Blooming with Happiness

July is definitely blooming with happiness for Stampin’ Up! addicts – er, customers and demonstrators. First, the new Stampin’ Blends are available. Such awesome new colors.

I am in love! And if that isn’t enough, we have a Buy three, Get one Free special on Designer Series Paper this month. And there’s a recruiting promotion. New demonstrators can add a collection of Classic Stampin’ Pads to their starter kit. (You can read about those promos in yesterday’s post. I usually don’t post on the weekend, but I couldn’t wait to share!) And demonstrators can preorder a brand new bundle (very cool stamp set and framelits) as well as 10 new Watercolor Pencils. (Can you say Coastal Cabana? So happy!) If you’re not a demonstrator, you can take advantage of this amazing offer in August – but it’s only while supplies last, so you’re going to want to order early! Join my team of demonstrators and you can order it in July!

July started off with a bang for Mike and me too. We took advantage of the free (and sunny!) weekend to catch up on some projects. While I finished a big stamping project yesterday, Mike opened the pool and mowed. Opening the pool is the easy part. Cleaning up after winter – not so easy. At the end of the 2016 summer season, we noticed the pool vac wasn’t vacumming. Last summer, we called the pool company, and they opened the pool and came back two or three times to try to fix it. They didn’t. But my brilliant husband diagnosed the problem and fixed it yesterday.

A lot of times when we have a glitch like this, Mike prays and God shows him what the problem is. I know some people (including talk show hosts I won’t mention) think it’s a mental disorder when people say God talks to them, but if you just be still and listen, He really does. Sometimes it’s in a dream, or sometimes it’s a feeling. Some people even hear an audible voice. I don’t really care how God showed Mike the problem with the pool vac. I’m just glad He did (and that Mike listened).

The vac is working well, but with all the rain, there’s too much water to skim the yuck off the top. I got it down a bit today, but there’s still a little work to be done before it’s ready for swimmers. I’m pretty sure the kids will be able to enjoy it on the 4th, though!

Today, while I worked on the pool and finished mowing (and picked tomatoes and cleaned up a bit around here), Mike changed the door on our office. Tonight, both of us are chiming in with Aunt Bee (from the Andy Griffith Show), saying, “We’re no spring chickens anymore.” Honestly, I don’t know how my parents do this every day. Dad is 86 and out every day picking, planting, pruning, mowing, and more. He laments that he can’t do what he did in his 50’s. Hey, Dad – we can’t do what you did in your 50’s, and I’m not that far over 50. He’s an incredible man, my father. Dad just does things like this and goes about his day. And Mom works just as hard canning, watering, cleaning, picking and all the other things she does. And she stays up reading until the wee wee hours in the morning. Mike and I had to have jacuzzi baths (with lavender salts), and now we’re just sitting here groaning. Mom and Dad – you’re amazing, and I love you so much!

So after all that, I wanted to create a card for my blog today. So here you go.

I used the Varied Vases Stamp Set and Vases Builder Punch for this card. You can bundle the stamp set and punch and save 10%. This was inspired by Mary Fish, a 1,000,000 sales achiever. (And from what I heard at OnStage, she’s pretty close to being one of the next 2,000,000 sales achievers! Way to go, Mary!) This set is so much fun and very versatile.

I was playing with my Color Coach and Blushing Bride, Soft Suede, and Shaded Spruce were on the Soft Suede page. They weren’t a combo, but I loved the way they looked together. You know how a group of colors just “calls” to you? This was it for me. So that’s my color palette, along with a piece of Very Vanilla.

The Soft Suede layer is embossed with the Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. It’s really hard to see the pattern in the catalog, and it’s not much better in my card photo. Here’s a photo of the packaging; you can see the design a bit better.

It makes your card stock look like it’s textured. So cool!

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy! Hope your day blooms with happiness!

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