Thanksgiving Leftovers

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at my darling daughters house yesterday...there was enough food there to feed an Army. Needless to say we are eating leftovers for the rest of the weekend.

While we were enjoying all our festive meal, we had a visitor at the window. I have posted before about the chickens my DDs raises. Lately some of the "girls" have started peeping through the window to see what is going on inside the house...I guess turnabout is fair play, we watch them too. This hen decided she wanted to inspect the workings of  our Thanksgiving.

In honor of DD chickens, I create  "chicken" cards for her birthday.

DD is also raising a BIG black pig, name Lola. I understand raising the chickens...I have benefited from the "girls" by enjoying their eggs, when they are happy enough  to produce.

 

But the pig...there is no way the grandkids will let us have Lola for Easter dinner!

Fall Birthday Cards, 31 Flavors and the Perfect Food...

Fall is the beginning of  birthdays for family and friends...clear through until the end of January. I have been working away on Birthday Cards. The hardest cards to create are the guy cards. These take forever to come up with a design that isn't cutesy or girly, but still screams "celebrate". 

 

 Ice Cream...is the all purpose, equal opportunity, ultimate way to celebrate. You have to have Ice Cream and Cake for a birthday...I know it's has to be in a rule book some where.  What would Apple Pie be without Ice Cream..spicy over cooked apples and crust. You can's have a Butterscotch Sundae, without Ice Cream. There would be no Ice Cream Cake from 31 Flavors with out Ice Cream...OH NO, there would be no 31 Flavors at all! 

 

 Let's face it, how the heck are you going to handle a really no good rotten day with out eating ice cream out of the carton with a big spoon.

 

   Ice Cream the perfect food!   

First Day of School

Many, many years ago when I was a young mother, there came a time in each of my children lives when I sent them off to kindergarten. At the time it was a semi traumatic experience.

They were 5 years old, so of course they at the age where they making me crazy...  naturally I was looking forward to sending them off for half the day, I wouldn't even have to pay a sitter. When their first day of school arrived I admit panicked...my baby is going off in to the big bad world with out me! What if they get scared , what if they get dropped off at the wrong bus stop, what if...? 

One by one over the years I walked my little dears in to the big scarey school, took them to their class room and each one of them took off with a skip and a jump to look for new friends and play with the “educational” toys. Never looking back or giving me a wave good-bye. They were much braver than I was.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas...one last tag:

I have used this vintage image before in a Christmas card...it's one of my favorites.The idea for this design came from a 2008 Somerset Studio November/December magazine cover. Rachel Killpack had used the image to make a  fabulous "Christmas Star". The image is from a very erethral  French Christmas postcard. Those type of  photos were very popular in that era. The top of the postcard (which I cut off) read "Joyeux Noel". The tag was distressed front and back  with Tim Holtz's Bundled Sage. The edges were distressed with Iced Spruce ink. I used the Stampendous Shabby Pink embossing enamel and a flourish stamp to create the back ground. The edges of the image were distressed with Antique Linen ink. The tag is embellished with gold star tinsel garland and a larger gold star.

Twelve days to Halloween and nothing to wear for a costume.

I love the look of vintage Halloween...I'm talking way old, like 1920s-1930s. That was the era that Halloween parties and dressing up was for the adults. They would have big extravagant parties that would last way in to the early morning. The costumes at that time were very creative.

With that in mind, I created a tag with a vintage 1920s look.

 I'm not sure where I found this image of a woman draped in a textured shawl, from that era. I dressed her up in a pair of black and orange butterfly wings that came from Graphic Fairy (thanks GF love the wings!) and embellished with Black Stickles and a glitter pen.

The background of the tag was stamped then layered with a black doily and a “Petrified Butterflies” label.

All about Alice

As you might know,  Alice's life changed forever when she tumble down the rabbit hole and arrived in a fantasy world called WONDERLAND.

Of course an adventure such as that has inspired the creating of

“ALICE TAGS” 

Alice's long fall down the hole ends at a hall of doors in various sizes...

all locked. She finds a key to a door too small for her to fit through.

Of course our heroine finds a bottle that is labeled “DRINK ME”, and contains a magical potion to make Alice small enough to fit through the little door.

There is a curious tea party hosted by a Mad Hatter and his friend the March Hare

 (and a sleepy door mouse)

They are all waiting for Alice to join them...she's late!

The white rabbit is the court's trumpeter for the King and Queen of Hearts.

The big question is...who stole the Queen's tarts, that she made all in a summer day?

Is that cat sitting on the book Alice's cat Dinah...or the Cheshire Cat?

Hum...curious and curiouser

Long Division, Telling Time and a Calico Cat

This distressed Graphic 45 ABC  Primer patterned paper  brings back the basics  taught in school in the "good old days"...Reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmeti.

This little boy may know his numbers... 1 through 10,  but could long division be far behind? 

The half page is covered with red gingham, and embellished with a vintage looking chip board piece, that warns the next lesson is "telling time".

I love the calico cat sitting next to the student on the red stool

The back of the book is embellished with two alphabet  pages...maybe from an old "ABC book"

The only things missing  from this mini album are some grade school photos

Say something nice...

My mom recently turned 80...she would be okay with me telling you her age. For her birthday she sent  out a letter reminding all of her kids, grand kids and great grand kids that she was turning 80. She told us we didn't need to throw her a party, but she did ask all of us to make her a homemade birthday card...the kind we use to make in kindergarten...folded piece of paper, crayons, stick figures, she wanted us to write something nice about her, something we would tell someone about her or something we had done with her...we were not to obsess about the card.

Of course we all obsessed about making the card, some of us got done early, some of us are still working on the cards. That's okay, mom likes to celebrate her birthday all month long. 

She has been enjoying all the cards made by her kids, grand kids and great grand kids. Some extend family and friends had heard about the letter and wanted to get in on the fun too.

Why am I telling you all this? One of my siblings asked me if I was going to blog the card I made for mom...I hadn't plan on it...but then again "things" to blog are few and far between. I usually make her a red, white and blue patriotic looking card for her birthday  ( see the 4th of July post), but this year I designed a card "that says something nice...something I would tell someone about her."

 The front of the card reads: "I color outside the lines...with my left hand". The inside reads "Thank you Mom for teaching me everything I know about being creative" ( And yes...that's me sitting in the chair" ) 

 Happy 80th Birthday!