FIJI!

 

Recently, I had the fantastic opportunity to visit Nadi, Fiji, with my

sister, Penny Thomas. 

She is such a talented demonstrator with

Stampin' Up!

and earned the incentive trip there.

Her husband was unable to go,

so she asked me to travel with her. 

It took all of two seconds for me to

get YES! out of my mouth.

We had a wonderful, relaxing time together.

The place is unbelievably beautiful.

 

 

Every morning we would have breakfast while looking at this breathtaking scenery.

 

 

French-pressed coffee, pastries and flowers.

I could get used to this!

 

 

 

The view from our room.

Not bad, huh?

 

 

We took an excursion called

 Nadi Places and Faces.

One of our stops was a local vegetable market.

The colors of the unusual fruits and vegetables were

eye-catching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

We were lucky to be able to visit an actual village. 

 I believe the name of it was Buda.

One thing we found was that the people all over Nadi

were so very friendly. 

They genuinely wanted us to enjoy our visit.

We did!

 

This is the house the chief of the village lived in. 

 

Another visit was to an orchid nursery originally started by

Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame.

Since his death, it was turned over to the Fiji government.

It was unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

 



 

Back at the resort, we had to have the

obligatory drink with an umbrella!

We are in Paradise, of course!

 

Mountains and the South Pacific.

I know, we had it rough.

 

 

Thank you, Penny. 

You've given me something amazing.

It was a trip of a lifetime!

 



 







 





Mini Wine Carrier

While shopping the other day, I came across these cute little

individual plastic bottles of wine. 

I completely forgot what was on my shopping list as I started thinking

of how to dress these up as gifts.

There is a tutorial on Pinterest

(Cabio Tse)

for this same thing using a little

bottle of Bailey's Irish Crème.

These bottles, however, are larger. 

So after many failed attempts, I finally came up with something that

would fit. 

I just love how they turned out, and how sweet the tag

(Krystal De Leeuw) 

looks around the neck of the bottle. 

That 1 1/4" Two Tone Ribbon is luscious and can be found in our

Stampin' Up! Spring Catalog. 

If I received something like this, I don't think I could bring myself

to drink the wine.  It's just too cute as it is!

Uh Oh. Another New Driver On The Road!

My niece, Haley, has just passed her driver's test!

I am so proud of her because she learned to drive in

her mother's HUGE Stampin' Up! mobile.

I want to send her a little gas money,

so that required a special card.

I used the Scalloped Envelope die to

fashion a car for her smiling image to sit in.

The wheels are from the Oval Punch,

and the headlights are Big Shot smashed

Silver Soda Pop Tops. 

 

Way to go, Haley!

Pleasant Poppies

Recently, 

two demonstrator friends from Chicago,

Julie Logan and Heather Klump

visited me for a stamping weekend.

I love having them here. 

We had a blast stamping together, but more than that,

I learn so much from them.

For example, this beautiful card.

When I saw it, I jumped on it to copy.

Using White Embossing Powder,

with the stamp set,

Pleasant Poppies,

and markers,

they created this beautiful effect.

(And yes, the Satin Ribbon is retired, but I love It!)

Thanks for the laughs, (wine), and fabulous food, ladies.

I'm ready to do it again!

 

 

Top Note Business Card Holder

I think this is so stinkin' cute!

It's a business card holder made with the

Top Note Die

and the

 Big Shot.

Sweet Treat

I'm always on the lookout for cute little candy holders.

This one uses the

Scallop Envelope die and the

Bitty Banners die.

It's just big enough to slip a

Ghirardelli chocolate square inside

to give to someone special!

 

 

 

(Inspired by Angie Juda)

Love and Sympathy

I just love this simple

Sympathy card.

The stamp set is called

Love and Sympathy.

A simple little pearl was placed in

the center of the flower.

Very pretty.

Summer Smooches

How cute is that little

Rich Razzleberry flower on the

bottom corner?

The designer paper used is

Summer Smooches.



Blossom Punch

The top layer of this card, which was run through the

Big Shot Polka Dot Folder,

was also punched using the

Blossom Punch.

That layer was raised off the designer paper,

Patio Party by Dimensionals. 

A button was placed in the center and a

Jumbo Pearl inside the button.

 

 

(Inspired by Selene Kempton)

Get Well Wishes

We made this pretty get well

card at my last

Stamp Camp.

I like the layers and faux

buttons made with a punch and

card stock. 

