Weekend Getaway at Cattail Retreat

October 24, 2018October 24, 20186 Comments

We had a fabulous time during our weekend getaway at Cattail Retreat. We split the room with half working on paper crafts and half working on quilting and gifts. Creativity was flowing in all directions!

First up was piling kits for upcoming Christmas card making sessions. I took advantage of the free table space until other guests arrived. That’s about 100 kits pictured. I did another 100 after these were stuffed in their envelopes.

The design for these kits uses retired designer series paper and ribbon…gingerbread punch is in our annual catalog!

Since Halloween is next week, I designed a spooky pillow gift. Dawn sewed a fun pouch to share as a pillow gift too. Thanks Dawn!

After my kit piling was done, I worked on reducing my whisper white paper scrap pile by punching bows from the Candy Cane builder punch. I used all my scraps and created about 150 bows. I stamped the hohoho words using real red ink from the coordinating Candy Cane Season stamp set. They are attached to glue dots strips for easy assembly.

We had lots of great food including taco dip, chili, southwest black bean soup and chicken chili in tomato sauce. Treats were an apple pie from #NorskeNook, gluten free brownies from #chocolatecoveredkatie and mango turmeric #Nessallakombucha. All delicious!

I set aside my paper crafts to hook a few loops on my pear centerpiece. The photo on the left is progress from the August retreat, the first 2 pears hooked. The photo on the right is progress made this weekend. I completed 3 pears! #patience and #goals learned while rug hooking for sure! It takes me a couple of hours to hook 1 pear.

Group photo right before packing up with some of the quilts worked on while at retreat in the background. We missed a few people that departed early.

The original retreaters…Tiffany on left, me in the center and Jeanette on the right. They are scrapbooking super stars! They design layouts and print photos prior to the weekend. During retreat, they match photos with layouts. They stay on task and usually meet their goal and matching all the photos with layouts. Pretty impressive since they have littles and take advantage of life experiences so have lots of memories to keep!

Thanks for a great weekend! Catch you next time at Cattail Retreat!

Super Awesome Weekend Getawayer Shirley

P.S. Future retreats are February 8-10, 2019, August 9-11, 2019 and October 18-20, 2019. Message me if you are interested in attending these dates. Thanks!

Ink and Share Scrapbook Blog Hop

October 11, 2018October 11, 20186 Comments

Welcome to the Fall themed Ink and Share Scrapbook Blog Hop. We are Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators showcasing our fabulous products on scrapbook pages. If you are on the hop trail, you may have arrived from Cheryl Taylor’s blog. She had a great layout!

Trick or Treat! This is the stamp set name and features cute animals dressed for a fright night. The Spooky Bats punch easily cut our black foil sheets.

The Black 3/8 inch Glittered Organdy ribbon adds a fun touch…That’s Mr. Sherlock Bones letting you know “you’re spooktacular!”

The Batty Elephants paired well with the batty printed Toil and Trouble designer series paper making this layout design easy and quick to assemble with our favorite Halloweenie Stampin’ Up! products.

Cardstock colors used are 12×12 whisper white, 8.5×11 crushed curry, 4.25×5.5 inch pumpkin pie and scraps of basic black.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you like about my layout by leaving a comment.

Now click on the next photo to see what Lisa Henderson has created.

In case you get off the trail, here a list of participating demonstrators.

Shirley Merker YOU ARE HERE!

Lisa Henderson

Sue McDonald

Jenna Watkins

If you don’t already have an Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, click the Contact button above. Let me know if you are interested in scrapbooking events, greeting cards, retreats or anything else paper crafting.

All products can be ordered through my online store here. Please use the monthly host code found on the right side of my blog when placing an order under $150. Don’t use the host code if your order is over $150 so you can redeem all the host rewards. Thanks!

Super Awesome Stamper Shirley

ICS Blog Hop Fall for All and Cauldron Bubble

October 3, 2018September 28, 201826 Comments

Thank you for hopping around with us as we showcase Fall for All. You may have arrived from Janey Backer’s blog and her fabulous project. My project is below.

