Good Intentions...

Christmas has come and gone and no cards were made by these two hands - I can't believe it!!  I had all good intentions....but then, you know what they say about "the road to 'you know where' being paved with good intentions!!  Where did the time go?!! What have I been doing? I remember saying to my DH sometime before Halloween, "if we don't get cracking right now, the holidays will be here before we know it and we won't be ready!" Well...guess we didn't get crackin', did we?!! 

Our youngest grandchildren

We had a such a wonderful Christmas!! Our children and grandchildren all live within about 5 miles of us and our oldest granddaughter, who lives in Chicago, came home for a few days so we were super blessed to have everyone here with us!  Let's face it....our families and friends make the holidays!  Who needs presents! We love our grandchildren, and our grown children are such fun to be around and they're just nice people to spend time with! We're very lucky.

My oldest granddaughter & my daughter

A few short days and we will begin a new year - where did 2010 go?  I retired towards the end of 2009 and thought I'd spend lots of time stamping and scrapbooking all those photos I never had time to do. There was more stamping done when I worked full time!! I think I need to make a New Year's resolution to make better use of my time..... maybe finding a place to do some volunteer work. There are so many people in need these days, it would be nice to help out.

Anyway....just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (late, I know!) and a Happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I started the day today going over all of my recipes for the big Thanksgiving day feast. It seemed like I had so many different cookbooks, magazines, torn out pages, etc. and I just wanted to simplify. So...I decided to copy each recipe and then just put away all the books & magazines and just have the copy to refer to. I hope this helps me get rid of some of the clutter and be a little more organized!  Yummm....I'm already hungry for all those taste tantalizing flavors that only Thanksgiving dinner brings!

My card for today is a Whipper Snapper Designs image: Megan. She's such a cutie! I colored her with Copics and did some shading to her skirt and around the image with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Her shirt was paper pieced then I added some Star Dust Stickles (gotta add some bling!) and Crystal Effects to her glasses.  The sentiment is an old one from a Hero Arts set that I use a lot.  The scallop punch used is from SU! and I added the black inside the scallop edge to make it stand out a little more.  Love, love, love this paper!!  It's from My Mind's Eye and it's from the "So Sophia" collection. A little stitching, a couple of buttons and this card is good to go!

I know this is a short post, but I need to get back to my Thanksgiving preparations so I hope you'll forgive me!  Cleaning is next on my list, then checking to see that I have all the ingredients needed for dinner.  I'm ready for a busy, productive day!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!  Don't forget to give thanks for all the blessings in your life.  

{{hugs}}

Once a month?.....

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. I've finally got something to show today! I did a get-well card for my sister-in-law and friend who recently fell and broke her hip (yikes!).  She lives quite a distance from me (3 hours!) so it's not like I can run over a casserole to help out or anything.  She's a trooper though and I know she'll do okay with her hubby taking care of her.

I thought this Whipper Snapper stamp, "Recovering Chicken", fit the bill!  I stamped him in Momento Black ink on Bella's Bestest paper and colored him with my Prismacolor Pencils. I popped the deckled edge cutout back into the Nestability and added the shading around the outside edge with small chalk ink pad and sponge.  The cardstock I used is Riding Hood Red, which seems to be a mainstay of mine....which I think SU! discontinued (????).  (I'd love to get my hands on some more because I'm getting low!)  I added the "Ouch!" sentiment - done by my own hand, and felt like any more would've been too much. I tried adding some ribbon, but couldn't get it to look right. Since I was mailing this card, the less embellishments the better anyway! Of course, I just had to add some glitter around this chick to make her complete.  :)

A trip to Hobby Lobby and Archivers today was a special treat! But you should've seen me when I received my "Cinch" from the UPS guy!! I finally have some of the things I need to start using it after my trip - I'm excited! 

My grandson wants a fishing log book (he's 9 and is really into fishing!), so I'm going to try to make one for him. Trying to keep it fit for a "boy" and not all frilled it up will be my challenge!


Have a wonderful week!

Still trying to find my mojo.....

It's been close to a month since I posted anything....'life' seems to be getting in the way of my card making.  And the less I do, the more my mojo seems to be fading. Right now my stamping space is such a total mess - it's no wonder I don't spend more time there!  I was going to take a picture, but I'd be way too embarrassed!

Here's my attempt at Mo's Digital image "Celebrate".  I love this image! I colored it up mostly with Copics - shading with Prismas/Gamsol.  The paper is from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush collection.  The image is digital, printed on Bella's Bestest paper, other cardstock is from Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy and Almost Amethest.  The punch is Martha Stewart's Double Loops punch.  Sentiment is from an old set that was one of my first stamp sets; I think it's a Hero Art's set....not sure of the name.

