April Birthdays

Our beautiful daughter-in-law had a birthday this week.  

I cased this card from Tricia at the Speckled Sparrow and if you click on that link you will see some more cards that she featured as a set.  Each one of them beauties!

Also this week, a good friend of mine celebrated her birthday.  I was able to meet with her and another friend on the spur of the moment for dinner and we had so much fun.  

This card was inspired by a card I saw that Debbie Henderson made.  You have to check out her butterfly pop-up card here.  There aren't any butterflies on my card.  Instead I have flowers, but I loved the way she used multiple thought bubbles without any thoughts as part of the design.  Pretty cool, huh!  And this sentiment got the laugh that I intended it to which was a plus.

Happy Birthday ladies.  Love you both!

Happy Administrative Professionals' Day

You may call it Secretaries Day, Admin Day or Administrative Professionals' Day, or even Administrative Assistants' Day.  There seems to be a change each year in the title.  My thought is that they continue to try to hit on all the different kinds of professionals that are part of an office support staff.  So you may include receptionists, clerks, secretaries, admins, assistants, etc.  Basically, if you're not the boss, manager, principal, and you work in the office running the company/school, today is your day.  (Actually they have designated the whole week, but we won't be greedy.)

Our wonderful staff gave us a beautiful potted container garden with three lovely houseplants which I'll keep at my desk as long as it continues to thrive.  We also got a balloon and card signed by staff members.  

I usually try to make a little something for all the secretaries/clerks in our district (there are 18 of them including myself).  Eighteen is not a lot if you keep it simple.  That was the most important thing because between Easter, a couple of birthday cards, and a few other projects I've yet to post, time was of the essence.  So I started by reviewing my Pinterest boards and came up with this project using the scallop square die and various punches.  I stuck to using colors from the current In-Color group (Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, and Crisp Cantelope plus the Wisteria Wonder  instead of Baked Brown Sugar)  which made it very easy to mix and match the pieces.

I took the Hardwood stamp and stamped each square with the same color ink as the square for the tone on tone look.  Click here for the instructions on how to make this box.  It's super simple when you use the scallops as your score line indicators.  No measuring!

Then I prepared all the trimmings.  Flowers and leaves from stamps, punches and dies.

I know those flowers kind of all look white in the photo but they're not.  I used the same color inks as the boxes with the exception of the Pistachio Pudding.  No green flowers on these. 

I filled them with three York Peppermint Patties wrapped with white cotton thread and tied in a bow.

One of the ladies said they looked like a little window box.  I hadn't thought of that, but they do, don't they!  Holding a little sweet treat.

Jingle Belles - Joy to the Earth (HAPPY EARTH DAY!)

Happy Earth Day!  I know.  It doesn't LOOK very green, but really it is.  It's not much of a challenge for me to actually have "stuff" to recycle, it's more of a challenge for me to actually do it.  Thanks to the Jingle Belles this week, I can put some of my hoarded stash to good use.

What you see on this card is actually the front of a Godiva chocolate box that I received at Christmas.  I loved the pattern and the glitter and they use boxes that are very nicely made.  I was able to slit this part away from the logo and gently peel it off the box.  There is no cardboard attached to it now. 

The little snowflakes were a bit of trial and error. I have a slew of that foam packing wrap in all different weights.  I also had a new snowflake wreath die.  I wanted to see if I used the die and snipped the wreath if it would be able to be used as a straight line and it did.  The other part of the trial and error was finding the right foam thickness.  Kind of like Goldilocks, I needed to find the one that was "just right!".    Below that little border, well actually what I first put down on the red cardstock was a piece of red shiny fabric-like paper.  The bow is from my scrap bag and most likely came from a Christmas package at some time. 

I had a piece of white glitter foam and I traced the letters J and Y on the backing and carefully cut them out (looks like I still might need a little trim here or there) and instead of knocking myself out trying to cut an O, I used a glitter sticky dot.

I don't think you can really get the effect of all the sparkles, but I knew that that box was too pretty to put in the trash.  Oh, and since I peeled the top off and left the cardboard, I still have a box to use.  Just need to replace the paper!

I really do feel good when I can reuse something and goodness knows that I have enough stuff stashed away that has possibilities. 

If you'd like to see what the other Jingle Belles have done this week with their recyclables click here.

Happy Easter!

Yellow Everywhere

Those male goldfinches have really brightened up!

On Sunday we took our bikes to a local park with a bike path along the river.  The Marsh Marigolds were all over the place but what really caught my eye were the Trout Lilies.  They are also called Dogtooth Violets but they are not a true violet.  The root is supposedly shaped like a dog's tooth.  I prefer calling them Trout Lilies as the leaves remind one of brown or speckled trout.

We also spied patches of Bloodroot - their pretty white flowers with yellow centers.  If you were to break the stem or dig up the root you would see the red sap that gives them their name.  I would not advise this however, as I've read that it can cause sores that take a very long time to heal.

