's Blue Gold Dinner for Cub Scouts. JP and his best buddy are pictured here just before the ceremony. JP is on the right!
Bill is placing JP's new ribbons on his 100 years of Scouting BSA badge. It takes a lot for these boys to earn these!
JP earned his WEBELO badge this year. Cub Scout Master is painting the Webelos symbol on JP's right cheek.
His den leaders painted the Blue Gold stripes on his left cheek. This is the part the boys enjoy the most.
JP posing with the flag. He was selected to process in with the flag from the great state of Maryland.
Time for Pledge of Allegiance and the Boy Scout Oath!
What an honor!

CARD BY PAULETTE HALL

Paulette Hall, one of my SU! downline, made this card from the sweet pea papers and the butterfly embosslit for the Big Shot. This card is absolutely lovely and showcases the paper well. This paper comes as a pack of 12 by 12 designer paper and I think Paulette did a great job adapting it to a card. I love these colors. This card, by the way, was made for Diana who had a birthday 3/3.

GREAT SALEABRATION SAMPLES

I recently CASED this card from the web by Lisa Young! I loved her use of the sale-a-bration stamp set Vintage labels. It is a great stamp set you can earn for FREE. Speaking of FREE....there is just under a week left of Sale-a-bration and FREE STAMPS! This set is definitely one worth earning. Each of the stamps is meant to coordinate with our EXCLUSIVE SU! PUNCHES, so even more reason to earn this set. By the way, the card base is actually very vanilla but it may be a little hard to tell from these photos. The sentiments and labels are stamped in rich razzleberry ink on ultrasmooth white card stock.
I've also taken advantage of using another great FREE SALE-A-BRATION product - the scallop trim border punch. This punch will be available in the new IDEA book that comes out in July, but why wait and why buy it when you can earn it FREE! To me, this is our best border punch to date and it coordinates with an exclusive corner edge punch that is in the current Occasions mini catalog. The bird is punched out using the brand new EXCLUSIVE XL bird punch. I punched 2 feathers and note that I shaded the bashful blue card stock with bermuda bay ink applied with a sponge. I love this shading technique. The birds really pop right off the page, especially if you use a SU! dimensional to pop up the bird's wing.
The designer papers are from Tall Tales (yellow dotted), Shades of Spring (pink striped - from Occasions mini and available til end of April only), and from the designer series paper pack Sweet Pea (striped middle piece on above 2 cards, top piece and middle piece on bottom card). The other stamp set I used was the Define Your Life set which I absolutely adore because I think it is a timeless stamp set. It is available as a stamp set or as part of My Digital Studio.

I also used some SU! buttons and flower brads and tiny brads to accent the card. Using embellishments really makes a card special and unique and the recipient will feel so special receiving such a great home made card.

oh, and I also want to mention that I used a brand new stampin around wheel from the occasions mini catalog called spring floral. You definitely want to put this on your list because we are not sure it will carry into the new idea book in July and it is a really good wheel to have, especially for spring and summer cards and projects.


This last card is done with certainly celery and chocolate chip card stock. It just shows another way to make the same card with different colors. I also used some pewter brads and a large chocolate chip brad. The sentiment is from the set in the Occasions mini catalog Messages for Mom. That stamp set has some really fabulous sayings in it so don't disregard that set because it has a stamp for MOM in it. The sentiments and the flower alone are worth the price of the set.

Well, if you are coming to my Birthday Sale-a-Bration class tonight, you will be making one of the top cards. I think those who attend are in for a super surprise because we have some really great projects from talented stampers. Class is at Cathy Stritch's house and it will be her first time hosting. Can't wait. I'll be sure to post the rest of the projects over the weekend and the early part of next week. There will be at least 6 projects/cards including this one!

EASTER BASKET from BASKETS AND BLOOMS DIE

This lovely Easter Basket is made with the SU! EXCLUSIVE BASKETS AND BLOOMS die by SU! I just extended it by using the the 2 basket pieces as ends and then adding a piece of card stock to the center to make the basket. I CASED this idea from Christine Grygar. She made a basket in sage shadow and I just loved how she made the round basket into this style basket that is perfect for Easter. She described how you can make this basket any size by altering the length of the card stock used, and that it would be great to put home made cards in the basket as another idea. I have a friend Susan Ehrhardt and she makes home made Easter candies each year and I think her eggs would be great in this basket.
The flowers on the outside come from the die Blossom party (115971 $17.95) and from the punch Boho Blossoms 110711 $15.95). They go perfect together. I used almost amethyst card stock and so saffron as well as some whisper white. I also used some white pearls for the centers.
The ends use the scallop circle punch that has a 1 inch circle punched out. I also added eggs that Hsiao-hui designed for us using the new extra large 2 step bird punch (117191 $15.95) from the Occasions Mini Catalog.
Here is a top view of the basket. Notice a few more Eggs that Hsiao-hui created. She used rub-ons and rhinestones from the SU! Eggcellent Egg kit that just recently sold out. I hope those that wanted it were able to order it. SU! buys some product in limited quantities, so watch closely when something is listed as limited. That kit was so awesome with all of the flowers you got inside, the rhinestones and the rub-ons also. So many things you can do with that kit that didn't have to involve decorating eggs necessarily.
A close up of the front.
Some more of the die cut flowers. I love this die! and I love my SU! Big Shot!
I dimensionalized some of my flowers. Just push them into a foam pad with a stylus and you can dimensionalize them. Just a little trick I learned from my good friend Diana Hnat!
The eggs from Hsiao-hui were really gorgeous. I think everyone really enjoyed doing the Easter Eggs.
Below is the baskets and blooms die for the Big Shot. It is a Shelli Gardner (cofounder and CEO and demonstrator extraordinaire!) exclusive die that you can only get from SU!

Baskets & Blooms Stampin' Up! Bigz Xl Die	113484
Price: $39.95
You can use this Shelli's Signature Collection Baskets & Blooms die to create adorable 3-D baskets and flowers from any piece of card stock or Designer Series paper. Cut tags and flowers from contrasting paper and decorate with Stampin’ Glitter or brads, then layer using Stampin’ Dimensionals and adhere to your basket for extra embellishment.

CUTEST EASTER BUNNY IN TOWN!

Hsiao-hui Lin demonstrated this cute adorable bunny at class last week. It is one of the best projects we have ever done. She made it using the Sweet Pea Paper Pack and Sweet Pea felt flowers and embellishment pack, lots of different SU! punches, sweet treat cups and jelly beans that were super yummy.
Hsiao-hui shows that the sweet treat cup is covered by the bunny's tail and you can fill the cup with the jelly beans.
The project was so easy to do because Hsiao-hui precut everything!
Hsiao-hui is deciding on what embellishments to add.


Janet Aker is having a little too much fun making her Easter Bunny!

While Pat Nuckels is very serious about her punching techniques!
Back to serious business for Janet Aker and Linda Murphy our hostess!
Paulette Hall shows the finished projects in the mini Easter Basket I'll show either tomorrow or the next day. The basket is made from the baskets and blooms exclusive SU! die.
It wouldn't be the same if Amanda Hindle wasn't having fun!

This is certainly one of our best projects.
Miss Rita Gorrick shows off her finished bunny! Dale Trott is busy working in the background!
One last look from Hsiao-hui! Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's on it's way!