This past weekend we had our annual family "Pumpkin Carving" day. Started out in the morning in 3 cars headed for the pumpkin patch!  We found one that we really like about half an hour from where we live. It's pretty basic: hayride out to the pumpkin patch, everyone jumps out and searches for that perfect pumpkin (and we all wind up with pretty much the same thing!), the hayride goes back to where our cars are parked so everyone can deposit their pumpkins then back to where we started. There's a large tent that houses the small concession stand - nothing fancy here. Just about everyone had at least a donut, some had cider, some hot chocolate. I think there's a haunted house there too, but we've never been to that.

But here's the part we like the best: the pumpkin blasters!! They have these huge "guns" that you load either with gourds or apples and shoot them at targets - it's a riot!!   





We all came back to our house for a late lunch/early dinner then we set up for our traditional pumpkin carving.  All of these events usually take place later in the day, so there's normally a few pictures when we're all finished, in the dark, of all of our pumpkins - lit up. But this year, we needed to wrap up earlier, so no final picture (boo hoo!).  Here's the one from last year....isn't this cool?!!  As you can see, we have a very imaginative group!

Here are a couple of photos from our pumpkin carving this year! :)  



Anniversary Wishes....

As you can probably tell if you've visited me before, my blog is not in its usual state! Somehow the list of all my favorite blogs has disappeared too. I've been trying to find time to re-do it, but for now, this will have to do....I expect to get it back to some semblance of 'normal' or at least something better soon!

This past week, my DH and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary - quite an accomplishment in this day and age.  I always have a hard time coming up with a card for him because I can't think of anything as good as what the Hallmark cards have to say. But I wanted to make him a card, so I did my best at expressing myself inside. It wasn't as poetic as a store-bought card, but hopefully he got it....and appreciated it even more because I made it for him! :)

I stamped "Kiss me you fool" on Bella's Bestest paper with Memento Black ink then colored with a combination of Copics and Prismacolor pencils. All the shading is done with pencils/gamsol.  The cardstock is SU!'s Ruby Red and Sage Shadow, the patterned paper is My Mind's Eye.  I used my Circles and Big Scalloped Circle Nestability to matt the image then raised on dimensionals, hand-lettered and cut the sentiment, placing under the raised image. As always, I had to add a little Star Dust Stickles to give it a little bling!

Oh darn... I just remembered that I had intended to somehow attach a little "love" charm and a "key" to my heart, but in the rush to get this done, I completely forgot.  Oh well....he already has the key to my heart anyway.  (blush!)



 

Birthday Kitty.....

These days, I only seem to make a card when I need one - LOL!!  That may change now though since summer is just about over and my days will be my own again.

I needed a birthday card for a neighbor, so I dredged up this Penny Black set buried in with my clear stamps. This little kitty has never been inked up and he looked kinda cute so thought he might give my neighbor a smile!  :o)

As usual, I can't remember which Basic Grey collection this is from!  (Ha!) Hmmm....either I'm having memory issues or just have too much Basic Grey!!  (I think it's a combination of both!)  I used my big scalloped circle nestabilities and intended to layer my image on that. When I tried it, it just didn't give it the 'pop' that I wanted.....when I looked at the remnant of my die cutting, I decided to give that a try....and I liked it!  Looking at the finished product, I wish I'd done a little more stitching, but I'm pretty happy with it. :)

I colored this smiling little kitty with my prismacolor pencils & blended with gamsol. The balloons are covered with Diamond Glaze and I just had to use some glitter (on the gift, his hat & around him)!  Can't seem to do many cards without some glitter or bling!  Some ribbon remnants and a loop and this card is ready to rock & roll! 

I used the big scalloped piece (originally cut out to go behind the image) on the inside of the card as the background for the "Happy Birthday" sentiment. 

The grandkids will be back to school this week so no more coming over to Grandma's house during the day.  I'm really going to miss them!!  They have made this summer so wonderful for both my DH and I.  It's been busy...and we've been totally exhausted at times...but we have so enjoyed the time we've spent with them.  Luckily, they live close to us, so we'll still see a lot of them!   (aren't they cute?!!)

Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!! 

Back to the basics!

