Covent Garden & The Thames

A very good Sunday to you! Yesterday was my cousin Kate’s wedding at a little old church in Sutton. The ceremony was good and the Vicar was quite funny. The reception was at a local hotel and it was so great to see most of my family at once. A good time was had by all! I’ll have some pictures from the wedding later in the week!

On Friday Brian and I went to Covent Garden, I have actually never been there before and it was really neat. They had performers and loads of shops, there is even an Apple Store there. Here are some pictures…

Covent Garden

The entrance to Covent Garden.

Apple Covent Garden

The unassuming Apple Store sign.

Apple Covent Garden Inside

Part of the inside of the store has a glass roof!

I’m also really fascinated with the Underground. Here is one of the new London Overground trains. It’s connected all the way through.

London Overground Train

And the Jubilee Line has glass and doors all along the platform.

Julbilee Line Platform Doors

You can see Brian and I in the reflection! I’ll have some more pictures from the rest of our adventure from Friday and loads more to come of the next adventures that we take! Thank you fro coming along on my vacation with me! I hope that you enjoyed the pictures and that you have a super Sunday! 🙂

Piglet MAT

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey

A very good Saturday to you! Today is my cousin Kate’s wedding so my whole family will be there! It’s about a two hour drive and we are going to head out around 10:00. I spoke to Michael yesterday and he is headed to a strawberry and flower festival today, sounds like fun! Yesterday Brian and I wandered around London again. We took the train in from my cousins, about an hour to get in. Stopped at my Uncle’s and then set off. I have taken loads of pictures and these ones are from Thursday. After we got off of the London Eye we walked past Big Ben…

Big Ben

Love the fact that I got the bus and the guy with the Union Jack sweatshirt in the picture! LOL!

Next up we went past Westminster Abbey…

Westminster Abbey Sign

Westminster Abbey

It really is amazing when you think how long all of these landmarks have been there! Next up is Trafalgar Square, a much smaller version of Times Square!

Trafalgar Square

We have been fortunate with the weather so far. It has rained just a little bit at night and been overcast with little peeks of sun from time to time during the day. I’ll have more pictures for you tomorrow, now I’d better go and get ready for the wedding! Have a super Saturday my friends! 🙂

Piglet MAT

Popping in to Say Hello!

Hello from Merry Olde England! We had a very nice flight over and even got bumped up to the 6:30 from the 7:30. The food on the plane was quite good. It took about 90 minutes to get through immigration even though we landed at 6:30am! The British Airways terminal at Heathrow is huge and lots of flights come in early apparently! My cousin Tracey and Jules picked us up and we dropped our bags off at their house before heading into London to visit my Uncle Bruce. My aunts Shirley and Carole stopped by with little Amber so we got to see lots of people on our first day here. For lunch we had Fish and Chips, Brian wanted it! While we were at the fish shop I looked out the back window and there were the London Overground tracks.

Kilburn High Road Tracks

Now, when you stand in front of the store you would never know that there was a train anywhere nearby except for the station entrance…

Kilburn High Road Overground Station

I am always fascinated by the layout of the city. If you go to Google and look you can see the hidden train tacks behind things all over the city. When you are in the city of London the streets are very narrow and as you go out further into the suburbs it feels a bit more like Long Island.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll have a card for you. We are going to head back into London and wander around a bit tomorrow so I’ll have some more pictures for you on Friday! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your Wednesday! 🙂

Piglet MAT

Just Some Pictures!

Sometimes in my mad dash to leave the house and make sure that everyone has their stuff I forget mine! My backpack with my computer is at home and I’m in Manhattan for the weekend. Huge bummer! I’m trying to work out a way to get it here, fingers crossed! So for today I have some pictures that I took yesterday. Michael, Maggie and I went to Port Jefferson, a nice little town in the north shore of Long Island. You can take the ferry over to Bridgeport CT from there. It was a beautiful day and we just wandered around and enjoyed all of the scenery and cute little shops. I hope that you enjoy the pictures and I’ll be back tomorrow, no matter what, with a new card for you!! Enjoy you Saturday!!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Paper Craft Crew 147

We are supposed to get a break from the rain today, they say some sun in the afternoon but then right back to the rain for Thursday and Friday. As long as it’s nice at the weekend! Today was dreary but you make the most of it right?! Work was a little busy but I still managed to get a bunch of things done. Dinner tonight was bacon cheeseburgers and beer battered french fries! YUM! After I came home and Skyped with Andrea and made a card using some new goodies that I recently acquired! I like when I can just sit down and play for a little while! Taylor came by and we ran to Target to get some soy milk and eggs, I also picked up some Twizzlers because, well, they make mouths happy! LOL! How is your week going?