The only surviving Forsythia that we have in the yard is inside the garden.  We used to have some between our property and that of our neighbor but the deer, who are not supposed to like this plant, apparently love it.  Fortunately the fence provides some deterrent to them.

And of course, there are daffodils coming up all over.  These are some that HWNSNBP cut from the garden.  They can't be seen from the house, so they're meant to come in.  We've got many different varieties all over the yard - white, yellow, some with orange, some with salmon pink - as the deer do leave these alone.  We had 80º temps this weekend but there may be a freeze tonight so I hope they don't get frozen before we have a chance to enjoy them some more.

What's blooming in your neck of the woods?

My Cactus Committed Suicide..... or Maybe it was Just Trying to Escape

 This is the cactus that I have had on my desk at work for the last 5 or so years. I used to just babysit it during the summer when the staff was gone, but it got too big and potentially dangerous to keep in the classroom so it stayed permanently in the office. The picture was taken during the holiday season a few years ago.  I would dress it up for the holidays and it was often one of those conversation starters with first-time visitors to our school.  Usually the students would say "Is that real?" to which I would reply yes and warn them not to touch because it was known to pinch people.  

Two weeks ago I turned the pot as I do on occasion to keep the cactus from growning crooked.  The next morning I came into work to find the pot moved and the cactus in pieces on my desk.  There was an e-mail that the night custodian had sent to our head of maintenance explaining that they had come in to empty the garbage in the office and found the "plant on the secretaries desk" had fallen.  They attempted to clean up the spilled soil from the pot, but probably assumed it was beyond hope.  

Trying to make light of the situation I blurted out to the first person in the office that "my cactus committed suicide".  They thought I said my cat committed suicide and wondered how that was possible.  Then when I pointed to the pieces on my desk they understood what I meant.  

Lucky for me HWNSNBP was working from home that day and was able to stop by the school and pick up the pot and the pieces of what was left of the cactus.  Then we went pot shopping the next day and courtesy of some leather gloves of his I was able to attempt to salvage what I could.

The very smallest of the babies as I refer to them, was damaged too severely as was about half of the largest broken piece.  (Which eventually totally died.)  I've had the white pot at home in a shady place since the accident since that's what the directions on the cactus soil bag said you should do for the first few weeks - keep it in a shady place.  And I think those three pieces will make it.  

Let's keep our fingers crossed.  I'll be taking it back to work next week.

Jingle Belles - Spirit of Christmas Past

What do you think of when you think of vintage Christmas?  Do you think of lace and velvet?  Or maybe ice skating and sleigh riding?  When I think of vintage Christmas it takes me back to my childhood days when I looked forward to baking cookies and doing craft projects.   So the image that I used for this card combines a little of both of those.  

This image is a Tasha Tudor stamp.  I could go on about the sweet little books that Tasha Tudor wrote and illustrated, but to keep it short I'll just say that I purchased this stamp, not so much for myself, but to use for my cousin who happens to have a passion about all things Tasha Tudor.  

I stamped the image in Marina Mist on a piece of school drawing paper in the hopes that it would resemble a page that you might see in an old coloring book.  A vintage coloring book maybe?  And I used the plaid background because it reminded me of the comfortable flannel pajamas that we wore in those days.  

Oh, and the buttons and seam binding - well, what would a Christmas craft be without buttons and ribbons?  

Join me here to check out all the other Spirits of Christmas Past.

Sharing Their Creativity

The card above came from my blogging friend Dana.  Dana lives in Florida now, having moved there from Indiana a few years ago.  And did I ever mention that she is a published author?  No?  Well, yes she is.  She wrote a book entitled "Treadwell".  I've read it and let me say that it was one of those books that captures you and doesn't let you go until the absolute end.  I highly recommend it and can't wait for the sequel or prequel or whatever she writes next!

Dana is getting back into making cards and boy, it's like she never took a break.  Her cards are wonderfully thought out and I'm so pleased that she shared this one with me.  Thanks Dana.

The next two cards were Birthday RAK's from Splitcoast members Rita and Heather.  What a wonderful surprise it is to receive a handmade card out of the blue from someone you don't even know.  That they spent time creating something to share for your birthday sure does make one feel special.  And they are so pretty!

I also recently received mail from New Zealand.  One of my "pig ladies" (and I use that endearment with the most love) Sushine not only decorated the envelope she sent with a multitude of flying pigs...

inside was this little lovely.........

You can't tell from the picture, but the head wiggles!  Sooooo stinkin' cute!  Thank you Sunshine!  And thank you for all the extra wings you also sent along.  

From across the Atlantic came this beautiful card from my blogging friend Sabrina.  Just look at all that detail, right down to the rainbow strips behind the image panel.  What a happy card!

