Headed North to Oak Harbor

It's Halloween!  Hope you are all ready for your Trick or Treaters.  We don't get any at all since we live so far out in the country down a long driveway.  I do miss them, but will get to see some tonight as I am heading north to do a workshop with some long time friends up in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.  I will spend the night just south of Seattle at my daughter's, Lisa who is my upline in Stampin' Up! and a fun person to visit with.  Her husband is a hoot and they make me feel very welcome.  So today you just get one of the projects from Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch and tomorrow the same. 

Stamps

Ornamental Pine

Paper

Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, All is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper

Ink

Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories

Labels Collection Framelits, Regals Candy Dots, Cherry Cobbler 1" Sheer Linen Ribbon, Sponge Daubers

This card was designed by Lisa Hensley and I believe I found it on Pinterest.  As I've mentioned before, my artistic side is very sporadic so I rely on other demonstrators to pull me through my stressful times and most other days too.  Hope you have a fun time with your Halloween activities.  Hugs, Sherron

School workshop plus another Simply Stampin' project

It was another busy day getting ready for my next round of stamp clubs and workshops.  Today was my monthly Olympic School group get together.  I just love the teachers and staff who really appreciate the time I spend with them.  They always love the projects and appreciate the break from class prep and grades.  Since some of them also attend my other classes, I always have to come up with new projects for them.  I cased a bunch of ideas for the new workshop and will post pics once I get finished with them.  In the meantime, here is another of the Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch Projects.  I'll finish with them over the weekend and put this month's Aerubbecisor swap cards in next week.  They were terrific.

Stamps

Four Feathers (available as a bundle), Good Greetings

Paper

Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold Glimmer Paper

Ink

Jet Black Stazon, Encore Gold Pad

Accessories

Feathers Framelits Dies, Gold Embossing Powder, Metallic Gold Baker's Twine, Very Vintage Designer Buttons, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Sponge Daubers

This wonderful card was designed by Tami White, one of our top demonstrators.  I wasn't sure if I really was excited about the Four Feathers set, but the more I have played with it, the more I am loving it.  It is especially good for masculine cards.  Stay tuned for more of the Lunch Bunch cards.  Have a great Halloween!  I'm headed to Oak Harbor to do a workshop with a long time customer and friend who moved there a year ago.  It is a long drive, but I will overnight with my daughter and direct upline so it will be fun to visit.  Hugs, Sherron

Madness Tuesday

Yesterday was my crazy day of the month.  I call it Madness Tuesday.  It starts with preparing lunch and dinner for two groups.  The Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch arrives around 11 AM and each of the ladies brings a little something to share for lunch.  I made a huge pot of White Bean Turkey Chili in the crock pot for both groups and a large Pumpkin Praline cake.  Susan brought some wonderful cheese bread, Connie brought a yummy vegie salad, Meg brought some apples and Lila added a package of fun little blueberry muffins.  We did not lack for food.  They all got to make my five Simply Stampin' cards that I cased from some of our wonderful demonstrators before I left for Kauai.  I shared one on Monday and will add the rest this week.  Here is a picture of the fun.

Before the last person left from this class, my downline group started to arrive for my monthly Aerubbecisor dinner gathering.  We ended up with eleven ladies coming to play.  I added some garlic Artisan bread and a Caesar salad to the soup and dessert plus a little red wine.  All the ladies got to make as many of my five projects as they wanted to plus Laura brought a cool Christmas project for her shoebox swap and Michelle brought two projects, one using the June Paper Pumpkin kit which I loved since I had never made the project.  Her second project was a simple card using the For All Things set from the holiday mini.  It was a fun laughing group and the last people left around 9 PM.  Long day, but very fun.  Here is the gang!

The projects were very fun to create and everyone seemed to enjoy the creativity and fellowship.  Here are all of the projects that we created plus some show and tell samples from Jana for Paper Pumpkin alternative ideas.  I'll post more individual pics with the supplies over the next several days.  Plus there were lots of fun swap cards and those will be posted next week. 

 Lots of great ideas.  You can check out Jana's on her blog, Sweetlyinked.blogspot.com.  Stay tuned for lots of card ideas in the next several weeks.  Hugs, Sherron

A Great Week In Paradise and getting ready for Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch

We arrived home from Kauai late last night and spent today unpacking, doing laundry, picking up the puppy and shopping for tomorrow's events.  We had a wonderful time doing the Fern Grotto which we had not been to since 1973.  There was a marvelous Botanical Garden dedicated to saving the endangered plants and flowers almost wiped out by the pineapple and sugar cane farming of the last century and a half.  Lots of different botanical specimens were imported as well as animals that wiped out the more sensitive plants that had been growing in Hawaii for many centuries.  The self guided tour was awesome and the rain held off the whole time we were walking probably because we carried umbrellas.  Here are some wonderful pics of the Princeville, Hanalei, Hae'na area of the island.

