Stampin’ Up

Punchy Flower card!

StampinUp quick and easy 3x3 flower punch card created by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

I’ve been MIA for a few days because after Sean left Wednesday evening, I spent all the time I could with Abby on Thursday and Friday.  We shopped, packed, crafted and went to lunch.  Superman and I made her favorite last couple meals including Cauliflower stir fried “rice” with beef and broccoli, Cayman eggs and homemade hamburger pizza.  Abby also got all her laundry done and cleaned up her room.  I didn’t realize it could be that clean and organized.  Now that I know it’s possible…

On  Saturday Abby took the SAT college entrance exam and then Superman and I spent ten hours driving Abby to camp, helping her get settled, taking  Ryan and Abby out for dinner and then one last trip to Walmart for extension cords, trash can etc. and then the long trip home.  It was hard to leave Abby there to be a camp counselor this summer.  My other kids have never been gone for the summer at such a young age.

The three of us remaining at home (Superman, Keegan and I) will be up visiting our two middle kids in Okoboji soon.  It will be quite an adjustment for Keegan to have to absorb all the parenting and advice Superman and I still feel the need to impart.  He’s never been our only kid at home.

Anyway I need a bunch of cute and easy cards to send encouragement to my kids while they’re serving the Lord at camp.  Use Your Stuff has a great color challenge this week.  Please stop by and play along.

color challengenew header hinge clear

StampinUp quick and easy 3x3 flower punch card created by demo Beth McCullough. Please see more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

I used Stampin’ Up retired colors Green Galore and Orchid Opulance and current color Bermuda Bay.  The two outer flowers are punched with the Flower Medallion punch.  I also used the Pansy punch and Petite Petals for the smaller flowers.  Quick and easy, but Abby will love it!

I have so much more I want to tell you, but Superman is waiting for me to watch a movie with him.  Please subscribe to my blog and I’ll be back with more stamping ideas and a few more stories of our crazy life.

Hope you have a great day!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

 

Graduation cards using Party Pop-Up Thinlits

I bet you might have gone to some grad parties recently?  We had two on Saturday night, so I whipped up a couple easy cards.  At both parties we enjoyed congratulating the graduate and their parents and we also ran into old friends we haven’t seen for awhile.  I’m so glad we were able to go.

StampinUp Graduation card made with Party Pop-Up Thinlits, designed by demo Beth McCullough. See more card and gift ideas at www.StampingMom.com #StampingMom

I wanted to make cute cards without spending a lot of time because most teenagers care more about the money inside than the card itself.  These are five minute cards!  I usually make the cards in the school colors of the graduate, hence the black and orange cards.

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

The confetti on the inside of this card came out of the remnants of Party Pop-Up Thinlits.

Sunday we had a fun BBQ with my parents.  Afterwards we went to the party room at their Independent Living facility.  It’s a cool room with a ping pong table, pool table, TV, couches and chairs, and most importantly card playing tables.  Dad and I played as Euchre partners against my Mom and sister, Janet.  Shockingly, Dad and I lost.  Actually my Mom is a card shark so I shouldn’t be too surprised we lost.  The kids enjoyed playing ping pong, pool, and Dominoes.

Tonight Superman and I dropped Sean off at the airport.  He probably won’t be at our house again until Thanksgiving.  I was tearing up as we drove away and was busy telling Steve I wouldn’t cry.  I can’t help it I inherited my Grandma Olson’s “weepy gene.”  We are thinking about going to Seattle in the fall to visit him.  Hopefully some day Sean will live in Iowa again or at least closer than Seattle, Washington.  Hug your kids if they still live at home!

If you don’t already have a Stampin’ Up! demo, please let me know if you’d like the new 2016-17 annual catalog.  I’d love to be your demonstrator.

Do you have five minutes to spare…make a quick and easy card.  It will make you smile and the person you send it to will smile too!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

 

Kate Spade Inspired Homemade Cake Balls Box

Last night I was in my office minding my own business, when Abby came in with a “great idea.”  Abby and her cousin, Lindsay, had spent most of the day making five different kinds of cake balls for a final AP Literature project for Abby and also for another cousin, Dalton’s, upcoming graduation party.  Anyway her great idea was that she wanted to give special gift boxes of cake balls to a couple of her teachers and the boxes needed to be homemade and cute, like a Kate Spade box.

kate Spadekate Spade-1

Kate Spade does a lot of black and white stripes and hot pink.  I translated that into a  Stampin’ Up Melon Mambo box with a belly band using the new Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) which is available starting June 1, but will probably be on backorder before the day is over.  I got mine early since I’m a demo.

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

What do you think?  Abby was so happy and proud to give these to her teachers.  The teachers were impressed with the yummy homemade cake balls and were surprised we made the boxes.  This is another thing I love about being a Stampin’ Up demo.  I can make anything at a moments notice: teacher gift, hostess gift, birthday card or gift, school project, etc.  So those of you in Des Moines, invite me to something and see what I come up with for a hostess gift. 🙂

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

The inside of the box was cute too!  We put a piece of Parchment paper over the top of the DSP, but the design still showed through.  Are you curious what kind of cake balls Abby and Lindsay made?  German chocolate coated with chocolate and coconut- Superman’s favorite, Red Velvet coated with almond bark and red sprinkles, Strawberry Lemon coated with yellow almond bark and blue sprinkles-Abby and Lindsay’s favorite, Funfetti (white cake with colored sprinkles in it)  coated in chocolate with purple sprinkles and Oreos coated with almond bark and Rainbow sprinkles-Keegan’s favorite.  Each of the combinations represented different characters in comic books.  Don’t ask…it was part of the assignment.

Please leave me a comment  or question at the top of this post and also let me know if you’d like directions for my gift box.  I took pictures as I created the boxes, but don’t have directions written up yet.  I will do it if you want it.  I am now at the point where I can create any size box based on the  height and width of what’s going inside the box.  I used a Window Sheet to enclose the box so the recipients could see the pretty cake balls without having to open the box.

Superman and I enjoyed a special lunch out to celebrate our anniversary today.  This afternoon I convinced Sean he needed to purchase some new clothes before he heads back to Seattle.  I’m sure he was thrilled with a couple hours of mother/son bonding. (I actually enjoyed it very much, Sean- probably not so much)  Clothes shopping never seems to make it on his agenda.

Abby is officially a senior in high school and Keegan needs to survive one more day of final tests before becoming a junior in high school.

I had three things I was planning to put on Abby’s agenda for later this week: clean her room, clean her car and pack for Okoboji.  I was so happy when I got home today and Abby announced she had deep cleaned her car inside and out. Maybe if I don’t say anything the room and packing will get done too! 🙂

Hope you had a great day!

Please subscribe to my blog, like my Facebook page or follow me on Pinterest.  Thanks so much!!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