The Owl and the Cupcake

Now, WHOOOO doesn't like a cupcake? LOL I know...sick humor, but had to do it!!! This is a card I made for one of my granddaughters last year for her October birthday. I love this punch and I love the cupcake set. Will post more details later, but wanted to share this creation with you. Fun, fun, fun! And very simple and easy to make. Give it a try!

My Exile Is Over!

So sorry about the HUGE stop-out in posting...Life has just had too many things and something had to go...and since I still stamped, the blogging was it. Besides, do you ever realize that you are on the internet and all of a sudden hours have passed? It's like magic!! Yikes! I knew that I could not get lost on the computer with so much of the work I brought home. And I am thankful for that work!!! However, I have thought often of all of you blogger buddies and so I hope all is well with everyone. So- a short update here- more on the "about us" page in a few...but I am working as a college administrator in New Jersey...a short 1.5 hour jaunt from my Bethlehem PA home, however I really really love what I do, and it is at an institution I worked at before as a mid-level manager. I love the people, and all those who remember me have welcomed me back with open arms. Its actually pretty awesome. I have actually been taking pretty good care of myself, and so I am on a new exercise kick - and that is ZUMBA. If you have never done it - I would highly recommend it. Fun, great music and its dancing - whether you can dance or not its fun! My family is all doing well, and my Bob is well (thank you God) and planning on retiring this May, and so he is very very happy. Scruffy is well - gonna be 15 in May (OMG!) - my little furry boy! And crafting is the release and relief that it always is.

So here is a sample of a complete Reen creation - it was Bob's birthday card:

I water colored the images on Stampin' Up! watercolor paper, and the clouds were made with a large scallop circle with sponging. I was very pleased with it....so much so, I let Bob hold the card for a few minutes before I took it back!! LOL (don't tell me you don't take back your handmade cards that "live" in your home!!!??!!) Enjoy!

REEN'S GREAT RIBBON SHARE

Let's face it; ribbon is one of those embellishments that make the card. And - Stampin' Up!'s ribbons are fabulous...but with all this new product, what is a person to do? Let me give you a few choices on how to obtain all those LOVELY ribbons...And once you try them out, if you fall in love with a particular ribbon, later on you can order yourself a spool!

1. INDIVIDUAL GROUPS/PACKS OF RIBBON

Choose the ribbon type you wish to purchase to get a selection of all the delicious new ribbons in all the offered colors that match the Stampin’ Up! colors in Ink, Cardstock and Designer Series Paper. Check out the current catalog pages 190 and 191 to see the different types of ribbon and the colors available. Pick one group of Ribbon Types or as many as you would like...

OR

You can get a sampling of all the ribbons for one set price. The cost for you to buy all the available spools of ribbon would be over $700….but now you don’t have to break the bank!!! Check it out!

2. GOTTA HAVE IT ALL

Get TWO YARDS each of all the above mentioned ribbons, PLUS

2 yards each of the specialty Crochet Trim Ribbon (Chantilly ½” and Victoria 5/8”) AND

2 yards of 3/8 Twill Tape AND

2 yards of the 5/8” Whisper White 5/8” Organza ribbon

FOR $110 (value at $122.50 with tax & S&H)

OR

Want it all but want to tone it down a tad? Then you can get the …

3. TASTE OF RIBBON SET

Where you can get ONE YARD each from the GOTTA HAVE IT ALL set for $60

Shoot me an email to let me know what you would like!! A confirmation e-mail will be sent upon receipt of your order, and your ribbon should be here within two weeks, barring any weird shipping issues, and then packaged for you. Please remember that these prices are not offered by Stampin’ Up!, the company, so you may not place the order through my website with my online order service. This offer is only valid through me, Maureen Stivala, as an Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.

Prices are for local delivery or pickup only. If you are far away from me, I can mail the ribbons through the US postal service for an additional $2 first class mail or $5 priority shipping. Shipping can only be in the United States. If you order several different ribbon types, I will combine them for only one shipping fee per order. Just let me know if I need to mail your order. Payment can be made with cash, check, money order …OR… I can send you a PayPal invoice where you can use a credit card or PayPal balance. Shipment will occur when funds are cleared. Simple, Easy, Secure…

PS…If none of these 3 choices works for you, please contact me through email and let’s see if I can’t help you….because I LOVE WHAT I DO!!!

I will take orders through and up to September 30th. I may re-offer at that time, but stay tuned! This post will stay at the top of the blog until 9-30-10.