Before I get to my card for today I wanted to share some cards that a friend of mine sent to me along with some goodies including some brochures on London! Her name is Nicole Watt, better known as the Pixel Maven! She is a very talented card maker and a whiz with computers! In my package was a cool little surprise. We lost the Color Coach in this year’s Catalog, not to worry, Nicole has an ingenious solution for us! She came up with her own color chart! You can see it by clicking here and heading over to her blog. She has it available as a download or you can purchase one of the handy cards! Speaking of cards, here are the two that she sent me…

NW Card JK

This one actually uses the placemat from the restaurant that we had lunch in while I was in Florida for Leadership in January!

NW Watercolor Card

And this one is just gorgeous! I love the watercoloring!! Thank you Nicole!!

Today it’s Wednesday and that means that I’m over on the Paper Craft Crew for our sketch challenge for this week…

PCCCS147 DY Sketch 6-03-2015

I used a bunch of different goodies on my card! The base is Neenah Solar White 110lb Card Stock and the background is a piece of the Sale-A-Bration Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper. My panel is a piece of Bermuda Bay with some Vellum adhered behind the embellishments on top of it. The panel is adhered to the card with SNAIL and Fun Foam. My three feathers are cut from Pool Party with the Feathers Framelits, I spattered them with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal and Gold. They are adhered to the panel with Foam Tape. The stamped greeting is from one of the Paper Pumpkin Kits and is heat embossed in Pool Party Stampin’ Emboss Powder on Coastal Cabana and adhered with more Foam Tape. The die cut greeting is cut from Gold Foil Sheet with the Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words Birthday Die and adhered with Ranger Multi-Matte Medium. A scattering of Hazel & Ruby The Makery Green with Envy and Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins finishes the card. I love the blues and all of the different texture on the card! I hope that you enjoyed my Design Team card for this week’s Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge! Stop by the blog and check out the rest of the design teams projects! I also hope that you enjoyed the cards from Nicole and that you check out her blog too! Thank you so much for sharing in my day! Have a wonderful Wednesday! 🙂

PCCCS147-JK-WM

Products used:

Stamp Set: Happy from Paper Pumpkin (Stampin’ Up!)

Specialty Ink: Versa-Mark

Embossing Powder: Pool Party (Stampin’ Up!)

Card Stock: Solar White 110lb (Neenah) and Bermuda Bay, Pool Party and Coastal Cabana (Stampin’ Up!)

Specialty Paper: Gold Foil Sheet and Vellum Card Stock (Stampin’ Up!)

Designer Series Paper: Best Year Ever (Vintage-Stampin’ Up!)

Dies: Feathers Framelits (Stampin’ Up!) and Wonderful Words – Birthday (Papertrey Ink)

Embellishments: Teal and Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp), Green with Envy Sequins (Hazel & Ruby The Makery) and Sparkling Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Adhesives: Multi-Matte Medium (Ranger), 3M Foam Tape, Crystal Effects (Stampin’ Up!) and SNAIL (Stampin’ Up!)

Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool and Fun Foam

 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Current Promotions:

It’s here! The 2015-2016 Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog! Get your lists ready and place your orders by clicking on the catalog to the right!!

Piglet MAT

Germaine’s Paper Pumpkin Class

Am I happy to be back in freezing NY… that would be a no! LOL! I’m glad to get to see my peeps again but I’m really missing the Florida sunshine and much warmer temps! I had a nice flight home last night, the plane actually left 10 minutes early and it didn’t take forever to get my luggage. Andrew picked me up and came in for a little while once we got back to my house. I will miss all of my friends, especially Maggie, Nicole and Brian, but I’ll see them again soon. As you can see I’m a little late today, I think I went to bed at 2:00am. I will also get all caught up on all of my comments today, yesterday I got caught up on my emails at the airport and on the plane, all 620 of them!! I needed a little vacation from it for a while!

