Scene 3 Completed Tasks

October 27, 2017October 27, 20172 Comments

This was my pile of work for day 2 at the retreat. I shiver when I use loose glitter but I can tolerate our glimmer sheets because most of the glitter stays on the sheet. I have kept my previous paper trimmer to only cut the glimmer sheets so that I keep my Stampin’ Up! trimmer glitter free. I cut 5 sheets of 12×12 silver glimmer to use them for senior living session card kits. The seniors love the glitter! I had all the kits in one stack before I realized I forgot a photo for the blog so my pile of glimmer strips will have to do!

Dawn’s pile of hats and scarves was a project she got done early in the weekend too. Each of her students receives a pair with their name on a label. It is a gift that is memorable and also functional with our Wisconsin winter. Dawn’s says that what they treasure most is their name on the items and that she took the time to make one for each of them.

I had packed a make-n-take but was undecided I would share it since they were so busy with their projects. I decided to share it as we closed out the weekend because I had picked a project that had triangles on it! Dawn and Pam could also color the triangles as they pleased. These kits are from Paper Pumpkin and a box that was designed by our CEO and co-founder’s daughter, Sara.

It was interesting that triangles wove us together, first with Pam and Dawn and quilt triangles. Then, the three of us creating with the paper crafting make-n-take. I had lots of non-triangle options for a make-n-take but for some reason, I packed this one. These were the last 3 of this card design I had left too.

I’ll have an epilogue to share this weekend so check back for that.

Super Awesome Stamper Shirley

Scene 2 A Journey Starts…with triangles!

October 26, 2017October 26, 2017Leave a comment

The ladies I retreated with are quilters. One made the journey to Wisconsin a few years ago for work. The other made the journey to Wisconsin for the weekend to visit her friend from their home state of South Dakota. Pam wins the award for the most miles traveled to get to a retreat!

I noticed this quilt square and asked about the story because my Mom loves to be on the lookout for barn quilts. She and my sister have even made their own barn quilt. So I know Mom would want the story behind this barn quilt square. Notice the barn quilt has tiny, tiny triangles.

This quilt square commemorates a shop hop trip Dawn and Pam made with a few others to Minnesota. Each shop hopper made their own square and then shared the square with the others. The idea is that they would each get the same square to sew together to make a quilt of their own. Pam recalled her square has planes on it, partly because she would rather take a plane, than drive if I am recalling the reason correctly. Dawn said she incorporated the words “joy ride” because she was the driver and joy is her favorite word. This barn quilt square made the journey back to South Dakota with Pam.

Pam sent a box of supplies ahead of her trip so she could work on this pattern. She had a few squares done prior to the weekend but most she assembled during our retreat. Her goal is to enjoy the process and not measure how much she has finished. I watched while she assembled one square because piecing together all those triangles seemed a little crazy to me. Although there were a few triangles, it was mostly strips that she pieced together. So she got a few points off the crazy scale for using strips!

Dawn was the other quilter at retreat and worked on many projects over the weekend. This was one of those projects. The tree and words were already printed on the panel. She added the piano key border first. I heard them talking about piano keys so I think that is what the rectangles are called along the left. Then the similar border along the other sides. Last is the detail in the bottom right. No triangles on this quilt.

Dawn’s quilting journey started with thinking quilters are crazy (just like me) for cutting up perfectly good fabric into triangles and then piecing it back together. It sounds like it took a few years for Dawn to realize that quilting is not all about triangles. There are other methods to quilting including fabric books which she sewed over the weekend as well.

I did not tell them that I have always thought I would reserve quilting for when I retire. For now, rug hooking fills the time when I am not paper crafting. It was neat to watch Pam assemble a square and listen to their lingo throughout the weekend. They also were pretty focused on their math skills because just as in paper crafts, we know the instant we cut wrong the second the cutting is complete. In paper crafts, I have to redesign if I cut wrong. My guess is that incorrectly cut fabric may result in triangles being pieced together! 🙂

The triangles appear in our story again before the weekend is done. Catch that in Scene 3 along with my silver glimmer paper pile!

Super Awesome Math Skills Person Shirley

Christmas Cards

October 17, 2017October 15, 20171 Comment

Christmas card inspiration is here! I know it is not Halloween yet but for those of us that make a stack of Christmas card, we are already dreaming up designs and preparing supplies.

These cards were designed by fellow demonstrators for our Fall Fling.

Kay Messling is on trend using touches of basic black paired with glimmery gold.

Lynn Schwiebert designed this card which reminds me of Sherlock Holmes days (before Benedict Cumberbatch was Sherlock).

Linda Hartwich designed this card to Deck the Halls!

Norma Artman gave the quick tip that our tombo liquid glue is needed to adhere anything to our glimmer paper and she is right! It took me actually using the glue to adhere the layers for me to learn this tip. Thanks Norma for the tip!

I hope these samples help you plan your own designs. All the supplies needed to re-create these cards can be purchased at my online store here. Make sure to check out my online shopper rewards program before placing your order. Thank you for your orders!

Super Awesome Shirley

One Eight Zero

October 8, 2017Leave a comment

One Eight Zero, 180 kits are stacked in the photo below. That is the number of card kits I prepared on World Card Making Day, October 7, 2017. These kits will be used during my November greeting card making sessions at senior living communities. I would like to keep the designs a surprise so I’ll share them with you after the sessions are over. I used the stamp set Gourd Goodness on both designs.

Here are samples created with the stamp set Gourd Goodness designed by home office concept artists.

These are the images that can be stamped using the super awesome stamp set Gourd Goodness, item number 144785 in photopolymer. Click on this link to order this stamp set and take a look around my online store. Thanks for your order!

Super Awesome World Card Maker 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.