Take Flight Birthday Card

My father's birthday is coming up this weekend and I made this card for him. It is always so difficult to "buy" cards for him because we don't have one of those relationships that are described in all of the Hallmark cards. You know the ones that I am talking about. The ones that say "you were such a wonderful father...always there for me, etc." My card says Happy Birthday on the inside. He loves those mushy cards, but I just can't do it. In my opinion, what better card can you give a parent than a "home made" one? This card is made with the CTMH stamp set "Take Flight". The paper is "A guy thing". And the colors are Barn Red, Desert Sand, Cocoa, and New England Ivy. I colored in the image with Prisma Colored Pencils and went over it with mineral spirits.

Bella Sketch Challenge #28

Surprisingly, today wasn't so bad for a Monday. I have been forcing myself to go to bed by 10:00 on Sunday nights so that I can survive Monday. It is so hard for me to go to bed early, because I just want the weekend to last a little bit longer. The benefit of going to bed early is that I am not too tired to make a Bella card. And today is Bella Sketch Monday. Yippee!!! I decided to make a card for my friend Leslie for her birthday. She loves Hawaii. So, I had to make a card using Hulabella. The paper is from Stamping Up. A friend of mine gave it to me about a year ago, and as I was digging through my stash of paper I came across it. The colors are so perfect. As I was making this card, mentally, I took myself to Maui and remembered the colors that I saw. Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I hope you can all see it some day. And here is a little bit of the Aloha spirit.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all of you mom's out there. Whether you are with family, friends or by yourself, I hope you are all having a wonderful and blessed day. Today Bill, Jennifer, Lexi and I went to Carmel-by-the-Sea for the day. We had a delicious lunch at my favorite restaurant Casanovas. After lunch we went down to the beach and Lexi played in the sand with her sand toys. The weather was a little chilly, but fortunately we brought our jackets. One of my favorite things to do is to walk up and down the tree lined streets and look at all of the charming homes. None of them have addresses. They all have names. Jennifer had fun shopping and once Lexi conked out, we went over to the Hogs Breath Inn where we kicked back and had a crisp glass of white wine. Now that I am home I am ready to go to bed.

Bella Sketch Challenge #27

I am running a little behind on my Bella Sketch Challenge. Come Monday morning there will be a new one. This one uses "Huggy Bellas". The paper, flower, ribbon and button are all CTMH. The sentiment is from Stampingbella. I have reconnected with another friend from high school and I am going to send her this card.

Boom-Di-Ada Layouts

I have finally finished the layouts that we will be doing for the May 17/18 workshop using the Boom-Di-Ada paper pack. The stamp sets are Cottage Floral and Be True. The layout on the top left uses a 5x7 and the one to the right of it uses an 8x10 that has been cut down. The two on the bottom both use 5x7's. Smaller pictures may be sustituted if you prefer to use more pictures on your layout. Click on the picture to see a larger view.

Mother's Day Card from Lexi

With Mother's Day fastly approaching, Lexi needed the perfect card for Momma. She woke up early this morning, and we went downstairs and made it. Lexi was able to do most of the work. She needed a little help cutting around the flowers. I held the card, and with the tip of the scissors she was able to cut little notches around the flowers. She couldn't wait to give it to Momma. So, she ran up stairs, flung open the floor and yelled "wake up, wake up." The stamp sets used are Cottage Floral and Simple Beauty. The paper is Boom-Di-Ada.

More to Adore Layout

I haven't posted anything in a couple of days and have lots of layouts that I would love to share. Since it is almost Mother's Day, here is the layout that I did last year. This one was done with the "More to Adore" paper pack and stickers. We celebrated Mother's Day in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Since it was so wonderful, I have decided that this must become a tradition. If you have never been to Carmel, you must go. The town is charming, the sea is dark blue and the sand is white. I will share pictures when we go this Sunday. But, for now here is a little glimpse of Carmel. We had lunch at an adorable restaurant called "Casanovas".