My starting point was Halloween! My family loves Halloween! I documented the reasons why in a scrapbook layout here.

The Toil and Trouble designer series paper is vividly colored so I decided to fussy cut a witch and adhere to a gorgeous grape mat. The gorgeous grape cardstock was run through the Big Shot using the Subtle embossing folder. I wanted a soft look so this folder delivered nicely.

Trick or Treat stamping from the Caldron Bubble stamp set using Pumpkin Pie ink adds festive fun. All those frogs hopping around as the photo background are from the designer series paper package Toil and Trouble.

About 15 witches can be fussy cut from one page of the witches pattern from the Toil and Trouble dsp making project completion easy.

Thank you for hopping with us. Now click on the next image below to travel to Melissa Tennison’s blog to see what fun colors she used in her project.

Ink and Share Blog Hop Anything But A Card

September 22, 2018September 20, 201820 Comments

Welcome to our Ink and Share Blog Hop. This month, we are featuring projects that are anything but a card designed by fellow Stampin’ Up! Independent Demonstrators. If you are hopping around, you have arrived from Sandrine Jse’s blog and her fabulous project.

My hop design below features designer series paper (dsp) Toil and Trouble with bewitchingly fun prints. I fussy cut the witches and little kitties from the same piece of dsp. Our dsp is double sided which makes it hard sometimes to pick which pattern to show. I opted to show both sides with the spooky ghost print by folding over about 1/2 inch to reveal the purpley striped side.

Top view shows the wood crate created when using the Wood Crate framelits on our Wood Textures dsp. It’s a “roomy” crate.

filled with treats…

Lots of mini night scene party favors ready for Fall Fling, an all demonstrator meeting that I coordinate.

Spider Trinkets and little kitties add some fun. Someone said her crate shifted during Fall Fling and it gave her a fright because she saw the legs move. Spiders are tricky that way!

Thanks for stopping at my blog! Now click the next image to hop to Cindy Mitchell-Clark’s blog to see what summer themed project she designed.

Here is a list of the participating demonstrators in case you hop off the trail.

Shirley Merker YOU ARE HERE!

Cindy Mitchell-Clark

Jacqueline Bobeldijk-Schilder

Linda Handford

If you do not already have a demonstrator, all the supplies used in my design can be ordered through my online store here . Please use the host code in the right column of my blog if your order is under $150. If it is over $150, do not use the host code so you can redeem all the host rewards.

Super Awesome Stamper Shirley

Halloween Paper Crafting Blog Hop with Cauldron Bubble and Toil and Trouble

September 19, 2018September 18, 201814 Comments

I hope you are enjoying our Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators Blog Hop featuring Halloween projects. Fellow demonstrators from all over the globe are participating so we have a wide array of fun projects to share with you! You may have arrived from Ginger Rabesa’s blog. She had a fabulous project!

I decided to use the Toil and Trouble designer series paper to the fullest potential. Most of the card is covered with it along with flipping over the witches hat piece to reveal the jumping frogs!

The Cauldron Bubble stamp set was used for the sentiments. Happy Halloween and a sitting frog are stamped inside. A witches hat was cut around the sentiment after it was stamped using the Cauldron framelits. A little bit of black baker’s twine provides interest along with gorgeous grape matting and cardstock.

Close up of the kitty and frog friends…

Please add a comment and let me know how much you like Halloween!

Thanks for hopping with us each month. Now click on the next image to zoom to Sandra Robert’s blog and see what fun project she designed.

Here is a list of hoppers in case you get off the trail…

Shirley Merker YOU ARE HERE!

All the supplies used can be ordered through my online store here.

If you do not already have a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, I would be happy to be yours. Ready to enjoy the demonstrator discount? Join my Super Awesome Stampers Team for the best benefits! Click the Contact button above to get the conversation started.