 Kilauea Lighthouse

Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge

 Wailua Waterfall

 Fern Grotto

Bird of Paradise at Lunalili National Botanical Garden

Lunalili National Tropical Botanical Garden

Now it is back to reality and time to get ready for my October Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch and Aerubbecisor gathering on Tuesday, October 28.  I prepared five different projects for both groups to make tomorrow.  They were all cased from Stampin' Up! or other demonstrators with lots more time and creativity than I could come up with before heading to Kauai.  The first one is a project from Stampin' Up! and uses a set that we received at convention.  I have only used it once so I was thrilled when SU posted this sample on line and I had all of the paper and accessories to make it.  It would make a great birthday card or a best wishes or good luck card.  The set is so perfect to celebrate anybody.

Stamps

Amazing Birthday

Paper

Whisper White, Garden Green, Gold Soiree Designer Series Paper

Ink 

Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral Markers

Accessories

Mini Metallic Clothespins, Whisper White Bakers Twine

I'll have lots more fun photos after tomorrows events so stay tuned and don't forget to check back for the weekly specials.  Also, there are only four more days to sign up to try out being a demonstrator for six months of free designer paper and $125 of free product for just $99.  Hugs, Sherron

Enjoying a warm rainy week.

We arrived in Kauai on Sunday to torrential rain and wind, but it was very warm.  Hurricane Ana was passing to the west so we headed to Princeville to our resort.  We were greeted with leis, but since our condo wasn't ready, we headed out to do some shopping and had a great lunch at Tiki Iniki where we watched the 49ers trounced by the Broncos.  Monday was another rainy day with a few sun breaks so we drove to Hanalei where most of South Pacific was filmed.  The beach was almost non existent as rolling waves were still high and there was a ton of debris.  We walked the two little shopping centers picking up some steaks for dinner and a loaf of Okuhara, a type of fish cake that Tom is especially fond of.  We had a light lunch at a fun restaurant called Kalypso and headed to the Kilauea Lighthouse.  It was closed on Monday so we toured the two little shopping centers in Kilauea picking up some fun souvenirs.  I love quaint kitchen gourmet items so I found a beautiful carved bamboo salt holder and five different types of sea salt.

Tuesday was a gloriously sunny day so I spent the morning by the pool toasting my body and getting some great color.  In the afternoon we headed back to the lighthouse and spent some time touring the grounds which is one of the National Bird and Wildlife refuges in the area.  We took lots of pictures, but I still can't get them to download.  I wish I had never updated my iPad.  The lighthouse was very interesting with some unique history. It is no longer in operation but very well maintained.  After that, it was the Lighthouse Bistro for happy hour pupus and Mai Tais.

Wednesday, we spent the morning attending a Wyndham Club presentation where we were gifted with an Amex gift card for our time.  As it was still rainy and overcast, we headed back to Hanalei for a little more shopping and lunch at another cute little restaurant called Bouchons Hanalei.  If you follow me on Facebook, you have gotten to see all of our beer pictures as well as the places we have been visiting.

Today, it has been pouring down rain so we plan to head back to Lihue to go to Costco and a restaurant that caters Alaska Airlines flights called Kauai Pasta.  We have plans to visit several botanical gardens plus I want to do the Fern Grotto tour and the waterfalls.  We loved it when we did it back in the 70s and 80s.  More to come.   Hugs, Sherron

Busy, Busy Week

It has been a crazy week as I raced to prepare projects for Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch and a new workshop plus do bazaar goodies for two events in early November and December.  And I had a bunch of packages to mail from my retired stamp sales on Ebay.  We head out on vacation tomorrow and so everything had to be prepared early.  It is always nice to get away from the wet and overcast skies although this year we may not be able to escape them.  The temperature in Hawaii will be warmer, but they are being brushed by a hurricane as I write so not expecting lots of sunshine.  I'll try to do a little blogging while I'm gone as I always take my Ipad and Iphone, but I'm still having trouble getting the pictures to download on both gadgets.


I've been working on my occasions tree in the entry and I have a few more pumpkins and leaves to make, but it is looking pretty cute.  This is my first year to make all of the ornaments for the October tree.  Usually I just put leaves and some tissue pumpkins on it, but the Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlit just asked for something to made from it and I had to create pumpkins and witches along with the leaves from the leaf die.  Isn't it cute?

