Something I think is pretty

Sorry I have missed a couple of days posting. I have been trying to wind down from this past weekend. When my sister sends me a copy of the photos of the vow renewal and reception, I will share with you. My DH is playing golf tonight, and travel time for him is about 1.5 hours one way, and 18 holes of golf, he probably will not get home until about 9 tonight. Since he wasn't coming home for supper tonight, I went bumming around Wal-Mart. This is something I really don't do very often. So, much to my surprise, since they have just opened this "Super" Wal-Mart, I found out tonight that they are now carrying some Martha Stewart items. Thus, I spent a little more time looking and a little more money then I thought I would. I have a shirt that I love the color of, but is really plain. I was walking down the bead aisle and this charm caught my eye. It was only $1.97, so I indulged myself. It had the same color of the shirt in it. I had the cording and clasp already in my stash of stuff. So here is the 5 minute creative ideal for today.

You must know by now, I can't push my brain to hard. *wink*wink*

But I do have something to wear with my plain aqua shirt tomorrow when I go to work. I guess you have guessed by now, that I, along with rainbows, shoes, purses, and a multitude of other things, I love wild & bright jewelry. It's almost the weekend !!!!

Heather's Friday Spark

Heather had a neat challenge this week. It was to make a shaped card. Any kind of shape we wanted. I guess my brain was still in the wedding mode, after catering my sister's anniversary reception, this past weekend. I made a card in the shape of a wedding cake. I made this card in the shape of what I would have had for a cake, if I had planned a big wedding. (Both times, just a preacher & 2 witnesses basically). I love Lily of the Valleys and it would have just been a plain and simple cake. But it would have had to have been chocolate. I didn't have any embossed paper like I really wanted, and didn't have the time to do it myself so I used the back side of a piece of K&Co. paper. I didn't have a template to go by, so I used index cards cut to the sizes below, used my corner rounder and adhered them together. Cut it out, put the yellow card stock ribbon on and the Jolee's lily of the valley embellishments. I did not use a sentiment, I liked the simplicity of it just plain. Thanks for looking.

Pat's Saturday Night Challenge # 22

Since I have been honored as August Guest Designer for Scrapbook Cafe, I will be presenting Saturday Night Challenge # 22. And don't worry, I am not trying to fill Pat's, (AKA Carol Davall) shoes on this.

The challenge this week is to make a card using a store bought greeting card that you have received. This will be your inspiration for a card.

Here we go,

You will need;
An old store bought greeting card
Card Stock
Some of you will choose to use stamps, embellishments, ribbons, etc.
You will first need to go through your old greeting cards that you have kept, because you thought "that's pretty, I may copy that someday". I chose this birthday card that a dear friend gave me for my birthday this year. It is a Hallmark card. It is from Marjolein Bastin's Nature's Sketchbook Collection.

I had photographed a picture of my daylilys last year to make a special friend a card. She had shared some of her beautiful lilys with me. After seeing what Bastin had done with her tulips, I decided to use the same technique with my photo card. On the Hallmark card the front tulip was embossed to make it stand out from the others. I decided to print another copy of my original photo, and cut one of the day lilys out and bring it to the front. I used some 3D dots to give it dimension so it would stand out from the other lilys. I also extended it passed the other two layers, cutting it off at the edge of the card.
Now isn't this one of the easiest challenges you have had in awhile. I can't wait to see all the differences in what we chose as our inspiration card. Thank you Pat, and Angela at the Scrapbook Cafe, for allowing me to do this.

Pat's Saturday Night Challenge

This week Pat had a really cute challenge. She had us seeing spots, or dots, or circles. When I came home this afternoon, I discovered my little Mama Robin, and her three little ones had flown from the nest. So I went and got camera, and took the last picture part of the story. I had been so excited to get home everyday and be flogged by the Mama, the minute I stepped out of my car. Then up the steps, I would go and peek and see how much the babies had grown. I knew this day was drawing near, but I didn't want it to be so soon. I was just standing there thinking about the circles of life, when that light bulb came on. "Pat's Challenge" it is due tonight. So this layout is the result of that light bulb. I thought the background paper looked like it had been splatter painted, with all these bleached out little spots on it. I just traced a circle template over all the pictures I printed out, and cut them out. Then I arranged them in a circular order starting with the new nest I found, then 3 blue eggs. . Next came the new hatched babies. They were not even dry yet in the 3rd picture. Two days later, Mama was feeding them, and I snapped a picture of them with their beaks opened. I didn't know they grew so fast. Seems like, within just a couple of days, they were outgrowing the nest. You can see one little one peeking out from behind it's siblings wing. Then the circle is back where it was began.....a empty nest. I added some K&K rub-ons to the top and bottom. Added the "Summer 08", and a little metal embellishment, that says observant.

