Birthday-ville

or birthday city or whatever you want to call it - that's what is goin on around here. My husband and my sons birthday - yesterday and today. So the week has been occupied with that. Yesterday our A/C decided to quit - just in the main part of the house (the upstairs and the rec room basement area was ok - the basement is always cool even without the A/C) - only put a slight damper on our birthday festivities. Good call made by the birthday boy yesterday to ask for Carvel Ice Cream Cake! Ice cream always tastes especially good in hot weather dontcha think? Anyway, I made the son this card.

I've been making a lot of cards the last few days - the coffee shop is in need of replenishment, right June? I'll be posting those in the next few days.

Fortunately I was able to get the A/C guy out here today and I am now sitting in Cools-ville. Which is ever such a nice place to be!

I need to make this quick here - I should be getting ready - we're going out for a little birthday celebration. It will be just my husband and myself. Son has his second job to go to and the daughter is off on her adventure. I have to admit its strange not having her around - and son not joining in on the birthday for his Dad (last nite sorta made up for it but still....). I guess we're entering that new phase huh? In some ways its disconcerting - and in other ways its kinda nice. It's not like its happened all at once of course. Your kids slowly move on to the next stages - little by little they are doing their own stuff. I guess why I'm thinking of it is because of the birthdays. Before my daughter left, she - who I never thought of as sentimental - mentioned she'd be missing the boys birthdays for the first time ever.

Oh well. Have a good one!

i like choices - don't you?

i bought this stamp a while ago - and natch - i haven't used it yet. (it was screaming to me - "use me" so i finally relented). I was in need of more cards for the coffee shop so I figured why not give this one a try. The card I came up with looks somewhat masculine - dontcha think? I may even make another for one of the boys (husband and son) birthdays this week.

The stamp in Inkadinkadoo. I used Ancient Page Ink to stamp the image on a piece of white cardstock I'd aged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink (yes, it was Antique Linen... my favorite). I used the Distress Ink again, here and there on the patterned paper and edges. And yes, that's more of that Basic Grey patterned paper (i really think they should bring back that line -Vagabond - great masculine lookin' paper), some brown grosgrain ribbon and one of those circle clips.

Lately, I seem to forget to mention movies and shows we've been renting or watching. But this weekend we rented the 2nd and 3rd DVD's of Weeds - Season 3. I absolutely love that program. It's not for everyone (and def not for the kids) but we are amused here. Ok... enough for tonite. I think I'll have a few more things to post over the next couple o'days. talk to you soon!

Big Adventure

well she's off on her big adventure. My daughter.

I'm getting a little peek at what it's going to be like when she leaves for college in the fall of '09 - and if this adventure is any indication -

she will be fine

- i'm gonna be a mess.

it's funny how each child is so alike yet so different. When my son went off to college I wasn't a bit worried - about him - or my reaction to his being off at college. Of course it took a little while for it to sink in just how much we missed him around here. And we did. and we do. But he's always had an air about him - well we knew he'd be ok.

My daughter - I guess for a million reasons - non that are really rational - we worry. She is smart and sensible and is the best kid on the planet. She's never given us a reason to worry about how she will behave or that she won't always do the right thing.

Perhaps cos she's our little girl or cos she's our baby? Yeah that's probably it. LOL

So what is she doing?

She's gone for a month at an institution of higher learning (translation: art college) doing a pre-college program to basically work on her portfolio. Exciting stuff huh? She intends to apply to a number of art schools and wants to have the uber portfolio for her applications. She applied, with her porfolio as it stands now, and was accepted into this pretty cool program. (proud mom here). So that's where she is right now. The fun stuff begins tomorrow (the actual classes) and I have to admit I'm a tad jealous :-) She got into the core class she wanted (illustration) and takes another workshop as well as art history classes they require. They'll do trips to large cities where they'll take in wonderful art exhibits (are you jealous too?). The whole thing is a great opportunity and let me tell you - this kid deserves it. Along with all this wonderful art shtuff there is also the taste of college life which is also most cool - but a lot more supervised (cool from a mom viewpoint LOL)

