Birthday Excitement

I made this little guy 2 months ago, and am just now getting around to posting it...woo hoo! His expression just makes me smile, because it's one I make a lot around my kids.

The images were stamped separately and cut out, then glued on to the card. I computer-printed "Happy Birthday" inside the card. I had the hardest time getting smooth, blended coloring on the owl image with my Copics, so I think I'll have to find a better way to color Hooty next time; maybe just stamp him on light brown paper.
SUPPLIES:
Stamps.....U R A Hoot (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink....Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper....Solar White (Neenah); Kraft & black (unknown); Urban Prairie (BasicGrey)
Misc...clear embossing powder, dimensionals, classic circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Copics, glitter (Martha Stewart), Quickie glue pen

Little Things...

I made these a couple of weeks ago, but am just getting around to posting them....

They are really quick and easy. I got the layout from Michelle Wooderson here. She calls it her Postage Stamp Layout, and I think that it is so cute!

I didn't use bows on my cards, though, because the Post Office has really been charging me extra for anything slightly not flat (even a Braille dot was charged an extra penny!). I really like the look of bows, though, so maybe I'll go back to that and pay the extra postage, because the cards look not as happy as I'd like them to...


I don't know who made up this quote, but I think it is so true in life. Enjoy the little things in your life today!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps...IB Birds (Lockhart)
Ink....Noir (Palette)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah), Aqua Mist (PTI), Urban Prairie (BasicGray)
Misc...classic & scalloped square Nestabilities, Copics, ribbons (stash), computer generated sentiment

Slowly...

...learning about photo editors. Maybe if I just practice more, it will get easier. That's what I always tell my kids, so it must be true!

This is another card I did with my Fluffles the Cat stamp. The layout was inspired by this card from Michelle Wooderson.


SUPPLIES:
Stamp...Fluffles the Cat (Stampendous), polka dot backgrounder (CHF)
Ink.......Noir, New Canvas (Palette)
Paper....Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket),; Intense Teal (Prism); Kraft, Aqua Mist (PTI)
Misc......Copics, Classic & Scalooped Nestabilities, Threading Water Border Punch (Fiskars), aquamarine crystal glitter (Martha Stewart), flower punch (EK Success), button die (Sizzlet), white satin ribbon (May Arts)

Memorial Day

Well, usually for Memorial Day, we go to a service at the military fort near our home. But I was still wiped out from last week's chemo, so we couldn't go this year. Kind of a bummer, because I really like attending that service. And I was too tired to have people over for a cookout.

But my crew still found a way to have a good Memorial Day, even if we did stay home all day.

We ended up playing Tripoley for quite a while, which was surprisingly silly. I was kind of tired, so I just put a sleeping bag on our deck and lay there next to everybody (I still had to play, though).




I know this next photo is unbalanced, but I like it because it shows each kid being themself: Peter, kicking back...Ziggy, sorting his cards...Anastasia, giving me "the eye,"...

Pippin was so funny, and was excited that we were all outside. She finally fell asleep, and it was so cute, because she pretty much slept in the middle of the deck (not next to me on the comfy sleeping bag!).

After the game, we mustered up some picnic grub: brats, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, and jello. I did sneak in a green salad for Peter and me, though, because I had to have something fresh...if you know what I mean...

The girls and I made rice crispy treats with sprinkles and flags (which Peter & Sophia made), just to make it more patriotic. My ladies sure helped me make some delicious picnic food.

Us 3 girls decided to wear kind of patriotic colors...sort of. Sophia didn't have any red, white or blue clothes, so she figured pink camo would be just as good; I thought so, too. And of course, Anastasia would only wear those colors as ACCENTS to yellow, which is fine by me.

Here's us 3 bandana girls, in a photo lovingly taken by Peter....
Left to right: Bandanastasia, Dianabandana, Sophiadana

So, not a typical Memorial Day for us, but we still managed to pull a party together with just us, and it turned out okay...and the weather was awesome!!!

Testing photo editors

1st photo.....


2nd photo...

both done with auto-fix, just different editors....

which one do I like?

Mother's Day Card for a Friend

I don't know why, but every Mother's Day, I also hand out a few cards to the Moms in our life that aren't really our Mothers...one is the greeter at church that knows us by name (there's 6 of us, so it's no small task), and she likes to give the kids candy every once in a while; she's our Church Mommy.

Another is the kids' piano teacher, who shares her love of music with the kids every week, and also her passion for card making. She likes soft colors, and seems to like cards that have tiny elements on them.