 

 

(Inspired by Susan Goetter)

It's Spring! (finally!)

My latest sampler.

This one has a Spring theme.

This is a closer view of the 1 3/8" squares.

Click photo for a better look.

 

 

I'm pretty sure there will be a summer one coming soon!



Happy Easter

 

 

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!

 

 

(Inspired by Penny Thomas)

He is Risen

Happy Easter Everyone!

 

I shamelessly stole this idea from my sister,

Penny Thomas.

I love the idea of taking a stamped image and framing it.

This one is so three-dimensional with the wound

card stock flowers. 

There are little pearls added to the stamped image too.

It's a small framed piece, but the impact is very

WOW!

Easter Bunny

This little bunny, made with

ovals,

just makes me happy.

 

 

(Inspired by Stampin' Up!)

Mini Bunny Nugget Treat

 

 

Inside this little cutie is a single chocolate Nugget.

The designer paper is called

Twitterpated.

I used four punches to form the bunny:

Ears - Small Heart (which I snipped into two pieces.)

Head - 1/2" Circle (this was used for the hole for the basket too.)

Body - 3/4" Circle

Tail - Itty Bitty Shapes

To form the basket, I used the cup

Framelit from the Big Shot Holiday Collection.
A small piece of the DP was adhered between the two
pieces of the basket to hold the Nugget.
I also used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop the bunny up on the basket.
When the Nugget is placed inside, it really stands him up!

 

 

He's just so cute, no one will notice that there is only

one piece of chocolate inside!

O - M - G ! Snow!

 

If you read my last posting,

you saw that I had to cut my St. Louis trip

short to beat a major snow storm coming to the Mid-West.

Wow!

We just made it!

This was Sunday.

 

Here is my hero,

Steve,

playing,

I mean working so hard with his snow-blower on

our front walkway.

Notice the depth of the snow.

 

Here is a closer view.

 

As the day turned to night, the snow never stopped.

This is a birdhouse I have sitting on a bench on the deck.

What birdhouse? 

Hope no one is inside!

 

 

Front porch again.

This is Monday morning. 

Remember the cut Steve made on Sunday?

Almost gone overnight.

So of course he had to go out with his

toy,

I mean snow-blower again to clean it up!

 

 

Don't let the look on his face fool you.

He's having a

Blast! 

 

 

SOOOOO ready for Spring!









St. Louis Stampin' Up! Demonstrators Regional

 

Last Saturday, the Pieces of Heart team attended the

Stampin' Up! Regional

at the America's Center, downtown,

 St. Louis, Missouri.

As you can see from the photos, we are happy!

We've just been given free stamps!

Top photo from left is:

Mary Ellen Cope, Patty Schnell, Jessica Schnell, Jayne Singleton, and Kathy Boxdorfer.

Bottom photo, from left:

Judy Sumner, Marla Schack and Mary Taylor. 

 

 

 

Lucky Mary Ellen won a goodie from the

Prize Patrol,

who happened to be

Bonnie Thurber.

She is just short of a rock star to us Demonstrators!

We LOVE Bonnie!

 

Another winner in our group was

Jessica Schnell.

She picked up a free

My Digital Studio download.

 

Because the weather was turning nasty,

they ended the event a bit early so those who had to travel,

could get home in time to beat the snow.

But because we just can't get enough of each other,

we met for dinner to continue the fun.

Then high-tailed it home in front of the storm.

 

I had a blast with my peeps and am so looking forward getting together

with them again soon. 

Love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

 



Clean & Simple Thanks

 

 

I'm so excited to be able to see my stamping friends this weekend.

The Stampin' Up! Regional is being held in

St. Louis, my old home town.

There will be lots of hugs, card swapping, note-taking

and catching up with people who are very special to me,

fellow Demonstrators.

Speaking of card swapping, the card above is the one

I will be handing out. 

I love a clean and simple card and I think this one is perfect for that.

The stamp set I used is called

Best of Everything.

That's just the way I feel this weekend will be!

Clean and Simple

 

Stamp Set from Sale-a-bration

called

Madison Avenue.

Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack

and

Rhinestones.

Easter Blessings

 

Using the

Labels Collection Framelits Die,

and the Wisteria Wonder

from the Designer Series Polka Dot Parade Paper,

really emphasized the raised dots

on the Very Vanilla Card Stock

on this pretty Easter card.

 

 

(Inspired by Jan Hoyt.)