See how she adds that sparkly outline.  I think she's "Goldilocks'd" it.  What do I mean by that?  It's not too much and it's not too little, it's Just Right!  

Sabrina also made me something else I'll be sharing in a few days.  Right now, before too many days passed, I wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes.  Unfortunately I've been sick all week with bronchitis and a sinus infection so I'm wondering if I can have a birthday do-over next week?  

Tasting Through March

What's a Donnoli?  It's a donut filled with cannoli filling.  I saw this advertised on our local news a few weeks ago.  It was made by the bakers in a Shop-Rite store north of here.  I told HWNSNBP to be on the look-out for them coming to our local Shop-Rite and last week he spotted them.  Of course they had doubled the price from what the news report said they were originally sold for - I guess the publicity they got made them so wanted they could ask their price.  

Although the news anchors oohed and aahed I was not a fan.   I think it might have been better closer to room temperature instead of right out of the refrigerator.  

The Bit-o-Blarney popcorn pictured below was a hit at work.  I found this recipe on Happier Than A Pig in Mud (click link for recipe).  

As the blog owner says, it's kind of like lime flavored Cracker Jacks.  I left the bag in the faculty room and it didn't take long to empty.   I only had sugar-free lime jello which tasted okay but was not as liquidy as it probably should have been for coating the popcorn.  

This is not your ordinary Yellow Delicious apple.  I don't particularly care for them.  But I was willing to give this yellow gem a try.  It's called an Opal Apple and it was very tasty.  Not mealy like I find Delicious apples to be.  We found these apples at the Fresh Market.  I've been eyeing a Lemon Risotto Cake in their prepared salad section.  It's not a bakery item, more on the line of a crab cake or hush puppy.  Maybe this weekend?

Do you like to try new varieties of things?  I find that I'm usually willing to give things a try in the sweet or salty category, but not so much with savories unless recommended by trusted family or friends.   Of course when Rachel was home a couple of weekends ago and found the new Ben and Jerry's Core ice creams at Target you know I had to try them.  Well, 3 out of 4 of them.  And the Salted Caramel was first and foremost my favorite.  

What have you tried lately?

Jingle Belles - The Holly and the Ivy

The Jingle Belles challenge was to use foliage, not necessarily just holly and ivy. 

Yep, yep, yep.  I missed another deadline.  I so wanted to have this posted by 6:00 last night, but I am my own worst enemy with time these days.  I spent a good amount of time peacefully watercoloring these images on Sunday and then fussy cutting the one on the card on top out.  Well, that cutting process proved to be very tiring for my bum hand so I set that aside missing a few berries and leaves and cut the second one with a simple border (below). 

When I found the ivy cut file I knew I wanted to use it for one card, and then I got fixated.  Fixated on finding my pastels.  I wanted to add a little blue shading to the ivy leaves on the background like I did with the ink when I was coloring the image.  I have decent light above my craft space, but below, well, let's just say the craft castle has a dungeon.  One never knows what lurks in the dark recesses of the dungeon after a certain hour of the day. 

I had told HWNSNBP that I would be downstairs by dark and when I wasn't, after a while he came looking for me only to find me on my hands and knees, draped over my chair, flashlight in hand under the table with my butt facing the door.  Of course the obvious question would be "what are you doing?" and he did ask, but all it took was glare in his direction and he backed out mumbling "nevermind, sorry I asked" and he retreated down the stairs. 

I followed shortly after still not finding what I was looking for and frustrated.  I said I would take a look when I got home from work the next day when it was still light.  

 

But I had not yet cut out that background and planned to do that the first thing when I got home from work.  Let me say that I am still learning the ins and outs of my Cameo and really need to do some more experimenting with blade depth and speed, but impatient I was, so I forged ahead with using a sub-par cut image and overlay and resorted to trying to clean up the overlay with a craft knife.  (The pieces weren't popping out on their own, they needed a little help in the corners.)  Time-consuming?  Yes.  It didn't look bad but I really didn't like the green on green and I still hadn't found the missing pastels and the sun was setting fast.

I told myself I would find them on Tuesday.  Yes, Tuesday would be good.  But when I got home from physical therapy and still could not find them I pushed it off until Wednesday.  Fixation!  I came home yesterday and sat down at the dining room table where I have my laptop and Silhouette set up and was trying to think what I could do to add that color instead of using the pastels and thought about maybe using my Prismacolor pencils which were there behind my computer.  And guess what I found?  Under the box of pencils was ............I'm sure you guessed it............ my pastels. 

So I ran upstairs and started futzing around with them on the back of the overly and, well, I didn't even like it.  Fixation!  Determined to have that blue ivy look, I grabbed a sheet of Not Quite Navy paper and ran back downstairs to cut that out.  Well, when all was said and done, I looked at the clock and it was 5:56 and even though I had the computer on, I knew I would never get the photo taken and uploaded in time.  So I blew the deadline, but I took my time adding some more details on that card like the glitter gel line around the sentiment piece and the card base (which my friend Sabrina does beautifully but I haven't mastered yet).  And then I didn't just want to discard that image that I had spent so much time cutting out so I looked through my embossing  folders and in 5 minutes that card was done. 