Supplies used:
Daisy D's Vintage Paper
Making Memories Adhesive metal signage
Marcella by K
Bellisimo Monograms
K & C Lettering

Wednesday

It is raining at my house, and we love it. No storming, just a nice steady rain. I wished it would rain all day. My 19 year old grand-daughter came to visit and spend the evening with me last night. She is the best kid. Even with working two jobs, and college she still finds time for Grandma. She has never forgotten her roots. She is the joy of my life, that is for sure.

During the last 6 weeks, I have been showing you the pictures of my Robin family. Here is a couple of ones I took this past Saturday. Mama bird, doesn't even have a place in the nest anymore they are so big. Sometimes nature takes care of the weakest, and have been waiting for her to push one out. And at this point I don't believe she will. Look at the one picture really close, you can see the second one peeping through the other one's feathers.

There are three little ones in that nest. I expect to come home from work any day now and they will be gone. I'll miss watching them.

So much to do

I know everyone is really getting tired of this "anniversary" thing I keep talking about, but I want to share, another thing I have been making for the reception. These are little lamp shades made to fit on a wine glass. The shade is made out of vellum, that I printed in the same pattern as the programs, that I showed you awhile back. You can not see in the picture but I used a little butterfly punch, that looked like cut work, around the bottom. I also used a pair of those zigzag scissors to cut the template out. I filled the wine glass with different things, each table will be different. The one with the potpourri smells so good when the light heats it up. The pictures doesn't show it very well but when lights are all out it looks really pretty I think. I used those little battery operated tea lights. Sorry about the photographs, I can't get them right anymore.

Heather's Friday Spark

On Friday Heather posted her Friday Night Challenge. The directions were to make a monochromatic card. She has a wonderful example here. A friend's daughter is getting married on July 26th, and unfortunately it is the same time and day as my sister's vow renewal. I needed a card to send to her, so I accepted Heather's challenge as an opportunity to make Sammie a card. The dress was the front of a wedding favor box, that I paid 1.00 for ten at the Dollar Tree. I just simply cut it off and put it on top of the second layer of the card with some dimensional dots. I used some string pearls to outline the top of the bodice. and some stickles in side where the folds of the dress was depicted. Then used the piece of white ribbon that was include in the pack of boxes, to put around the waist. On the inside I simply stamped the word, Cherish. Everyone have a good week. Mine will be busy, but I think I work and play better under pressure.

Bouquet

Yesterday, I worked on my sister's flower for her Marriage Vow Renewal ceremony. Well, that isn't all I did. I picked beans and gathered the ripe tomatoes. I also worked in my flowers, deadheading them, and cutting back the dead foliage on some of my daylilys. It was definitely a beautiful day here in the foothills of NC. I'm sure some would complain about the heat, but I love working outside, after sitting inside at work all week. Later today we are going to Charlotte to a Cajun restaurant. It is about a hour and 45 minute drive one way. So I will take the ceremony programs with me and fold them while I ride. We will take our sister-in-law along and her and my DH will eat etouffee. Not me, I do not like any kind of shellfish. Guess I'll enjoy a nice salad. Here is a photo of my sister's bouquet. She wanted something simple. Simple is what she got. The pictures really do not do it justice. I could not get the right angle to photograph it, and I didn't have anyone to hold it while I snapped it. You can get an ideal of how it looks though.

. . . . and I'm not ready

Next Saturday is my older sister's 40th anniversary. Her and her husband (well who else would it be) are renewing their vows. My younger sister and I are doing the food , flowers, etc. And like I said I'm not ready. Several post back I showed you a sample of the invitations we sent out, and also the programs that I printed. I have scored the fold lines, but still have about 150 to fold. I still have the flowers my sister will hold, the boutonnieres and some corsages to make. Oh yes, we also have to find time to go to the grocery for the food to prepare. Tonight I worked on these little cones I made to hold potpourri We will hang them from the door knobs around the fellowship hall. I might have to keep one here, After taking a picture of it, i hung it in the bathroom and it smells so good. Hope you enjoyed looking. Thanks

Not today either

I'm not getting to good at being able to complete a card in an hour. It takes me that long to pick out the papers. So I have nothing to show you tonight , except some shots of my day lillys that are now in bloom I am also working on my sister's vow renewal stuff. I had trouble with printer tonight, and am having to hand feed 150 sheets. Then I will need to fold them. Haven't gotten her bouquet finished either, or any preparation of the food. Well I had better let you go, it's bedtime at my house.

