Blog Award

I received this Blog Award from,Leslie, Laurel, Dena and Carol. Check out there Blogs. They are awesome. Now it's time for me to forward this award.

The rules of the award (to pick up the Lemonade Stand Award):
Comment on this blog.
Cut and paste the award logo and use it in your own blog.
Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.
Link to your nominees within your blog post.- Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.
Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

I am going to pass this on to the following people who so graciously leave me the nicest compliments. Check out these very talented bloggers.
Vicki
Sharli
Sparkle
Tracey
Pat
Aaron
Samantha

Mermaid Lily

This little cutie is "Lily on the Beach" from Pink Cat Studios. The weather is very warm here in Northern California this weekend. And, the pool temperature got up to 88 degrees. Last Summer we had Solar Heating put in and it heats it up so quickly. Fortunately there is a shut off point that you can set. Bill is outside floating in the pool with a Diet Coke in one hand and a book in the other. He looks so comfortable. I can see him from my scrapbook room window. I should be out there too, but I wanted to play with my new stamps. The sketch that I used is from Sketch Saturday at All the Scraps.

Surfing Riley

My Brother-in-laws birthday is tomorrow and I made this card for him. He and Bill's sister Diane plan to spend the day at the beach so I thought he would enjoy this card.

Anya

This little cutie is Anya and she is from the Greeting Farm stamp line. I love her demure look and her striped socks. She is colored with Copic Markers. For the embossing, I used my cuttlebug and the Floral Fantasy embossing folder. The Image is cut out using the Large Deckled Rectangles by Nestabilities. The card sketch is from Split Coast Stampers.

Camera Lesson #1

Lesson #1 Familiarize myself with the new Camera.
I am a bit intimidated by my new camera, or maybe I should say intimidated a lot by the new camera. Vicki said that I should learn it in small increments instead of trying to take the whole thing on. Like learning how to take pictures of flowers. So, tonight when I got home from work, I picked up the camera and the manual and went outside to learn. Looking at this thing scares the heck out of me. What if I press the wrong button and mess everything up? Then what? So I try to calm myself down. Breathe. Then open the manual. I learn where the On/Off button is, how to zoom in and out. I play a little with the zoom features. Note the Scrub Jay. I need to work on birds next.

And the dog. This is kind of fun. Gee I can actually take pictures and view them.

Now it's time to learn how to take pictures of flowers. In the manual is a section on flowers. Looking at the top of the camera is the "Mode Dial". The manual says to turn it to the picture of the flower. That was easy. I have lots of flowers in my yard, so now it's time to give it a try. Wow. I can actually take pictures of flowers now. I'm not sure if these are what a photographer would call "good", but so far I'm happy with them.

Baby steps. That's how I'm going to do this. The camera scares me just looking at. The next lesson will be in trying to get over the fear.

Unforgettable Mother's Day Layouts

My camera came this evening. Bill called me after I got off work at 4:30 and told me that I needed to come home and wait for the UPS man because he had to leave. Normally our UPS man is hear by 5:00, but tonight he didn't show up until 7:30!!! I tried to wait patiently for him and work on my Mother's Day Layouts. Fortunately, the layouts were done. I just needed to add the pictures and journaling. Amazingly, by the time I was done, I heard his truck come up the street and the loud bark from my small dog, Jesse who does not like the "man in brown." I think he get's it from my hubby. LOL. So, here are the layouts that I finished.




Here is a picture of my camera needing to be assembled. Yikes!!! I now have to wait patiently for Bill to get home at 9:00 to help me with it. I'm a little bit afraid to mess with it. The manual is intimidating as it is.

Look at this cute little guy that I saw today. He is a baby Possum. He was so sweet. He must just be a few days old, because he doesn't know to be afraid of me. He must have been looking for his mother:(
I didn't know what to do for him, so I left him alone.

Misty's Card

I found Misty's Owl card. You have to stop by and check it out. While you are there, please show her some blog love.
Hugs,
Lori

Her Blog

UR A Hoot

My dad's birthday is coming up this weekend and today I was stumped at what kind of card to make. Ideas for mens cards are so hard to come up with. My hubby reminded me that I have all week to do it, but you know what happens when the time gets away from you. So, I decided to give it a try. While sitting at my craft table and debating what to do, I was reminded of an owl card that my friend Misty made for her dad. I wish that you could see her card, but I can't find the post. It is awesome. If I find it, I would love to share it with you.
The stamp set is from Cornish Heritage Farms and is called UR A Hoot. The sentiment is from CTMH's Thoughtful Seasons. The owl and hat are raised up on pop dots.

