Pick a Pumpkin

October 30, 2017October 28, 2017Leave a comment

I try to mix up the designs that I mail each month to my team. This is a no scrap dsp generated design using a piece of 4×3 inch pumpkin pattern from the Spooky Night package. The pumpkin faces are from the Pick a Pumpkin stamp set and are stamped in cajun craze ink on cajun craze cardstock. The glowing pumpkin is actually a gift tag stamp from the Seasonal Chums stamp set. I colored the face using a pumpkin pie stampin write marker.

A snippet of 5/8″ burlap ribbon adhered with our tear n tape makes for an embellishment that does not add much thickness. So this card can be mailed with one postage stamp.

Would you like to join my Super Awesome Stampers Team to enjoy the perk of a greeting card in your snail mailbox each month? Click here to get to my website and then click Join The Fun for all the details and to join my team. I welcome stampers that want to enjoy the discount on their own supplies, want to hold events or want to build a business. Contact me if you want to discuss how I can help you stamp as a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.

Happy Pumpkin Day!

Super Awesome Stamper Shirley

Spooky Cat

October 29, 2017October 28, 20172 Comments

Spooky cat cards are making their way to mailboxes of friends and family that love Halloween. Also mailed were order thank yous, belated birthday wishes and Happy Anniversary greetings. A tall stack for sure!

The cat hats were fussy cut from a sheet of 12×12 inch designer series paper in the Spooky Night package full of preprinted hats. The pumpkins are from the same dsp package. I used the coordinating cat punch to perfectly punch out pumpkin pie and basic black cats. The pumpkin faces are stamped on cajun craze cardstock using cajun craze in. Stamps are from the Pick a Pumpkin stamp set.

I still have about a half a sheet of spooky cats so if you like Halloween as much as I do, let me know so I can add you to my Halloweenie mailing list!

Super Awesome Shirley

Cattail Retreat – Epilogue

October 28, 2017October 28, 20173 Comments

This should really have been the prologue but I missed taking a photo of my pillow gifts at retreat. So I recreated what I gifted when I was back at my house. This photo is a similar design to what I shared for pillow gifts. I used the pumpkins in place of the “owleween” image and spooky moon paper.

Dawn also presented us with a purple and wine themed bowl warmer while we were settling in. She said it can be placed in the microwave with the bowl while heating so that fingers are protected from the hot bowl. The purple is on the opposite side of the print side.

I think it is too nice (partly because it is purple!) to use in the kitchen. I will instead use it as a bow bowl. I pre-tie bows so I’ll use the bowl to corral them before I place them on glue dot strips. Stampers pull a bow from the strip and attach it to their card. In between bow tying sessions, I will use it to corral my snippets of wool while I rug hook similar to how Dawn and Pam were using their bowls, to corral snippets of fabric while making straight edges. Thank you Dawn for the thoughtful and multi-purpose gift.

This concludes my posts about our weekend retreat at Cattail Retreats. I hope you enjoyed reading along. I enjoyed my time at retreat and sharing it with you.

Can you picture yourself on retreat with us next time? Remember that the focus of the weekend is working on your own projects. You can make as little or as large of a dent on your list as you would like to. Breakfast is on your own. The rest of the meals are split up so we are only preparing and cleaning up one meal per stay. If you would like to join us next time, use the Contact Me button above for more details and dates. I have weekends reserved for February, August and October.

Have a nice rest of your weekend!

Super Awesome Weekend Retreater Shirley

P.S. I almost forget to share the visit to Nancy’s Notions in Beaver Dam. Pam’s trip is complete!

and Done!

October 10, 2017October 9, 20172 Comments

The is the last post about the progress of my Halloween themed rug that I have been working on since October 2014 (or maybe earlier than that but I can’t remember exactly). I do remember that I took the rug with me on my first volunteer retreat for Breast Cancer Recovery Infininate Boundaries Retreats. I worked on the pumpkins in the back seat of BCR van while Gail drove and Cheryl sat in the front seat on our way to Egg Harbor in Door County. This was in October 2014.

The following year in October 2015, my Mom hopped a ride with Jeanette to zoom down the interstate for a weekend retreat at Woodridge Lodge. The lodge owner, Chris Savoy, is a rug hooker and designed the Halloween pattern below which we had purchased a few retreats earlier.

Mom had been admiring several other patterns since we started getting away at the lodge a few years earlier. This was the weekend she decided to purchase a few more patterns and declare ourselves hookers! I am the only daughter that is a hooker with her:)

I added our beagle angel Spencer peeking out from the pumpkin patch as he would do in his own backyard patch. The cat is Mr. Kitty, my Mom and Dad’s cat and was in the pattern originally. I stuck pretty close to the pattern but I know those stars were tricky so I may have hooked over a few for a blacker halloweenie night.

People ask if I will put my rugs on the floor. Since this is my first rug that took at least 3 years to complete, I can safely say that it will remain on the back of the couch during Halloween season. I need to add a label to the back and then I can say that this rug is Done!

Stay tuned for progress reports on the snowpeeps themed rug I started while I was searching for the orange binding yarn for the Halloween rug. I hope the snowpeeps progress is faster than 3 years!

Super Awesome Rug Hooker Shirley

Spooky Cat

October 6, 2017October 4, 2017Leave a comment

My house is already decorated for Halloween and Mom is unpacking her decorations as I write. Mom loves Halloween and we (mom, my sister Wendy and I) have a hard time resisting all the Halloween offerings in the Stampin’ Up! holiday catalogs. So we don’t resist. Stamps can be used for decor too!

This year, SU has a Spooky Night Suite complete with a cat punch and coordinating cat patterned paper that can be perfectly punched! YvonCarol did a nice job designing this card. The stitched shapes framelits make a nice moon. The cat hat is cut from the same Spooky Night designer series paper package that the punched cat came from. She even added a collar to the cat. The lemon lime twist cardstock nicely compliments the daffodil delight moon.