Boom-Di-Ada Layout

I finally finished the layout that we will be doing at my upcoming workshop. I am really enjoying making layouts using large pictures. This layout is from Imagine and is called "Role Play". I love this paper so much and really wanted to do this layout. I was thinking to myself, "Hmm. I don't have any pictures that will work". Then I remembered these pictures that were taken last month. I was telling my son-in-law that I didn't think that I have any pictures for this layout. And, with rather large eyes, he looked at me and said, "Your computer says that you have 21,000 pictures ". Too funny.

It's one of those "Brown Paper Packages" days

I just love it when I come home from a long day at work to find packages waiting for me. Today I had three waiting for me!!!! The first one that I opened was from Gina K Designs. She sends me my Copic Markers. If you have never tried these markers and love to color, they are a must have. I love them because they go on like paint. Each month she sends me six different markers. The reason that she does this is, because of the price. I originally signed up with her to receive six markers a month for six months, but couldn't wait. So I ordered another set. The nice thing about Copic Markers is that they come in different shades. I purchased the full set of A Ciao Markers and she sends me the D set of Ciao markers. I will use them tonight when I do my Bella Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. The second package that I opened was from Cut At Home. They sent me my Nestabilities. These are so hard to find, because they are in high demand. I had to wait two months to get the scalloped circles! Now I have the scalloped rectangles. Scallops are really in now, and they make the best designs on cards. I can put the die cut stencil through my Cuttlebug with paper and it will come out cut in a scalloped shape and with an embossed scallop edge. The third package was, of course, from Close to My Heart. I ordered some things from older catalogs that I had been putting off ordering. I ordered the "Route 66" Paper pack. I think I am going to use it with Bella in her Corvette. My original plans with it are to scrapbook Lexi's school picture with the Primary colors in the pack. I also ordered the "School Zone" stickers to use on my layout. A few other things in my box were a sentiment stamp to use with my cards and a font CD and lastly some Summer Craft Buttons. I have a lot to keep me busy for a while. At least until my next purchase.

Look what Sparkle sent me

I received this adorable card from Sparkle last week. I just haven't had time to post it. This is Eloise and she is from the stampingbella line of stamps. Not only is Sparkle a bellaholic like me but she is a CTMH Consultant and is one of the most talented artists on the boards. Check out her blog. It is listed under "blogs that inspire me". Thank you so much Sparkle.

Accordian Album

On April 13, I had a group of friends over to make this adorable accordion style photo album. It was time consuming but not difficult to make. My 12 year old niece Nikki had so much fun making hers. Each of the little pockets have tags with pictures attached to them.

Lexi in Disneyland

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We took Lexi to Disneyland last month to see the Princesses. Every day she has to dress up as a different princess and insists on being called by that princesses name. We thought that we had better take her now while she is still into Disney Princesses and before she gets in to Hanna Montana. Here she is in the Disney Princess Fantacy area.

Family Pictures

Me and Bill last summer at Emeril's restaurant in Miami, Florida

I just love this picture of Jennifer (my daughter) and Alexia.

Jennifer's family last summer in South Beach, Florida

Our Princess with her Dad in Disneyland

Ryan (my son) and his girlfriend Samira in Columbia. They met at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. She invited Ryan to come to her home in Columbia. He had a great time with her family and friends.

Cousins on Easter (Imagine Sideline Surprise)

This Easter was one of the best ones ever. The weather was perfect and the kids were able to play outside all day. They are all at an age where they can really have fun playing together.

I used this layout from Imagine to capture the enjoyment that all of the cousins had on Easter.

I used CTMH Paper Garden and March Word Puzzle

Yippee!!! Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String

You know how much I love brown paper packages tied up with string....well imagine my surprise when I came home from work today and there sitting on the table was a package with my name on it!!! It was from my dear sister-in-law Vicki (aka giffybella). Yup. She is a bellaholic just like me. We definitely enable one another. In the box, not only were there oodles of ribbon, stamps, a copic marker blending pen and two beautiful cards, but a gorgeous hand carved box that she bought for me on her Carribean cruise. Since she couldn't take me with her, I am so happy that she was thinking about me. Lexi loves to help me open packages and when she saw the little box, she immediately filled it with the ribbon. Yup. She knows what to do. Thank you so much Vicki. I just love my new things. Here is the link to the sentiment.

http://www.whippersnapperdesigns.com/index.php/cPath/2_41/sort/3a/products_id/4557/page/10