My days have happily been filled with grandkids the past couple of weeks (11, 9 & 5 yrs) including a very demanding little 5-year old grandaughter who is becoming an avid stamper! She wants to learn everything I can teach her and wants to use every product she sees!! I'm really happy that I can share this with her, but I sometimes have a hard time sharing my 'hoarded' stuff with her!  :o)  (It's hard enough for ME to use that hoarded stuff!!)  She's so cute though and I really can't believe how she's picked up things like shading and blending! I'm making her use her Crayolas...even though she tries to cajole me into letting her use my Prismacolor Pencils. (Ha! No way, Jose!)

Back to the cards!  One is for my friend, Ruth, who is turning 87 in a few days and the other is for her son who is turning 59 on the same day. They are both wonderful people and I love them to pieces!  I was kind of in a time crunch to get these done in time to mail, so went back to the old 'basics' with both of these.  

For the first one I stamped a single flower on SU's Baha Breeze cardstock with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder then layered onto Chocolate Chip cardstock and some paper from Basic Grey's Offbeat collection. I stamped the sentiment from the same set in Chocolate Chip ink, cut it out added a few flat-back pearls, a little SU ribbon and ooaalaa! First one done! (whew!)


The second card needed to be more masculine, which I have to admit I struggle with sometimes.  I chose SU's Trendy Trees set for another quick and simple card.

I stamped the trees onto white cardstock and layered onto good old Chocolate Chip and Old Olive cardstock then machine stitched around the edge with brown thread. For the background, I used one of Basic Grey's Mellow collection papers also layered onto the same cardstock then zig zag machine stitched. I added a strip of old olive ribbon and a brad and .... another one complete!


I love coloring with my prismas, but every once in awhile it's kind of nice to go back to the basics and just do some stamping!  These weren't at all complicated, but I was very pleased with the results. 

Off to the mailbox these go!!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Sending Donkey Smiles....

Below is a card that I made for sister-stamper, Michelle Oatman. 

I recently found out that Michelle, who is a design team member for A Spoon Full of Sugar, had a life changing accident about three weeks ago, which left her with the loss of her right eye and a long road of recovery ahead. In an effort to show support, cheer her up and raise awareness for what happened to Michelle, A Spoon Full of Sugar is holding a card drive in her honor.

This cute digital stamp set was created by two of Whimsy Stamps' artists in honor of Michelle. The image is available for free on the Whimsy Stamps store page. Whimsey Stamps and many others are joining together to help with a card drive for Michelle. They are asking you to download this image and sentiments, create a card for Michelle, and help with their card drive from now until Tuesday, July 27th.  More details about this drive can be found on the Spoon Full of Sugar blog. 

 

Stampavie is also having a "Kickin' it" for Michelle drive trying to help raise money for Michelle .... besides sending cyber-hugs, they are asking for PayPal donations which will be sent directly to Michelle to help “kick” the mounting medical costs associated with her surgeries and also to help her obtain an artificial eye. Visit Stampavie's blog to get all the details of how to contribute.

Tina Wenke has produced a special digital download of a very cute donkey to use!! Just go to Stampavie's blog, click on the image and save the larger version to your computer. In return, they simply ask that you donate $3 or more to Michelle's PayPal fund.

My 5-year old grandaughter saw me making my card and was very concerned about Michelle. She asked me if she could make a card too....I couldn't believe what a great job she did!! (see how she tried to mimic my blue shading around the donkey? is that cute or what?!!)  On the inside she wrote, "Sorry about your accident. Hope you are alright.  Love, Lucy". I'm going to send her card to Michelle too....I hope it brings her a smile!!

Please visit both of A Spoon Full of Sugar and Stampavie sites and help support Michelle in her recovery!! 

On her blog, Michelle says that mail time is now her favorite time of day - when her hubby goes out to the mailbox and comes back with all the beautiful cards everyone is sending. She says they have lifted her spirits and brought her hours of smiles!!  Let's flood her mailbox with cards and well wishes!!

King of the Wild Things...

Happy Friday, everyone!! My DH and I have been busy the past couple of days helping our daughter get her new condo (new to her!) in shape. The previous owner had a large dog that shed like crazy and we've been cleaning up hair for days! Who knew a dog could shed that much hair?!!! Yesterday, I spent a large part of the day just cleaning the kitchen. It felt so good when it was all sparkling and shiny clean! Why is it always so much easier (and more fun!) to clean someone else's house than your own? :)

This is a card I made some time ago and totally forgot about. You know how sometimes you just have to clean up your stamping area for one reason or another and things get stashed away and forgotten? Well, that's what happened with this card, so I was really excited when I came across it!