So anyway - we left her there and have, of course, been worried ... for no rational reason - other than we are her parents and she is our baby. She called tonite to say hi and give us the lowdown. (i wonder if she was able to hear my audible sigh of relief when I said "hi!")She sounded great and we now can rest easier. I'm already looking forward to another phone call .... a mother's worrying is never done.

in the meantime I must occupy my time to keep from said worrying. so I've been fooling with stamps. Specifically Purple Onion Designs stamps. Yesterday I stamped and colored - today I stamped, dry and heat embossed and generally fooled around.... and had a nice-mydaughterisawayfromhomeatprecollegeandi'mworiedfornorationalreason- distraction fest playing with stamps. I just wished I'd had more time to play. Perhaps tomorrow?

goodnight all

happy

i had some time (in between laundry lessons) to do a little stamping. i bought this clear Wordsworth stamp set (like a week ago) at AC Moore with my coupon - such a deal - this word plus a number of smaller words (like birthday, halloween etc) - for like $5.00. Anyway I wanted to give it a try today. I stamped it a few times on white and thought gee what would it look like if I masked it and did a background? I made a mask with postits and then stamped all over with a Purple Onion Doodle Flower set. Since I was in the mood to color I had a grand old time coloring everything in - with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. I'm going to send this to a friend I think might need a little "happy" right now. This afternoon we're sending our daughter off on her adventure. I'll let you know all about it.

Merci and many thanks

Posting some cards I already posted over at 2peas - they're having a stamping event there all week (ending tomorrow). I saw a few challenges on there I thought I'd participate in - I needed a little inspiration and a challenge always helps. These two cards didnt scan well - color-wise. Regardless - the Merci card used a stamp from Imanginisce - stamped w/versamark and embossed with white EP. A little stitching; my circle scallop Nestablilities; Quickutz nameplate; Purple Onion mini-sentiment and a button. Many thanks sentiment is from StampinUp! as is the circle and circle scallop punches and the eyelets; the bird is a punch from Martha Stewart and the paper is DCWV.

Today is the first day of the Great American Scrapbook convention and I'm not going this year. Waaaah. Oh I'll get over it - it is always fun to look around. Probaby just as well I'm not going - I'd find something I need and believe me - I don't need a thing! Today I'll be having Laundry Lessons with my daughter. Yes, lessons. She has never done her own laundry. And it's about the same timing as when my son began doing his own laundry. Besides - tomorrow she's off on her adventure and she'll need to know how to make those clothes clean. We've been doing things every day this week in preparation - shopping for supplies and a few new clothes. After our lessons today, we'll pack. Yeah yeah... i'll fill you in soon - but I really need to get going today!

Father's Day cards

So here's a few cards I made - the first 4 were for the coffee shop.

On these first 2 star cards I used:

Making Memories star charms and eyelets; StampinUp! Word Window punch (to quickly punch out those strap-like brown pieces at the top that are held on with the eyelets) and SU! Sentiment from some long retired set; and my Creative Memories corner rounder. The patterned paper is DCWV.

The next two cards I used: SU! Classic Backgrounds set (Using the argyle stamp and a stampamajig to create that piece as the argyle is only 3 diamonds wide) and that same sentiment and SU!'s Mat Pack to do the paper piercing. I believe I also used the Rectangle Nestabilities (gosh i made these over a week ago and I just can't remember!)

