Happy Sunday!

I finally sat down and broke open a few of my new stamp sets.  Today's cards showcase the set Inspired by Nature. What a cool set!  I really, really like the images and the sentiments that come with it.   The first card is made by applying markers directly to the stamp and then spritzing it lightly with water.  I'm sure this technique has a technical name, but I don't recall what it is.  This gives a really interesting watercolor look to the image and softens it up a little.  After the flowers were stamped, I added some of the grass in Close to Cocoa ink.  If you are not familiar with this stamp set yet, this is a double-sided set with the grass on one side and the flowers on the other.  It's a large stamp that is nearly the same size as a background stamp.

It's hard to see in the picture, but after I stamped the grass, I inked up my retired Linen background stamp with Going Grey ink and applied directly on top of the image.  This took away the stark white color from the Whisper White card stock. I also sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink.

For the sentiment I used the new large oval punch and sponged the edges with CC ink.  I still had some leftover 1/4" chocolate chip polyester ribbon (showcased in the previous mini catalog) to tie it around the card.  I used the Sanded background stamp on More Mustard card stock and adhered the stamped image on it and Old Olive designer paper. 

The next card was a lot of fun to make.  I make a lot of trifold cards and I love using designer paper with them. This is new paper called Georgia Peach.  It's gorgeous!  I embossed the image in white embossing powder along two panels and then stamped a sentiment from the Level 1 hostess set Best Yet on the last panel.  I've included a few different views.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

Mary Ann

Things have improved dramatically since my my last post.  The rain actually stopped for awhile on my birthday allowing me to have an absolutely wonderful day. My husband took me out for an awesome dinner with some of our friends and I received some lovely gifts.  My daughter snapped a quick pic of Rob and I before we headed out the door:

But, before we left, she gave me a BEE-U-TEE-FUL bouquet of flowers.  Lookey here:

Aren't they lovely?  My kids rock. The breakfast nook smelled good for a week with these on the table!

In addition to some nice gifts, I also received some awesome birthday cards from a few friends of mine.  The first one is from Amber.  Amber is one of my newest downline and a wonderful friend.  She is an art teacher and has a natural ability to make her cards beautiful.  Her card uses a new set called Bella's Bloom. 

The next card is from my friend, Paula.  Paula and I go WAY back.  She was one of my college roommates 20+ years ago.  She is also a cherished member of my downline.  If you look closely you can see how pretty and sparkly the center of the card is where she embossed with Iridescent Ice.  And, what about those pearls?  So pretty! 

And last, but certainly not least, is a very cool card from my friend, Pam.  Pam used the grid technique (I think that's what it's called) and then embossed the card with clear embossing powder.  She used the stamp set True Friend.  The colors on this are awesome!  I can't imagine how long this card took her to make, but I sure do appreciate it! 

I had fun playing with my new stamps and supplies and will start posting them tomorrow.  Thanks for spending some time with me today!

Mary Ann

Dear God, it's me Margaret Mary Ann.

Let me begin by thanking you for the UPS delivery late last night.  The fact that the UPS man had to wear galoshes and a slicker did not prevent him from delivering my long-awaited Stampin' Up! order - for that I am grateful.  I am also grateful that UPS wrapped my box in plastic - thick plastic - sealed at both ends.  Had it not been for that extra effort, all of my new items from Stampin' Up!'s new Fall/Winter catalog would have been ruined.  "Ruined?", you ask.  Yes, ruined.  Why?  Because it's been raining for days - non-stop, without ceasing, and frankly I'm getting a bit tired of it.  It hasn't exactly been 40 days and 40 nights worth of rain, BUT IT FEELS LIKE IT!  This tropical storm named Fay?  Yea, we'd like her to go away, please.  I'm pretty sure you have the power do to that.  This whole week has been a wash-out (no pun intended).  Schools closed (again today) businesses, restaurants, even the mail didn't get delivered every day.  Oh, and don't get me started about the dogs.  No walks, no frolicking in the sun and no pool-side sun bathing.  They're starting to think they've done something wrong.  They're YOUR creatures, God!  Can you give 'em a break, please?  If you intend for the rain to continue, please send Noah and his ark to East Orlando.  I have a bunch of stamping supplies that need to be saved. 

I don't mean to complain, God, but today is my forty-something birthday (I'm assuming you knew that).  A bit of sun would have been the best present in the whole wide world.  To go outside and feel the warm, gentle Florida breeze on my face while basking in the sun would have been perfect.  I guess I can still go outside and feel a breeze, but it won't be warm and it certainly wouldn't be gentle.  I'd probably get smacked by a palm frond as a result of the 40 MPH wind gusts.   But, through all of this God, I'm still grateful.  Thank you for the fact that I actually have another birthday and that I can spend it with the dogs as we anxiously wait for the Sunshine state to live up to its name.