"King of the Wild Things" (one of my all time favorite Stamping Bella images!), was colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS/gamsol.  I sponged around the edges with my Deckle Edge Nestabilites in place and stitched around the edges of the Basic Grey Archaic paper matted with SU black cardstock then glued that to SU Kraft cardstock.  I love this paper - it's so perfect with this image and for other dinosaur images for little boy cards. 

 The King's dinosaur skin texture was created using a technique taught by Paula, who is my IDOL when it comes to prismas!!!  (If you're lucky enough to live in the southeastern Michigan area, you should try to get in a class with her - she's the best!!) This was an easy, fun card to make and perfect for Jeanie's That's Krafty Thursday Challenge!! 

I just noticed that I didn't even add a single "sparkle" to this card!! Do you believe it?! No Stickles, no sparkles of any kind....I'm amazed I could let this card go without a single jewel!

That's it for now....hope you have a fantastic weekend!!

Keeping cool....

Whew! I don't know what it's like where you live, but this past week has been HOT, HOT, HOT here in southeastern Michigan!  Most of the week was sunny and beautiful, perfect for playing on the lake. We had our three grandkids during the day most of the week and we really took advantage of the gorgeous weather. Between the sun, the fun and the grandkids, we were totally exhausted at the end of every day....I think the kids were too!  We all thoroughly enjoyed just hanging out, cruising around in the pontoon boat, fishing, swimming, having lunch on the boat or just trying to catch minnows and playing in the sand (that was just the kids!).  Boy, did we miss them on Friday when they weren't with us!!  Here are a couple of photos I took:

So, as a result of all this fun in the sun, I haven't had a whole lot of time for card making. I already had this image colored and just didn't know what paper to pair it with - I grabbed the same paper I used in my last card and it worked (at least I think it worked!) - what do you think?

The image is another one of Mo's Digital Pencil ~ "It's Hot". This card looks soooo much better IRL!! That grass color looks pretty putred in the photo, but honestly...it does look better than it shows here. (My photography still needs some work!)  I colored him with prismacolor pencils, blended with OMS, added some Crystal Glaze on his goggles and the pool water...with a little stickles thrown in there for some sparkle! I couldn't resist adding some water drops too!  I tried to make this as 'boyish' as I could, hopefully the ribbon didn't ruin that.

This coming week looks like it might be a little rainy, but still HOT!  When the sun's shining, I'll be keeping cool lounging on the boat, swimming, and enjoying another week of my first summer being retired! 

Keep cool!!

Cinema Saturday Challenge #86!

As guest designer for this week's Cinema Saturday Challenge, I am privileged to announce this weeks movie: "Bend it Like Beckham"!!  "Bend it Like Beckham" is a heartwarming movie about a teenage girl who is struggling with her Indian traditions and her dream of becoming a world-class soccer player. In the movie, Jess, the main character (played by Parminder K. Nagra), is befriended by another girl, Jules (played by Keira Knightly), who recruits her to play on a real soccer team, gives her support and encouragement, and shares her love of the game. The relationship of these two girls is where I got the inspiration for my card. Even though Jess has a real sister in the movie, the ‘sisterhood’ bond that stood out and inspired me was the one between Jess and Jules. I don’t think you have to be blood sisters to feel the bond of sisterhood!

The challenge requirement this week, along with inspiration from the movie, is to create a card in any shape other than A2!! These days I pretty much always do square cards so this was right up my alley!! :) I used another image from Mo's Digital Pencil: 'Sisters'.  As soon as I saw this image, I knew it was the perfect one for this challenge! I usually like to start with my background paper and color to coordinate with that, but this time I just started coloring and then had to hunt to find some paper. :)  I'm not very adept at Copics yet, but decided to give them a try for this challenge. It worked pretty well, but the color I used for the older girl's top just wasn't working...so I fixed it by paper piecing with a coordinating paper - ooaallaa!!  A little shading with my Prismacolor pencils and blending with OMS completed the coloring portion. The background paper was so 'busy' that I didn't want to add too much in the way of embellishment, so I just used some paper lace in one strip then scrunched some of that same paper lace to form a backing for my hand written sentiment: "My sister, my friend".  I found a few sentiments that I liked.....

"Sisters are blossoms in the garden of life"

"A true sister is a friend who listens with her heart"

"A sister is one who reaches for your hand and touches your heart"

"A sister is a forever friend"

but ended up with the short and sweet, 'My sister, my friend'. I added a couple of Dew Drops to the bottom and some Star Dust Stickles (the best Stickles color in my opinion because it just adds sparkle, not color!) to the blue shoes, barrette & to the lace around the sentiment....there's just something I can't resist about adding some "sparkle"!!

