March Birthdays!

For Debbie

For Julie

I have been working on a couple of birthday cards for friends who have birthdays this month.  The first one is with a SU stamp set called Party Pandas, pictured on the left.  This is  a 4-panel twisted pop up card with these cute pandas.  I also had the panda from Marianne Designs and used it inside the card. I got the idea from Pinterest where I saw a similar card--just adorable!  The card on the right is a Card in a box card with Graphic 45 French Country paper collection.  It is so beautiful!! The flowers are from Die-namics.  Pictures below show the card closed up and ready for mailing. Happy Birthday Debbie & Julie!!

Closed

Other side

Front of card closed

I am happy to report that I am back in my craftroom and using my right arm more and more.  It has been 5 weeks since my shoulder surgery and I finally get my sling off  this Friday!! Yay!  Now just have to do my PT exercises and I'll be good as new!  Thank you to friends and family, especially my husband who has been doing the housework and cooking, for your support and well wishes.   

All About Green!

I made these with Stampin Up's Curvy Keepsake Dies for St Patrick's Day dinner tonight with friends.  Even though, I am mostly English but do have some Irish (who doesn't today) my husband and I are hosting a St Patrick's Day celebration with Irish friends, Halliseys and Gearys tonight.  These are so cute and loved making them.  I also made the tablecloth with material from Joann's. Check out the banner I made with Stampin up banner dies, "LUCKY".  All this was made with one hand since I have had shoulder surgery about a month ago but I am able to use my right hand a little, really just holding stuff.  Got out my fine china because it went well with the gold and green tablecloth. Now just need the boiled dinner-yummy!!

The table is set

Lucky in Gold

Centerpiece of shamrocks

Birthday Card/Gift Boxes

I found this card/gift box, all in one tutorial on Pinterest and wanted to make a few.  A friend of mine is having a birthday this week and I have a pair of seaglass earrings for her which are perfect for this box.  Check out this tutorial on Pinterest by Linda Parker.  The size of the box is 4x4.  The only difference with my card/box project is that I made it so you open the front of the card and the tutorial shows that it opens from the back of the box. Either way works out great. I also used a magnet to close the front on two of the card/boxes but you could always use a belly band for closure.  I used Graphic 45 papers to decorate the project and SU flower dies to finish it off.  Check out below more pictures of the inside of the boxes.

Closer look

The paper makes this card/gift box. Inside, there is plenty of room for a sentiment for whatever occasion you choose.  These were so fun to make and doesn't take any time to do it!  You will love the finished project!!

This flower was made with Tim Holtz die

Love this Graphic 45 paper

Birthday Brew!

Sandy's Birthday Card

This was a fun punch art card to make for my brother-in-law's birthday!  He just opened a Growler Store in Washington state and he is really a beer connoisseur so I thought this card was perfect for him!  For the foam I used a sizzix cloud die and circle punches from SU. The handle is just nestabilities oval dies.

Inside sentiment!

I have made a card like this before but this one has more foam!  Who doesn't love foam!Good Luck Sandy on your new adventure and Happy Birthday Sandy! 

Happy Valentine's Day

 Yesterday my sister, Connie and I decorated cookies!  I made some for Valentine's Day for the little girls next door and another little girl who is a granddaughter to a friend of mine.  Still need to do some more practicing but I think I am getting the flooding technique down pat.  I still need a steady hand for the decorating part of it.  The cookies fit in the little pizza boxes from Stampin Up. The box holds 2 cookies perfectly.  I decorated the boxes inside and out with dies from Spellbinders and Impression Obsession.  The paper is from Michael's that I picked up the last minute just for this project.

Heart cookies inside!

Packaged and ready to go!

Close up!

Hubby's Valentine Card

Here is the card that I made for my husband this year!  The stamp set is from Stampin Up and I love it.  I have made a birthday card from this set too.   I needed to make one real quick and this was perfect.  Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Wonderful Vacation!

We are home now but I wanted to post some pictures of our 2nd and 3rd week of vacation in Florida.  Cocoa Beach is a beautiful place.  We had a wonderful condo on the 6th floor and had a view of the ocean from our Lanai.  We walked on the beach every day and our daughter came down and spent the week with us.  We visited Kennedy Space Center and Universal Studios.  Our daughter, Lindsey, is a Harry Potter fan so Universal was a must. The weather was a little chilly but warmer than Maine and we were able to walk the beach with a sweatshirt and flip flops which made me happy.  Our last day in Cocoa Beach was 77 degrees and Mark and I headed to the pool since Lindsey had to go home.  We did some "junkin" at some local Antique shops which there were many. 

The Resort on Cocoa Beach

Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center

My favorite ride, Jimmy Fallon's ride

Mark & Hashtag

The Fury

Harry Potter

Harry Potter Train ride

The Hulk

The Family at Disney

Waterfall in the pool

Love that it was heated

Sunset in Cocoa

The beach

After we left Cocoa we went to St Cloud to visit and stay with our good friends.  They took us to Downtown St Cloud to do some more vintage shopping and Sanford, Florida which is a neat little town also full of antiques.  The Canaveral National Seashore was a beautiful place and I saw my first armadillo-they are so cute.  Our last night in Florida we headed to The Villages to visit some other friends.  People use golf carts to go everywhere.  There are hundreds of golf carts because it is easier to get around with them than cars.  It definitely is a party place because there is always something to do.  We did have a lot of fun checking out The Villages.  At long last, we headed home and only spent one night on the road in Emporia, Virginia.  It was a long drive and my husband was a trooper to do all the driving.  It was good to arrive in our driveway even if there was snow on the ground.  It was a wonderful 3 weeks in Florida and may take me 3 weeks to recuperate from our trip. 

We will be back!

Daytona Week

Daytona Boardwalk

Last week at Daytona was fun!  We started out by taking a tour at the Daytona International Speedway, exploring the boardwalk at "The World's Most Famous Beach" and seeing Manatees in their natural habitat at Blue Spring State Park which is located in Orange City.  The weather was very windy some days on the beach but warm.  We did have a few chilly days that I had to break out a sweatshirt! Poor me!  Walks on the beach were always interesting, seeing trucks and cars actually driving on the beach and lots of seagulls and sandpipers!!  Check out my pictures from Daytona Week with the Petersens!

Huge place!

Finish Line goes right into the stands!

Cute little sandpipers!

Seagulls with orange beaks!

Jimmy Buffets new bar in Daytona!

Pier at the Boardwalk

Manatee Mama and baby!

Blue Spring State Park was great seeing a part of Florida that isn't commercial.  Florida has so much to offer and seeing Manatees in their habitat and learning about how they migrate to warmer waters in the winter was very interesting.  Lucky to see this baby with it's mother was too cute.  We met our friends who live in St Cloud, Florida in the winter at the Park and they showed us this park as they have been here many times.  The count for Manatees the day before we came was 275.  They count them every day. So cool!

More Manatees

Rockers!

Most Famous Beach

Mark on the Boardwalk

Daytona at its best!

Bye  Daytona!

We left Daytona Saturday morning and now are heading to Cocoa Beach for a week.  Hoping for good weather for another week as we are picking up our daughter at the airport and then Cocoa here we come!  Check back next week and I'll definitely have more pictures of our week in Cocoa Beach.