APOLOGIES FOR MY ABSENCE

I haven't posted anything again for a while because I am still working on reorganizing my craft items. I'm well on my way for rewarding myself with a brand new craft table that I can put in my "computer room" and have everything much closer at hand when I make cards.

Please don't give up on me...............I'll be back and post something new again just as soon as I get this project further along. It turned out to be a bigger deal than I expected but it sure does feel good to be able to see my dining room table top again!

GRADUATION CARD

My husband is gone for 10 days. He has wanted to go White Water Rafting for a long time. I wouldn't be good sleeping nights along the river and all the rest that goes with Rafting for a week so I encouraged him to go and I would stay here -- vacationing in my home. I gave our mothers and our daughters a "no contact" rule for while he is gone and told them to pretend I was away on vacation with him.......telling them I was going to take the phone off the hook and lock the doors. Well, I should have done exactly that because our youngest daughter has broken the "no contact" rule several times already and we're only in my 3rd full day here alone. My husband's sister thought it would be funny to call me and see if I would answer the phone!!!! Some people just don't understand that "no" means "no"!!! With our mothers in their late 80's I don't dare take the phone off the hook, but I may just lock the doors!!!!

OK, so I have 10 days alone. That means I should have a fun-filled 10 days. I would have thought that I would make the most of this time and make cards until the wee hours of the morning every day. No.....not me! I decided to use this time to clean out my junk room where a lot of my things are stored for making cards and turn it into a well organized craft room. Anyone who knows me knows that this must indicate a breakdown of my mental capacities. LOL But my goodness it feels SO GOOD! I've made great progress and am going to have a really big surprise for DH when he gets home. He's not going to believe his eyes. My room is going to be well organized......no middle island down the middle......and the dining room table is going to have a table cloth with some kind of arrangement in the middle. Now can I keep it that way????


The first night my husband was gone, I did take the time to make a few graduation cards. Sorry this one is blurry. The local school colors are blue and gold and the shop that sells a few of my cards asked for some specific for the local school. This one is on one of the blue SU papers and I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Congratulations CB folder. I used my JustRite Stamper for the sentiment and then mounted it on the blue and gold SU papers which were cut with my Nestabilities. To finish it off I cut narrrow strips of the white and gold papers and adhered them with double sided tape.

This card doesn't take a lot of explanation. White card stock is Powdered Sugar from Lasting Impressions. I used my Scor-Pal to make the five diagonal lines. The stamped image is from Penny Black and colored with Copic Markers (Heartwarmers: New Merchandise for Sale). For some reason I had never added little ribbon loops and I love what they add to a card. I had a scrap of some yellow ribbon that matched perfectly.

MOTHER'S DAY CARDS

Oh my goodness..........I couldn't believe it was April 17 the last time I posted!!!! Shame on me! I've been so busy running errands and getting flowers planted outside that I'm afraid Mother's Day really crept up on me. Here are two of the cards I made this year.

Cardstock on both cards is Powdered Sugar from Lasting Impressions. Neither card needs a lot of explanation. On the Yellow Rose card, I ran one of the CB border folders along the inside edge, stamped the Rose design from Penny Black and then stamped the Paper Inspirations sentiment over the flower.

On the Red Rose card I stamped the flower design from Penny Black and then ran the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug Folder through just using a portion of the front with the flower. I wanted to leave a solid area to stamp the "Happy Mother's Day" on the front.

Tonight our family is gathering in a restaurant for our Mother's Day celebration. The men in our family don't like it when we try to go out on the actual day because of the waiting in line. (Who's holiday is it????) Well, I'll admit it is difficult to eat out with 17 people ON Mother's Day. Tomorrow we are supposed to have a nice sunny day with little wind so I'll get my husband to grill. I'll add some potato salad, baked beans and deviled eggs. We'll have a nice easy day at home.

Wishing all of you a very special day tomorrow!