If I hadn't been so fixated on finding those pastels..................................................

Mid-March Cards and More Birds

Birthday card for my PT.  Used the same set below for a Get Well Card.

Image stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with my SU markers.  

We should be seeing more of these spring flowers but not yet.  One yellow crocus was discovered in the yard on Saturday but was eaten by Sunday.  

The goldfinches, still in their olive drab are hungrily swarming the thistle feeder.

While the flicker and blue jay scavenge the ground for morsels.

I think the Blue Jay should think twice about sneaking up on the Flicker.  Take a look at that Flicker beak!

And now, after all these years, the bluebirds have become comfortable hanging out at the suet feeder.  Here is a Mr. patiently waiting his turn.

The Reason Behind the Seasons

My husband celebrated his 60th birthday last week.  As I have done with the rest of "our group" who have achieved this milestone, I created his birthday card using "A Tree For All Seasons".  And I will continue this tradition until all 9 of us pass that mark even if it takes a few years for "the baby" to catch up.  

The reason I chose this stamp set is because of 1) an e-mail that the oldest of us shared with the group before his 60th, and 2) the ensuing responses and continuing discussions.  

This thought-provoking essay from an anonymous source was the content of the e-mail:

And It's Winter before We Know It 
Author unknown 

You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. 

It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate.   And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went.  I know that I lived them all... 

And I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams... But, here it is..the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise... How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my babies go? And where did my youth go? 

I remember well.. seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like...  But, here it is...my friends are retired and really getting gray...they move slower and I see an older person now. Lots are in better shape than me... but, I see the great change...  Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant... but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be. 

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day!  And taking a nap is not a treat anymore...it's mandatory!  Cause if I don't on my own free will...I just fall asleep where I sit! 

And so, now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!! 

But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over...its over....Yes , I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done ,,,,,things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done.  It's all in a lifetime.... 

So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly!  Don't put things off too long!! 

Life goes by quickly.  So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether you will reach your winter or not! 

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!

"Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. 

Make it a fantastic one." 

LIVE IT WELL!!----ENJOY TODAY!!!!-----DO SOMETHING FUN!----BE HAPPY!----BE THANKFUL!

There were some who thought that this was a bit of a downer standing fast to remaining in the summer, yes summer of our lives.  There were those who readily admitted to being in the autumn stage but not the end of it, only the beginning.  And then it was seemingly forgotten until one of us was actually on the verge of an equinox.

I don't remember exactly how, but this came up as a topic of discussion New Year's Eve 2012 when we were all together and with only a few months before the first birthday.   

Late that night, after we had eaten and after many spirits had been consumed somehow the conversation turned to this topic.   The "summer-thinking" people were pleading their case and HWNSNBP was having nothing to do with their claims.  He started waxing poetic and likening us to trees and how we have changed in appearance (I think he might have gotten some ideas from this post of mine back in 2009) and with some cajoling agreed to the premise that the men had reached or were entering their "winters" but the sap was still flowing and the ladies were in their very beautiful "autumn" with all of it's beautiful colors (which says quite a lot from a colorblind person I'll add!).  

So, starting back with that first 60th birthday, the second, and now this one, I've tried to hold true to both the seasons and tree theme.  

I can't say that I'm ready to be a tree in winter, but I have a little bit of time yet to enjoy my autumn.

And as for HWNSNBP, he has been my sheltering tree and I hope to remain at his side for a very long winter.

What Kind of Cake Is That?

Yeah, it's not really a cake, I'm sure you could tell.  It's my St. Patrick's Day project I mentioned earlier this week.  

Do you ever buy things for one holiday and use them for another?  I usually try to pick up some things at the after Christmas sales that can work for Valentine's Day and if I'm lucky maybe St. Patrick's, Easter, or 4th of July.   In this case I really didn't get them after the holidays, I had them stashed away to use in my holiday baking but didn't get to use them - a giant bag of red, silver, and green Hershey's Kisses.  I separated the colors and yes, I'll admit I ate most of the silver ones, but the red ones went to work for Valentine's Day and the green ones were saved for this project.

Aren't they cute!  The pattern/instructions come from Qbee's Quest - click here.  They're pretty easy to make and once I calculated how many kisses I had, all I had to do was cut the right amount of pieces to get going.  The sentiment is from Teeny, Tiny Wishes, punched out with the word window punch and tied on with some variegated yellow cotton thread.  

I can hardly wait to start handing them out!  This reminds me that I'm due for a Shamrock Shake and shamrock pretzel this weekend!