I hope you like my card and that you'll be inspired to play along this week in the Cinema Saturday Challenge!!  It's a lot of fun....and YOU could be the next winner of the "Audrey Award"!!

Have a great 4th of July weekend!!  Great big{{hugs}} to all my sisters/friends!!

I must be dreaming!!

Okay.... in my very, very wildest dreams, I might have imagined that some day I could be chosen to be a guest designer....but to actually have it happen?!!!!  The news of my "Audrey Award" for the Cinema Saturday Challenge and invitation for me to be a guest designer next week had me positively giddy with excitement!!

The challenge this past week was to create a card inspired by the 1991 movie "Father of the Bride" starring Steve Martin; and drawing from the old wedding saying: "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"... to use "something blue” in our card. Well, I thought the Father's Day card I just did for my DH fit the bill perfectly!! It was definitely wedding inspired and had the blue in there too!

You can get a sneak peek into next week's challenge by clicking here and you might just want to play along when we find out exactly what next week's challenge is all about!

p.s. Thank you to everyone for leaving so much love in your comments!!

Late Father's Day card!

It only seems appropriate that since I did an 'early' Father's Day card a couple of weeks ago, that now I'm posting a 'late' one! The early one was for my son since he would be gone on his honeymoon over Father's Day, and the late one is for my DH. I actually gave it to him on Sunday, just getting around to posting it today! I also wanted to get it posted for the That's Krafty Thursday challenge over at The Spotted Chick's blog. (double-duty!!)

As soon as I saw this image over at Mo's Digital Pencil, I knew I had to have it for my DH's card!  I just love it!  My DH is such an awesome Father and Grandpa...and this image so brought to mind he and my 5-year old grandaughter at my son's wedding last weekend. :)  I started with Kraft, Chocolate Chip and ...I think...Baha Breeze cardstock ~ colored with Prismacolor Pencils blended with OMS, stitched around the bases and added as masculine a punched edge as I could find! Then a couple of Dew Drops to complete it!  I really wanted to add ribbon too, but couldn't make it work! (Don't look too close!! I was experimenting with 2 different pencil colors and wound up mixing them....thought it still looked okay and I was running out of time so kept it.) What do you think? 

Don't you think it's kind of reminiscent of these wedding photos of my DH & our little grandaughter Lucy?

Have a great day!!

A beautiful wedding....

Well, my youngest son's wedding turned out to be a huge success! Weather predictions for last Saturday were up, down and all over the place all week long. Considering the fact that the ceremony was outdoors, you can imagine how it was a point of concern...at least for some. I was more concerned with getting the programs finished up and the place cards printed! But all turned out perfectly: programs, place cards, weather and everything in between!

The wedding was at a venue that provided an outdoor chapel surrounded by trees and flowers with a large banquet hall for the reception - all within an English Tudor-style manor. It is truly an exquisite setting! The banquet hall is surrounded on three sides by windows with a deck that wraps all around and overlooks a small lake and beautiful, rolling manicured grounds. It's impossible for me to explain how really lovely it was.

The pictures below show the chapel area with and without chairs set up. There were paths of brick pavers running along the sides down to the arch where the ceremony was performed. The bride's mom and I were the first ones down the aisle (so to speak!) and we decided to use one of those paths down to the front to deposit our flowers for the unity vase instead of fighting the grass with heels on. It worked out great! I was a teensy bit afraid of stumbling since I don't wear heels much these days. 

The forecast was for thunderstorms, but as you can probably tell from the photos, it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day - warm and sunny....actually, a little more than warm...it was hot!  I think the temperature hit 90 degrees and upwards, which made everyone just a little 'testy' while the photographers did their thing.

As you can see in the photo below (left), my five year old grandaughter is just a little grumpy and wanting to move on into the air conditioning :) ....the boys are just tolerating things while my oldest son tries to keep them coralled until the photographers are finished with all of us. (It was a very long day for all of them, but especially for our little Lucy; so it's understandable that they were a little grumpy!) 

In the photo below (right) they are in the midst of the family unity ceremony. I loved this part (teary eye here!). Because my youngest son has three children from his previous marriage, they wanted to include them in the ceremony. It was so touching.

The bride's mom and I each put a small bouquet of roses in two of the three vases on the table at the beginning of the service, then my son and his fiance each took a rose out of those two side vases and put them in a middle vase; then the 3 children also each took a rose and put it in the middle vase....forming the family unity vase. It was really beautiful and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house!! All happy tears for sure!!

