Tis the season of giving....

I know it's Memorial Day, but it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas...At least that's what it seems like right now with all the birthdays, graduations & retirements happening at the moment. It seems like I have a ton of cards to make & gifts to buy for so many people! The only thing missing is the Christmas tree & the freezing temperatures & that's OK too!

Right now I'm working on an End of Year/Retirement gift for my daughter's Kindergarten teacher. She is having to retire this year due to budget cuts in the school. I'm making fair progress in it so far, but realized that I still have a long way to go on it & only 2 more days left to get it done. (insert rolling eyes here...)

But it's not like I haven't been doing anything creative lately. I did make the 2 Mother's Day cards in the previous post below & I even made another one just because, but I have no shots of it yet.

My Step-Sister's birthday was last Sat, so I made her this birthday card below. I grabbed my Papercraft Cards magazine for the inspiration on the outside of the card, but used my own idea for the inside (except for the sentiment used). My step-sis has had a rough 3 years in her battle with cancer & other problems that came from her treatments. She just returned from a 2 week stay in Boston, right before her birthday, where she was being fitted for special contact lenses to keep her eyes from drying out so bad because of an illness that attacked her eyes. The poor woman has been through a lot.
















Inside:















Bowling Ball Gazing ball - I would have liked it to have turned out better in the design. It's only my 2nd one that I've made. It still needs some perfecting. She loved it anyway, so I'm happy that she liked it enough to keep it at her front door! I may make her another one that will hopefully turn out better.










I also have my older sister's birthday, which was the 29th, but she'll be coming for a visit next weekend. She has Down's Syndrome & doesn't necessarily care if her cards & gifts are hand made, unless they're in a theme she's really into. I still plan on making her a card & will be pulling out my Indie Art Cricut cartridge to make that. Even though she's 46, she's really into what ever the teenage girls are into right now, so the skulls, roses & rock star is the look I'll be aiming for. Too bad I don't have the ability to do something for her in Twilight, she'd be ALL over that! LOL! She's so funny!

My sister & I are only 14 months apart & even though she's older, I've been more like the big sister - even to this day. My parents are both still alive (divorced), but it's always been up to me to be her caretaker. It's all part of that whole disfunctional family thing that I've learned to overcome through the years.

God Bless & hope you all had a great holiday weekend (in the U.S.)!

Mother's Day Cards

Here are two cards I made for Mother's Day. I thought they were quite pretty, but don't seem to be drawing too much attention from others, so they must be the kind that only the creator can love.

The first one is for my Grandma. It was also a going away card for her, as we had a going away party on Sat. for her & her husband. They have decided to move to Tennessee & are in the process of selling their house. I wanted to make a separate card for the "going away" part, but once the inspiration finally hit for her card & my step-mom's card, I didn't have enough time for a 3rd one. I took some of the tiny cuts from the 2nd card just to add a little pop of color on this one. I used the Wild Card Cricut cartridge for the card base & the Mother's Day cartridge for the rest of the card design. I also used my Cricut markers to create the outlines. I found that I had a more noticeable look when I went over it twice with the markers. I also discovered that I could get a different look if I swapped out different marker colors for a more customized color, like I did on the first card base outline. That was a green & blue & I got a sort of teal color. I wanted to emboss the frame behind the word "Grandma" but I got a little ahead of myself & didn't feel like pulling it apart just to do that, so I made sure I did the one on the inside of the card. LOL!












This is the inside of the card. Nothing like a little bit of Stickles & some Pearlz to add the right amount of bling to a card!









Below is the card I made for my step-mom. I have to admit to everyone that I did not make a card for my mother. She has caused our relationship to become quite strained over the years. I wish it could be very different than what it is, but her mental illness makes it very difficult to be with her, as she seems to feel like she's not happy unless she's ruining a perfectly good day for everyone. For anyone that may know or have dealt with a family member with mental illness, you can understand ... or maybe not.

Anyway, I was shooting for a more blue & yellow look with this card, but when I discovered this darker bluish-purple card stock in my stash, I thought it would stand out better, & then adding the dark blue Stickles just seemed to add even more to the wow factor equation.






I first have to admit the quality of this picture is poor, so I apologize for that. Also, the inside of this card didn't turn out as nicely as I would have liked, but time was running out, it was late, I was tired & she was still impressed. I have to say that the doily cuts on the Mother's Day Cricut cartridge are the BOMB!! If you get it for nothing else, get it for these cuts!




God Bless & have a creatively great day!

Working on the view from my window...

Well, the photo below won't be the view from MY window, but it will be for my step-mom. Even though I'm not into the cutesy kind of decor like this teapot planter, I do like how it turned out. Brooke picked out the pot & the Gerbera Daisy, but I selected the color & the other plants to go with it. There's not really much room to plant too many things in this planter, so you have to watch it & not go overboard. Fortunately, I found an asparagus fern that was growing to one side of it's container & that made it easy to break off some excess dirt that was necessary to make it fit with the daisy in that small opening. Then, I thought I'd try a little idea of sticking a bit of the sweet alyssum coming out of the spout. I will have to say that the key to putting this all together was using the Miracle Gro Moisture potting soil. It was pretty wet & held together well for packing.


















Below is one that went in a whole other direction than what I was thinking in my head. LOL! Does that happen to you? It happens to me on just about everything I do. I guess that's why I don't plan things out, they never work out that way & I have to start the thought process all over, or else I'm just a poor planner. Hmmmm....could be!(eyes rolling). I still like how this turned out & I'm hoping it fills out the way I'm wanting it to. I was initially just going to fill the planter with the blue lobelia, but then I thought how pretty the white alyssum would look & smell with it and the next thing ya know, I'm picking out red petunias & going for the Americana look & of course, I needed the spike in the center for the look of a firework exploding! I know, kinda corny, but that's how I am sometimes.


















I really like that planter, but unfortunately, since we live in the woods, the 1st year I had it a raccoon must have been intrigued by it & knocked it off the wall. Now it has a big hole on one side (on the right side), but it luckily doesn't affect the the interior of the pot. I should have been a little wiser in planning my photo op & took my shot from a different angle.

I h ave a few other planters that I want to put together yet, but need some more flowers to hopefully get the look I want. We'll see.

As for scrapbooking, I have to make some Mother's Day cards & a moving away card for my grandma. I need to get going on those, the going away party is tomorrow & Mother's Day is the next day. Not to mention that I'm supposed to be making a pasta salad & some brownies or cookies to take too.

With all that, I guess I should get off here & start on something!

To all the wonderful Mother's out there, I hope you all have a great Mother's Day & are able to spend it with your kids, big or small.

God Bless & have a great weekend!