This year, I made her a cherry blossom card, using PTI's Out on a Limb set. I wanted some dimension to the flowers, so I used my new, cute little flower punch. It was too hard to punch through vellum, so I used some parchment paper (I bought it in the Mexican food aisle at the grocery store; it's the kind used to wrap up tamales). Before I punched the flowers, I colored the parchment with two swipes of Copic R20, to give it a soft pink tint.


After the blossoms were glued on the card, I added a dot of Stardust Stickles to the centers. To keep things shiny & sparkly, I also lightly edged the image rectangle with a silver paint pen...very lightly, because I wanted just a hint of silver.


SUPPLIES:
Stamps...Out on a Limb (PTI)
Ink..........Charcoal (Palette), Tea Leaves, (Versamagic chalk ink)
Paper......Solar White (Neenah), Sweet Blush (PTI)
Misc........Classic rectangle Nestie (Spellbinders), Stardust Stickles, glues, silver paint pen, flower punch (Punch Bunch)

Now I Know.....

....why there are 2 windows in our homeschool room.

Spring Fling Sketch and a Question...

Ellen Hutson is having a sketch challenge over at the CLASSroom, so I thought I'd play along. Here is the sketch:


I wanted to use my Lockhart Picnic stamp for the image, but wanted to use softer colors, to give it the feeling of a Spring picnic. The main card color of yellow was inspired by Anastasia, who vacuumed the stairs yesterday. She said to me, "Mom, you looked tired, and the stairs looked really dirty." Since she's my Yellow Girl, I chose that as my main color.

While I was coloring, I kept thinking of my Mom's strawberry-rhubarb pie that she used to make. Oh, I wish I had a piece right now! Since I don't, I tried to make my pie look like Mom's...

SUPPLIES:

• Stamp...Picnic (Lockhart)
• Ink........Noir (Palette)
• Paper.....Solar White (Neenah), Homespun (Memory Box),
• Guava Dots(Lasting Impressions), Spring Moss (PTI)
• Misc.......Threading Water border punch (Fiskars), buttons #5 Sizzlets (Sizzix),
• white Opal Liquid Pearls, clear glaze pen (Sakura), clear Atyou Spica,
• coral rose grosgrain(Offray), Copics

And now for the question:
This card was supposed to have a bow and a tag with the word "celebrate" on it (instead of buttons). But the grosgrain I use is too thick and stiff to make a cute bow. Does anyone know where to buy thinner weight 3/8" grosgrain ribbon thant's easy to tie?

Thanks for stopping by today!

PTI's Spring Fling Challenge

Papertrey is having a Spring Fling Challenge this weekend, to create something based on one of their designers' inspiration pieces. Lisa Johnson's piece really spoke to me.

For some reason, the tulips this year have been spectacular in our area. And they are still blooming! We have even had some appear at our house that were not here last year.
These 2 in particular helped me choose colors for my card. I call these guys "My Soldiers." It's just the two of them, standing next to a bush in our front yard, guarding the house. I can see them through the window by my front door, and it is 2 pops of bright, orange-red, even on cloudy days.

Spring makes me think of flowers, putting away winter things, and don't laugh, but clean linens! I really want to go buy some soft, fresh-looking sheets right now. I wanted my card to have a crispness to it (like new linens), so I just used a plain, natural color for the base. I made score-lines on the card base to give the look of the piping on that top sheet.

Fresh flowers and clean linens...what comes to mind when I think of Spring today. And that is reason to smile and to celebrate!


SUPPLIES:
Stamps......Blossoms (Inkadinkado mega pak from Costco), Mixed Messages (PTI)
Ink............Noir (Palette), Versamark
Paper........Natural White (Neenah), Geranium (Martha Stewart)
Misc..........Seafoam White Embossing Powder (Ranger), Classic rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Scor-Pal, foam mounting tape (3M), corner-rounder punch

CPS 113

Yay! I finally got a chance to participate in the weekly sketch at Card Positioning Systems! This week, it is sponsored by Cornish Heritage Farms, and I wanted to make a card using one of their stamps.

For the main image panel, I paired some images from Crafty Secrets' "Fairyland" set with the most used stamp in my craft room: CHF's "Thank You." The sentiment was heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I sponged Antique Linen Distress ink on the image panel, then lightly edged it with my gold paint pen.


You can't tell from the photo, but the bird's eggs have a coat of Glossy Accents on them, just for fun. And I scored two lines on one of the center strips of DP, just for fun, and to distinguish it a bit from the lace DP.