 I just love all of the fun things that you can make with the Curvy Die.  You will be seeing lots more of this in the months to come, but here is a closeup of the pumpkin and witch with the supplies to make each.

 Stamps

Work of Art

Paper 

Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive Cardstock

Ink 

Pumpkin Pie

Accessories

Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Dies, Fun Fall Framelits Dies

Paper

Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, Whisper White Cardstock

Ink

Basic Black and Mossy Meadow Markers, Mossy Meadow Pad

Accessories

Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Dies, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Owl Builder Punch, Pennants Die (retired), 

1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon

The witches hair is made with the burlap ribbon by cutting off one side and carefully pulling the strands out.  I just love her.  She looks the way I feel on many days.  Hope these made you happy by looking at them.  Try making them.  They are super easy.  Wait until you see the Santas and Snowmen.  

More to come from Hawaii.  Have a great week.  Hugs, Sherron

Impressions Obsession Stamp Club

Last night it was my Obsession Impression Stamp Club and it went really late so there was no time to do my blog.  The ladies were so much fun and hostess, Cindy brought a really fun little Halloween packet for us all.  Pat, who does such wonderful gifts for the bus drivers from the school that she retired from, Beacon Hill, also brought a really cute treat inspired by my hostess appreciation project of tealight candles wrapped in Washi Tape.  Aren't they cute?

Today I delivered lots of orders and all of the cards that we donated to the Children and Family Services  group at DSHS and the CASA office.  They were very appreciated.  Now it is time to get ready for the next event, which is Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch on October 28th.  Oh, did I mention that my hubby and I are headed to Kauai next week so you may get a few postings, but I plan to take a vacation from stamping and Stampin' Up! for a little while.  I do get a little burnt out on posting cards all of the time.  Hugs, Sherron

Stampaholics Anonymous

Today was the monthly Stampaholics Anonymous and was such a fun time.  After delivering the Thank You cards to DSHS and CASA that we made for World Cardmaking Day, I found out that they really needed birthday cards so I put out a bunch of designer paper, cardstock, stamps, ink, accessories.  I told all of my stampers that they could use any of my stuff to make cards for themselves and for our charities, just like they did last week.  One for them and one to be donated.  It was a challenge for them as they had to figure out the design instead of just following what I put out.  It was amazing.  Normally most of them stay for a couple of hours and are done.  Today, I had most of them here until 5 PM.  I was so proud of them all.  They just kept pumping out the cards.  As they finished them, I would stamp an envelope and add them to the pile.  While they did that, I sat and went through boxes of birthday cards that I had stockpiled and finished cards, added envelopes and increased our pile of cards.  Look at what we achieved today.

What an awesome achievement.  I didn't count the actual cards, but we must have close to 70 cards to donate again.  We will continue to do this at each monthly Stampaholics for the next year at least.  Maybe I will get rid of the huge stash of retired stuff that I have before I die.  I decided that I don't want to win anymore.  Here are the awesome ladies who came and worked so hard today.  Thanks to Connie, Patty, Verna, Judy and granddaughter, Haven and Leslie for a wonderful afternoon of sharing.

Here is the pic of the two tables of STUFF that I put out for them to use to play and create with.

I hope you put the second Sunday of the month on your calendar and come help us create some wonderful cards to donate.  We would love to have you come and play with us.  Hugs, Sherron

Home from camping and October's thank you note

We are home from our two days at the Washington coast camping in our fifth wheel.  The weather was pretty iffy and we came home through torrential rain.  Yesterday was pretty nice as we ran around Astoria, taking our little dog, Brandy to the vet, did our twice monthly Costco shopping, stopped in at Home Depot for things to finish our garage bathroom, visited our favorite seafood market for some great fish to bring home to the freezer and had two fun meals, a late breakfast at Pig n Pancake and an early dinner at Fort George.  The temperature had really dropped from this last couple of weeks and it was so damp that I stayed inside as much as possible as the damp weather is death on my arthritis.  We did get two great mornings in the hot tub at the RV park and I read two good books.  Here is an indication of what we faced as we went down Ocean Beach Hiway from Longview to Ilwaco where our RV park was located.  If you look very carefully you can see the Astoria Megler bridge through the dense fog.

My husband loves to go to Fort George as it is one of the many local craft breweries in Oregon that makes great beer.  He is of Czech descent and loves good beer.  Here he is enjoying his favorite Fort George beer called Vortex IPA.  This is a special one made with fresh hops that only is served seasonally.

