Happy Day,,

I finally get to spend some time just "pottering". I love days like today. I am getting caught up on some cleaning jobs, finishing some cards and later today will finish canning those beets!

I love this old BG paper. the frogs are such fun and I am glad I have several sheets of it still. This card was made for a little boy in England. His mommy is dealing with cancer and I thought I would
send him his own card and a lizard beanie baby. (Still have TONS of those things in boxes from the days when we went crazy collecting them!!) The second card is for a friend who loves bears. I was the lucky recipient of some wonderful treasures from her moms old sewing box. Since she lives in England they were that much more special to me as they brought back memories of going through my own grannies sewing box. Thanks, Janet!!

Beets, Beets, Beets!!

Goodness me, it has been so busy around here the last few days..
It is "party week" at our house every third week in July. We have three birthdays this week.. the 21st Sarah turned 20, William will be 17 on the 26th and my oldest Emily will be 24 on the 28th! When they were little it was really exhausting. We always had three parties and three cakes.
Now, Sarah just takes a homemade cake into work with her. This year I made her a French Vanilla cake with white chocolate buttercream and strawberries. William wants a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake to take in and share with his co workers and so I will be doing that tomorrow and my dear sweet Emily just asked if I will make her pumpkin cookies.
I got a wonderful buy on beets today at the local fruit and veg stand.. 13 lbs for $10. Since we all love them I bought two boxes!! What was I thinking?? I have been boiling beets all day and have 10 quarts pickled so far! They will taste mighty good this winter!!

I did get a couple of cards made. I have been wanting to make a round card for awhile and this is what I came up with. I dont' have a circle cutter, but found a round piece of cardboard and used that as a pattern. I am not totally happy with this, but so wanted to use that daisy sticker from Melissa Frances. It was easy to sew the lace trim around the front and I do like the look of it.. Going to try some more round cards tomorrow, but for now I am off to the shower to try and remove some of this red beet juice from my hands and face!!

Strength...

That is what it takes to fight the horrible disease of cancer. A friend of a friend was diagnosed with it. She is young and has a four year old son.. I made these cards to send her. In part I used some of the Melissa Frances Thankful line. Also, I discovered this site The Breast Cancer Site I got the the breast cancer tag on the side of my blog from here.. You can put one on your blog and anytime someone clicks it it will take them to their site and you can click to fund a free mammogram.. Easy Peasy!

We continue to enjoy summer and I hope you do too. We took a drive out to the orchards the other day and got lots of fat, sweet cherries and succulent apricots. Peaches will be next and then fresh corn on the cob..Yum, Yum!! Needless to say my freezer is now well stocked with apricot and strawberry freezer jam. I love opening the door and seeing the red and orange containers.. so colorful..

Vintage for me..

I chose the name of my blog , NOT in reference to me, but because I just love things that have been aged. Anything I make I like to use "found" vintage objects on it or papers that look old and shabby. I like shabby chic, but I also like just plain old vintage. This card I made using an old elastic cardboard holder from a long ago dimestore.. Notice the price?? 29 cents..those days are long gone. Also used some old sewing paper and an image from the net. Made for a sewing friend.. Even the rick rack is old. not the new stuff..

Red, Yellow, Polka dots and sunflowers..

My favorite color combination. I always think "Rhubarb and Custard" when I think of these colors.
Love sunflowers too and I happened upon a yummy candy at Michaels the other day.. Mary Janes. Do you remember eating these when you were little.. Kind of like Bit O Honey with some peanut butter inside!! I was looking at one of the wrappers (red and yellow!!) and knew I had to make a card with it and use my Mary Jane Shoes stamp.. Stamp is from Paperbag Studios. Polka Dot paper from Daisy D's, Big Brad from Queen and Co. and the sunny yellow library pocket is from Bazzill. I stamped on the sunflower with my music stamp. Have a wonderful holiday tomorrow..

Summertime and the Living is Easy...

Dinner tonight was a summer delight! Fresh corn on the cob, garden beets, new potatoes, asparagus and a sweet, sweet watermelon.. No meat!! Just veggies. We all enjoyed it!! The days are definitely lazy..
I still have to get up early each morning to give my little diabetic dog, Puck her shot, but I don't mind it a bit. She is worth it! Other than that, we are having a lovely summer. I have been able to do a little bit of creating. My first Row House for a swap I am in and I had fun with it. Not quite what I usually do, but it was fun. I did the background by squighing (is that a word?) some modge podge on the paper and crinkling tissue paper over that. Let it dry and then put some ancient page inks on top. Had some of the memory glass laying around so I punched a square and put some glass behind it for the window. The image is my aunt when she was a little girl. Did some embossing, some Tulip Fashion paint beads, a little hand made paper that I printed the sentiment on and then some alpha beads. I found the little keys in my stash, I bet I have had them for years! Love those little pearls that come in a strip..
The second card just used up some scraps. Hope you are all having a sweet summer too!! Had to post a pic of my little Puck.. Her name comes from Midsummer's Night Dream!

Agnes Brown is The Mammy!

If you haven't read these books yet, go straight to your local library or book shop and get them!!
I first read them several years ago on a flight to England. Well, I actually read the first one :

The Mammy on my first flight from Boise to Denver. I actually snorted and laughed so much reading it that I know the man sitting beside me thought I was bonkers! I got to Denver and headed straight to a book store and was able to find the second book The Chisellers. Got to England and found the third one to read on my way home.. The Granny. They really are very thin books and can be read in a few hours.. But if you don't want to embarrass yourself with snorting, laughing in public then read them in solitude, because you WILL laugh!! They are written by Brendan O'Carroll and tell of an Irish woman (Agnes Browne)and her children. There is also a movie out that is based on the first book(Anjelica Huston plays Agnes Browne and has a very convincing Irish accent!) My best friend and I watch it together whenever she comes to visit. It tells a tale of true friendship, love of children and perseverance. We have watched the movie together at least five times and I have read the books more than once.