This card ended up being 5x7, and it was actually kind of nice to work with the bigger space.


SUPPLIES:
Stamps: Fairyland (Crafty Secrets), Thank You (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Noir (Palette), Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Paper: Natural White (Neenah), Mushroom (Royal Resource ), Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Punches/Dies: Lace Border Punch (Fiskars), Curved Rectangle Nesties (Spellbinders)
Misc: Glossy Accents (Ranger), Copics, foam tape (3M), buttons (my stash), Scor-Pal, ecru embroidery floss, clear EP, Gold deco-color paint pen (Marvy)

Thank you for stopping by!

"Happy Belated Birthday Blog Post, To You...."

I'm only 2 months late on this one...but after much persuasion (um, nagging) from both my Ladies, I finally got around to posting the cards I made them for their 13th birthday in March!

This photo was on their birthday weekend, and they were dressed up to go to a piano competition (do we know how to kill a celebration, or what?). Sophia is on the left, and Anastasia is on the right. Yes, they are twins...I know, I know: it's like seeing double! (groan) But don't they look lovely?

On with the cards:
Sophia is doing Pink and Brown for her theme colors this year, so I thought I'd make her a card with those colors. She also loves House Mouse stamps. I bought her one for a birthday gift (this one), and made her card with another stamp that I purchased at the same time (this cutie)...I intended to use different DP that was strictly pink and brown, but it just didn't look right with the cupcake on the stamp, so I used Basic Grey's "Two Scoops" instead; which seemed very party-licious to me....

The sentiment is computer generated with a Inkadinkado stamp in the center, and cut with a classic circle Nestie. I added sparkle to some of the dots on the DP with my stardust pen, and stickles to the cupcake frosting and sentiment swirl...I just wanted it sparkly!

Had to decorate the inside, too:

SUPPLIES:
Stamps....Make a Wish (House Mouse), swirl (Blossoms Inkadinkado Costco mega pack)inside sentiment (Marcella)
Ink...Noir (Palette), Pink Petunia (Versamagic Chalk)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah), Pink Blush, Dark Chocolate (PTI), Two Scoops (BasicGrey)
Nesties....classic circle, classic rectangle, scalloped rectangle
Misc...Threading Water border punch (Fiskars), diamond stickles, sakura star dust pen, pink rhinestones (KaiserCraft & Joanns ), heart pins (Heidi Grace), earring ends & sheer ribbon (Joanns), Copics


Did you know Anastasia loves yellow? She does...actually she breathes yellow. And basically, yellow was probably created just for her to enjoy (at least, that's what I've been told since she was very young). Anyways, no problem deciding on a color scheme for her card...

She also loves to read. Every night at bedtime, I go to tell her good night, and she looks up from the book she's reading, and says, "I know, I know: it's bedtime. Just let me finish this chapter." Which really means, "I'd really like to finish this book, so say 'goodnight' and be on your way...wait, where' my hug?".

When I saw this Whiff of Joy Stamp (Melinda reading book), I knew it would be perfect for her! The sentiment "Just One More Chapter" is computer generated and printed on vellum. I used some Floral Elegance digi-download paper from Gina K., which went perfectly with our yellow theme even though they are darker yellows (Anastasia says to me, "I've been kind of in a yellow ochre mood lately, and I don't know why..."). Added a few sparkly swirls (you're never too old for sparkles...even if you are a teenager), and gorgeous satin ribbon with some butterflies hanging down (because Anastasia is my yellow butterfly!).

And the inside of Miss Yellow's card:
SUPPLIES:
Stamps....Melinda reading book (Whiff of Joy)
Paper...Natural White (Neenah), Vellum (PTI), Yellow (DCWV), Floral Elegance digital paper (Gina K.), Catarina (7Gypsies)
Ink...Noir (Palette), Antique Linen Distress
Punches...Lace border punch (Martha Stewart), Swirl Flourish (EK Success)
Nesties...classic & scalloped rectangles
Misc...satin ribbon (unknown gorgeous color, free with Sept. order from Ellen Hutson), stickles, sakura stardust pen, Copics, butterflies (Jewelry Essentials at Joanns)


Okay, both girls gave me their enthusiastic 'okays' and 'thumbs up' to post the following photo (they are teenagers now, you know, so I have to ask their permission regarding these semi-embarrassing matters).

Now, to me they haven't changed all that much: when I see this photo or the one at the beginning of the blog, it's still my Ladies looking back at me, and they don't look too different (except more hair, and one is wearing glasses). But really, I don't see a huge change. I don't know why that is...