Today I’m sharing the cards that were made at my friend Germaine’s Paper Pumpkin class. She was nice enough to let me play along with them last Monday and I had so much fun! I made three cards, Germaine made one and her friend Susan made four cards and the treat bags. So enjoy the pictures of the cards, they use supplies from the kit and some other punches, stamps and card stock. I hope that they give you lots of ideas as to what else you can do with the amazing little Paper Pumpkin kits! Enjoy!

Here are the ladies from left to right starting in the front, Dawn Walker-Randall, Dale Strileckis, Germaine Meilach, Barbara Jones, Mary Lou Kopinj

GM PP Class Ladies

Here is Germaine’s card

GM PP Card

My three

GM PP Class JK Card 1-WM

GM PP Class JK Card2-WM

GM PP Class JK Card 3-WM

And the four cards and treat bags that Germaine’s friend Susan Superak made

GM PP Class Susan Card 5

GM PP Class Susan Card 4

GM PP Class Susan Card 3

GM PP Class Susan Card 1

GM PP Class Susan Card 2

 

I hope that you enjoyed them all! Thank you so much for coming by today! I’ll have more pictures from Leadership tomorrow! Have a super Sunday! 🙂

Current Promotions:

With our personalized stamps you can create a cool address label or even use it for everything from marking your territory on books or other belongings to having a fun way to give a personal touch to gifts and goodies. Click HERE for a PDF of the flyer.

It’s here! The 2015 Occasions Catalog is ready for you to place your order! It’s packed with fun trendy products and quick kits! Click on the image in the sidebar and place your order today!

Need some cards quicky? Stampin’ Up! has a brand new kit that allows you to create 20 cards, all you need is some adhesive and you’re all set. Click here for the Everyday Occasion Card Kit!

Make your own stamp! New Undefined stamp carving kit. Available now! Click here for the PDF.

Check out all of the Photopolymer Stamp Sets! The newest set is You’re Wonderful. It’s a completely clear stamping option you are going to love!

Piglet MAT

World Traveler You

I’m a little late with my post today, I just can’t get going lately. It was also a busy day yesterday, I ran some errands in the morning to get out of the house. Heather does catering and I went with her on a deliver and then we came home and got ready to go to Daniel’s party. I stopped off to see my friend Renee on the way out east to pick up some stuff from her. The party was in Patchogue, it was fun and the kids had a good time. There was a bouncy house and lots of ballgame themed food. I took some pictures, of course I forgot to take pictures of the banners, but I did get some nice pictures of my peeps.

Daniel's Centerpiece Front

The front of the centerpiece.

Daniel's Centerpiece Back

The back.

Daniel & I

Me and the Birthday Boy.

Heather, Daniel & Andrew

Heather, Daniel and Andrew.

Daniel & Cake

Daniel with his really cool hat and cake!

A really fun party with lots of great people.

On a side note and completely unrelated, I love quotes. If you follow me on Instagram I post quotes all the time. Some that I write and some that I love. I found this one this morning and it reminded me of when I was a younger. If I was feeling down I would take a ride to the airport and go to the International Arrivals Terminal and sit there and watch the people meet as they got off the plane. The International Terminal is good for this because the people have been away for longer and it’s so nice to see them reunited with loved ones. This quote I found this morning reminded me of that…

Jonathan Safran Foer Quote

So, I think at some point today I’m going to go to the airport and just watch for a little while.

