Cards

Paper Pumpkin Alternatives- July 2016

StampinUp Paper Pumpkin Alternative - July 2016 made by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

We had fun at our August Paper Pumpkin class!  We found some cards on Pinterest and then my Stamping friends put their own spin on them and made some adorable cards.  The white Christmas trees have copper specks on them.  Because I’ve been a demo for 13 years and have almost everything I’ve ever purchased from Stampin’ Up!, we were able to put Copper Glitter paper stars on top of the trees.  Copper Glitter paper you say, yep probably back from 2005 or so.  I was so sure there would be Copper Glitter paper in the 2016 Holiday catalog, but instead there is beautiful Copper Foil.  “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” was stamped with my Copper ink pad again from around 2005.  High quality Stampin’ Up! products last a really long time!

StampinUp Paper Pumpkin Alternative - July 2016 made by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

Here’s our angels, again inspired from Pinterest.  If you haven’t signed up for Paper Pumpkin, this is a great time because it’s buy one month and get one free!

Paper Pumpkin- Buy one get one free! See card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

Well, have you wondered where I’ve been?  Superman and I went to Chicago for a work trip and had some fun along the way.  We stopped in Davenport and took Steve’s parents to lunch and played Euchre with them.  They won big time and we all had a good time.  After lunch we visited a park which they own and maintain for their town of Buffalo to enjoy.  It’s on the shores of the Mississippi River and the site of Grandpa Harold’s boyhood home.  Harold told me he waters the flowers by hauling 5 gallon buckets in the John Deere wagon that my Dad gave him fifteen years ago.

Steve, Harold and Ruby-August 2016-1

Here’s Steve with his parents, Harold and Ruby.

Steve, Harold & Ruby August 2016

This is a picture of the park they’ve created.

Chicago is about 5 1/2 hours from our house.  We got to Chicago just in time to jump on the “L” and get to the Cubs game right before the first pitch.  It was a beautiful evening and the Cubs won!  Steve and I talked about how we need to put the “W” flag up outside our house because the Cubs are winning so much lately!  Hopefully I won’t jinx them by saying that. 🙂

Steve & Beth Cubs August 2016

On Thursday we had a little time to shop on Michigan Ave.  I made a bee line for Kate Spade to see if any of her current designs would inspire some more cards.  It seems like my Kate Spade inspired cards and gifts have been some of the most popular I’ve made.

StampinUp Kate Spade inspired card designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

StampinUp Kate Spade inspired card set designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

You can find the directions for this card set  box here.

StampinUp Kate Spade inspired Gift Boxes designed by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com

I did get some ideas, but I also found some Kate Spade sunglasses!

Beth-Kate Spade glasses

Aren’t they cute?!  Only $158!  So if you’ve been reading my blog very long, you’ll realize I would never pay $158 for off the rack sunglasses.  So we took our Kate Spade inspiration to another shop and I got adorable Kate Spade inspired sunglasses for $20.

I have more to tell you about Chicago and so much is going on at our house. I need to write down my stories before I forget them all.  OK… I have to tell you just 1 1/2 more stories tonight.

Keegan and I did therapy dogs today and I had a long conversation with Milton who’s 89 years old. We also met Garnet today and she’s only been at the memory care facility a couple of days.  Milton told us he was trying to impress Garnet that he’s lived so long, so when he met her a couple days ago he was bragging about being 89 years old.  Garnet wasn’t actually that impressed.  She replied, oh well I’m 98!  This lady doesn’t look 98, but she sure is sweet!

Milton also showed us his “Thank you for your service” poster which hung in all the barracks during WW2  He’s really proud to have it because they never sold them, but he really wanted one.  He’s also very proud to be a vet and the poster meant a lot to him.  The guy with the posters said he had an extra that he would ask Milton to “throw away” for him.   Milton has the poster framed and proudly displayed in his room. Anyway, on the way home Keegan said that also happened to him on Saturday.  Of course I was confused.  Keegan said he was working at the grocery store  loading bags into a customer’s car when the man tried to give him a tip.  Keegan refused and said they weren’t allowed to accept tips.  The man said it’s crazy not to accept tips since the boys make so little, so instead he asked Keegan to “throw away” his $5 bill for him.  It’s funny that my 15 year old can enjoy and relate to the 89 year old in memory care.  Every time I glanced over at Keegan today he was smiling and fully engaged with each person he chatted with in Memory Care.

Abby wanted to go to therapy dogs today, but she’s frantically finishing her summer homework.  Yep, in her AP English class she had to read a couple long books, answer questions and do annotations.  They tell the kids they have to do summer work to get used to it for college.  This summer at camp she mentioned that and all the college kids told her,”There is no summer work in college!”  Abby feels like she’s been lied to, which made it that much harder to get her summer work done.  School starts on Wednesday so she only has one more day to get it all finished.  Abby will get it done, she always does!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

Touches of Texture

StampinUp Touches of Texture thank you card and set of note cards made by demo Robin Myren

I told you Robin Myren stopped by last month to stamp with me.  We had a great time!   Well, during my Paper Pumpkin class recently, the mailman came and for some reason I decided to run out and get the mail.  In the mailbox was a Paper Pumpkin box, which threw me for a loop, because I had already received my Paper Pumpkin for the month.  I opened it up and inside was this gorgeous thank you card and note card set from Robin!  Wow Robin!  I LOVE this thank you card and note card set!  So did the ladies at my Paper Pumpkin class.  They loved these so much, they insisted we have a class and make these cards.

StampinUp Touches of Texture thank you card and set of note cards made by demo Robin Myren

Robin stamped everything in black and  colored in the flowers with a blender pen.  Wouldn’t you love to receive this sweet card in the mail?!

StampinUp Touches of Texture thank you card and set of note cards made by demo Robin Myren

Look at all the pretty colors she used.  Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum, Sweet Sugarplum, Blushing Bride and Pink Pirouette.  Can you see the tiny pearls in the center of the flowers?

StampinUp Touches of Texture thank you card and set of note cards made by demo Robin Myren

What a lovely and thoughtful gift.  Sometimes when we CASE cards ( Copy and Share Everything) we tweak it and make it our own.  In this case I want to make cards exactly like Robin did!  Thanks Robin for the beautiful cards and for being my sweet stamping friend.

Anyone who lives or visits the Des Moines area and wants to come to a class and make these cards, please leave a comment or send me an email to Beth@StampingMom.com

You can visit Robin’s blog and see more beautiful cards at http://songbirddesignsbyrobin.blogspot.com/

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 🙂