Nor-Cal Paper Crafters Shoebox Card Swap on Saturday

Saturday started off as a stormy, ugly morning, however 9 of us gathered at Candice's house in Rancho Cordova to make cards.

In this picture is Karen, Candice and Joyce. Candice is the coordinator for Nor-Cal Paper Crafters group. Karen is hosting the next swap in April. She lives in Folsom. This is Pat. Pat does Dove Chocolate tasting parties. Yum!!

And Julie. She and Pat are close friends.

Unfortunately I neglected to get pictures of the other ladies. Sorry, ladies. Also attending was Michelle, Linda who lives in Galt and Joyce brought her daughter, Janet.

This is Julie's card. We used bleach on the center image, however I think I didn't get enough bleach on the image. It is suppose to turn white. So I will have to do it over. She used Versamark and stamped the image on the card. I really like this card.

This is Karen's card. The frog was done by using different punches. At the swap that we did in August of last year here at the mobile home park, Karen did a Frankenstein Halloween card and it had goggly eyes and lots of pieces. I think Karen likes cards with lots of pieces. Cute card!!

Candice's card is called an easel card. I loved the color scheme, kraft paper, olive green and white. Super card!

Here is a side view of her card.

Linda made this card. Another super card and great color scheme. Olive green, blue, black and white.

Michelle made 2 cards. This is her Mother's Day card. She used a clear gel glitter pen on the butterflies for a little sparkle. The butterfly punch is one of my Martha Stewart punches that she used. Absolutely love the card, told her I'm going to have to borrow the stamp.

This is her Easter card. She told everyone she used things from "Betty's store" to make her cards. :)) The card base is cardstock that I have, the ribbon is from my vast supply and the corner punch is one of mine. The card base has a little bit of sparkle in it. She used the clear gel glitter pen on the flowers surrounding the cross adding more sparkle. I think it is a very classic card and I love it even if she did visit "my store". :)

Joyce also made 2 cards. The color on this birthday card is brown, pink and white. I like this one too.

This is Joyce's Easter card. This card is so sweet. I can see this image being used for a baby shower, invitations or thank you cards.

Pat's Easter card. The Easter eggs were all punched out. She cut the basket using the Cricut die cut machine. There were other pieces to decorate the basket and I neglected to get them. Oh well, its okay. It looks fine as it is.

Everyone did an excellent job with their cards.

This bag of goodies was at each person's place. Reese's peanut butter pieces, Hershey kisses and a stamp. I got a butterfly.

I've included the cards I made again for a reason.

And the reason is because --- drum roll --- I won 1st place. I was totally shocked. I don't ever win anything. Here's what I won: 2 Martha Stewart punches and a tube of Prima flowers.

Thank you, ladies, for your votes. I don't have these 2 punches so I am happy to have them (I really need more punches). LOL!! The tub I have them in is overflowing.

So, in spite of the rain, we had a great time. The rain did stop by the time we all left. I forgot to take pictures of our potluck. Karen made chili, I had my hot dish and fruit salad, Pat and Michelle brought brownies, Joyce brought a tossed salad, Julie had a vegetable tray, Candice had a spinach dip with some bread. I'm not sure what Linda brought, although there was another vegetable tray and a bundt cake.

Can't wait for the next one in April!!

Nor-Cal Paper Crafters Shoebox Card Swap

Nor-Cal Paper Crafters Shoebox Card Swap was originally known as Sacramento Area Shoebox Swap. A shoebox card swap is being held tomorrow, Saturday 2/27. Those attending could make a St. Patrick's Day card, an Easter card, a Mother's Day card or a Birthday card.

I chose to do a Mother's Day card and an Easter card. Here is my sample for my Mother's Day card. The stamp is by Savvy Stamps, the card base is SU and I used 2 different pieces of designer scrapbook paper. I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the bottom piece of scrapbook paper. Copic markers were used to do the coloring. I used Coral, R35 to color the flower on this sample, the center of the flower is YR21, Cream. The leaves are YG23, New Leaf. The ribbon is from A Muse Art Stamps.

The "Happy Mother's Day" stamp is also from A Muse. I used a piece of foam tape to pop it up. It was suggested to me that I use this blue, B34, Manganese Blue to color the flower. So I stamped the flower on a separate piece of white cardstock and colored it with the blue marker. I took this picture with the card laying on the table so I could place the blue flower over the Coral one. It has a completely different look. I did not color the stamped flower in the kits so the ladies could choose the color they wanted to use.

Here is my Easter card. The cardstock, stamps and ribbon are by A Muse. The grass was done with a Martha Stewart border punch. I used Copic markers to color: Y17, Golden Yellow for the scarf; YR07 Cadmium Orange for the carrot; G09 Veronese Green for the carrot top; 110 Special Black for the tires; C1, Cool Gray for inside the tires and BG10, Cool Shadow to outline the clouds and the bunny carrot car.

I believe there are 9 ladies signed up. We always have a potluck so I am taking a "Five Cup Salad" which is pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, coconut, miniature marshmellows and sour cream for the dressing. I'm also making a hot dish which I usually do as a casserole. I think tomorrow I am going to prepare it and put it in my crock pot.

There's really no recipe for it. Years ago my former sister-in-law made this dish. You brown hamburger meat, add half of a chopped onion then add corn kernels, sliced green olives, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and season with salt, pepper, and oregano. Stir this all together and simmer for about 30 minutes or so. Then combine this mixture with noodles that have already been cooked. I use egg noodles sometimes, large macaroni or rotelle (the corkscrew looking pasta). Then I put it in an oblong Pyrex dish and sprinkle lots of cheese on top. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes or so until it is bubbly and the cheese has melted. It is yummy!!

Oh, I am also going to set up a Facebook page for both of my blogs. So look for that if you are on Facebook. I'll send an invitation to join to those that are my friends on Facebook.