Thinking of You

Paper Pumpkin Alternative Ideas from my class this week

We had a great time Thursday night at my Paper Pumpkin class!  Whether they followed my sample cards or did their own thing, everyone made beautiful cards.  Thanks for coming Jane, Joleen and Diane.  I hope you come back again soon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

paper pumpkin-free set

April 10 is the last day to opt in to get the April Paper Pumpkin kit.  It’s a regular kit with an additional stamp set.  You get two stamp sets instead of one.  This is a great time to try Paper Pumpkin.

paper pumpkin $19.95 per month

It’s only $19.95 plus tax.  Sign up for Paper Pumpkin and you get to come to the Paper Pumpkin class at my house for free.  Please let me know and I’ll get you signed up.  The first two people that sign up to get a 3 month subscription from me can pick a past Paper Pumpkin kit from my stash.

bunnycake 2016

I’ve been meaning to show you  the bunny cake Abby made for Easter this year.  My Grandma Olson made bunny cakes every year.  When she could no longer make them, I started making them.  About six years ago, Abby took over the job of Bunny cake maker.  Every year the bunny is a different color with a slightly different look.  The grass is always green with all the green M&M’s laying in the grass.  I started doing this so the kids could pick M&M’s out of the grass while waiting for dessert without picking them off of the bunny.  🙂

One last thing to show you from Easter.  I made two of our dear family friends Easter baskets and filled them with delicious chocolate eggs from Costco.

StampinUp Easter baskets made with the Berry Basket die by demo Beth McCullough.  Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

Molly has made a full recovery and was able to go to our Therapy Dog visit on Friday.  Molly loves everyone she visits at Memory Care and Assisted Living, but this wonderful lady is especially good with Molly! (I had to crop her face out of the picture for her privacy, but I wanted you to see the big smile on her face.) I tell her she’s a dog whisperer.  When we first arrive Molly gets a little anxious, so if possible we visit the dog whisperer first.  She gets Molly all calmed down and then does a good job with her other visits.  Most of the residents are very excited to pet and hold our dogs.  Many tell us stories about their favorite dogs and other stories from their childhood.  For some of the residents, they talk more while they pet the dogs than they do all week.  Have you every considered training your dog to be a therapy dog?  Here’s the link to Therapy Dog International. When we were leaving Memory Care yesterday, we ran into a family that was crying as they were talking to the director about moving their family member into Memory Care.  Our dogs gave the family lots of love and they told us our  pups were exactly what they needed at that moment and they were glad their parent would be getting therapy dog visits.  There are several dogs who visit the facility we go to.

therapy dogs

Last night Super Man took me on a date to El Patio for Mexican (if you are ever in Des Moines you need to go there) and then to Sister Act at the DesMoines Playhouse.  What a fun evening.  I love my husband!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

Wildflower Fields and Protein Ball Recipe

StampinUp card made with the Rose Wonder stamp set, designed by demo Beth McCullough.  Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

I am on the Design Team at Use Your Stuff Challenge Blog and this week’s challenge is Inspired by a Quote.  Make sure you visit Use Your Stuff Challenge Blog to submit a project to this week’s challenge.  I love this quote from Isaiah.  We studied Isaiah in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) a couple years ago.  Next fall we are studying the book of John.  BSF is available all over the world.  If you’re interested, you should check the BSF website and see if there’s a class near you.

PPA-292-Mar17 (1)

I used the PalsPaperArts sketch challenge to do the lay out of my card.

StampinUp card made with the Rose Wonder stamp set, designed by demo Beth McCullough.  Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

You can peek inside the card to see I added a strip of the DSP to dress it up.

StampinUp card made with the Rose Wonder stamp set, designed by demo Beth McCullough.  Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

I used a coordinating stamp from Flowering Fields to make the envelope cute.  Flowering Fields is one of the SAB sets which are free with every $50 order until March 31.

protein balls

Abby made a quadruple batch of protein balls (think healthy cookie dough balls) to take on our Colorado vacation.  Well, the protein balls were gone before we got across Nebraska.  We brought ingredients with us to make a double batch after we arrived in Colorado and those lasted a couple hours.  I thought you might like the recipe since they are so popular at my house.  The recipe came from my very good friend, Janene Pollack.

Chocolate Protein Balls

1 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. peanut butter ( I use Trader Joe’s 50% less salt peanuts and smash them in my VitaMix.  I don’t add any oil, just

smashed peanuts.   I keep my homemade peanut butter in a glass jar on the counter and it’s usually

gone within a week.  My kids like it better than store bought peanut butter.)

1/3 c. honey

1/4 c chopped dark chocolate

2 T. flax seeds

2 T. chia seeds

1 T chocolate protein powder or to taste

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl until evenly mixed.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min.  scoop chilled mixture into balls.  Keep in refrigerator until serving.

Please let me know if you have any question or comments.  You can leave comments at the very beginning of this blog post.

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

Card Details:

Paper- Wildflower Fields DSP, Calypso Coral, Hello Honey, Whisper White

Stamp Sets- Rose Wonder, Flowering Fields (envelope)

Ink- Calypso Coral

Accessories- Squares Collection Framelits, Candy Dots- Brights

 

Pop Up Flowers All Occasion Card

StampinUp All Occasion card made with the Pictogram Punches stamp set, designed by demo Beth McCullough.  Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com  #StampingMom Sunday Stamps Top Cup winner

I love this week’s color challenge at Sunday Stamps.  Chocolate brown and pink.  What yummy colors!

sundaystampsSSC121\

I pulled out the Fun Frames Embossing Folder because it’s on sale this week.  Please see the Weekly Deals below.

weekly deals Mar 1

This is a card I can use for any occasion, birthday, thank you, sympathy, get well, etc.

StampinUp All Occasion card made with the Pictogram Punches stamp set, designed by demo Beth McCullough.  Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com  #StampingMom Sunday Stamps Top Cup winner

Steve and I took our youngest pup, Molly, for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon.  Maya has to stay home because she walks about a block, lays down and refuses to move.  We didn’t want to carry her all the way to HyVee and back!

Please subscribe to my blog if you haven’t already.

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

Card Details:

Paper- Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Stamp Sets- Pictogram Punches, Rose Wonder (sentiment inside)

Ink- Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Old Olive

Accessories- Fun Frames Embossing Folder, Pearl Basic Jewels