And finally - one card for my husband for Father's Day. I used all Purple Onion Designs stamps: the 2008 Vintage Calendar stamp - individual months, Damask stamp and the wonderful Fourscore Alpha - Small. I just wrote in the "for my husband on". I machine stitched here and there and I pop dotted that month to get a little dimension. I used Antique Linen Distress Ink to age the June calendar and I roughed up the edges with my finger nail. Oh yeah that stripe patterned paper is some Basic Grey I just love (i think that line is long since discontinued - too bad - it was a good one!) I have to mention here my husband spent a good long time examing this card. He wanted to know about how I made the cardstock look old. I guess I didn't think he or my daughter were really ever paying attention when I had been tea dying cardstock in the past. That's what they thought it was - I told them no - this time it was just ink. But I had a little smile going on inside. (Let's just say I figure a lot of the time I'm talking to myself when it comes to this stuff around here. Yes, sometimes I've got a big pan of tea on the kitchen island and paper is soaking in it, and other pieces are drying on paper towels and I've got the iron going and I'm standing there ironing cardstock and I think ... just sometimes... they think I've lost my marbles... or at least a couple... but whatDOyaknow... they were listening. Happy happy)

It was a nice quiet day. The father (my husband) in this house went golfing and had a lovely relaxing day. We had a few presents, a yummy dinner followed by a Carvel Ice Cream Cake which was scrumptious. The ice cream cake was my husband's request and we all just about licked our plates it was so good. (Carvel holds a most special place in my heart - I grew up with Carvel. It was theee place to get ice cream in the summer in NY & NJ back in the day. Sad there are no more Carvels to go to.... )

okay it's late - i need to get to bed. Hope you all had a lovely day

Graduation cards

I made a few graduation cards for the coffee shop. Kept them in (what I consider to be) classic graduation colors - black, white, red (which incidentally happens to be the school colors of one of the local high schools....... ). All the stamps are from the SU! Great Grads set. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots, SU! ticket corner punch, and some eyelets on the first card as well as the Quickutz grad cap die on the second and third cards. I used my rectangle Nestabilities to cut and emboss the rectangles on the 2nd and 3rd cards as well.

The heat finally broke a bit here last night with a small storm. It was only about 88 here today and no humidity thank goodness. The braces are off my daughters teeth and she has a most dazzling smile - just in time for those senior pics she had taken yesterday. Tomorrow we're back to the orthodontist to get the retainer. Friday is my daughters last day of school topped off by a visit to the doctor to make sure she's up to date on her vaccinations. Where she's going this summer they require you to have all your shots.... that should keep you guessing (one hint: she's only leaving the state - not the country).

I'll be back with some father's day cards next okay?

Birthday Queen and a bunch of cards!

gives a shout out to Carolyn

on today, her birthday.

Yes I've been busy. I know I haven't posted in a while - a couple of weeks. We had the party for my f-i-l and I guess since then I've made an effort to do less online and more in life? I've actually made a few cards and am working on my Suzy ways (a post to come on there as well) among other things.

I've got a full house (meaning my son is home for the summer) at least for now. In a few weeks my daughter will be gone for a month to an exciting opportunity of her own. More on that to come. Before that, however, we've got a few things to do with her. Namely getting her braces off, taking senior pictures (why do they take them now? back in the day we took them when senior year was actually about to begin....) and finishing her junior year. It will be a busy week ahead. The school board in the county where she attends school decided to cut a few days off the end of the year as several snow days were never used so Friday is now her last day of school.

Okay - some cards to share

I made a birthday card for a friend - Let us eat Cake! (a motto I thoroughly endorse) - used another image from those that can be downloaded free on Stampington - see my previous post.

I needed to make a card for another friend. I came up with one I liked it but I wanted to try out a few more ideas I came up with during the process and ended up with 7 different versions.

I wish you could see the textured white cardstock for the main part of the card. It's pretty and really makes the whole thing. Regardless I used my Petite Circle Scalloped Nestabilities for the circle and the scallop behind it; some wide black ribbon from Walmart; SU stamps (Thinking of You is from retired All Year Cheer I and the flowery background is from a newish set called Together Forever). I decided I wanted to try making those little flowers into quasi embellishments so I stamped some and then painted them with Diamond Glaze after cutting them out.

So that's enough cards for today. I've got a bunch more to share. Some graduation and father'd day cards are up next.

Keep cool (the temps the last few days here have been in the 90's. yes, the AC is crankin)

The Birthday Queen is back

to wish Kris a Happy Birthday! We hope it's an extra special day!

Let's see what else have I been making?