So on to some stamping.  Before I left for the coast, I delivered my first batch of orders for October so that meant I had to design a new little thank you note.  I didn't have a lot of time before we left town so this is the cute little card that I came up with.  Just love the For All Things stamp set and, in keeping with my goal to use up as much of the retired accessories and paper this year, it also includes some retired metallic brads.  It is pretty simple as all of my little thank yous are supposed to be.

Stamps

For All Things

Paper

Cajun Craze, Whisper White

 Ink

Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey

Accessories

Metallic Brads (retired)

Tomorrow is Stampaholics Anonymous and we will start to work on getting some birthday cards for the at risk children in the area.  Hope I will see some of you here to play.  Hugs, Sherron

The last of the Aerubbecisor swap cards

Since I knew that it would be difficult to do much blogging while playing at the coast, I decided it would be good to finish up the last of the swap cards before it is time to do the next one.  I asked my good friend and fellow demonstrator, Jana Gann, to host the papercrafting day at the library today since I was going to be out of town.  Hopefully she will post a few pics to her blog at sweetlyinked.blogspot.com.  Since I only have my Ipad with me for the coast trip, I can post words, but haven't figured out why it doesn't want to let me post pics since I updated its operating system.  Eventually, I'll figure it out.  So here are the remaining pictures of our September swap.  They were all so fun and hopefully, a source of inspiration for trying some new ideas.

 Star Bright and Beautiful Card by Wileen Carlton

 Oval Poinsettia Merry and Bright Card by Laura Laures

 Gorgeous Grunge Happy Big Day Chalk Talk Card by Darlene Almer

Four Feathers Give Thanks Card by Verna Almer-Tidd

More to come from the Washington and Oregon Coast.  Hugs, Sherron

Wild Cards, Donations and more swaps

Yesterday was a very crazy day and the blog never happened.  Several challenges in my business meant a phone call to Stampin' Up! and some time on the phone with the wonderful demonstrator support agent Jodie.  She solved all of my challenges and I learned a lot as usual.

Then it was time to create my little thank you notes for this months delivered club and workshop orders.  After that I did a load of errands including delivering the two sets of thank you cards from World Cardmaking Day.  The first batch went to our local DSHS office to the wonderful people who volunteer their time to sit with at risk children while a suitable foster home is found for them.  They were so grateful and asked if we did it again, that we might make some birthday cards as they have no budget to send cards to their foster children.  I promised that our Stampaholics ladies would get right on it so come this Sunday and help us start a batch of childrens cards.  Here is a picture of Jeanmarie Moore accepting the large packet of thank you cards.  She insisted I had to be in the picture, too.

Then it was on to CASA, with a group of volunteers who work as temporary guardians for another batch of at risk youth.  They were also thrilled to receive the cards and indicated they, too could use some birthday help.  One of our avid stampaholics and Stampin' Up! demonstrators, Verna is a volunteer with them and turned us on to this wonderful group of people.  Here are Corrie, Beth and Rene, who also were thrilled with the packet of thank you cards.

Then it was on to the library to make arrangements for our papercrafting day on Friday, mail a granddaughter birthday gift for granddaughter, Brooke who turns 23 on Monday, pay a few bills before heading across the Columbia River to Rainier, Oregon to pick up the Olympic School order and deliver to all of the gals.  I made it home just ahead of the Wild Cards ladies for their monthly stamp club.  They are all such a hoot.  I enjoy my clubs so very much.  They stayed for several hours and seemed to really enjoy the projects.

I'm headed out this afternoon for the Washington coast to enjoy our last few days of Indian Summer.  The weather is supposed to turn next week to our usual fall monsoons.  I'll have some pictures to share when I get back of the beautiful sandy beaches of Long Beach.  We will spend a little time in Astoria and get some fresh seafood at our favorite shop near the mouth of the river.  Stay tuned for more on our escapades.

Here are a couple more of the pics of our Aerubbecisor swaps.  I'll finish them up tomorrow.  Have a great weekend.  Hugs, Sherron

 Floral Frames Thank You Card by Karen Ross

Holiday Home Season Greetings Card by Bobbi Hartsell

Fuzzy Pebbles and some more swaps

Today was the first Tuesday so it was my time to travel the hour north and east to Mossyrock (Fuzzy Pebbles....get it).  This stamp club has been going on for more than thirteen years although none of the same people who started it still belong.  Most of the current members have been with me for the past almost nine years and are a wonderful group of ladies. They enjoyed doing the Wondrous Wreath card, the Holiday Home one and the Ornamental Wreath screen card although I did hear a few swear words.  My hostess, Sharon Fisher did make the fun Curvy Box Thinlit Witch and I made the cards for one of our members who had a family crisis at the last minute and was devastated that she couldn't attend.

