Happy Memorial Day!

I've been having fun with the July Fourth stamp set and what better day to share two samples using it than on Memorial Day!!  I love making cards for July 4th anyway, as my family will tell you.  I usually send them all a card celebrating this important holiday.  This stamp set makes me happy, so I've been playing with it all week.  I won't show you yet what we are doing in our June classes with this set, but here are a couple of other samples to share.

This first one was in consideration for my swap for the Smudge Bunch Stamp Club June swap.  I love the new punch I used for the border.  I used the wide double-stitched red ribbon down the center with a narror blue ribbon on that.  I liked this one but there was just too much white on it so I decided to design another one.

This was the one I finally came up with for my swap.  To get that background, I cut a piece of white cardstock 4" x 5-1/4" and stamped the fireworks all over it.  Can you see the silver smaller ones in there?  Then on the back of the piece,  I marked each opposite short edge 1-1/2" from the edge and made a sort of diagonal cut from one mark to the other.  This means I could make two cards from the one sheet of stamped white cardstock.  Neat idea, huh?  Saves on paper.  My customers will tell you I love saving cardstock.  Must be a throw-back from my quilting and sewing days when I always tried to save fabric!  Anyway, I hope the ladies participating in the swap will like this one!   

Thanks for visiting my blog today!  Have a good one!!  Smiles, Laura

The garden and a card....

I said I'd share pictures of our garden--using the term "our" loosely, of course.  It's actually my husband's garden at this point.  He does all the work in it.  I help when he starts bringing the produce to the house to be canned and frozen.  Well, the garden is young so far, but the plants will grow---and so will the weeds.

You can see our small pond in the background of this one.  The grandchildren love the pond!!

The tomatoes are small but ready to stake!

Here's the onions and squash--these are the first two things we are already eating from the garden.

Notice for now there are no weeds.  He has worked hard to have it so clean.  As you can see, it's a BIG garden in two sections--much too big for the two of us.  Hubby loves giving produce to friends so he'll have plenty to share.  I'll show you more pictures when it grows some.

OK, now let's see a card sample.  Remember seeing my strawberry jam last week?  Well, I decided to make a card with strawberries on it.  I saw one by Robbie Rubala and liked it.  She made her large berries using the ornament punch.  I decided to use the Heart and the Heart to Heart punces for my berries, with alittle scissor trimming.  I also used the Small Heart punch for the smaller berries.  I used the Trio Flower punch for the blooms.  The Boho Blossoms and 5-Petal Flower punch made the leaves.

I so wanted a stamp that said Celebrate Spring or Welcome Spring or something like that but could not find one.  So I stamped CELEBRATE from the Celebrate Everything set and punched out the letters for SPRING using the Naturally Serif Strip Die and my Big Shot.  I love that die strip and use it all the time.   I am pleased at how this one turned out.

Thanks for visiting today.  Smiles, Laura

Yummy!

I love spring and all the flowers and fruits that go along with it.  We espcially love strawberries and this week I made 22 pints of strawberry jam!  I just have to show pictures of my beautiful jars of jam.  Some had already headed out the door with friends when I shot this pictures, but you get the idea. 

I had asked my husband to get me 3 gallons of strawberries for jam and around 3:00 in the afternoon in he comes with them.  I would have preferred them first thing in the morning, but appreciated them when I got them.   Needless to say, I had a busy rest of the afternoon, making 6 batches of jam.   The house smelled so good with the smell of the berries!!   This will be good eating this winter!!

Notice the different kinds of jars.  I use some commerical jam jars for jelly for my dad and friends, so the jars don't have to be returned. That one little jar with the white lid on the right looks kind of like a "honey pot".  It was a jar my mother had buttons in and she's been dead since 1981.  See how long I've kept it.  I'm a sucker for neat little jars!!  I just can't stand to throw a little unique jar away! 

More canning and freezing to come as the garden comes in.. My husband loves his garden and spends alot of time in it each summer.  I'll snap some pictures to show you of it!  Thanks for visiting today!!

Smiles, Laura

July 4th is coming up....

Before you know it, we will be celebrating the July 4th holiday!  I love this time of year.  I would not miss the fireworks in our town each year.  We have wonderful fireworks to be such a small community!  I had to purchase the July Fourth stamp set in the new Summer Mini!  This card was made using it and the Red, White and Blue jumbo wheel. 

Yes, I know, I didn't get the Happy 4th of July stamp completely level, but I loved how it looked with the star and the three colors of ribbon anyway, so I had to show this one to you.  I will share more with this set later.  My class in June will be using it for one of our samples, so I'm working on more.

So come back soon and watch more more using this set!  Thanks for viewing today!  Smiles, Laura

Congratulations, Meg!

I just have to brag on Meg.  My first daughter-in-law got her masters today!  She is a very smart woman and has gone to class at night to get her Masters, while working all day and raising two children alone!  Today she is "walking" to receive her degree!! We love her so much and are very proud of her!! Here is a card I made her to go along with her gift.

