Family and Friends

A friend of ours recently moved into a new home, and I've had it in my mind for a while now to make them a card. Here it is, finally, thanks to the sketch challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch. The stamps are from PTI.

Something was happening with my lighting as you can probably see with the light streak across the top of the card.

 

Mommy School

I haven't been making many cards lately, but I have been busy - mentally preparing myself for the summer break. Luckily for us, we have a little summer project the kids call "mommy school" and yes, it is as boring as it sounds. However, this year I am trying something a little different. I made each child their own custom notebook, complete with pen holder, pockets, 2 bookmarks, and tabbed sections. This may not make spelling or math any more fun, but at least they'll have a cool place to put their work.

Thanks for looking!

-Brenda

For My Sister

Now that Easter is passed I've been working on building up my supply of Mother's day cards. Since all my Mother's day cards have butterflies, I needed to change things up a bit. This card could be for any occassion, but I am sending it to my sister for Mother's day. I stamped the flower pot on brown cardstock, cut it out and adhered it with dimensionals. I colored the image with a copic marker and then added green stickles for bling. The sentiment comes from Clear Dollar stamps.

Thanks for looking!
-Brenda

Pocket Sleeper

My daughter's birthday is coming up soon, and she is having a slumber party with a few of her friends. I made this pocket card using the colors that match up with the Color Throwdown challenge. It's suppose to look like a girl in a sleeping bag, and I hope it does. The tie-die paper is a shaving cream and ink technique I was experimenting with. The party info is on the back of the "sleeping" girl.

Thanks for looking!

-Brenda

Merry Christmas!

No card posting today, or even possibly the entire month of December. I refuse to make one more Christmas card. In fact, I've already made a Valentine's day card, which I will be posting in late January or February. In the meantime, enjoy your holiday season, take time out to do some fun stuff amongst all the crazy must-get-done chore stuff.

In case you can't tell from her expression, Maddy hates being dressed up. She despises it really, and stood still for this pic only because I bribed her with an extra-yummy piece of cooked salmon. Maddy is thankful that dressing her up in a santa suit is NOT a family tradition, but we do have them. Like driving around and looking at Christmas lights, watching Charlie Brown specials on TV, and of course, the elves, Ginger and Snowflake. They come every year on December 1st and get into all kinds of mischief during the night while the kids are sleeping.

They like to eat cookies, but they always leave crumbs on the counter....

They like to play games, with headphones of course, so they don't wake us up....

On Christmas eve they go into the stockings and santa takes them home to the North Pole until next year. I wonder what they'll get into this year?

Thanks for looking!
-Brenda

U Rock

My Dad's birthday is fast approaching, and I've been thinking about a card to make for him all week. He's not the most affectionate guy, to be sure. But he's honorable, he's hard working, and he's so incredibly intelligent. I rely on my Dad, even now, for steady (and honest) advice, a cool head, and a logical attitude to help deal with the good and the bad in my life. He truly is a rock, at least for me. But, he's also my Dad, and after a recent conversation when he (truthfully) told me that I can neither take nor give a joke, I made this card.

So, happy birthday, Dad. U Rock!

Thanks for looking!

-Brenda

Woof!

Not too long ago, I had to sit with my daughter and supervise her card making. I'd help her figure out the measurements, pick stamps and paper colors, and make sure she didn't slice off her fingers when using my guillotine cutter. I'd also freak out whenever I saw her using my "stuff" when I wasn't around. Those days, thankfully, are over. Two days ago I was outside in the yard, pulling weeds, and my daughter was in the house with her brother, making cards. "Don't look until it's done," she told me. And to my utter amazement, I wasn't even nervous. She used my guillotine cutter, my stickles, my stamps and inks, my cuttlebug, AND her little brother was in there too, helping. I smiled as I weeded and listened to their chatter coming through the open window, confident that no tools would be broken, no blood would spill, and cooperation and creativity would prevail.

Thanks for looking!
-Brenda

Back to Reality

I just recently got back from 2 weeks in Mexico, a dream vacation to be sure. And I took my extended family and STILL managed to have the best vacation ever! It was a time filled with firsts for all of us: first time on a waverunner, first time riding ATV's and ziplining through a forest canopy. Even my daughter got adventurous and tried scuba diving for the first time. Of course there was still plenty of time to relax by the water and soak in the tropical sun and heat.

We did go during the rainy season and still managed to have mostly sunny or slightly overcast days. The storms mainly rolled through in the evenings or early morning hours. One thing that did surprise us were all the crabs migrating to the ocean and stopping in on their way! My husband extracted a crab from the sofa cushions at least 3 times, it may have been 4 - I stopped keeping count. We found a crab in the pool nearly every day, and my daughter took it as her personal mission to rescue the drowning creatures and release them "into the wild", or at least down the hill into the grass.

Here's one that wasn't so lucky...

I'll get back to card making soon, I promise.

Thanks for looking!
-Brenda