Just a quick post before I head off to work. I managed to get another of the New England thank you cards done so, hopefully, the cruise ship staff will be pleased when they receive them. This was made with some bits and bobs of paper I had, a Jolees embellishment sticker and Melissa Frances rubon. 
A friend of mine who regularly cruises is on his way to New England at the end of the month and has asked me to make some themed thank you cards. Having done the New England cruise, I can say he is going to have a great time and will, hopefully, get to see some of the trees turning their beautiful colours.
What could be more New England than a lighthouse, again from Jolees. I added some rub-ons, a brad and some ribbon and the bottom edge with some Paper Shapers decorative scissors.
One more card to share that I made with some black Prima paper, Creative Imaginations cream paper, Prima flowers, Making Memories brads and some vintage lace. After the cardmaking, I managed to get some vitamin D outside in the lovely sunshine though I am still fighting off my wasps that seem to think the balcony is their home. It has been a busy, fairly productive day and a good week off. All goods things must end and tomorrow it's back to work. Hope the nice weather continues into the weekend - so few weekends have been pleasant, I almost feel bad for those who are off when I'm working!
What a beautiful day it was today though I didn't get to see much of it. I was obviously tired because I didn't get out of bed until after noon. I hate doing that; it makes me feel like I have accomplished nothing but, sometimes, your body just needs a good rest.
Well.....my bedroom is all put back together with the new bed and mattress. Now it's back to my real job so there is no rest for the weary. The cats are certainly enjoying the bed; Kenya slept on it all night which he never does and poor Kona tried to jump up on it but fell short so decided sleeping under the bed was safer.
My apartment is complete and utter chaos as I prepare for the delivery of the new bed tomorrow. I am sleeping (or, more accurately, not sleeping) on an air mattress which is about 6 inches too short but beats the floor and everything around me is in disarray. It took me a whole day to dismantle the water bed though it went more smoothly than I had anticipated. Today was spent cleaning what I'm sure was 3 cats from behind where the bed was. No wonder I sneezed all the time with all that hair hanging around. That's the problem with waterbeds; once they are in, they're in for good.
I had to take a picture of the beautiful sunset we had tonight. First, I am quite pleased that my new camera takes pretty good night shots and second, the colours in the sunset were just absolutely gorgeous. All I need is a beach in the foreground and it's like I'm back in Hawaii. Not really but I can dream.
My cats absolutely adore being outside in the back yard. I haven't had much of a chance to take them out this summer what with all the rain and now the hot temperatures. Yesterday was the perfect day and they had a ball, so much that they didn't want to come inside. Kenya loves to get into everything that he can and promptly hopped this fence to see what was on the other side. Below, Kona just takes everything in and, to him, it's all new and fascinating. They certainly are funny little creatures but I love them to death.
I made this card for my brother who has 2 basset hounds. Each year, I make him a dog-themed card for his birthday so he has quite the collection. The picture of the dog is from a piece of wrapping paper and the "woof" is a stamp. 
I must offer sincere apologies for my lengthy absence from the world of blogging. I have no idea where time goes but it certainly flies wherever that might be. I have been working a lot of overtime which takes up a good part of days off and have been flitting to and fro trying to find a new bed, putting my waterbed to rest. I do love my waterbed and have sincere trepidations about a regular mattress but we'll see how things go.
I love the colours in this card (I think I say that about each and every one I make). The paper is from Anna Griffin and I have to say, Anna Griffin has some of the most beautifully patterned paper out there. The musical note paper is "flair designs" and all the pretty lace ribbons are very vintage from those my mom gave me.
I cannot believe it's been so long since my last post and I apologize for being remiss. Honestly, where does the time go?? I have been looking for a new bed and just can't seem to find anything that I really fancy, despite having driven far and wide. Yesterday, it was a trip downtown for the dentist and Monday was spent waiting for my car to get its new brakes. In between, I have been working so my poor card making has taken a back seat.
As much as I despise winter and love summer, there is also a happy medium when it comes to heat. Today would not be that happy medium. Somehow, between last week and this, the temperature has jumped about 40 degrees putting us into the 90's today. Being that today was my car cleaning day, the heat was not very conducive to such activity. Again, I would take a hundred days like today than one day of horrid winter but I'm just saying......
I'm sad that my week off is over tomorrow and it's back to work. I don't feel that I got a lot accomplished over the past few days but I was on the go each and every one of them. I've just started getting into "LOST" which is always a problem because I then do nothing else except watch DVD's and have to smack myself to do something productive. Enjoy the hot weather!
How cute is this card for a new puppy? My veterinarian is going to be the proud father of a baby Border Collie next week so, of course, I had to make him a card. The red print paper is Making Memories, the heart is from a punch and the dog is a cartoon I found on the Internet. New puppies are so much fun!
Today was one of those perfect days - bright blue skies, warm but not hot, a nice breeze and all day to shop! I can feel the humidity start to creep into the air tonight so that's my cue to get my air conditioners in. They are usually in by now; in fact, sometimes, they have been in during April but this year has been abnormally cool.