Now on to today’s card. I wanted to use my favorite greeting and the World Map Stamp so this is what I came up with. The card base is Whisper White Card Stock. I stamped the World Map Background Stamp on a piece of So Saffron in Memento Tuxedo Black. The Lawn Fawn Large and Small Stitched Rectangles are used to cut out the map, frame and Vellum. The greeting I mentioned is from the From My Heart Stamp Set and is heat embossed in Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder along with the ship image from the Traveler Stamp Set. My frame is a piece of Basic Black and is adhered to the Vellum with SNAIL and then everything is adhered to the base. Not a very complicated card and the Stitched Frames make all of the layers east to cut out. I also love Vellum over another image in the background, it always gives it a little depth while keeping the card easy to mail. I hope that you enjoyed my card and the pictures from Daniel’s 1st Birthday. I also hope that you enjoyed the quote, I’ll post more of them here as I come across them. Thanks for spending a little time with me today. Have a good Sunday! 🙂

World Traveler You-WM

Stampin’ Up! products used:

Stamp Sets: From My Heart, Traveler and World Map Background Clear Mount

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Specialty Ink: Versa-Mark

Stampin’ Emboss Powder: Black

Card Stock: Whisper White, So Saffron and Basic Black

Specialty Card Stock: Vellum

Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool, Stamp-a-ma-jig and SNAIL

NON-Stampin’ Up!: Lawn Fawn Large and Small Stitched Rectangles

 

Current Promotions:

With our personalized stamps you can create a cool address label or even use it for everything from marking your territory on books or other belongings to having a fun way to give a personal touch to gifts and goodies. Click HERE for a PDF of the flyer.

It’s here! The 2014 Holiday Catalog is ready for you to place your order! It’s packed with fun trendy products and quick kits! Click on the image in the sidebar and place your order today!

Need some cards quicky? Stampin’ Up! has a brand new kit that allows you to create 20 cards, all you need is some adhesive and you’re all set. Click here for the Everyday Occasion Card Kit!

Make your own stamp! New Undefined stamp carving kit. Available now! Click here for the PDF.

Check out all of the Photopolymer Stamp Sets! The newest set is You’re Wonderful. It’s a completely clear stamping option you are going to love!

Traveler Miss You

Yesterday I had planned to be productive but that didn’t happen. I was sad yesterday for some reason, I spent most of the morning laying on the couch, that’s something I never do. My friend Kim called me and asked me what I was doing and told me that she could come and get me or I could shower and then go over to her. I opted to shower first! I spent the afternoon with Kim and Brian and then came home to make my card for today. Andrew called and said he was outside and had a few errands to run and would I like to go with him so I did. We ended up going back to Kim & Brian’s for dinner. Izzy took a liking to Andrew and used him as a jungle gym for a little while!

Andrew and Izzy

I say it all the time, I’m so lucky to have my friends. They are the most incredible people that you could ever hope to know. I needed to be around my peeps and like always they were there! Today is little Daniel’s 1st birthday party. Andrew has been informed by my sister-in-law Erika that he is singing! I’ll be sure and take pictures so you can join the party too!

The card that I have for you today is a relatively simple one, but the embossing paste gives it a little oomph! The card base is Cajun Craze Card Stock. For my background I took a piece of Night of Navy and a Tim Holtz Stencil called Gothic. I used some Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste and my palette knife to spend the embossing paste over the stencil and carefully peeled it off. I keep a shallow pan of water nearby to dunk the stencil into, the embossing paste dries pretty quickly and sticks to the stencil if you don’t keep it wet. After the embossing paste dried I Adhered a piece of 7/8″ Cotton Ribbon around the back of the panel and adhered it to the base with SNAIL. The suitcase image is from the Traveler Stamp Set and is stamped in Cajun Craze and cut out with my Paper Snips. For the greeting I used the Really Good Greetings Stamp Set, stamped the image in Cajun Craze and cut it out with the Labels Collection Framelits. Before I took it off of the Magnetic Platform I ran my Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Markers around the inside to give it a border. Finally a little Champagne Glimmer Paper heart punched out with the Owl Builder Punch goes over the o in “you”. All of the elements are adhered to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The stencil reminds me of our Beautifully Baroque Embossing Folder but I love the texture from the Embossing Paste even more, it has a great look and feel to it. I’m off to catch up on comments and try to get out of my funk. I hope that you enjoyed today’s card. I really appreciate you coming by to see me and I hope that you all have a really good Saturday! 🙂