On to the reception!! I wish I had a photo of the cake to show you!! It was so different - lots of color and fun!  And the food was plentiful and phenomenally good! Toasts, hugs, kisses, dinner and on to dancing!!  My DH and I dancing a slow one....and some of the younger set got a little crazy later on in the evening when the late night mexican taco table came out. They really had a good time!

Tomorrow is Father's Day - remember to give your DH some lovin' too! Have a good rest of the weekend!

Early Father's Day

I'm so happy about this!  My new daughter-in-law to be really scored some points by suggesting that we have an early Father's Day celebration since she and my son will be gone - on their honeymoon - for the next couple of weeks.  And she wanted his children to be able to do the Father's Day thing with him and with the grandparents - myself & my DH before they left.  Isn't that just the sweetest?  I was quite impressed! The kids are just 5, 8 & 10, so I think it's important for them. I'm glad his future new wife thinks so too. :)

They're getting married this Saturday, and as I posted before, I'm heavily involved in preparations so I had to squeeze in this 'quicky' card while I was trying to clean up my stamping area in preparation for our big family barbeque on Sunday! I made this one for my son - no time to make one for the hubster today! (I'll make him one for the real day!) The stamp is from the Digi Shack (Dad's Day Remote) and most of the paper is Stampin' Up, including Kraft. I really combined a variety of techniques on this one...paper piecing, sewing, a little watercolor, some prismacolor pencils for shading & gamsol to blend...oh... and, of course, some sponging around the edges of the deckled edge nestability. It actually went together really fast and I was totally pleased with the result!

I'm sure I won't be posting again with all the festivities going on the next few days. But I'll be back to post another card as soon as I can next week!!

Have a great weekend!

WOW! Can you believe it's already JUNE?!!

Can you believe it's already June?!! I know! I can't believe it either!  Here in Michigan, it's been feeling like summer for a couple of weeks. It's so nice to get up in the morning and know that the sun is inevitably going to be shining and you're pretty safe wearing shorts. :)  The grill has already been fired up a few times and we've had some mouthwateringly (is that a word?!!) good chicken cooked by my DH. It's been a bit of a challenge for him because we're both a little afraid of undercooking meat so the tendency has been to overcook. Not this time!! We marinated the chicken for a few hours and he pretty much cooked it as directed. Yum!

No new cards to post today. Between our 3-day subdivision garage sale and getting things ready for our youngest son's wedding, there unfortunately hasn't been any stamping time for me. (waaaa!!) Plus, I've been busy working on place cards, wedding program and a 'things to do' brochure for the out of towners coming to the wedding. I'll have to give you a glimpse of some of these next post!

Hope you had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend!

Welcome, Neighbor!

Last week, I went to lunch with several of my neighbors - on a week day. Doesn't sound like a big deal, does it?  But it was for me! I retired recently and never was able to do this kind of thing before so this was a big occassion for me!  We had a great time - good company, good food and good conversation.  One of the things we talked about was that a new neighbor that had moved in. I told them how much it meant to me (13 years ago!) that one of the neighbors had a 'welcome to the neighborhood' party for us where we had a chance to meet everyone. We talked about how people used to take a fresh baked cake or pie to a new neighbor to welcome them.....in the old days....and that conversation led to the idea of putting together a welcome basket for these new neighbors! One of the ladies volunteered to bake a pie too....yummmm. We're still putting it together, but so far we have a basket lined with a new kitchen dishtowel, a copy of our association directory, a boat keyring (we live on a lake), a boxed sweet pepper grow-kit, a box of sidewalk chalk for the kids, a cute little potted plant (coleus) and this card.........

I used Mo's Digital stamp "Home Tweet Home" and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils, blended with gamsol.  I used my new big scallop nestie and I even crocheted the little flower myself!!  For the inside, I printed the "welcome to the neighborhood" on my computer then stamped a little flower stamp in the corner:

I thought it turned out pretty good....hope the new neighbors like it too!

Here's the finished basket.....

Have a great day! 

Candy for a great cause!!

Paula has inspired me once again! This time to help out a great cause.  Paula has a friend who belongs to Soldiers' Angels. One of their missions is to send cards to soldiers or family members. They like to send handmade cards whenever they can and the need is great. Mary is offering some terrific "Candy for a Cause". We only have until May 15th, so hurry on over there and check out Mary's blog - let's help her in her quest for 'embellishment free' cards and a chance to win some goodies!