Mother's Day Photos

Here are some photos from Mother's Day. The day started out with Lexi helping me to make blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. I let her do most of the work, but guided her. The pancakes were awesome. That was a nice Mother's Day gift from her. After breakfast, we headed to Moss Beach. We probably should have started our travels much earlier, because everyone else had the same idea. We met my son Ryan and his girlfriend, Katie at the beach. They showed up with sandwiches from a gourmet deli. I had the "The Thanksgiving Sandwich" It was yummy. The weather was a little breezy, but we snuggled up with blankets and kept warm. We enjoyed watching the Pelicans fly over us. I tried so hard to get a good picture of them, but I just couldn't get it. We also saw sea lions. It was so cute to watch their little heads pop up every once in a while. Now, I will describe who is who in the pictures.
This is my daughter, Jennifer and her daughter, Lexi.


This is me with my little sweetie.

This is my handsome son, Ryan.


Here is a picture of me and Bill. Not such a good photo with the wind blowing us, but that's the way we looked.

Now, here's a nice picture. This is my son's new girlfriend, Katie. She is such a sweetie. And, speaking of "sweetie" she is a Pastry Chef and graduated from the CA. Culinary Acedemy with Ryan.

And, here is the yummy dessert that she made for us. Strawberry shortcake.

Now for the good part, Ryan gave me a big bouquet of flowers, Jennifer gave me some beautiful tops from the womens clothing store that she manages, Lexi gave me an ornament that says "BFF", because that's what we are. And, Bill gave me a gift that I have wanted for so long...A nice camera!!! I have always had a point and shoot camera and have wanted to make the move up, so he bought me what I wanted. It won't arrive until tomorrow, but that's okay. I can wait for my Cannon Rebel Xsi. Now next time we go to the beach, maybe I can get a better picture of the Pelicans :)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. I hope you are having a nice day.
Here are some cards that Jackie and I created yesterday. Both cards use CTMH Tickled Pink Paper. This paper is a special only for the month of May. For the sentiment on my card I used CTMH May Word Puzzle. For Jackie's card, she used Fringed Phrases

Meet Jackie My New Downline

Meet Jackie my new downline. Not only is she on my team, but she is my best friend. We reunited 2 years ago after not seeing each other for 30 years!!! When we started Junior High, her family moved to England and we never saw each other again. It was at a Weight Watchers Meeting that she recognized me and we have spent so much time together trying to make up for lost time. Unfortunately it is never enough. She got her new box of Close to My Heart Supplies on Wednesday and I came over today to play with them. On Wednesday night I got a text from her saying "Your boyfriend in the brown uniform came by my house at 8:30 and left me a big box." I replied "Oh, I just love a man in a brown uniform." LOL.
Here are some of the cards that we made.
This is my card. I just love the colors of this card. The paper is Creative Basics "Animal Cookies" and the stamp set is "Your a Hoot".

Here is Jackie's adorable card. She used the stamp set "Treetops".

Here is another fun card that I made using the stamp set "Sweet Baby" and Summer Craft Buttons.

Stamping Bug

TGIF Everyone. Are you ready for the weekend? The weather here in California is beautiful and we are going to spend Mother's Day at the beach. Last night I made this card for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. For this card I used Stampingbug from Stampingbella. The paper is from CTMH and is called Magic Moments. I know that the card is a little busy, but I decided to go with it anyway. Have a great weekend and if you are a mother, I hope you have a blessed day.

Foxy Gorjuss Girl

Here is another Gorjuss Girl. Her name is Foxy. Isn't her little fox so cute. I had been wanting to use this new paper called Sprout. I love the patterns in it. I kept the colors in my image soft so that you could still see the paper. I used the weekly sketch from Splitcoast Stampers.

Dare to be Different

This card was created for the Bella's Favorite Stamper Challenge. It has been so long since I participated in a Bella Challenge and my supply of Bella Stamps keeps growing and are not getting used. Not good. So anyway, for this challenge we are to case a card from the featured stampers card gallery and change up at least two things. Listed below is Christy's adorable card. I used Tatiana Ketto for my card. She used Wasabi Ketto for hers. I like the way she stamped the sentiment on the patterned paper and put flowers around it. I think I will do this in the future to my cards. This way I don't have to stamp it on extra paper and try to figure out where to put it.

Hola Chica

I received my Paper Pretties Stamp of the Month this week and couldn't wait to ink her up. This is Hola Chica. I had fun coloring her tiered skirt. I colored several images. They were all bright and so colorful. I am going to send this to a good friend for Cinco De Mayo. I used the sketch below from Paper Pretties. The paper is Unforgettable by CTMH. The little flowers are stamped from CTMH's Aspiration Set. The colors are Sorbet, Juniper and Cocoa. Don't you just love those names? I used my new Nestabillities Large Deckled Rectangles to cut the image. You are going to see a lot of this one. It is my new Fave.