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.)!