Here are a few more swap cards from my wonderful downline group.  Hope you are enjoying the creativity of my group.

 Floral Frames Thank You Card by Karen Ross

 Holiday Home Season Greetings by Bobbi Hartsell

Star Framelits Bright and Beautiful Card by Wileen Carlton

So many fun projects to share.  I did a fun swap card for my card swapping workshops so I will share that one later this week.  The challenge is to choose a retired accessory (ribbon, brads or whatever) and then match it with some retired paper and a stamp set I have hardly used and make a great swap card with it.  Stay tuned to see what I did this month.  Hugs, Sherron

Earlibirds and more swaps

It was such a fun day with my Earlibird Stamp Club.  These crazy ladies are here at 10 AM every first Monday ready to stamp and laugh.  They are all in their 60s, 70s and 80s and a total hoot.   The hostess always bring a main dish...this time Patty Blayney brought her world famous home canned tuna egg salad sandwiches and we added our side dishes to her offering.  She has canned around 80 pounds of tuna in the last several weeks.  I made a couple of my wonderful apple caramel crisp with our freshly picked apples and everything was so good.  The ladies had so much fun making my fall wreath card, the holiday home fall birthday card and the Christmas Ornamental Pine screen card that Dawn Olchefske taught.  And they cracked up over the pumpkins and witches made with the Curvy Box Die.  Such a fun time was had by all.

Here are a few more of the fun swap cards from this months Aerubbecisor swap.  The ladies are so talented.

 Banner Framelits with Endless Birthday Wishes by Wendy Droke

 Star Framelits with Gorgeous Grunge by Shanon Boyns

Apothecary Accents Lovely as a Tree Fright Night Card by Jana Gann

They do a great job with a simple theme, don't they.  It is so fun to see what they come up with each month.  More tomorrow.  Have a great evening.  Hugs, Sherron

September Aerubbecisor Swaps

Today was a nice quiet day as I caught up on some of my projects for the week.  Cardstock was cut for tomorrow's first of three stamp clubs this week and I managed to get some boxes of mementos and old cards cleaned out in the attic before putting up more insulation prior to sheetrocking our bonus room.  I moved a bunch of stuff out of the garage to the storage area for next year's Terry Taylor garage sale and couldn't believe how empty our garage looks now.  There is actually room to put two cars in the garage. 

We decided to go camping later this week to Long Beach as the gorgeous weather is continuing and it may be the last chance of the year for walking on the beach in the sunshine.  So hubby made reservations and then put six new retired stamp sets on eBay for sale.

Here are the first two cards that I received from my awesome downline last week for my monthly swap.  All of the projects were wonderful and I will add them to my blog this week as I have just the three stamp clubs and then get ready to head to Kauai in two weeks.

This month's theme was any Framelits or Thinlits.

 This card was done by Lacey Auvigne with the Deco Labels Collection Framelits.

 This fun card was done by Melissa Martinez with the Label Card Thinlit and the the Perfect Blend stamp set.  Love the spilled coffee stains on the card.

Don't I have some great artists in my Aerubbecisor group.  You too could be a part of my wonderful bunch of ladies.  There's a great special this month.  Hugs, Sherron

World Cardmaking Day

It was a nice group of ladies for World Cardmaking Day.  We had such fun playing with the five thank you cards that I had prepared or cased and there was a joyous feeling among all of the stampers.  With the cards that were brought to be donated and the cards that everyone made throughout the day, we have almost 70 cards with envelopes for the two groups that we have chosen to be our recipients.  They both work with at risk children and are so to be commended for keeping these children safe and secure.  Here are the other two cards which the ladies made.

 Stamps

For All Things

Paper

Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper

Ink

Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede

Accessories

Daffodil Delight 1/4" Cotton Ribbon

Stamps

Fabulous Four

Paper

Basic Gray, Hello Honey, Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack

Ink  

Basic Gray

Accessories

Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder, Hello Honey Stitched Satin Ribbon, Silver Metallic Baker's Twine, 

Basic Metal Buttons

Tomorrow I will start sharing the great swap cards that my downline group made for this month's swap.  I have such a great group of ladies in my Stampin' Up! group.  You, too, could be a member of this group and get free packages of Designer Series Paper every month for the next six months.   Hugs, Sherron