Here's a card I sent to Jean whose post i just linked you up to had me so amused I needed to send her a card to thank her.

I now need to thank Barbara for her post that hooked me up with the image (from Stampington) that I used on the card.

I made another card using a different image from the set of images I'll post soon. I gotta wait til that card reaches its destination.

Okay - gotta run... its one of those days.

(edited to add: i'm getting a lot of annoying spam so you'll notice you're going to have to do a few extra steps to leave a message - sorry - that spam is just annoying!)

another baby card

okay so the other card i made for my sister's new baby? i decided I'd let my mother use it to send to my sister and I'd make another card for baby g. My niece has been baby g since before her birth and now it is the initial of her first name :-)

Supplies: DCWV and Bazzill cardstock; DCWV adhesive backed ribbon; Rubber Soul Giraffe stamp; Purple Onion Designs "welcome baby" from the mini sentiments set and "g" from Garamouche medium alpha; inner double circle stamp is Paper Salon. Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder and SU punches: circle and scalloped circle (phew thats a lot-o-shtuff for one card.....)

does anyone remember the original "baby g"... from ToysRUs? You know Geoffrey Giraffe and baby g... do you remember what baby g's mother was named? anyone? It's driving me crazy I cannot remember.

ah well. Memorial Day weekend here was kinda quiet. We broke out the grill. Barbecued chicken one day and steak another. Yum.

And we did another Video on Demand. This time around it was "Gone Baby Gone" with Casey Affleck, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. Wow. What a great movie. Not exactly happy subject matter (child abduction) but what a story.

I need to get moving for the day. Daughter is back to school today but I have my son home for the summer and my husband has taken off this week. It's hard getting anything done with these men about!

More cards

Here are 2 more roses cards

frankly I think I have had enough of those for the time being.

So I made a couple of other cards with some paper I had hanging around

(i think all the paper is Chatterbox, the roses stamp is Hero Arts and the Happy Anniversary is Purple Onion Designs mini sentiments; I printed off the Happy Birthday using a font called Black Jack; the ribbon adhesive backed and is from DCWV.)

I've been working on some more cards this morning that I'll probably post next week sometime. I hope you enjoy your holiday weekend!

So... am I an Uncle or an Aunt?

When ever someone's going to have a baby in the family - this is the question we ask - meaning is it a boy or a girl.
In our family, there is an abundance of boys.
Until Tuesday, I had 16 nephews and 4 nieces
(For the record, I am blessed to have a son and a daughter. When I had my second - my daughter - several people said something to me I had never heard before. Maybe you have? They said "now you have the perfect family" - meaning a boy and a girl)
On Tuesday my sister was scheduled to have her 3rd child by c-section. My mom and I were anxiously awaiting a call from Arizona all day Tuesday. We are worriers I guess. My sister is not exactly a kid and I can't help but worry - its major surgery right? And she is my baby sister. Of course I told my mother "don't worry - she'll be fine" but secretly I was a little on edge all day.
My sister has 2 adorable boys who I just adore. And while another boy would be welcome of course - deep down I think we all want a little girl. Someone who is like us. Do you think? I do.
So am I an Uncle or an Aunt?
Here's the card I made for my sister and brother-in-law (dontcha love the suspense?!)













When my sister called I was surprised to hear her voice. (I was expecting my brother-in-law) I asked her how she was - she sounded tired. Then I asked her the question and when she told me I yelled SHUT UP! and then I yelled it again. Then I started to cry. A lot. I know she called herself because she wanted to hear my reaction when she told me I am an Aunt.
So there you have it. I have a brandy new niece. My oldest nephew will be 32 this year and now I have this little niece. My oldest niece is getting married in 6 weeks from Saturday.
Isn't life something?
Have a great day!

More Birthday Roses

okay here's another card - same stuff except I used my quickutz photo corners die as well (don't even ask me how many time i had to cut those out before i got them with the stripes going in the right direction on each side - geez and now i look again and one is still crooked.... not... doing... it... again.... )

It's funny how you can have boxes full of ribbon and still don't have one the right color. I improvised. I had some really skinny pink and decided to add 3 pieces instead of having one tied around the image. I kinda like it.