Traveler Miss You-WM

Traveler Miss You Close-WM

Stampin’ Up! products used:

Stamp Sets: Traveler and Really Good Greetings Clear Mount

Ink: Cajun Craze Classic Stampin’ Ink

Stampin’ Write Markers: Night of Navy

Card Stock: Cajun Craze, Night of Navy and Whisper White

Framelits: Labels Collection

Punch: Owl Builder

Embellishments: 7/8″ Natural Cotton Ribbon

Tools: Big Shot, Paper Snips, Stampin’ Dimensionals and SNAIL

NON-Stampin’ Up!: Tim Holtz Gothic Stencil and Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste

 

Current Promotions:

With our personalized stamps you can create a cool address label or even use it for everything from marking your territory on books or other belongings to having a fun way to give a personal touch to gifts and goodies. Click HERE for a PDF of the flyer.

It’s here! The 2014 Holiday Catalog is ready for you to place your order! It’s packed with fun trendy products and quick kits! Click on the image in the sidebar and place your order today!

Need some cards quicky? Stampin’ Up! has a brand new kit that allows you to create 20 cards, all you need is some adhesive and you’re all set. Click here for the Everyday Occasion Card Kit!

Make your own stamp! New Undefined stamp carving kit. Available now! Click here for the PDF.

Check out all of the Photopolymer Stamp Sets! The newest set is You’re Wonderful. It’s a completely clear stamping option you are going to love!

Wonderful Calypso Espresso

I had a lovely day in Manhattan yesterday despite the rain in the morning. I went in early and met my friend Kim for some diner breakfast and then headed over to see my friend Ella. After Ella’s I went down to Penn Station and met Andrew then I had to stop by and see Jon and Mary for a bit. When we finished there we headed downtown to get some lunch. Andrew is a big fan of hummus so I thought that Hummus and Pita Company would be a good place to go. It was quite tasty as always! Andrew needed to stop by the Apple Store to get his lightning cable replace and who doesn’t like a visit to the Apple Store?! I got a text from Brian saying that he was in the city not too far from us so we went and met up with him for some Starbucks. On the subway ride back up we saw a group perform some acrobatic dance moves in the 34th Street/Herald Square Station. Only in Manhattan people! We stopped at Kim’s for a bit and then headed over to Isabella’s to drop off her Stampin’ Up! order and then it was time to come home. Here are some pictures from yesterday’s travels.

Andrew 14th Street

That’s Andrew just down the block from the Apple Store on 14th Street. Notice the lovely banana peel on the floor! LOL!

Brian, Me and Andrew NYC

Does it look like we were having a good day?! That’s Brian on the left in his Fire Department uniform. That was also after the Starbucks!

A fun day in the city indeed! After I got home I sat down to make my card for today and was inspired to use the You’re Wonderful Photopolymer Stamp Set and last week’s Pals Paper Arts colors! Ooops! My card base for today is Early Espresso Card Stock. The main stamp from the You’re Wonderful Photopolymer Stamp Set is heat embossed in Early Espresso Stampin’ Emboss Powder on So Saffron. I heat embossed the banners in Calypso Coral on Early Espresso along with the greetings and adhered them to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The flowers are heat embossed in Calypso Coral on Vellum Card Stock and colored in with Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blendabilities Markers. I cut them out with my Paper Snips and used a tiny bit of Multi-Purpose Glue to adhere them to the card. I guess I liked the colors so much that they stuck in my head and what would one of my cards be without some heat embossing and vellum lately?! I hope you enjoyed today’s card and the city pics! Thanks for coming by to see what I have been up to and enjoy your Sunday! 🙂

Wonderful Calypso Espresso-WM

Stampin’ Up! products used:

Stamp Set: You’re Wonderful Photopolymer

Ink: Versa-Mark

Stampin’ Blendabilities Markers: Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight

Stampin’ Emboss Powder: Early Espresso and Calypso Coral

Card Stock: Early Espresso and So Saffron

Specialty Card Stock: Vellum

Tools: Heat Tool, Paper Snips, Stampin’ Dimensionals and SNAIL

 

Current Promotions:

With our personalized stamps you can create a cool address label or even use it for everything from marking your territory on books or other belongings to having a fun way to give a personal touch to gifts and goodies. Click HERE for a PDF of the flyer.