It feels great to be finished midnight shift except that I need the whole week ahead to get all my chores done. It can become overwhelming so I just take it one day at a time. Anyway, I look forward to sleeping when it's dark, like the rest of the world! Have a great weekend.
My life has been so hectic lately, it's truly surprising I get anything accomplished. Yesterday, I and a few friends had a casino day, something which we try to do a couple times a year. It's always great fun, win or lose (actually, more lose than win) though it normally takes up the better part of a day, particularly since, this time, we went to Niagara.
I am slowly, but surely, getting my projects completed though I have to wonder where the time goes. Today was spent running errands and meeting with old friends which left little time for anything else. This thank you card is for a friend who is taking a cruise and likes to hand out cards to the crew at the end of the journey. It was done with some polka-dot Doodlebug paper and the photo is one I took on my recent cruise. 
For the life of me, I cannot recall what company makes this paper but I thought it looked very manly and non-frou-frou. Most of the cards I make seem more female-appropriate though I don't imagine too many men truly care about the make-up of a card. I'm off to the casino tomorrow so I'm hoping for some good luck!
I have a lot of projects that need to get done so took a couple of vacation days from work to try to get caught up. I have also been playing around a lot with my new camera, thoroughly irritating the cats with my requests for poses. Above is Kenya looking typically cheeky and completely bored with the whole portrait process. They both tolerate it though, knowing mom will eventually tire and leave them alone.
This sympathy card was made with some Anna Griffin paper I have had forever; in fact, it was some of the first paper I ever bought. The lace is some my mom gave me and the flowers from the Prima "Nursery Tales" collection. I printed the sentiment on my computer then added some pearl brads to the flowers.
I thought this card was fun as it's going to be used as a thank you on a cruise ship. Pretty well all the paper is scraps and the embellishment is from Sandylion with a rubon for the sentiment. I have spent most of the past week printing up my vacation photos and putting them into an album. For some reason, I much prefer to view photos hard-copy rather than on a disk. I guess old habits die hard.
Thought I'd share one more quick photo with you. This is me ziplining in Antigua. As hesitant as I was to initially step off that first platform, it was great fun and I'd do it again in a minute!! That helmet really does not do me any justice though.
All good things must come to an end which, sadly, includes vacations. As great as going away is, it's nice to come home and get back into a routine though, I have to admit, the vacation routine is a pretty good life. The worst part was coming from 85 degrees and sunny to 50 degrees and rainy. Is summer ever getting here??
I made this card today from some bits of paper I had laying around. My mom gave me her ribbon and lace collection which I'm sure she has been amassing for the last 50 years so I was in heaven going through all that. This pretty card is for a lady who is 90 years old in June....imagine! Her eyesight is not the best so I wanted to keep it simple so that she can see all the little details. 
I have been playing around with my new camera, trying to get comfortable with it before I vacation. It has a great feature where you can programme it to take out all colours but one, leaving you with an image like this one. I have a very bad habit of dropping cameras so I must use extreme due diligence and watch what I'm doing.
This very pretty card was made with My Mind's Eye papers. I have always liked using this company's products - their paper is solid and double-sided giving you twice the bang for your buck. The butterfly is chipboard and I covered it with some little silver beads. Flowers are from Prima and the rub-on is Melissa Frances. I got the idea for this card from one of my card magazines so I must give nods to Melissa Phillips for her always inspiring crafting.
I made this card for a friend who is turning 75 this month. I used some more of the Autumn Leaves "Pretty Poppies" paper with a Melissa Frances rubon and some wooden numbers that I painted red. The only problem with the wood is that they make the card so heavy but I suppose it doesn't really matter unless you are mailing it.
Today certainly felt like summer with temperatures reaching 27 degrees. What a nice change from the cold and rain of the past couple of weeks. Why does it seem I am always working on the good weather days?? 
I finally got around to making some Mother's Day cards, though I have more to do. I love the colours on this one The paper is from Autumn Leaves "Pretty Poppy" paper collection. I find buying paper in a pad is really the most economical though it's difficult sometimes as I don't always like every single paper design in the pack. The flower on this card is from Prima and the ribbon is from a friend of a friend who owns a basket company and has tons of beautiful ribbons.
Well, yesterday was a day for getting long overdue icky chores done; those odd jobs that pile up over the months that don't really affect day-to-day living but really should be attended to. My brother very kindly spent half the day here fixing, assembling and attending to my very lengthy "to do" list. First on the list was getting this very pretty shelf up, on which now sits my special Beatles drum set. A friend gave me the drums as a gift....a year and a half ago....as he knows I am a big Beatles fan so how fun is that!
This card is done with some Making Memories papers - perfect Easter colours! The bunny is cut from Cricut "Stretch your Imagination" and the pretty little pink flowers are from Prima. I am off shortly for an Easter barbecue though it's not exactly barbecue weather out there. Nice and sunny but cold and windy. 