Let's see... its sorta rainy again. A little drizzle falling - we must pay for the gorgeous day yesterday I spose.

Last night we did the Video on Demand and watched "Enchanted". Can I tell you thoroughly was? It was so cute and I thoroughly enjoyed it ... so there!

Off to flip some laundry - have a good Sunday

Happy Birthday with roses

I stamped a page full of this roses stamp yesterday afternoon. I don't know why, but sitting there and coloring them in was just very relaxing. I think I could do it all day.
(Hey Lisa R - you enabled me to buy this stamp months ago 'cos you made that beautful tag for me with it. I'm finally getting around to using the stamp I had to have!)
I cut apart the sheet and ended up with 8 useable ones for cards. Here's the first one I made. I had some SEI striped paper and used my cuttlebug embossing folder for the swiss dots. I got the scallop by using the StampinUp! punch all across. I pop dotted the whole piece - kinda looks like an awning huh? I repeated the scallop business at the bottom (but that portion isn't embossed).And thats also a portion of a Hero Arts sentiment (it says Happy Birthday to You but no room for the 2u on this one)
I really need to make something more simple for the coffee shop but you know how it is once you get started on something. I have a few other ones in the works which I'll definitely go more simple.
Ok - off to the races!

Bunch of flowers birthday

quick post here - just a few more cards for the coffee shop. Hero Arts flower stamp; background stamp is Purple Onion Designs. Quickutz tag stamped with a Purple Onion Designs mini-sentiment. I tied on a little embroidery floss and colored the flowers using the magic colored pencil technique (with prismacolor pencils).

gotta run!

Happy Mother's Day

Here's the card I'm giving my mom today. And please believe me when I say that swiss dot embossed background is a much nicer color green than it looks! for some reason the scan came out looking like a minty green which it is not. It's more of a springy green. (Don't you hate when the scan color is not true?)

Anyway the circles were cut with Nestabilities, the heart is Quickutz. The stamps are StampinUp! The patterned paper is Making Memories and the brads are DCWV. I used my prisma colored pencils and the MCPT. Oh yeah - i stamped the sentiment and then aged it with Antique Linen distress ink. I think that's all. I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Love and chocolate

I was listening to Martha Stewart's show this morning. I often listen while I'm doing other things around the house. I'll run on over to the tv if she's got something interesting on I need to see. Well this morning I heard something I hadn't heard for a while -
the sound of Jacques Torres.
ahhhhhh
Jacques
I've had a serious crush on this man for years.
Not familiar with Jacques? comment triste!
Here - go see and hear Jacques
http://www.frenchculinary.com/video_jacques_torres_2.htm
not only does he speak in theeee most wonderfully french-accented english
(I could listen to him talk forever.... ahhhhhhhhh)
he is Mr. Chocolate
(he owns a chocolate factory - seriously he does)
Dean of Pastry Arts at the French Culinary Institute
He's the perfect man - he speaks that way and he knows allllllll about chocolate. And did you read the part about his having a chocolate factory????
Just looky what he made on Martha this morning
a Chocolate Clutch Bag
So lets review:
He is handsome, speaks French, (and better yet speaks English with that French accent), is all about chocolate, and makes wonderful chocolate things in his chocolate factory (sigh).
Case closed
How could you ask for more?
hope you all are having a good Friday

A few cards and more on Spencer

I mentioned previously I've been making cards to sell in a local coffee shop with my friends June and Amy. So today I made a couple more. The scans aren't the best but those of you who know me know I refuse to spend inordinate amounts of time scanning to get the uber scan. These will do - use your imagination on the ones that are crooked, k?

