forever and always

October 12, 2020 By Mary Haugen

Hello friends. I have a special card to share with you today. It is the card I made for my daughter and son-in-law’s wedding. Their wedding was at a local winery. Beautiful venue. Wedding colors were Burnt Orange and Peacock Teal. And my baby girl was absolutely gorgeous!

My daughter loves the color orange and she loves to read. I really wanted to incorporate these into the card. I used the Forever Fern stamp set on their wedding invitations, so I decided to use that on the card to tie it together.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share this special project with you. Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

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happy 21

October 31, 2018 By Mary Haugen

This past weekend was my daughter Rachel’s 21st birthday. When did that happen? 21!? Life continues forward far to quickly. I love you to the moon and back, Rachel! I wanted to share the “card” I made for her. She really likes pineapples, so I used that as my starting point. I decided to make an explosion box and somehow incorporate 21 pineapples.

I used Concord and 9th’s Pop Art Pineapple for the 12 pineapples around the exterior of the box. They are stamped in Stampin’ Up! Pumpkin Pie ink on Pumpkin Pie card stock. Four pineapples are stamped in Pineapple Punch and Granny Apple Green and cut out with the coordinating dies. I added the Happy Birthday Thinlit and some Braided Linen Trim to the Granny Apple Green box top. But what about the inside? When I saw this folded pineapple by Martha Inchley on Pinterest, I knew I had the perfect center for the explosion box. Thank you, Martha for sharing your pattern!!

I added eight tiny pineapples in Pineapple Punch and Granny apple Green and punched out with the retired tiny pineapple punch. I am so happy with how it turned out. What’s more, Rachel loved it! Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!

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happy 20 my son

October 17, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that my son…my youngest child…my baby boy…turned 20 on Monday. I no longer have any teenagers. When did this happen? I swear he was just starting Kindergarten. Now, he is in his second year of college. I wanted to share the card I made for him. Full disclosure: it uses some retired paper and ink colors.

I made a shaker card with 20 candles in the “0”! The “Happy Birthday” (stamped in Crumb Cake) is from Picture Perfect Birthday. The banner is from Birthday Banners and sentiments are from Broadway Birthday. I used a white gel pen to make the dots around the shaker panel. I am happy with the final result, but it took me a while to get there. It is hard making a card for a 20 year old boy…um, young man….er, guy. I think I need more time to full grasp this milestone. But, another is right around the corner. In 10 days, my middle child turns 21!! Someone hit the pause button. Time is moving too fast.

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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happy birthday to my hubby

September 7, 2018 By Mary Haugen

We are one week away from Stamp-n-Storage’s annual warehouse sale and Grand Opening of our new retail space. It is crunch time to get everything done. It hasn’t left much time for stamping this week. But I did have to pop on to say Happy Birthday to my amazing husband, Brett.

He is hip deep in all of the details with moving SnS to the new location and the Grand Opening. I will be taking him out for supper at Buffalo Wild Wings so he can enjoy his favorite Big jack Daddy burger. Hopefully he will get some time to enjoy his day. He constantly amazes me with his abilities to run this business and keep it growing. I am super blessed to have him by my side. Happy Birthday, Brett! I love you so very much!

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a lifetime of love

July 30, 2018 By Mary Haugen

My daughter Jessica and her husband Tyler celebrated their first wedding anniversary on July 22.

We spent this past weekend in Fargo, ND moving them into their first house! I was able to hand deliver the card I made for them.

I thought Dandelion Wishes was perfect for this occasion. I was able to capture the rustic style that was the wedding decor. I love the Wood Texture dsp. I stamped the trio of dandelions in petal Pink on the lower right corner. I did w water color wash of Petal Pink on a piece of water color paper. Once it was dry, I stamped the dandelion in Gray Granite Ink. I layered it with a bit of Gray Granite striped paper from the Neutrals Designer Series Paper stack. The sentiment is stamped in gray granite ink on Petal Pink card stock and cut out with an oval from the Stitched Shaped Framelits. The Linen Thread and wooden hearts tie everything together.

I hope Jess and Tyler have fun settling into their house. I’m excited to see what is in store for year two!

-Mary

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mediterranean adventures

June 8, 2018 By Mary Haugen

From Amsterdam, we flew to Rome for a couple of days before leaving on a week long Mediterranean Cruise with stops in Pisa and Florence, Italy, Cannes, France, Mallorca and Barcelona, Spain and Naples, Italy (with an excursion to Pompeii). What struck me most on this trip is the history we saw. In America, we really don’t have a grasp on this kind of timeline. Things here are really ‘new’ in comparison. To see things that have been standing since sometime B.C. WOW! We also had some great food. One of my favorites was gelato, eaten by the Trevi Fountain! Here are just a few highlights:

This truly was a trip of a lifetime. So thankful we were able to have these amazing experiences. But, it is good to be back home. I have a bunch of new goodies from the new Stampin’ Up! catalog waiting for me to start creating. I’ll have some new projects to share soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Mary

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remember

June 6, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Next on our trip was a brief stop in Amsterdam for Brett and I to each cross something off our bucket lists. For Brett it was to rent a car and drive on the autobahn. For me, it was to visit the Anne Frank House. Two years ago I was in a production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in the role of Anne’s mother. It was one of the most powerful stage experiences I have ever had. It was amazing to actually stand in the place where it all took place.

I do not have the words to truly express how much this meant to me. Simply put – we must NEVER FORGET.

-Mary

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trip of a lifetime

June 4, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Brett and I are back from an absolutely amazing trip – we spent two weeks in Europe to celebrate our 25th Anniversary! We started off with three days in London: Westminster Abbey, Tea at Fortnum and Mason, The Play That Goes Wrong, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap, Sherlock Holmes Museum, The British Museum and a Dinner Cruise on the Thames.

I love London! I visited London with my oldest daughter last year and am really glad I got to go back again. There is still so much I want to see. Hopefully I get to go back again someday.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Mary

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You Are Simply Amazing

February 2, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Curtain’s up! It is opening night for Mulan Jr. at Hutchinson Middle School. It is always exciting to get to this point. To be honest, after three long months, I am also ready for it to wrap up. Of course, I go right into rehearsals for the High School spring show. So the whole cycle begins again. I hope to get some more time in the studio soon. For now, here is a scrapbook page I made of my amazing middle child, Rachel. I used one of my favorite shots from her Senior pictures (she graduated in 2016). This picture just blows me away. It was a lot of fun designing this page.

I started with an 8″x8″ piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I stamped the flowers from the Amazing You Sale-A-Bration stamp set in Soft Suede. Next, I added the brick background with the decorative mask and embossing past. I stamped the words “You are Simply” in Berry Burst, Peak a Boo Peach and Dapper Denim and cut them out. I used the Celebrate You Thinlits to die cut the word “amazing” from those same three colors. The last detail is the ribbon element at the top.

I really do think she is simply amazing!

Thanks for stopping by – Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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family