You all might be able to notice a change. I guess the height difference is a bit noticeable. Maybe they do look more similar to each other in the baby photo...

Anybody want to try and guess who is who in the baby picture?


Nope, I can't still can't see a huge change: it's still my two Ladies, born on the same day, but so uniquely different that I have no problem telling them apart...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

SOPHIA

&

ANASTASIA!!!

and my sincerest apologies to both of you for the tardiness of this post...but it will most likely happen again, though, because it's what I do...

Quick Notes

Every year around this time, my husband and I have the same conversation:

Me: "What should we have for Easter Dinner?"
Steve: "I don't know, what did we have last year?"
Me: "I don't know...was it ham and something else?"
Steve: "I don't know...probably..."

So, a couple of years ago, I started writing down the "menu." Nothing fancy, just a hand-written list of foods we ate for Easter, plus the days that I started preparing them, and other newsy tidbits. I wanted to write on something other than plain, white paper, so I used some cute note cards I got from Target. These cards really make me smile: pinks and greens, flowers, mixed patterns.

Then I put the card, plus the recipes in a page protector. I guess it could go in a binder (what my mom would want me to do), but I just stuff this packet in one of our 4 Easter Decoration boxes. It's just what I do because it works for me.
I was looking at the notecards this year, and realized that I could actually make a cute one with some of my new Making Memories "Flower Patch" papers and my Fiskars lace border punch. No stamping on this one. These patterned papers are so springy and really make me smile!
I put some DP on the inside, too, just like my pre-printed ones...
I suppose that if I wanted everything tidy, I would use a fancy computer font and print out our menu for the inside of the card. But I don't like everything tidy (just come visit our house sometime, and you'll know what I mean). So, I just quickly hand-write it. Here's the inside of this year's notecard:
Then I put all the cards and recipes in a new page protector, and it went in the Easter Decoration Box. It's like a little bouquet, waiting to give me a blast of springtime smiles next year.

Bookmarks

Okay, a bit of a break from Hawaii photos today...

I made these for my niece just before we left on our trip. I don't know, I just wanted to make a bookmark. My niece says she used to like blue, but now since she has to wear it all the time for a school uniform, maybe she likes green instead. So I decided to put both colors in the bookmark, because I don't think you could ever completely despise your first "favorite color." :)
These were really fun to make. I sewed the ribbon loops between the DP and the cardstock, hoping to give some strength.
SUPPLIES:
Stamps...IB Birds (Lockhart), Green Thumb (PTI)
Ink...Noir (Palette)
Paper...Urban Prairie (BasicGrey); Solar white (Neenah); Sour Apple, Blue Raspberry (PopTones)
Misc...Copics, ribbons from stash, sewing machine, nesties


Okay, staying with the theme of birds, I just had to include this picture from our Hawaii trip.

We were walking down the street to the market, and some guy had these 2 birds which he placed on a street tree. I didn't know they were real at first, because the colors were so striking, and the birds weren't flying away. We stood there staring at the birds, and the guy jumps up from behind me and said, "Would you kids like to hold my birds?" Umm, is that sanitary? I mean, do parrots get vaccinated? Or even, washed? Plus, how much would he charge for that? ZOINKS! So I just politely refused his offer and shuttled the kids down the street.

Anyways, here's some "Not So Itty Bitty Birds" that I saw in Hawaii:

Hawaii Trip: USS Missouri

This is kind of Part 2 of yesterday's blog entry: We first visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Then we ventured over to the USS Missouri ship; not a memorial, but a decommissioned ship that you can take a walking tour on. These are kind of located right next to each other.

Here she is, sitting in the water:

We had to take a shuttle bus out to the island where she is anchored. But before that, we got to look at some old torpedoes that were displayed in the yard. Ziggy had fun with that:
I was worried about how accessible this would be for Ziggy (like would everything be behind glass, or non-touchable?), but we found plenty to look at...HOORAY! When we first arrived at the ship, a guide handed us a Brailled brochure for Ziggy...my heart about stopped! Do they know how special that makes him feel? Oh, it was super!

Here are the kids, checking out the RACKS/bunkbeads for the crew; my kids decided that they would not like to sleep on the bottom bunk...look how low that is!