I promised a little more on Spencer. When the rescue place brought her here Frankie was not immediately thrilled. (okay he hissed) The friendliest fur boy ever hissed at his new buddy. However I was assured this was quite normal. The plan was to keep them separated. Spencer would spend her days in my sons room. At a few intervals during the day Spencer would come out and Frankie would go in the room giving Spencer the opportunity to explore without threat (and Frankie to smell where Spencer had been and grow accustomed to the smell and the whole idea.) They said it might take up to 2 weeks for this process to bring everyone into a happy place of co-existence. Well Frankie took it upon himself to get into the room where Spencer was (he is a rascally boy who will not be stopped when he sets his mind on things) and then stopped dead. He saw her and didn't move a muscle. We took him out and then thought why not see what happens. Well, Spencer hissed when he got bold enough to get anywhere in her vicinity. Also quite normal. Long and the short, a week later they still are keeping their distance when they're together. We aren't keeping her locked up all day. I just couldnt keep doing that to her. But they are both making efforts to get closer to one another. There is a lot less hissing. Almost non-existent hissing in fact. So we are hopeful this is going to work out. I still keep them separated at night and they're never alone together - at least for now. Here's a pic of Spencer - isn't that crazy? She lays on her back! I've seen other cats do this but never any of ours. Also if you can see she has two different colored eyes! One is brown and the other is gold. She's an original alright. And Iwish I knew how to make videos cos seeing her run is hilarious! She has these short little leggies and pretty much looks like she bounces (ala Tigger). It's just the cutest thing.

Can you tell I love this cat already?

Getting back and I want you to meet someone

I finally switched my top photo back to the original one. Now its off center but i can't be bothered to figure out why!

This morning I've been catching up on blogs - still have few to go but it's been fun. I've missed you all.

I've been keeping busy: making cards some of the time. Also going through 23+ years of photos. Why? We're having a surprise 80th birthday party for the f-i-l and we're doing a little photo trip down memory lane with music. Sifting through all those pictures was fun in some respects. You forget a lot. Thank goodness for pictures! I have a good number of digital photos and ones on CD's (when the photos were developed I'm so glad I got those CD's). But there were so many good old-fashioned photos with negatives. And those were the ones that needed scanning. Total time eater! Anyway that project is done - CD of the selected pics are off to the nephew (who is putting this together for his grandad) today. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product at the party at the end of the month.

What else have I been up to -

well we have a new member of the family -

meet Spencer!

She (yes, she) is a mix - Maine Coon cat and domestic medium hair. Isn't she the cutest?

We didn't name her - she came with her name although she doesn't always answer to it. She was a stray that was brought to a shelter and named. Then she was taken by a Maine Coon cat rescue organization. I was shopping for food for Frankie in the Petsmart and the rescue was there with a number of maine coon cats. And little miss Spencer here was just miss personality plus. She made sure I knew she liked me a bunch. I went to the Petsmart with no intentions of falling in love with any cat. But I just couldn't get her out of my head. Frankie needed a friend. Although we still miss Holly, and always will, we thought why not get a friend for Frankie. He deserves a buddy. I'll tell you all about our getting acquainted period soon - with pictures of course!

thanks so much

for all the kind words, cards and emails everybody. I cannot tell you how much I've appreciated your support and friendship. It's meant so much.

I apologize for the birthday queen as well as I know she has missed celebrating some birthdays.....

I know I've been away a while.

We've been busy.

College tours with the daughter (we've visited 5 schools); my mom's back in town so that keeps me hopping. Job hunting. Making cards (to sell in the local coffee shop)with my friend June ~ hi june! :-)

Also my daughter turned 17 along the way...

And we needed to get some thank you's out. I didn't want to get into anything elaborate. (More important they get made.) I remembered I picked up some cards in the $ section at Target (isn't that just the best place?) a while ago. I took those cards, used a StampinUp! "thanks so much" stamp and that cute scallop punch; attached the stamped scallop element with a pop dot and voila - cute card. (well 7 cute cards! made in record time I might add) At least I think so :-) (the colors are a little off in the scan - looks much better IRL). Anyway, the cards are made!

Hopefully I'll be a better blogger again soon. I just have had so little time and truly not much inclination when there was a free moment. Hang in there with me!