My best friend was here for a visit for a week and has left to go home today. I miss her already and made this little card to send her. We have such a good laugh when she is here. My kids adore her too and Patrick was quite disappointed when he got home today and she was gone!

I used some My Minds Eye, a wooden tag, Daisy D's some felt trim, thickers from American Crafts and primas from my stash. A few buttons and inking and sewing and it was finished!!

Sweet little bundle of fluff!

I had a call yesterday from my daughter's girlfriend. She runs an absolutely wonderful place.
Simply Cats They were in a crisis. They had a set of four little kittens who were about three weeks old and their mama had been run over by a car. They also had a sweet little baby who is 2 weeks old. She had been brought to someones doorstep by a dog! Brenda asked if I could possibly foster them for a few weeks.. Against my better judgement and William's dire warnings, I said yes. We left with five babies, two large containers of Kitten milk replacer, lots of little blankies and five miniscule bottles.
All was great for about two hours. The little siamese baby had been abandoned since just about birth and had been with a foster mom but the mom could no longer keep her, she was able to suck by herself. We fed her and put her right back in her little basket and she drifted off to sleep. Then pandemonium struck! The other four woke up and started mewing. LOULDLY! They have no idea how to suck a bottle and were so frustrated as their little tummies were hungry and they could smell the milk but weren't quite sure how to suck it.. Sarah, William, Patrick and I each had a kitty and tried to feed as best we could. Two hours later they were all back in their little bed curled up, but I was one frazzled mom! I called Brenda and told her I didn't think i could do it! She was great and had found another foster for them. Whew!! Thank Goodness! I could not have gone through that again. It was so frustrating to see them crying and hungry.
So now we just have Maisie (that is what we named her) she is precious and sleeps and eats well. Tucker my HUGE golden retriever has adopted her. He licks her after she has eaten and washes her just like her mama would. We will keep her for a few weeks. She is eating every three hours like a real baby( yes, I got up at 3 am to feed her!) and there is no shortage of willing arms to cuddle and hold her. Our biggest problem will be to not get attached. That shouldn't be too hard though. We already have our four dogs and two cats (who have not shown the slightest bit of interest in her). So here is a picture of our little Maisie and one of Tucker too.

Baking, gardening and Scrapping!

I love to bake.. unfortunately I love to taste it too!! I found a wonderful recipe for a carrot cake that is so easy to make and always turns out perfectly. Since I frequently take treats to the teachers at school, they are well acquainted with my baking. I had made this cake for them and a few weeks ago one of the teachers asked me if I would make one for her for this Saturday. She is giving a 50th wedding anniversary party for her parents. She is having everything else catered but asked if I could make her a one of my carrot cakes. and she would pay me.. I told her I would make it for her, no payment necessary. She wouldn't accept it unless she paid me. I made one this morning and it was baked and cooling nicely on the counter.. and DANG!!! I dribbled a tiny drop ofsome tea onto one of the layers (it is three layers). not much, but I didn't want to take a chance, so I ran to the store and bought another can of pineapple and more cream cheese for the frosting.. I frosted it and it is in the fridge. (looks beautiful!) made another and it is cooling.. so now WE have a carrot cake too..will have to take half over to my mom and dad tonight! This is the one for us. The other one is on a nice bakery board and has the nuts around the outside and a dainty little carrot on top!
Here is another little thing I made. I found "naked bird" houses at a local craft store and I just saw the possibilities.. I hadn't seen the new Basic Grey Sugared paper and it is just so cute!! Love those pink flamings.. So I did the little house in that and then did some inking and modge podged it.. Sending it to my sweet sister.. she just moved into a new house. It will look lovely on her patio. I think pink flamingos are so endearing so his weekend DH and I are making several stained glass flamingos on copper rods to put in my garden.. he is getting the pink glass today.. it is so pretty, pale pink with white swirls throughout!!
And finally, I had to post a picture of my gorgeous mint! I planted it from seed and it has gotten so abundant in this pot..We love homemade mint sauce and I also like to make simple syrup and toss some leaves into it. Yummy to sweeten your iced tea!! Now I am off to rearrange my scrapping room!

Happy, Happy Day

I am feeling pretty happy these days. The weather is just perfect. It is cool out, not too hot yet, the trees all have their leaves, my roses have tons of blooms and we are slowly getting into the "summer" mode of life. William is doing his senior year internship, so he still has to get up early each day, and be at work at 8. Patrick does his sleeping in and while he is doing that I bustle about and get my little housekeeping chores done. By afternoon I am free to do as I please.. Bake, create, or read.. or putter in my garden. Lovely!
Here is one of my creations. Made for a friend who I am so thankful for. I also made her a DVD of our last trip to Disney.. sigh.. I want to go again.. soon!! I just love that place.. but only in the off season.. It just makes me happy to be there. Patrick and I have a giant plastic pepsi bottle that we are slowly filling up with all our extra change and any odd dollars that I find in the laundry (I think whoever does the laundry is entitled to whatever they find there!!). We are planning a trip for early December and I must say that the anticipation is half the fun..
Anyway, this card I made using my new threading water punch, MF papers, flowers, and ginormous rick rack.