Country Roads Stamping

Saturday with Steve

Way back in October, Steve and I attended the Forest Festival in Elkins (I featured that here on my blog) while there he saw this fire pit that he really wanted.  Now understand that I have been wanting a fire pit for a very long time but he's never really been interested in one.  So, while he was trying to talk me into buying the thing my mind was thinking, hmmmm, great Christmas gift to get for him.  So I stayed firm on the fact that I didn't want to get one there at the Festival.  I figured at that point he was going to be going on a few more hunting trips so he would not be around much to use the thing anyway.

Well, fast forward to mid October when he was gone - I headed to Buckhannon and purchased the fire pit/grill for him and brought it back and hid it over at my parents.  So the week of Christmas he went to help a friend for the day and I headed over to bring the pit/grill back to the house - I had a limited time to retrieve it - and mom and dad were not at home so I managed to load the crazy thing in the car by myself (don't even ask) then unloaded here at the house and got it into our basement, into my stamp room, under a table.  I figured it was the one safe place he would not look.  So he was surprised on Christmas morning to find that I had actually got it for him - First thing Monday morning - out it went and he "fired" it up:

It has a pole that extends and hangs with a grill rack over the fire - so we can use our slow cooker over this to fix some meals.  We are definitely going to enjoy this.  So while he's had the fire to warm himself by he's been adding a room to his building and this will be where I get to occasionally use as a meeting place - so it is happening - slowly but surely:

So this will be a reality some day!  That's all the news from the ranch today!  Next week-end I'll show you how Steve "dresses" up the other girls here on the ranch!  Have a great week-end. 

How about a Cup of Tea?

As normal, I took a different look on one of the sets from the new mini, called Tea Shoppe.  I'm just so not a girly girl kind of person so all the frills and lacy look are really hard for me to work with.  So when I saw Tea Shoppe, with a huge tea cup - my brain pretty much went dry in the area of creativity.  We were given the stamp set at Founders Circle.  I've left it quietly laying in the cabinet until a few days ago and then I decided to do something entirely different with this set - believe it or not - this is using the stamped image with the tea cup - but you'd never guess that!

To get this look, I stamped the image in craft white ink on night of navy cardstock, then after it dried, I colored it with the watercolor crayons- sort of a black magic technique.  Then I used the designer frame to cut the oval backing and layered it up.  A different look for this set.  Now I still have to figure out a look with that tea cup - so I've still got to work on that.  I do like the greetings that will be available with the set because I love tea and they will accompany any cards that I use with the tea.  Off to enjoy the week-end - there will be some Saturday with Steve things tomorrow.  Husband has been working around outside.  See you then. 

Take It to Heart

Oh I know - Christmas is barely put away and here come the Valentine's cards!  I do love Valentine's Day.  My husband has never quite "got on board" with me on V Day, as he thinks it is a little too much fuss - but that's okay.  One of the new stamp sets in the Occasions mini is Take it To Heart.  I would normally do Valentine's Day cards in reds or pinks but I really really like this one in the green, and check out the ribbon.

This is the new pleated ribbon again - this takes all the work out of adding ribbon embellishments!  The designer paper background is ofcourse, the free sale a bration paper again.  I pretty much like any color the SAB paper has to offer.  So this is a refreshing twist on valentines - not the ordinary look we are used to.  That's it for today - see you back here tomorrow!  Thanks for dropping by. 

New mini product

 

Well, I started my pictures to be posted back before Christmas as I just didn't know if I'd be here or in Iowa- however, here it is a few days after Christmas and yep - I'm still here. So today's card is another peek at some of the Occasions mini product. This was a card I made while at Jan's using the bird die - I didn't order this one and probably won't as I struggle to use items this big on a card! I've also used one of the edgelits to give the curved look to the bottom of the card and the great Sale a bration designer paper that you can get for FREE. Be certain that you are going to see a lot of that paper because I love it.

The picture is giving me fits here today - nothing wants to work - so you'll just have to scroll down and look at it as the very last thing today. There are days like that!!! Oh the bird was run through the elegant lines embossing folder too and added a few pearls. That's all for today - I'm giving up and letting the picture win!!! Have a great day as you clean up all the Christmas decorations - mine are happily all put away - yeah!!!! What a relief.

An unusual invitation

Can you tell what this is?  Probably not - unless you've seen these on someone else's blog - This is an invitation from Stampin Up! for their Manager's reception.  When it is unwrapped - this is what was inside:

I thought this was pretty neat - to have the invitation literally printed onto the fan.  What a clever idea.  The Manager's reception is an event that is open to Manager's and above at Stampin Up!'s Leadership conference.  This year that conference is in San Antonio, Texas. Every year the invitation is something creative, but I thought this one took the cake and for me especially - a fan is quite handy!!!  That's it for the day - See you tomorrow. 

This little piggy . . . . .

The day after Christmas and had to share this card that came from fellow teammate and friend, Nanci Bowen:

I saved him for today - because the day after Christmas we usually feel like - toooooo much food, not enough sleep, too much of basically everything and so we feel like little piggies!  This little guy is from button buddies and designed to be shared to give you a smile as you clean up from all the Christmas celebrating and get everything back to normal and running again!  Have a great day.

Christmas Eve

Well, this is it - if you don't have it done - your time is up!  Hope that you all enjoy a great time with Family and friends tomorrow for Christmas and let me share this cute poem, by Sheila Radochio from the southern part of West Virginia:

Brayers roll . . . . . . . are you listening?