Just a New Hairdo

If I'm not very careful, I'll be sporting a new hairdo. The little birds Mama, is a very protective mother. The nest is within 5 feet of my back patio doors. That is the entrance we use all the time, We have for 21 years. We saw no reason to change after that length of time. I was fixing our supper (evening meal, which some of you call dinner) last night, and SWOOSH, when I went out. This started when I had returned home from work. But I thought, that it was because I startled her, after it being quiet with no one around all day. You know how many trips it takes in and out of the house to fix something on the grill, and this was a charcoal one. Plus the fact, I was doing it all, DH was resting after a game of golf :) So, Mama bird set up a plan of attack, she stood watch, and swooped my head the instance I came out on the deck. She was so close I could feel the ruffling of her wings in my hair. We both prevailed, though, she kept swooping, and me making many trips in and out, trying to get our meal completed. All I know to say is I guess I'll start using the front entrance for the next week. There is no way I would try to get more pictures of them now. The end result would be like Alfred Hitchcock's, "The Birds". You know the scene where the peoples eyes are just black holes. She is one more mean mama. I didn't realize how fast these little boogers grow. The feathers on the wings are developed and one soon will be pushed out of the nest I'm afraid because there is not enough room. Well enough about that. I want to take the opportunity to THANK all of my loyal readers for looking and especially the ones that comment. good or bad, I need your input, so I can keep improving on my creativity. So keep them coming, maybe adding your own ideals of what you would like to see. I'll take them all criticism or compliments. Well I now have to decide whether to do or undo my hair before I venture out the door to go to work. Again thank you for reading.

Can you Believe This?

Can you believe today is only Tuesday and I am already posting Pat's Saturday night challenge. I am usually lucky to get it in by 9:55 on Wednesday nights. This was a fun challenge. We were to either make a card or layout, and use flock on it. Of course, I used the crushed velvet flock in LILAC. My favorite color. My hostas are blooming now, and they were the inspiration of my note card. I downloaded the prints from karenswhimsy.com/free-flower-clip-art.htm. I used the lilac flock to emphasize the purples on the flowers. You can see the flock the best on the close up of the pansy. While I had all the mess out, I decided to make a little set of these. Heather at http://onelittlespark.typepad.com/, was inspiring us to get a head start on our Christmas gifts, so I took her advice. There are three different flowers, and I made 2 of each. What more could I want in a challenge, the color purple and flowers. Hope they make you smile!

Heather's Little Spark

Heather's spark for this week was to make something, that would give us a head start on the preparations of Christmas. Several of my friends will be getting a set of monogrammed cards for Christmas and I needed something to put them in. I found the template for the card holder at Mirkwood Design. I enlarged the two rectangular pieces, to fit the size of note cards I would be making. I printed it out on light blue card stock paper. I found my box that had all the scrapping Christmas stuff in it, and was surprised when I saw the glittered snowflake stickers. They came from Wal-mart on sale last year. The tag said manufactured for Wal-mart. I wanted something quick and easy, so I could get several of these made up before Christmas got here. I will also work on the sets of 6 monogrammed cards that go in them. TFL

Remember This

Awhile back on 06/22/08 I posted the empty nest, and then on 6/26/08, I took the picture of the eggs. That was then, and this is now. Saturday morning. (7/12/08) Picture isn't the best, But they weren't even dry yet.

Then Saturday afternoon, THIS! I think this is so adorable. Their little eyes aren't even open.

It's The Weekend

Well it is finally Saturday, and I have so many inside and outside projects I want to either start or finish. My sister's anniversary reception is in 2 weeks, and I haven't got her flowers finished, or even the programs all printed and folded. We really don't even know what we will be serving, just ideals in our heads. My other sister who is in this with me, has a lot of things going on to. But I know we will pull it together when the time comes. I'm just not used to procrastinating on projects and stuff, I like being ready and prepared and organized. Having things done weeks in advance is really the way I prefer. Instead of working on anything last night, I spent some time with my husband. I even watched an entire movie on TV. That is something I rarely do. My son is suppose to be here at 7:00 this morning and help me put some more top soil in the addition to my flower bed. We will try to beat the heat of the day. I went by my son's house after work and he had picked blackberries, there was about 2 gallons of them. This is what I did with the ones that he shared with me. Peach & blackberry cobbler with French vanilla ice cream. Hope everyone gets to do a little something just for themselves today.

Heather's Friday Spark

Heather's Spark for this past week, was to make something using patterned paper. When I read her challenge I was working on making a program for my sister's 40th wedding anniversary reception and vow renewal. So it came altogether, when she posted her post. The colors that my other sister and I are using for the reception are, white, black and ruby. I could not find the paper I wanted to use for these, so I ended up printing the front of the program on my computer, I found the pattern on a program I have by the name of "Scrapbook Factory Deluxe". I used Verona Marble Linen paper to print both the front and back of the program on. The marbling effect is in a muted black. I found this paper and also the adhesive seals at Staples. The seals look like the old wax seals that they used to use. These have two enter twined hearts, and are the ruby color that represents the 40th anniversary. Then I composed the order of service and put a red border around each panel. I scored between each panel and folded it so the two sides would come together in the middle. A seal was added to where they come together, finishing it off. I will be printing 150 of these, front and back, scoring and folding, before July 26th. Thanks Heather for the challenge, and hope everyone has a good weekend.