Love that Dove...

So our great-nephew made his First Communion and I made this card for him using a retired Designer Series Paper. I also used a non-SU sentiment [gasp - rubbahdultery~!!!}, as I wanted a big saying here for the front and don't have one...However, I used the ever faithful and still present Bashful Blue and Garden Green paper and I used the dove from the holiday set Wish for Peace. I think it came out rather nicely, if I do say so myself. On the dove, I used Stazon black ink, hit it with the dryer - then covered the image with Versa Mark ink, and put on iridescent embossing powder before I cut it out. THAT gave it the WOW factor.

A Card for Bob...

So, when you stamp as much as I do you need to reinforce those home relationships with a card or two, so that no one feels left out of the stampin' scene. So here is a card that I made for my dear hubby Bob, using the Summer Mini Catalog set Sweet Scoops (#117078 wood, 120078 clear). He eats ice cream nearly every day. I know its not good for him, but when you survive 5 primary cancers you can pretty much eat whatever makes you happy!! So this card is a sugar cone with three of his favorite flavors - coffee, pistachio and banana. AND - a cherry on top!! We found a little ice cream store in the heart of Easton and he can get any or all of those three flavors. Its really good ice cream - from the store The Purple Cow. Me- when I am cheating on my diet, I get the tiramesu flavor....ummm ummmm good! For the card, I embossed the words onto the Designer Series paper, so they stood out, added the five brads and a ribbon, and wallah!! Done!! Whaddya think?

PS The Summer Mini catalog is only good until August 31st, so make sure you order it in time if you would like this set!

A Z-fold golfer card...

So here is another creation by the kids for father's day. Besides the Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and Bashful Blue paper from Stampin' Up! - I believe they used a retired Designer Series Paper...will check on that...and a retired set from one of our mini catalogs. The kids were very excited to try a new fold technique. I think they did a great job, don't you?

Masking for Effect!!

So here is lil Shannon's birthday card...The bear is water colored using ink pads and aqua painters on Stampin' Up!'s wonderful water color paper - and I used the Masking Technique for the hat and the balloons. Can't have a birthday without balloons and party hats, now, can we?!?!?! I used Pretty in Pink and Banana Yellow for this card and I think it came out very cute. My lil Shannon loved it! That's all I need! Enjoy!

Belated Father's Day Posting

So here is Stephanie's card to my husband. He grills all year long, and he IS the cook of the house so we are talking pretty frequent here! So how appropriate is the card?!?!? Stephanie and Ryan learned the tri-fold card, and went crazy making cards for their dads, grandpas and for my Bob, Steph's step-father (since age 5 - long time).

Ah, then here is the picture of Steph and Bob outside the theater in NYC where Stephanie took us BOTH (yippee!) to see the show "Jersey Boys". My DH grew up in Montclair NJ , and is Sicilian, so the show was very apropos. Ahhhh, the music was SOOO GOOD! What a wonderful evening we had. Dinner out and a show. Life is good! You have no idea how wonderful it is to go to NYC and not have one doctor appointment or medical test! Here's hoping that lasts for a long time!!

So somehow, Stephanie has this thing for staying after at the stage door. Now where on earth did she get that from?!?!?! (wink* wink*) This is the lead singer who was Frankie Valli. She got almost everyone's autograph in her program. We got more pics, but unfortunately they are blurry. So this is all you get! LOL Enjoy!!

Christmas in July?!?!?

So here are two gift bags that contained gifts from a hubby to a wifey for Christmas. Part of my services include gift wrapping of holiday, birthday or special events. So - don't want a new vacuum or blender for a gift from your sweetheart? Give him/her a Stampin' Up! Wish list and tell him/her to contact me! Consider it done! Lookie what you could receive!!! I don't know about you, but these days, the wrapping excites me as much as the gift! LOL It's all in the presentation! So get that Wish list going from our new 2010 -2011 catalog - and hook me up!! You'll be glad you did! LOL

There were more gifts that I had wrapped, and here is a link to two other gifts for the same person. Kris' gifts. This was one of the most fun days of my holidays! I love to make other people feel good and I KNEW how much it would mean to Kris to have such fun, fab gifts to open! And I knew Peter would be happy giving such gifts! I LOVE when a plan comes together!

So if you would like to have gifts WONDERFULLY wrapped for a holiday or a birthday or other special event, give your wish list to your honey and have him/her email or call me - leave the rest up to us!!

