Bunch of Cards

I decided that I needed to get on the ball with some card-making as there are several situations that are going on that I needed to celebrate or provide encouragement.


Here's the first -- all sorts of circles to go with the circle-patterned paper. I cut out three different sized circles and stacked them up. I had gotten some cardboard cut-outs for Christmas that you can decorate so I used an a and covered it with paper. I wrote a quote that she likes around the edge of the outermost circle. "We all let people into our lives, but you will find that really good friends let you into your own." - Curly Girl.

I liked this format that I've used on a few other cards lately and decided to go with it again. I paired two patterned papers and then added some embellishments to the side. On each of these I added two stars and then did another letter & covered it with purple paper. I used purple organdy ribbon across the bottom. Simple but gets the point across.

This picture shows the paper better. I don't know how the lighting changed when I had them in the exact same spot!

Isn't this cool?! I made it as a 4x7 inch card (no envelope) from some paper that is a little more heavier. I had a pattern of an owl that I traced and cut out. Then I matched a tag to the paper and threaded orange organdy ribbon & cream ribbon through the top. It's a little hard to read, but it says, "Whoo forgot your birthday?" Inside said: me (that's whoo).

This last card is using a template from CPS and 4 different red papers. I wrote Happy Anniversary! in calligraphy and think it pulled it together very nicely.

Each of these cards has been sent out or delivered to the intended reciptient. I'm glad for the opportunity to share my talents and encourage others.

Birthday wishes

I made this card for my sister-in-law who is celebrating her birthday TODAY! I used another template from CPS, but I'm a little disappointed in how it turned out. The colors are too muted, I believe. I will have to try it again, but it worked for this time. I used some Happy Birthday paper and then tried to match the colors with the stripes and piece across the middle. I used my calligraphy pen to write "Happy Birthday Lindsey!"

Here's another template from CPS that I adapted to work for me. I made a star out of the lighter green and then added the darker behind it. I used the orange paper for the strip down the middle and added "Wishing you..." The star is on 3-d tape as well as the "Wishing you..." piece. Inside it says: "a very happy birthday." This is for my head boss who's birthday is Saturday.

Dinner for Community Group

It was our turn to make dinner for our community group at church and we decided to make Italian Casserole. It's a really easy recipe: ground beef & onions, diced tomatoes & tomato paste, penne noodles, and cheese! Even though I can't eat it, Barry was excited and it went over well. We made two of these and had about half of one left for Barry to have as leftovers.

Then, here is dessert - Cream Puff Dessert. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law's mother. I got this Pampered Chef large bar pan from my friend at work for Christmas and was excited to use it. The cream puff crust is butter, flour, water, and 5 eggs. The middle is vanilla pudding, milk and cream cheese. It's topped with whipped topping and then when you have a piece, you put some chocolate syrup on top.

We had a little left over and I brought it to work. Yum!

Birthday Cookie

The new guy in my department had his birthday today. We decorated his desk like we do for all birthdays and I made this big cookie. We are holding off on the big party until next week because we have another January birthday. We all enjoyed it. I tried a little different thing with the icing along the edge and it looked half-way decent.

Snow in Tennessee

It's not very typical for Tennessee to get a lot of snow in the winter (though when I think about it, I think we've had snow every winter that we've been here - 4 so far) and it's definitely not typical to go 2 weeks with highs in 20's or so. But, that has been the case! We have had snow falling off and on the last 4 days and accumulation up to 1 inch or so. A lot of the snow is melting today because the sun is out, but the temperature hasn't made it to freezing degree mark yet -- maybe Monday.

We've struggled with keeping our home heated especially when the lows have been in the single digits. But we're drinking a lot of hot beverages and snuggling under a blanket on the couch. We're supposed to be back in the "normal" Tennesee winter temps this week. We're super glad about that!

Cousins, part two

Here was the whole group (only missing my brother & his family).

First try: Caleb is sobbing, Luke is happy he got the rocking chair and Emma's holding tight onto Aaron.


Second try: Caleb is a little happier, Luke is looking away, Emma is doing fantastic, but Aaron is getting fussy.

Third try: Caleb is running out of the picture, Luke won't look, Emma's trying to hold it together and Aaron is not happy.

What can be said? It's an experience! :)

I think it didn't help that the kids were hun-gr-y, but we wanted somthing with the cousins all together in the clothes that Nana made. Even Chelsea (although far away in South Dakota) has a matching outfit. Oh well.

New Cards

Here's a festive card that I made to encompass a few missed holidays...

Oops! I had great intentions, but with the craziness of the holidays, neglected to get this out to my brother and sister-in-law. I used several different papers and then made a snowman out of white paper cut into circles. I put a gold ring on one of his "arms" for the anniversary greetings, but it didn't quite work out the way that I expected.

These two cards were made for two of my friends that got married recently. I used a similar template that I did before with birthday cards and instead wrote the new couple's name on the inset rectangle. Inside it says, "congratulations."

Believe it or not, with all the cards I've made lately, I'm still behind! I have two sympathy cards yet to make and then ones for the birthdays this month. Got to keep moving!