Family

Candy Cane Lane DSP

Stampin Up Candy Cane Lane DSP. Please see card and gift ideas designed by demo Beth McCullough at www.StampingMom.com #Stampingmom

Have you ordered the Candy Cane Lane DSP yet?  If not, you should.  I can’t stop making projects with it. This is a collage I made for Pinterest.

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Those of you who knew Abby and I were visiting the University of Oklahoma on Sunday and Monday might be curious to know how it went?  Well, by the time we got there after nine hours of driving we both decided it was too far and we probably shouldn’t have come.  I enjoyed being in the car with Abby and I laughed harder than I have in a long time.  Abby patiently taught me the songs and story of Hamilton, the musical.   She has all 23 songs memorized.

 

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We got up Monday morning and went to the campus. My goodness it is beautiful! OU really wants National Merit Scholar finalists and offers them huge financial incentives to go there, including five years of free tuition among other things. Let’s just say OU is in the running and I’m trying to get used to the idea that I will rarely see my sweet daughter. At the end of the day an adviser was telling Abby that it would be OK if she wasn’t able to come home for Thanksgiving because of the weather, because she would have a community of people to spend Thanksgiving with. It was at that point I started tearing up. Abby needs to be at my house for Thanksgiving, not stuck in Oklahoma! OK,so I have a few regrets about raising a confident, independent young lady. Actually, I want Abby to do what’s best for Abby and I promise not to write about being sad that she’s so far away.

 

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Every square inch of my house is covered in dust from the construction project, so it’s time for me to leave again.  I’ll be in Wisconsin for four days at a Stamping Business Building conference that my awesome upline Lisa Pretto is having.  The good news is all my team will benefit from everything I’ll be learning.  It should be a beautiful drive with all the trees changing colors.

My BSF group helped with the children’s program today.  I got the “pink” class which is the youngest babies.  I love babies!  There was a baby named Caleb who has been crying every week at BSF.  I took it as a personal challenge to hold and play with Caleb.  He was pretty happy most of the time.  The children’s leader asked me to stop being a group leader and come back next week and be Caleb’s friend again.  It’s tempting, but I would miss my ladies!

Abby had her swim team senior recognition tonight.  I can’t believe the four years of high school are coming to an end.

Hope all is well with you.

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

My Holiday catalog order arrived!

StampinUp 3x3 card made with Cookie-Cutter Christmas, designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

We had a wonderful week at our Family Bible camp in Okoboji!  I love spending a week away from daily life and have time to focus on God, our marriage family.  The best part is, I got to bring my kids home with me!  We are a family of five again until college starts in another week.  It also means my design assistant Abby, and very sweet daughter, is on the job again!

Okoboji 2016

The picture above is Abby, Superman and Keegan tubing in Okoboji. Can you guess who is standing up with this arms out on the back of the tube? Yep, it’s Keegan.  Ryan was the lifeguard on the boat and he wasn’t happy about his little brother breaking the rules.  Keegan kind of looks like he should be on the front of the Titanic.

When I got home, there was a box of goodies from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalog waiting for me.  If you don’t have a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator already, I would love to be your demo.  I have a stack of Holiday catalogs waiting to be sent out to my customers, so please let me know if I can send you one.

Holiday catalog 2016

I am one of the September designers for Craft Project Central so I’ve been stamping all weekend, but it’s all things I can’t show you yet.  Here’s my quick 3″x 3″ warm up card I made today.  Do you do warm up cards?  Sometimes I need to start small and get the stamping mojo flowing again.

StampinUp 3x3 card made with Cookie-Cutter Christmas, designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

 

Guess who stopped by to stamp with me????

StampinUp wedding card made with the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

Do you remember when I showed you this wedding card my friend Jill commissioned me to make?  Well, I ran across the other card that didn’t get chosen.

StampinUp wedding card made with the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

Yep, this is the reject.  The problem with this card is the Bloomin’ Heart cutout is white and you can’t see it on the white flower background.  It is actually a little easier to see in real life.

StampinUp wedding card made with the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

OK, here’s what I like about this card.  I think the colors of Sahara Sand and Whisper White look classy for a wedding card.  I like the printed banner with the leaves from the  Bloomin’ Love stamp set and how it wraps around the Bloomin’ Heart Thinlit.  I also like the three detailed flowers from the Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits and how nice they look with a pearl in the middle.  So even though this card is a reject, I learned some things and found some things I can use on future cards.  Hopefully I’m not the only one who makes some reject cards once in awhile. 🙂

Are you still wondering who stopped by… actually she called ahead and we had it all planned out.  Yep the one and only Robin Myren from Songbird Designs by Robin.  Please visit her blog here .  Robin is part of Brian King’s group, InKing Royalty.  I met Robin online a couple of years ago and finally got to meet her in person and stamp with her.  She is every bit as delightful as I always thought she was online.  She even brought me flowers!  Thanks so much Robin, can’t wait until you’re in Iowa again.

Robin and I

Robin made a coaster calendar and a Kate Spade inspired box while she was here.  In the meantime I was doing “Just in Time” stamping.  What is that you ask?  Well, why would I do something before it’s due…I had 14 swap cards that needed to be done by 4:40pm.  At 4:40pm I put the last card in the plastic sleeve.  The cards were done, but it might have been a bit less stressful if I had gotten them done sooner.  Robin was sweet and asked if I was making swaps for next week?  Next week, are you kidding? I need these swaps done in 20 minutes!

Keegan and the other campers had their Showcase Friday night.  Keegan got to sing the Hamilton part in the Broadway musical song, Helpless.  Abby and Keegan have every word to every song in Hamilton memorized!  He was thrilled to get to do this and did a great job. The whole evening was very enjoyable.  Keegan has been an actor and singer for a couple years, but never really danced until this spring.  He figured out at the camp that dance is still his weakest link and what he needs to work on the most.

More happy news…Abby and Ryan came home from camp today!  It makes me so happy to have my kids home.  Before they got here, I set out Fiesta bowls of nuts, fruit and veggies on the counter.  They walked in the door, hugged me and went straight to the island to see what was in the bowls.  Today the white peaches and the cherries hit the jackpot!  If you want your kids or grand kids to eat fruit or veggies, just put them in bright color bowls on the counter and don’t say a word. I think they eat them because I’ve never told them they should. When the kids are in school I usually set out the dinner fruit and veggies right before the kids come home.  Superman sometimes complains that he doesn’t get any, because the kids eat it all before he gets home.

bowls of fruit and veggies

OK, so this is an old picture of just nuts and tomatoes.  Everyday is different.  Usually there’s fruit, veggies and nuts.  This does spoil the kids a bit.  Sean told me he can’t figure why when he buys fruit and veggies they never get washed and show up on the counter top ready to eat.  Sean lives alone, so hopefully he’ll get desperate and do it himself!

Abby, Keegan and I are helping with Bible school this coming week.  Ryan has to be back at camp by noon tomorrow, so his visit was very short.  We went to church tonight and all the hype about Bible school was making Ryan wish he could stay home and help too.

Superman did another triathalon in Okoboji this morning.  He finished well, but is afraid this winter he’s going to have to go in for maintenance.  As in, a new hip, knee and shoulder.  He’s hoping his orthopedic doc will give him a volume discount!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