Love, Mary Ann

Things are really wet in Orlando and surrounding areas.  I mean really wet.  We are blessed that Tropical Storm Fay never reached hurricane status, but she isn't leaving us without making her mark.  My area isn't nearly as bad as some of the areas to the southeast of me, like Cocoa Beach and Melbourne, but Jeez Louise!  Enough with the rain and wind already!  I can't wait for the sun to return over the next few days.  We definitely dodged a bullet.

In my last post I mentioned that I had some cool pictures of the hurricanes that came through Orlando in 2004. I wasn't able to locate all of them but my absolute favorite picture is this one below.  This is the boulevard that connects to my street.  It was so bizarre to see dozens and dozens of trees all pulled up at the roots and leaning against the wall.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of damage to my area as a result of Hurricane Charley, but it sure did give us some cool photo opportunities!  We're just glad we haven't had to endure anything like this since.  If I can locate the other pictures, I'll post them later.

Yesterday all schools were closed in addition to a lot of businesses and restaurants.  I was getting a bit claustrophobic but it did provide for a good stamping opportunity.  A friend of mine just had her 4th baby and I needed to get a card in the mail.  Historically, I never had to make a lot of baby cards so I don't own any baby stamps from SU, but I do have a few of the clear stamps made by Fiskars so that's what I used on the card.  I also used my Swiss Dots embossing folder and my new scallop punch from SU.  I'm not sure who makes the designer paper but it matched perfectly with the Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink card stock!

Thanks for stopping by.

Mary Ann

Today is the first day of school for students in Orlando.  I can already hear mother's rejoicing as they run into the street dancing with joy and delight.  It's been a long, hot summer in Florida but we made it through.  Today began my daughter's senior year of high school.  I can't believe it.  She was excited, happy but also a bit nervous.  She wasn't in the mood for a long photo session that I usually make the kids endure, but Rachel did appease me and give me one shot - yep, just one.  Here it is...my girl on her first day of her senior year.  I'm so proud of her!   Isn't she beautiful?  I wasn't quite as anxious to have her return to school as other mothers were simply because Rachel has been my sidekick this summer.  We've had fun and the truth is, I'll miss having her home during the day <sigh>.  I look forward to dinner tonight and hearing all about her day.

In the meantime, I have a few things I need to do today in case a little tropical storm named Fay decides to become a hurricane.  We're prepared for the most part, I just need to bring in the patio furniture and other loose items that become dangerous projectiles in high winds.  We've been through this before when we managed to endure three back-to-back-to-back hurricanes in 2004.  Every Floridian has a story or two about THAT summer!  I have some really cool pictures from that year.  I'll post them over the next day or two if I can locate them on the other computer.

I have a card for you today.  This uses one of the new Level 1 hostess sets in the new Stampin' Up! catalog called Serene Spring.   I broke out my Watercolor Crayons and Aquapainters to color the images.  Stampin' Up!'s watercolor paper makes coloring so easy.  The colors blend so nicely.  I've tried other watercolor paper and I honestly have not found one that is as nice as this.

Enjoy your Monday.  Thanks for spending some of your time with me today.

Mary Ann

Happy Saturday!

This is one of the cards I made yesterday while I tried to use up the oodles of retired designer paper I have laying around.  I used some scrap pieces of the Dots and Dashesdesigner paper that Stampin' Up! carried a few years ago.  I really like the color combination of Pink Passion and Pumpkin Pie.  Don't these colors just scream, "Happy!"?

After covering the chip board flower with Pink Passion craft ink, I added a build-a-brad to the center.  The flower in the center is a rub-on from the Eastern Elegance pack.  A little help from a few brads, a bit of dimension with a Cuttlebug folder and some polka dot ribbon this card was ready to mail!  The finished size is 5.25 x 5.25.

Time to go hang out with the family.  Thanks for spending some of your time with me today.

Mary Ann

I was feeling "crafty" today or at least pretending to be.  It was quiet around here with my daughter out and about with her friends on her final weekday of freedom before school begins on Monday.  This will be her senior year and she is more than excited to be "top dog" on campus.  My son is still enjoying time with relatives in Michigan and doesn't return to school in Boston until September 6th.  I can't tell you the last time it's been so peaceful around here.  Ahhh...life is good.  I was ready to spend some quality time with my stamps and ink.

