Fly, Fly Away!

The sparrows have hatched...

There were 5 all together - and since I took this picture, they have all flown the nest.

It's been pretty rainy and yucky, so what better way to spend those days than making some cards. This is the result of an entire day of creating...

And, I was so eager to use some of the new papers I had gotten from A Cherry On Top

The papers are Cosmo Cricket Salt Air. The lighting is terrrible - but like I said, it's been raining non-stop here.

Hope you are having a great Thursday!

Spring Has Sprung

It seems like Spring is finally here...although mother nature could be playing an April Fool's joke on us.

On a recent visit to Mom and Dad's, I had to take a picture of this...

You'll never believe where this little bird picked for her nest. Let me zoom out a little.

And, a little more...

The little birdie found a safe spot for her babies right in the middle of the flower arrangement that hangs on my parents' front door.

And, I had a sly visitor to my neighborhood the other day...

He decided he wasn't "camera-ready."

Happy Friday!

A Bouquet That Lasts

I'm making a trip to visit someone in the hospital today and can't make that visit without the quintessential bouquet of flowers. I crafted these by putting together one of Paper Source's magnolia kits.

Aren't they great? No water needed! I decorated an antique glass bottle that I had in my stash and covered the outside of it with a Paper Source fine paper.

The tag is from one of the letterpress tag collections, also from my new favorite paper vendor, Paper Source.

The colors are so rich! I love the scalloped edges. Hopefully, it will bring lots of cheer!

Have a great day!

Intermission

Sorry I've been away so long. Not too much time to be crafty on my days off, unfortunately. Let's just say I've hit a crafting intermission...A lot of that "stuff that needs to get done" going on.

Here are two friends that I am missing...

Hope all my blog friends are doing well.

I've got 2 days of crafting planned coming up!

Still Alive

I realized that my last post was nearly 1 month ago! Life has been moving at the speed of light. We had our grand opening at Paper Source last weekend. It was great fun. The city Mayor even made an appearance to cut our ribbon for the official opening. The job has been great. I get to use my knowledge of the paper crafting industry to help people create and problem solve while they are building their projects.

Right now, there's little time for personal crafting (although I do something creative everyday at Paper Source.) I did manage to squeak in a recent birthday card creation.

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

I'm back into the working world (almost full-time!) and it's proved to be a busy couple of weeks.

In addition to my work schedule, I have been baking:

This is a hand pie that is made from a great little invention from Williams-Sonoma. Here is the link if you'd like to see the actual pocket pie mold. It's a quick and easy dessert. I used a ready-made Pillsbury pie crust, sliced a few apples and tossed them with cinnamon and sugar.

I have also been cardmaking:

And, oh yes...there was that little trip to New York to see my friend Martha:

My friend, Chris, and I stood outside the Martha studio to ensure that we would be front and center and guess what happened?.....

THIS IS WHAT WE SAW FROM OUR SEATS!

We were ushered to seats in the second row on the actual floor section. It was so much fun! And, it was so amazing to see all the people that it takes to make this show work.

The set was gorgeous!

And, of course, Martha was fabulous and very gracious when taking audience questions.

Happy Tuesday!

P S - I Love You

My posts have been, a-hem, sporadic, at best. I've been crazy busy. I went to the Atlanta Gift Show, which was fabulous. We spent the better part of 3 days covering 3 skyscraper-size buildings filled with everything from fashion to furniture to christmas decor.

While I was in Atlanta, I did a phone interview with a company called Paper Source (the " P S" part of the title). And, when I got home, I was offered the position! Training started this past Monday and I am loving every minute of it. Paper Source has retail shops all over the country where they offer chic gift items, wrap, and custom invitations for just about any occasion.

Another thing that happened while we were in Atlanta is very exciting. A few weeks back, I was chatting with the same friend who I went to the Atlanta Gift Show with and she had mentioned she was also going to the New York Gift Show. Wouldn't it be great if she could get tickets to the Martha Stewart Show while she was there? I went to the MS website and submitted a request for tickets for that week. And, wouldn't you know it, she got a confirmation email while we were in Atlanta that she had been selected for tickets! And, she invited me to go along as her guest! So, on Monday, January 31st, I will be happily nestled in my seat on the MS Show set!

Until I get through this next couple of weeks, I may be missing in action...

Hope you are having a great 2011 so far!

Fine & Dandy

I found a great way to use my Paper Trey Ink stamps with a fun new My Mind's Eye paper. This paper is from the Fine & Dandy collection and I was so excited when I saw that they offered it in a 6 x 6 stack.

So I stamped the different hot air balloons in Staz-On ink and cut around the image.

Then I adhered them to the cloud background paper. I used pop-up dots on some of them to give a 3-d effect and the others I glued down. And, I used varying sizes to make it look like some were flying further away.

This was one of the cards I gave away in a group for a Christmas gift.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Tag Happy

I love featuring tags on my cards. They are always the perfect landing spot for my sentiment. I used paper from the Lilac House collection by Fancy Pants:

Happy Thursday!

Thanks For a Great New Year

Happy 2011!

For my first greeting, I am posting a card I made with paper from Basic Grey's Curio collection. I'm posting a "thanks" card because I am thankful for everything that I am blessed with and keeping an optimistic frame of mind for what's to come in 2011.

CB and I had a very uneventful New Year's Eve. We went to the gym (sick, I know) and then we went and had margaritas and mexican food. We were snuggled in by 8 pm, watched "Salt" and rang in 2011.

Happy Tuesday!

Hope you are having a good week so far.

2009 vs. 2010

What a difference a year makes! Last Christmas, we celebrated Christmas morning at mom and dad's old house:

Circa 2009

This year, we celebrated at mom and dad's NEW house:

Circa 2010

Wherever you may be celebrating your holidays, may it be joyful!

Happy 2011!