 I saw a card on Margaret Moody's blog and another on Nancy Riley's so I sort of combined both their ideas to make this card.  I used Sahara Sand and Soft Suede cardstock for it.  The stamp sets used are Starring You and Fundamental Phrases.  And of course I used both of Stampin' Up! star punches.  Yes, I know, it's not very feminine, but I think she'll like it anyway.  Congratulations, Meg!  We are so proud!!  I know you are, too!        Smiles, Laura

It's been awhile....

Sorry I've been away from my blog so long! I've missed you, but  I'd have a busy month and had some fun stamping time..  I do have a couple of cards to share with you today.  Here is a card I made for a swap I'm participating in. 

The tree is from the Forest Friends set.  I first inked it in the Bermuda Bay ink, then colored the tree truck with Soft Suede marker, then I dotted some brown onto the leaves with the marker, and then stamped. "Thinking of You" is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set.

For the background, I cut a rectangle in white and then laid it on the scallop circle die so it would cut the top and right side of the cardstock.  The edges were sponged with Soft Suede, too.

I like how the ribbon looks, too.  I tied it so that the plain back of the ribbon was between the two knot and the dotted side shows on the outside of the knots.    And of course the background designer paper is fron the Thoroughly Modern pack.  This has been my all-time favorite from the big catalog! 

I hope the girls participating in this swap like this samples.

Below is card we did in class this month.  This one is a Fathers Day one!  It uses ALOT of punches but is very fun to make and I think the men will enjoy getting this one.  To make the "peg board", I measured off the background as a grid on the back of the vanilla cardstock and then punches holes where each line intersected.  I smudged Sahara Sand ink on the edges and on the peg board itself as men never have clean peg boards! Ha!

Both the screwdriver handle and the hammer head are made using the Luggage Tag punch that is now retired.  I sure miss this punch! 

I have one more to show you.  It is sure a great man's card--for Fathers Day or a birthday.  Even men without tractors have riding lawnmowers.  They all love "big boy toys".

                          

This is uses the Tag,  scallop circle, the 1-3/8" circle, 1" circle, 1/2" ciurcle, Word Window, Photo Corners, and Heart to Heart punches---yes, ALOT of punches.  I used the Lots of Tags die for the Happy Birthday sign.  The grass at the bottom this one is from the Pocket Silhouettes set.

Well, that's it for today.  I have more new cards I've made to share later.  I won't stay away so long next time.  Have a wonderful weekend!!  Smiles, Laura

Happy Grad....

Today I wanted to share with you a card I made recently for a swap in which I participated.  The idea was to use products from the new Summer Mini catalog.

I used the new Square Lattice embossing folder for the blue background.  I LOVE this embossing folder; it will be a very popular one this summer!  That blue and orange are Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango, which were "In Colors"  last year and will be coming back to us on July 1---Yeah!  I love these colors!!  The stamp set is also from the Summer mini--Happy Grad.  I added the "way to go" from the Starring You set.  And the yellow and yellow dotted ribbon are the In Color Crushed Curry which we'll be loosing on July 1.  I HATE to loose this one because it's a great yellow!

To get the different colored words, I stamped the words 3 times, cut out the Tangerine and Curry words and glued them on top of the Pacific Point ones.  Neat, huh? 

Thanks for visiting my blog today!!  Have a wonderful weekend!  Two of my sisters and their hubbies and my dad and his wife are coming to spend Mothers Day with me.  I can't wait!! But we'll miss our other sister who can't come!!     Smiles, Laura

Celebrating Dillon's 12th birthday...

I wanted to share a picture of grandson Dillon as we celebrated his 12th birthday this weekend. (This was before we lit the candles.)  Isn't he a nice looking young man!! He looks alot older than 12!  He's gotten so tall--I think he's about 5'5" now.  I'm so very proud of him and just had to post his picture. 

We had a good time with the grandchildren---like we always do!!  I'm so glad they live close enough to come visit us.

Now, let's see a card sample.

This sample uses the little stampset, Cheers to You, for the main image.  To get the glasses to shine like real champaign, I unscrewed the top on my new Smooch Spritz Gold Glow and poured alittle into a small paint pot and used my aqua painter to paint the "liquid" in the glass.  I love how it shines. 

I wanted something to go at the top and bottom of the oval, so I punched out corners with my scallop trim corner, cut it to fit behind my oval and look, it made a great top and bottom of the oval.  I like this effect.

My customers have been wanting to do a card using vellum, so we are making this one (below) in our May class.  I ran the vellum through my Finial Press embossing folder to make this background.  I used the retiring Bordering Blue CS for this card.  I used a card by Sandi MacIver as my inspiration.  Thanks, Sandi!! Again, I colored the "champagne" with the Gold Glow Smooch Spritz.  I know, I know, you are supposed to spray with it, but I love painting with it. 

I also painted the flowers in Best Wishes (from Ovals All set) with the gold.  I used the Scallop Trim Corner and Border punches on this card, too. 

Thanks for visiting today!!  Have a wonderful day!  Smiles, Laura