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

So here is another sample of a Kathy Card. We put this together for her visit to her sister and brother-in-law in AZ. So I dug out an old cowboy kids set and we mixed 'em with the All in the Family set and the Neighborhood jumbo wheel. Came out cute!! Doncha' think?

Look Who...

So my girlfriend Chatty (hey girl!) came last night with my other pal Candy and we were stamping away...and I remembered I did not share the beauts that we made the last time she was over. So here is a Kathy Card....with just a lil input from me!! It's just wonderful to go into my craft room and create...don't have to bring anything but SNAIL!! LOL If you wanna play, just give me a call and I can set you up! This card was for her nephew who is toooooooo adorable!! I'll have the other cards later...cuz they are just as FAB!! Enjoy!

Carol, This One's For You!!!

So my girlfriend Carol moved to the Denver area from Pennsylvania, and recently they had a tornado watch and I think an actual tornado. Now my lovely pal doesn't ever turn her cell on unless she needs it, so she's out bee-bopping around town, and her hubby is FRANTIC trying to get hold of her. She sees all this destruction on her way home and calls her hubby to comment on it...I do believe she got yelled at! ;-) Anyhoo...once I knew she was safe and sound, the thought for this card popped into my head, and I laughed all through the creation of it and in the mailing...and it made me chuckle on and off until it reached her. I knew she would love it and scream right out loud when she saw it! I was right!! So - here's my lil smart-a** card for my beloved, and thankfully safe, girlfriend....hope you like it! Oh - by the way...my downline Tammy sent me a picture of a card with a proto (or TOTO) type for the doggie since she knows I could do it like Scruffy - but I don't know who to thank for the idea. If its you, please let me know and I will give you credit for my dawg. ENJOY!! (muwhahahahahahaha!!)

TEEE HEEEE!!!

Sweet Birthday Card for a Sweet Girl!

Here is Norah's 6th birthday card! She had a very fun party at the roller rink...brought back memories!! I think it was more fun to watch the parents on the floor than the kids!! LOL Anyway, I love this image as it reminds me of Norah. She has very long beautiful hair, and she sometimes wears it in braids, hence the card. I am also rather pleased with the colors I used. I really MISS this DSP. It's the retired Sweet Pea. Very cool. Its a reminder to me and to you to buy the items we like when we see them. I wished I had gotten another pack of this. Hope you like the card!

Recipe
Stamps: A Kind Word (retiring June 30th), Vintage Labels (2010 Sale-a-bration that I hope to be in next catty!)
Ink: Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Barely Banana, Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Soft Suede, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip
Paper: (retired) Sweet Pea DSP, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Old Olive, Chocolate chip, Water color paper
Access: blender pen, aqua painter, white organza ribbon, dimensionals, scallop circle punch, 1 " circle punch

Check out Chatty's Card!

So here is Chatty's birthday card. She is my soul sistah....as we often times think and say the same thing at the same time...And she loves drinking "Tai Chi" with me - LOL....oops, Chai Tea....So this beautiful creation is a CASE from the talented Lynn Put...but I knew Kathy would love it....and it was ON TIME! (yes - my best-est stampin' buddies often have to wait for their creations....). I'll pop back later to upload the recipe for this gorgeous card!

A CASE of Beauty for the Birthday girl

I think you may need to click on this picture to see how beautiful it is with dazzling diamonds...it doesn't "read" as pretty as it is IRL...I made this for my daughter-in-law Monique and I hope she liked it as much as I liked putting it together. This card was a CASE from the talented Gretchen Barron, another demonstrator who does beautiful work. Remember, those of you who feel that they can't make these cards, all you need to do is recognize the beauty and CASE. Cope And Share Everything. As long as you are using a card for personal use, or if you give credit where it is due, no demo minds you CASE-ing her (or him - and yes there are some hims).

On a sad note, I wanted to share that the world lost a very kind, giving and great man last week. He was a father figure to me in high school and beyond, he and his wife were a constant demonstration of what a marriage is supposed to be like (53 years), his house was a haven for his children and their friends, me being one of those friends. I loved him and his wife so much, I asked them to be the God-parents of my precious daughter, and that was 24 years ago. He was taken from us by the dreaded disease of Alzheimer's. His disease was different from my mother's, but the ravages are the same. While his passing is sad, I am happy that he is with his son George, in the arms of our Lord, finally free from pain and memory loss. George, you will be missed but never forgotten. RIP.