Father's Day

I thought today was Father's Day so I worked feverishly yesterday to get this card finished.  That was on top of having had NO sleep on Friday night.  When I say no sleep, I mean no sleep.  My butt was totally dragging the ground all day Saturday.  Oh well, enough of poor me!

This card has all the elements of Richard's passion - gardening.   Plus it has his big red truck!  Unfortunately, we have both been very upset about our rose garden which is nine years old now.  It has been infected with a horrible virus called Rose Rosette Disease.  It is spread by microscopic mites.  All of the infected bushes must be destroyed.  Richard has been cutting them out and burning the canes.  It is very sad.  Not to mention a lot of money going up in smoke!

I hope the card will let him know how much I appreciate all the work he does to make our home stunningly beautiful!  (That's when I give it to him NEXT Sunday!!!)

Here are some pictures of the gardens that I took a couple of weeks ago.  Richard has such an amazing green thumb!!!



Birthdays All Around!

There are several birthdays in May and June (including my own!) so I have been making special cards.  One of my favorite techniques is the Treat Cup Slider on Split Coast Stampers (http://www.splitcoasstampers.com) created by Lydia Fiedler.  I seem to keep finding new ways to interpret this card. It is really labor intensive - at least for those of us with a short attention span! I tend to look at the pictures and forget some of the steps so I mess up a lot! However, it's all worth it in the end. Here is the card I created for Robert's birthday. Robert is an avid gardener and grows lots of butterfly attracting plants including the milkweed that attracts Monarch's. I believe he reported 68 caterpillars one day. The evolution must have been amazing to watch. At any rate, I created this card as a nod to his love of flowers and butterflies. Too bad I missed the cake!!!  

Tuesday is Charlotte Ann's birthday.  She was born exactly one week before my second birthday!  So I don't remember much of life without her.  She has been my rock for as long as I can remember.  When I was 5 (she was three) I was taken to kindergarten.  Being a very shy child (I know, it's very hard to believe, but true nonetheless!) I cried and cried because I did not want to be left there.  Charlotte Ann came up to me, put her arm around me and said, "Don't cry Turter (that's three year old for Sister), I'll stay with you."  And she has always been there when I needed her.

We also have waaaaay too much fun for adults.  That's probably because we are Geminis and Geminis never really grow up (The Peter Pan Syndrome!)  We both play music - piano, flute, sax - and sing, so when we get together there is lots of wonderful noise!  And lots of laughter.  We both love to sew as well.  Our grandmother's were both amazing seamstresses.  I guess we got that gene from both sides.  This card takes it's cue from that love of sewing.  Happy Birthday, little Turter!

The chick in the hot pink dress points up the fact that Charlotte Ann stands out in a crowd!!!

A Bag for Miss Rosie

      My sister called the other day and told me about a little lady in her church named Miss Rosie.  In the south we always precede a lady's name with Miss (or Aunt - if she's very close!)  Miss Rosie teaches Bible study and has a wonderful ministry in their church.  My sister asked if I remembered the bag I had sent her for her birthday in which to carry her music.  It was embroidered with a grand piano and musical notes.  She furthered queried where I had gotten that bag.  I replied that, of course, I had made the bag myself - silly girl!  She proceeded to tell me about the ratty bag that Miss Rosie carries for her Bible and study materials.  Obviously, this bag is a complete disgrace!  We cannot have that.  So, knowing that I could not refuse her, my sister asked if I would make something more presentable for Miss Rosie's stuff.

     I went to my computer and looked through the designs I have and found one I thought would be perfect.  It is a Sunbonnet Sue reading her Bible by Embroidery Library (www.emblibrary.com)  I get some of my best designs from them.  I added a couple of floral fluorishes (from a design CD called Spring Linens - I think by OESD) and her name.  I stitched it out on my Babylock Ellisimo.  It took most of a day to stitch out the design and about half an hour to put the bag together.  LOL!!  I must admit, if I could get by with carrying a bag monogramed "Miss Rosie" I'd keep this thing.  It is just way too cute!

Don't put all your eggs in one basket!

      Wham!  Something woke me at six this  morning.  Wide awake - no drifting in and out.   Don't know what it was, but I suspect it was an explosion inside my brain.  As soon as I awoke, I had this card in my head.  Yesterday while preparing for a Stamp Camp coming up on Saturday, I was stumped as to what to do for something "different" than a standard card.  So I borrowed an idea from Lydia Fiedler of Split Coast Stampers.  Her's was a Halloween card with a slider so the treat cup can be accessed from inside without having to rip the card apart to get at the candy.  Lydia is brilliant!  If you don't believe me, check her out on Split Coast.  She inspires me daily.  www.splitcoaststampers.com

(Hope that link works!!!)

