CASEing Myself

Last month, I made an anniversary card for friends of ours (see "Happy Anniversary, Anke & Mike" post March 12th). I really liked how it came out, so I decided to make a variation of it. I figured with the right change in colors and sentiment, it could actually work well for a sympathy or thinking of you card also.
I just love these Prima "Trellis Roses" flowers. Aren't they gorgeous?
I bought this brass butterfly finding on eBay some time ago. I was saving it for just the right card. I think this was it!
And flat backed pearls... I just love them. I think they work perfectly on this lace ribbon.

So, there you have it. I CASEd myself. And I must say I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I may have to do this more often ;-)

Pampering Time!

Oh my... I am actually going to do something I have never done before... get a facial!
My dear son in law's Mom (I know- I claim to be his mom, but of course she really is, lol) is and esthetician. Gail works at a really nice salon not far from my house. Well, for my birthday she sent me a gift certificate for a "relaxing, pampering facial". I have never had one, but from what my daughter tells me, I am going to LOVE it! I am really looking forward to this and can hardly wait.

The card she sent the GC in had me in stitches! Is this one of the cutest/funniest cards you have ever seen? The facial masks on the cats are all kind of thick and glittery. It's just too funny! And I got an extra kick out of it since Gail recently adopted two little kittens ;-)
It reads: "It takes work..." and then on the inside it says: "... to be as fabulous as we are."



I thought it was about as cute as it gets.
Thank you Gail, so very much. I am sooo looking forward to my pampering time!!

Fun New Embellishments!

Here are the awesome birthday gifts my friend Maureen gave me. She always makes the most wonderful scrapbook pages, so I know anything she chooses at the scrapbooking store is going to be awesome! I was so thrilled when I opened my gift from her and realized she'd chosen things for papercrafting!

The gift bag is so pretty- matching the cute hand stamped card.




And here are pics of the fun gifts: Beautiful olive and brown brads that are pearls, rhinestones and buttons. They are totally "my" style. I can hardly wait to use them! And the paper flowers that match- love, love, love them! There's also a container of brown flowers, and ribbon that is packaged so cleverly! It looks like a coffee drink- called Mocha Freeze. Super cute! It's filled with lots of different brown ribbons.





I have never seen any of these, which made it all the more fun. I love new products, and none are more fun than embellishments! Thank you so much, Maureen!

Birthday Surprises!

Wow- so much to tell you about! I have had so many surprises in the last 48 hours! First, was the hijacking of my blog by my awesome and sneaky daughter. Isn't she too cute in her Red Sox t-shirt and cap?! That resulted, as you can see, in the awesome new look of my blog. I love it! Thank you Kate!

The next day (Sunday) was my birthday. I had a lovely day. In the late afternoon, I had a super nice little celebration with my husband, our 5 kids (okay- I only gave birth to 4 of them; one is a son-in-law, but I consider him one of my 5!), and my very dear friend Maureen who came over with her two darling children. Maureen is also a member of my Stampin' Up! downline, and a very talented scrapbooker and cardmaker. I'll show you the gift bag and card she made, and the awesome papercrafting gifts she brought me.

I'll also show you some of the other gifts I received yesterday. I have no idea what I did to deserve such spoiling- but I sure am grateful for it! Gee, whoever thinks getting older isn't fun surely must not have wonderful friends and family like I have :-)

It will probably take me several posts to show you, so bear with me if it takes me a few days ;-)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I hijacked your blog.

I hope you like the new look.

Happy birthday!

My Idea Of Comfort Food

In the past I have shown you some really fun stuff from "my" bakery... the place I go to for awesome bread, cakes, pastry, etc. They are really creative and make wonderfully fun things for the holidays. I so often tell my friends about it, so I figure it is about time I took some pics to show you all more about it.


When you walk in the door you are greeted by the heavenly smell of freshly baked goods. Mmmmm... and there is so much to choose from! Of course I have my favorites, but there's still so much more I need to try ;-) My daughter Katie got her wedding cake there and they did an wonderful job on it. We never go anywhere else to buy birthday cakes. So, when my sweet friend Becky came over with her darling little boy for a visit last week, since her birthday was only a few days away of course I had to order a birthday cake! You can see Marina writing on it in this picture:



Here is a shot of three of the nicest girls you'd ever meet! They are always so friendly and cheerful- and so very helpful! They always make me feel good and brighten my day when I go in there. Marina is on the left, then Anastasia in the middle, and my sweet friend Maria on the right. I have known Maria the longest- ever since I started going there several years ago. But they are all just wonderful!



And here is Becky's birthday cake. Boy was it delicious. It may sound a little boring, but it's actually my favorite: white cake with vanilla buttercreme icing and vanilla buttercreme filling. There are so many different flavors to choose from, but I personally love this combination. And I have never heard anyone complain about it- even my youngest daughter who is all about chocolate ;-)



So there you have it... "my" bakery. I love this place and the awesome people who work there. I was in there just this morning picking up my own birthday cake for tomorrow. And naturally, I couldn't leave without a few other goodies, as well ;-)

Swap Contribution

Over the past several years, I have had the privilege of being part of many wonderful swaps with very talented stampers over on Splitcoaststampers. The most recent swap I took part in was a Spring card swap with the theme being for friendship and sympathy cards. I chose to do one that I felt could be used for a number of occasions, primarily for a friend. I didn't put a sentiment inside; I just left it blank so it could either be used just to write in, or a sentiment could be added later.


I used a product which is pretty new to me: Flower Soft. It was so easy to use, and I had such fun with it! After stamping the flower image, I just put 2-Way glue directly where I wanted to make my flowers, then I liberally sprinkled on the Flower Soft. I lightly patted it down- just a bit, and then shook off the excess. Simple as can be! And don't you just love the results? This has to be one of the most fun and prettiest new embellishments I have used in quite some time. I have since purchased Flower Soft in several more colors and can hardly wait to play with it some more.

The other embellishments I used were the beautiful satin SU! ribbon in Pretty In Pink (love this ribbon!) and cute little flat backed pink beads my sweet friend Renee sent me. I absolutely adore these little babies and find I am using them very often! I have had no luck finding the colored ones in stores, but have found clear ones. I am in the process of trying different methods of coloring them and hope to post about that in the near future.



I also did some embossing with my Big Shot: I used the Sizzix Elegant Designs embossing plate for the background panel, and I used the Spellbinders Bordabilities Fluer De Lis die on a strip of Mellow Moss along the side peaking out under the ribbon.
Overall, I was really happy with how this card came out. It was one of the few times what I had created in my mind actually ended up being produced. So many times I set out with a certain picture in my head, but the end result is far from what I had originally imagined, lol!
So... what do you think?