Pat's Challenge

Pat's 19th Scrapbook Cafe challenge this week was " - to recycle something quick, easy, functional and cheap for an outdoor picnic or get together! I'm sure with summer ahead of us we will all be having many more picnics and cookouts!" Well from the beginning I thought I am in a dilemma. Our basement flooded years ago, and my picnic basket was one of the many items ruined. So I thought well why not make a new basket to carry odds and ends in to carry to a picnic. Most of our food, I will take in a cooler. I started with a medium size basket that I use to keep extra towels in. This size basket is very easy for one person to carry, or two little picnickers. I lined it with some cotton fabric, that my husbands deceased mother had in her quilting tub, so it gave me a good feeling to use this piece of cloth. After cutting the cloth to fit, I used Beacon fabric tac to attach the cloth to the basket. I then used some 1 1/2 lime green sheer ribbon around the inside edges, I tied a bow in one corner, and finished it off with flowers space around all 4 sides. As I said earlier this little basket is to carry odds and ends in. I recycled a baby wipe cylinder canister to store plastic grocery bags in, so you can always have an easy way to clean up your trash. I'm sorry but do not know the name of the coordinating papers I used to cover these alterables. I covered a little first aid kit, a sewing kit, and a bread crumb canister for the silverware. The container for the paper napkins, is a container that blueberries came in. I just added the same color of sheer ribbon bow to the top, that I used in the corner of the basket. Two different size nut cans were also papered. They could be used to transport the salt and pepper shakers, or maybe a can opener, matches, bug repellent, things like that. I embellished the sheer green ribbon on the basket itself, with little flowers and added little flocked dots to the center of them. I forgot to get the photo of the little table cloth that would fit in in the basket, you could also include a blanket to spread on the ground to sit on. As you can see there is room for lots of things, even the plates and cups. Since I saw Pat's altered carrier for her orange crush she has had me "hankering" for some myself. Is "hankering" even a real word? I was not as elaborate in decorating mine as she was, but it was a last minute thought. Of course I had to open up one of the sodas, so I would have enough strength to complete the challenge. *wink*wink*The only thing I purchased to complete this project was the orange crush, and green ribbon, I have a lot of ribbon, but didn't have anything in the green colored , that matches the papers. A footnote to Pat. My DH wanted me to give Pat a message that was "thanks for the challenge, now Shelia expects him to take her on a picnic." The first picture is of the basket, and unfinished containers that I started with. The rest of the photos show how they pack into the basket for easy transportation. The trash bags, you can just pull them out of the top of the canister, through the little slots in the top The plastic silverware fits perfectly in one, made from the breadcrumb container and the napkins are easy accessible in their see thru container. No first aid kit is worth anything if there is no bug repellent and band aids. Finally what is a picnic without flowers. It is just a little bud vase with some tacky glue squirted into the bottom of it, and then flowers placed down in it. It will not come all apart like that. Thanks for looking. And yes, DH, I am expecting to you to take me on a picnic.

Happy Birthday, Emily

Today would have been Emily's 52th Birthday. Her young life was cut short, when, in December of 2005, she was murdered. Her murderer still has not been apprehended. Here is the website that tells more about the murder .

There is a Virtual Memorial Garden online, also, this was my memorial to Emily:

Emily G. Anderson 8 Jul 1956- Dec 05
This is in memory of my very special friend Emily.
Emily went missing on December 29, 2005. Her body found on Jan. 7, 2006. But we are not sure of the actual date of her death. She had been shot multiple times.
Unfortunately, I only had her in my life for 5 years. But feel tremendously blessed with those years.
Those of us that Emily left behind will find it hard to meet another someone who will touch our lives in the way that she did. She loved everyone, for what she saw in them, and made us feel as if she was honored to be in our presence. When she walked in to the room, it would light up, just from her smile, she wouldn't have to speak, her smile is all you needed. She always put you first, always making you feel special. Bette Midler's song "Wind Beneath My Wings" describes the kind of person she was.
Her values were evident for all to see. She valued faith in the Lord, and loyalty to her family and friends. Emily loved to sing in the choir at her church.
Emily's legacy was not riches, possessions, or worldly goods of any kind. It is the way she lived and loved, the lives she touched, the promises she kept. Her legacy is the kind of friend she was.
I miss you Emily, and you now are the victor,not the victim. You are home, and your search is over.

Emily was also Pat's friend for over 20 years. Emily's death brought forth new friendships for me. Pat and Emily's sister Dee. These two will always keep Em's memory alive for me. Emily would approve so whole heartily of our friendship. It is a wish she had from the beginning.

I have been working on Emily's Memory garden at my house for 2 years now. It will always be an ongoing project. Here are some of the garden flowers that are in bloom now.