It’s here! The 2014 Holiday Catalog is ready for you to place your order! It’s packed with fun trendy products and quick kits! Click on the image in the sidebar and place your order today!

Need some cards quicky? Stampin’ Up! has a brand new kit that allows you to create 20 cards, all you need is some adhesive and you’re all set. Click here for the Everyday Occasion Card Kit!

Make your own stamp! New Undefined stamp carving kit. Available now! Click here for the PDF.

Check out all of the Photopolymer Stamp Sets! The newest set is You’re Wonderful. It’s a completely clear stamping option you are going to love!

Golden Blackberry 50th

Hi there! I’m getting a late start today and I apologize for that! I had a nice evening last night with some of my peeps for Brian’s birthday. A bunch of us went over to Brian and Kim’s for some food and drink. Brian is quite the amazing cook, he made chicken and beef sliders, some yummy meatballs and there were chips and other assorted goodies! We all just sat around the fire pit and laughed and talked. Sometimes those are the best kind of nights, don’t you think. I did have a bit of a headache when I got home, September and October are allergy season for me and I keep forgetting to take my allergy pills! I was up until around 2:00 waiting for the Excedrin to kick in, hence I woke up a little on the late side! I do have some pictures from last night for you though! Here are me and the birthday boy…

Brian & I 9-2014

Here are Heather and me…

Heather & I 9-2014

And finally Kim and me…

Kim & I 9-2014

I couldn’t stop laughing in that last picture so we just went with it! LOL!

Now on to my card for today. My boss asked me to make her parents a 50th Wedding Anniversary card. I wanted to keep it simple yet elegant and this is what I came up with. The card begins with a base of Sahara Sand Card Stock. I adhered one of the Tea Lace Paper Doilies with some SNAIL to the base. For the focal point I started with a piece of Blackberry Bliss that I cut out with the Party Pennants Bigz L Die. My greeting is from the “Vintage” One in a Million Stamp Set and is heat embossed in Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder. Some Champagne Glimmer Paper and the “Vintage” Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies are used to cut out the numbers and they are adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Finally I tied a piece of Gold Baker’s Twine around the top of the pennant in a bow and mounted it to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Still loving the Blackberry Bliss with the gold and the Sahara Sand makes a nice change for the usual White or Vanilla! The greeting is also still one of my favorites! I think that it’s a simple elegant card and you can let me know if agree! Thank you for stooping by to see what my Friday was like, I love sharing my day with you all! Have a spectacular Saturday! 🙂

Golden Blackberry  50th-WM

Golden Blackberry  50th Close-WM

Stampin’ Up! products used:

Stamp Set: One in a Million (Vintage) Clear Mount

Specialty Ink: Versa-Mark

Stampin’ Emboss Powder: Gold

Card Stock: Sahara Sand and Blackberry Bliss

Specialty Paper: Champagne Glimmer

Bigz Die: Party Pennants L

Embellishments: Tea Lace Paper Doily and Gold Baker’s Twine

Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Dimensionals and SNAIL

 

Current Promotions:

For the entire month of August buy a Big Shot and get a FREE Stamp & Framelit Bundle!! Click HERE for more details!

The 2014-2015 Annual Catalog is here!! Get your lists ready and place your orders!!

With our personalized stamps you can create a cool address label or even use it for everything from marking your territory on books or other belongings to having a fun way to give a personal touch to gifts and goodies. Click HERE for a PDF of the flyer.

It’s here! The 2014 Occasions Catalog is ready for you to place your order! It’s packed with fun trendy products and quick kits! Click on the image in the sidebar and place your order today!

Need some cards quicky? Stampin’ Up! has a brand new kit that allows you to create 20 cards, all you need is some adhesive and you’re all set. Click here for the Everyday Occasion Card Kit!

Make your own stamp! New Undefined stamp carving kit. Available now! Click here for the PDF.

Check out all of the Photopolymer Stamp Sets! The newest set Yee Haw. It’s a completely clear stamping option you are going to love!