I just had to put this one in here...See, this door under lock and key? What's it have in there, gold or something?
Here is a closeup of the doorplate. It's SODA!!! Guess on a ship, that just might seem like gold. (I think it says "Starboard Soda Storeroom"). I just thought it was too funny...
We spent forever looking around the inside of the ship, at the various mess halls, rec rooms, quarters. All very interesting, but, um, cozy. I didn't put all the photos in here, because they are all, um, greyish, and guyish, and this is a girl blog...but if you need to see them, I can post them; it's just there's no flowers or swirlies anywhere!

I did have to put this picture in, though. They actually have this model inside the ship...a boy can never look at models too much, can he? What is the fascination?

Then my "crew" decided to venture outside, and upwards. Okay, since having babies, I have really bad vertigo, so I opted to not go up the ladders to the top of the ship. Ziggy gallantly stayed with me. And it was really windy, too (he doesn't dig the wind, which is another reason he stayed with me; I was worried about my wig flying off, and about him losing his grip on his cane and it going in to the water; oh, that would be interesting). He and I found a cute little bench to rest on:
This shot is after our adventure on the USS Missouri; Peter was soo happy!

So, on our last day in Hawaii, we spent 6 hours at Pearl Harbor...time well spent, I think, even though our feet really hurt :)

Here are my 2 fearless leaders, Ziggy & Daddy:
And here are my Teeny Boppers and my Caboose (Sophia, Anastasia, & Peter!)Now, let's go get some quick dinner, and go to the airport!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Trip to Hawaii: Part 1

ETA: One of my readers was inspired by this blog post, and wrote a lovely poem, which I have attached at the end of this entry...


Hey, we went to Hawaii for a few days! So, bear with me, as the next couple of posts won't have any cards, I think...

I'm kind of doing this in reverse order, since our last day is freshest in my mind, so I thought I'd post it first.

My 10 year-old son, Peter, is fascinated by World War II, and has really studied the events surrounding Pearl Harbor for the past couple of years. So we just had to see the USS Arizona Memorial while we were in Hawaii! We decided to take a taxi, rather than a tour group, so that we could spend as much time as we needed at Pearl Harbor.

The weather was absolutely beautiful that day, a little windy, but still gorgeous.
Here is a view from the shore...first, we watched a video, then we rode a ferry out to the memorial. It was a very somber ride, and I felt kind of guilty for going to look at it.
The memorial sits above the sunken Arizona, and the ship still holds the bodies of the fallen men inside it. I took a few pictures of the water, and parts of the ship, but felt weird about posting them...just seemed too, I don't know what, so I won't show those...

Anyways, at the far end of the memorial is a Shrine Room, with all the names of the fallen shipmates engraved on the back wall. The room was filled with visitors, so it was kind of tricky getting just my guys ( I didn't want to break any privacy laws). Here are Peter and Daddy, reading the names:
There are plenty of places to look down and see the USS Arizona, I mean it really is close to the surface of the water...
It was a lot more sombering than I thought it would be, and afterwards, my little guy had to sit under a coconut tree and think about it. (Don't worry, we went to the gift shop, and he got a cool set of ships so that he could set up and do re-enactments. Also, Anastasia found a cute photo book of soldiers and their dogs, called "Buddies"...I love that book! A couple of hours later, we went over to the USS Missouri ship and had a lot of fun, and I'll try to post that tomorrow):
When Ziggy was very young, he taught himself to read raised print. He especially loved to read license plates in parking lots, and since he was my first-born, I had enough time to give him lots of practice doing that.

Anyways, that skill has come in handy many times, and the Arizona Memorial was no exception. He was able to read the plaque...love those wonderful hands! There wasn't much for him to see at the memorial, so I wasn't sure how much he got out of the experience. But he did read this plaque:
I love that last line: "May God make His face to shine upon them and grant them peace"

Peter was so solemn...the Memorial was filled with people, and there was virtually no talking. It's alot for a 10 year-old, I think. I started taking pictures upward, because I found the ceiling so interesting. I told Peter that these guys that died would want us to remember them, but not so much in a sad way; maybe in an honorable way, but not sad.

He thought I was silly to take ceiling photos, but I said these sailors would be looking up at the sky and out across the water, and that's what I wanted to remember. I took a bunch of ceiling pictures, but couldn't get our country's flag completely in the picture until I moved over and let the Sun in the picture...

And there it is: God and Country. Two things worth fighting for and dying for, I think.



May God make His face to shine upon them...

(poem submitted by one of my readers):

God's Eyes

People who have died
Lie in their graves
Looking
Up
Into God's eyes.

People who have died
Would not want us to be sad
But look
Up
Into God's eyes.