     I wanted to do an Easter basket with tiny little eggs (Okay, so they are peanut M&Ms.)  I think it all came to me in a dream just before my brain exploded this morning.  All products used are from Stampin' Up! (except for the M&Ms).  I used Crumb Cake cardstock to make the basket.  I cut a rectangle and ran it through the crimper on the diagonal in both directions so it gives it a bit of a basket-weave effect.  Then I cut the angles with a craft knife.  I cut the handle from the Frame, Oval Scallop die and snipped off the upper section.  The paper is Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink and Marina Mist cardstock.  The DSP is from the Beau Chateau collection.  The "slider" is Pretty in Pink over stamped with Versamark using the large floral stamp from the Mementos stamp set.  Then I used the smaller floral with Pretty in Pink ink. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it makes a really subtle pattern on the cardstock.  I cut the tab for the slider using the Decorative Label punch and more Beau Chateau DSP and added a pink brad from the Subtles brad pack.  The little sentiment is from the new Heaven Blessed stamp set.  It needed some green (everything needs green because it's my favorite color!)  So I punched some little leaves from Pear Pizzazz cardstock using the Bird Builder punch.  The perfect touch even if I do say so myself.  Drum roll please . . . . . . . .

     The most difficult part of the whole card was not eating the entire bag (and it's one of the BIG ones!) of peanut M&Ms.  I really, really love peanut M&Ms.

Ready for Spring

      Okay, it's been a very weird and warm winter.  (I think that qualifies as an alliteration.)  Since most of the roses have started to sprout little tiny leaf buds, it's time to get the season started for real.  We did manage to have a measurable snowfall a couple of weeks ago, but seriously, it's time.

     Since moving to the mid-west nine years ago, I have discovered that winter is grossly overrated.  Where I grew up, on the Texas Gulf Coast, winter was a magical, mystical thing we read about in story books and saw in movies (i.e. Dr. Zhivago.  Remember that opening scene where black clad zombies trudged through the immense snow with a casket hoisted over their heads?)  Now that was what winter was about!  Not one long season of hot, sticky, humid, damp, (I could go on for days with adjectives describing the non-winter aspects of the Gulf Coast) . . .

     However, nine years into this experiment in seasons, winter has totally lost it's appeal.  It's just plain cold.  Cold to the bone cold.  Shivering in my thermal's cold.  Freezing my butt off cold.  Get the picture?  So as I sat in my "studio" (if you saw it you'd die laughing at that one!) shivering, I was inspired to create something to remind me that it WILL be spring soon.  So I came up with this little art piece.  What do ya think?

     At my next stamp camp I am going to unleash these materials from Stampin' Up! on my girls (snicker) and see what they can come up with.  Make it your own, ladies!  This should be great fun.

     We will also create a couple of cards.  You can never have too many butterflies - - -

     And this one . . . . .

    

     Hope you have a creative day.  Think SPRING!

Defying Gravity - almost!

      This has been a really crazy week.  The full moon, while beautiful, played all kinds of heck with my abilities to glue things together straight!  Or maybe it was the gravitational pull of Saturn, or Venus.  Whatever it was, I had one heck of a time.  Lots of things went in the trash and there was lots of mumbling explitives under my breath.  Not the kind of relaxing fun I usually have when I play with paper and ink.  Oh well, the cards are done now and all I have to do is put them in the mail (some of them anyway.)

     My mom is turning 86 on the 19th so I made a special card for her.  I also  made some pretty kitchen accessories to send her.  One can never have too many pretty cup towels!  This one has a design that looks like Spring.  I need Spring right now.  Here's the card.  Happy birthday, Mom.

And here is the cup towel and dishcloth.  I embroidered the cup towel and crocheted the dishcloth!

     Our good friend, Mikey, has a birthday on Tuesday (Valentine's Day).  I had fun making this "masculine" card for him.  He also has a great sense of humor so I used funny quotes.  The inside says "What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about!"  Happy Birthday, Mikey.

     And of course, there's Valentine's Day proper.  I made Valentines for my BFFs.  Here are a couple of them.

 

     And now for the most important happening this week.  Valentine's Day is also mine and Richard's wedding anniversary.  Wow!  14 years - where did that time go?  It seems like yesterday - and yet it seems as though we have always been together.  Love you, Babe.  Hope you like the cards I created just for you -  Happy Valentine's Day, my love.

And Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

   Whew!  It's been a busy week.  I think I'll just enjoy the next few days.

    

Merry Christmas. Really?

      Note to self.  When photographing a card with a cream colored background, use a contrasting color for the background!  Oh well, it still shows up pretty well.  I'm doing the Christmas Card Challenge on Split Coast Stampers (www.splitcoaststampers.com).  I signed up to do two a month.  That should give me a pretty good head start by the time December rolls around.  Especially since I only got a very few cards out this past Christmas.  Here are my first two for January.  Got 'em done just in time!

     I love creating backgrounds with stamps.  The angel, harp and snowflakes were stamped on the cardstock.  Then I used new paper from Stampin' Up! called Everyday Elegance.  I like using things that aren't particularly theme oriented to add color and interest.  This one is a keeper.

     The next one is made with Stampin' Up! Frostwood Lodge Designer Paper and the new Doily die. They are both so terribly Victorian. I love the doily in Real Red.  Who says doilies have to be white?  Not I!



     This is a pretty good start on my Christmas Card stash.  Maybe I'll go ahead and sign them, address them and get them realy to mail!