While I would have loved to have pulled out a new stamp set from Stampin' Up!'s Fall/Winter Idea Book, unfortunately for me, my order still hasn't shipped yet.  The earliest I'll have some fresh rubber in my hands would be next Friday night.   I hate waiting.  Not that I was rebelling or anything, but the three cards I made today all had some retired product on it.  The stamp sets are current, just some of the paper was retired.  I have loads and loads of retired designer series paper.  I'm not kidding.  I could stamp and scrapbook for weeks and still not use all of it.  I thought I should use some of it up to make room for  the new stuff.

Today's card uses the stamp set Always.  This is such a pretty set and I'm so glad it is in the new catalog.  I used Soft Sky and River Rock card stock and ink (retired) in addition to the retired designer paper Le Jardin.  I love this color combination.  It's so soft and feminine.  The sentiment is from the set called Fundamental Phrases.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

Mary Ann

It's no secret by now that Stampin' Up!'s new Fall/Winter Idea Book and catalog was released on Monday and that thousands of demonstrators strategically placed themselves at or near their computer so they could be one of the first to place their order from the new catalog at precisely 2pm EST.  I was not successful in being one of the first, but I did have my order in within the first hour or so.  But, now the painful process of waiting begins.  Due to the influx of orders, shipping times double or triple what they would normally be.  I checked earlier and my order hadn't even been picked.  Add 5 days of travel time to Orlando via UPS and it appears I have another long week of finger-tapping ahead of me.  Dang it!

I wasn't able to attend the Stampin' Up! convention this year which also means I don't have access to all of the cool stamp sets they received for going (double dang it!).  So, for today's project I pulled out a set called Elegant Notes.  I bought this set last year for nostalgic purposes.  I was musically inclined in my youth and this set brought back some nice memories.  Can you tell what I made?  It's kind of hard to tell in the picture - it's a post-it note holder!

I shouldn't complain too much about my SU order because I was able to pre-order the new In Color ink and paper along with a few other things including the new Bella Rose designer paper a few weeks ago.  This post-it holder uses Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red card stock in addition to Riding Hood Red ink. 

I added a couple of magnets on the back so it could be put on a refrigerator.  I didn't take a picture of the back so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mary Ann

It's been kind of a long week.  I had a 24 hour bug early in the week and then my daughter had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted on Thursday.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) this was my daughter's first "real" procedure of any type.  She has never been seriously ill, never broken a bone or required a stitch.  So, to say there was some anxiety with this is an understatement.  We were all so hopeful that this would go smoothly.  Thankfully, the procedure went quickly and without incident.  It was the 15 hours following the procedure that went down hill.  I can only assume the combination anesthesia and the pain killers a few hours later created what turned out to be...uh, let's just say a "stomach turning day".  What a nightmare.  On top of the nausea, she blacked out twice and dropped to the floor quicker than I have ever seen anyone fall.  Thank God she was okay.  I was so happy when that day was over - and so was she.  I was just praying the next day would be better.  And it was.  So, when I say, "I would have rather been stamping", uh...yeah...I really mean it.  I was really longing to be in my happy place.

So, today's card was made to make me happy.  I wanted to see pretty things and think happy thoughts!  I pulled out a couple of Stampin' Up!'s new In Colors, my Ginormous Flowers stamp set and a few accessories.  Tangerine Tango card stock is the base of this card with a piece of Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip used as accents.  I also used Aida Cloth background stamp.

The actual layout of this card happened totally by accident.  I was intending to have the flowers straight across or possibly along the right side.  While I was playing around with it, I accidentally bumped the card and the flowers tilted off to the side.  "Hmmmm", I thought.  "That looks kind of cool like that.".  So there you have it - my first unintentional card sketch.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.  I'm going to go think of more happy things.

Mary Ann

I found some time to play with another new stamp set called Wow Flowers in addition to some of the new Stampin' Up! In Colors.  While surfing a few of my favorite stamping sites, I came across this card that I wanted to case.  I really like this color combination and this is one of my favorite layouts.  Instead of using the circle scallop punch like the original poster, I pulled out my Pretties Kit and dyed one of the flowers with Baja Breeze instead.  I love this color!  The ink took to the flower really well and looks so pretty in person.  I also used the new scallop punch to create the straight scallops in the middle.  Creating scallops is now SO easy.  This is a great tool to invest in if you like this look.

On a completely different topic, today was the release of Shelli Gardner's new blog.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Shelli, she is the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!  As a way to share her creativity and passion for Stampin' Up! products she launched www.soshelli.com this morning.  Be sure to check it out and get ready to be inspired.  I suspect she'll be posting some pretty cool projects in the days and months ahead.

Have a great night.

Mary Ann