On the card . . . . . . . . . ink is glistening.

A beautiful sight . . . . . we're happy tonight.

Stampin in a winter wonderland.

 

In the kitchen we can stamp a snowman

Then add color to his carrot nose.

You'll say: are you finished?

I'll say: No ma'am,

I need to add some glitter to make snow.

 

When we stamp . . . . . .ain't it thrilling.

Even when . . . . . the powders spilling.

We'll create and we'll play . . . the Stampin Up! way,

Stampin in a winter wonderland.

 

and this beauty to share with you:

I'll share more about this card - after Christmas - just enjoy it and know that everything on here is Stampin Up!  Have a great Christmas!!

Final Cards

There are several more directs of mine on the team but I've only got four more sets of cards to show you.  So the team mates for today are Michelle Turner, Shelly Riffle,  Beth Wilson and Jill Swain.  Michele has only been with me a few months as a demonstrator, although several years as a customer.  She has two daughters, Erin and Morgan that are sweeties and her husband, Fred.  She's also the one who has introduced several customers to Stampin Up in her area.  She's a great "enabler"!  Here's her card:

This was Michele's Christmas card and just had to share it using Sounding Joy.  This is a gate fold card - but it propped up easily to be like an easel card to display also. 

Beth Wilson has been with me the longest.  Beth's husband Scott and my husband hunt a lot together and we laugh at how when the guys used to go hunt together, we would go shop while they were gone - now when they leave on hunting trips - we plan classes and events to make money rather than spending it!  Beth and I have attended Founders Circle twice together and she manages a full time job also as a local church secretary.  I'm not quite sure how she manages it all but she has a large team of her own and helps them out a lot also - she is obviously good at time management!  I grabbed her Christmas card to put up here.

 
My last card to share is from Shelly Riffle -Shelly lives in Charleston and used to attend church with us years ago.  She also has a sister who is a demonstrator.  I've known Shelly for a long time too - actually remember when her son Lars was just a little toddler - he's in college now - whew.  Here's her card:

And last but not least - I have Jill Swain's card that she sent this year:

Jill has been with me for several years now - she is a hobby demonstrator and does beautiful work - she sticks to nice, clean cards, like the one above - any time I receive a card from her, my husbands says:  "did you teach her that"?  She tends to try some of the things I say - no way, too much time to do.  JIll's a great one to help me out when things are overloaded here and she's traveled with me to convention and to Jan's team meetings.  She is here in the Clarksburg area also. 

I have several others,  Sue Whitaker,who  lives in Virginia, Dot Sandy from Bridgeport,  Stephanie Pethtel, from Fairmont, Mari Patterson from Grafton and Deneen Wendling from Rock Cave and a couple of others that I will be losing at the end of the year.  Thanks to all those that sent in their cards. 

Now - tomorrow is Saturday - and there will not be a Saturday with Steve but I am going to put one of the "wow" cards that I received this year and share a funny poem that a fellow West Virginian wrote so be sure to check back.  See you then.  

Some bling!

The cards today are from team members Cathey Bach and Terri Cheslock - these are really quite "blingy" cards to share with you today.  Terri, from Fairmont, is also a court reporter.  She started out as a customer of mine when someone else dragged her to one of my stamp camps.  I'll be turning over one of my stamp camps to her in January.She's also been on my team for just over a year.  Here's her card using the stocking builder punch, which incidentally, is not going to be around much longer - when this Holiday mini is gone - it will be too - possibly even before that - so if you like this punch - better grab it fast:

Gotta love all this glitter and sparkle! 

Then Cathey - we met at a stamp camp also.  She had moved into this area and had still been purchasing from her demonstrator where she lived previously.  One thing we alllll know about Cathey is that she can construct a card in seconds - one of the fastest stampers I know!  Her husband is also a beekeeper - so we suffer together at some of the bee events we do together - like transporting bees when we don't really want to.  She called me while I was at convention telling me that a trip to Fiji had always been on her bucket list - when she found out it was the next incentive trip!  Here's her card:

Just love all the bling on these two cards - note on this scallop border punch that Cathey peeled the backing off the glitter paper to make it easier to punch - good idea on that also. Because so many people have asked - the colors here are pool party and not quite navy.  That's all for today.  Back tomorrow and then we'll wind down for the week.

A few more snowmen!

Today's cards are from team members Genia Richards and Nancy Bowen - note that as I pull up these cards for team members there is no specific order - just what I am pulling up.  Genia Richards is from the Weston area and has been on my team for just over a year and has her own stamp camp going - she's married and has 3 girls and one boy.  Plus those extras that we all tend to claim as kids - her dogs - Huck and Kyler.  She works as an accountant for a local Oil and Gas company.  Here's her card:

and Nancy Bowen - she's also new to my team and she's a fun asset to the team - she's the one who I can always count on to ask any question that maybe no one else will ask.  Nancy is from Tyler County and is married to Jim - she "sort of" retired from a credit union a few months ago - and is starting with Stampin Up! now to "fill in" that free time that she really doesn't have.  She has two grown daughter and two granddaughters.  She hopes to have her Stampin Up business end up paying for her "habit" of stockpiling scrapping and card making supplies.  Here's her card - also using the same snowman that Genia used above, from the stamp set Snow Much Fun

Great cards Ladies!  Glad to have you on board!