Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Happy Belated Birthday and some muses

"Funny things about birthdays.  They come once year."  This year we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday.  My father-in-law's birthday was yesterday so I want to make sure I do a "shout out" to him also.  I had a lot of fun putting my mother-in-law's card together.  I told myself a long time ago not to buy paper unless I have a specific purpose because I was purchasing paper and not using it.  However, there is a store in my town Paper Vineyard that has the best selection of papers.  They carry paper from 7 Gypsies and Graphics 45 and that is just two of many.  Anyway, I purchased this paper knowing that at some point I would use it. 

My mother-in-law practically grew up at Coney Island.  On my Graphics 45 paper one of the cut outs had a picture of Coney Island so I used that as my inspiration for my mother-in-law's card. I wasn't sure at first how I was going to use this image but then I decided it would be fun to make a collage so I used the other cut outs from the same sheet.  Once I decided on the placement and attached them, I decided to try a coat of glazing over the collage.


I decided I wanted to add some fun dimensions.  I first added some bling from a package of stickers that I had from Stampin' Up to the card and then I went shopping for something, but I wasn't sure exactly what I would find.  I went to Hobby Lobby and found some really fun buttons.  There was a package of buttons that were sunglasses.  They are from Dress It Up buttons http://dressitup.com/.  I also found another package of shell buttons and I thought they would go perfectly with the card so I bought that package too. 

Finally, I added Distressed Stickles to frame my collage and I added Waterfall Stickles on top of the collage to give a sparkling water effect.


I decided to go antique with my father-in-law's card.  I first took paper that looked like newspaper ads (Stampin' Up) and stained the paper in distress ink, sprayed it with Color Wash Terra Cotta (Ranger Ink)  and  Perfect Pearls Mists heirloom gold.  I used several Tim Holtz® Idea-ology™ | Paperie alvage Stickers - Lost & Found.  In this pack there are license plates from most of the different states.  I chose to use 4 different plates from states that my father-in-law lived, and a July calendar and a theater ticket stub sticker.  I distressed the stickers with distress inks and heirloom gold Perfect Pearls Mists.  I punched out and distressed the label and simply used the stamp from Stampin' Up "Let's Celebrate!" stamp. 


So, Happy Belated Roberta and Leo!



Now with Emily off to Kindergarten, what is a mom suppose to do? That has been the number one question I have been asked this past year. I have many an unfinished project that needs to be done, and I am quite looking forward to completing these projects.

Yesterday  after I dropped off my children at school, I came home and put my breakfast together.  I have to say, it was very nice to be able to put my breakfast together and get to eat without 5 interruptions.  I decided to go back to eating fruit in the morning as I am on a quest to eat healthier and lose some (well I should be truthful - A LOT- of weight).


Then I set out to declutter our breakfast bar.  I guess I do miss the "mom" that has been frequently called out the past 11 years, because I decied to go check on Emily at lunch time.  Of course, I also had a reason for checking on her.  On Monday when I made sure the lunch boxes were all cleaned out, I realized that Emily never opened her drink.  I asked her why she didn't drink it, and she said that even though she raised her hand no one helped her.  I'm not sure if that is the case or not.  I am sure that the first day of school with Kindergartners can be pretty hectic so I decided I would make sure that she got some help with her drink and went to visit her at lunch.  Here she is and she got her drink opened by one of the lunch aids.  Hm, well maybe I guess I will go one more day just to make sure all is well with her drink today.  Am I being the over concerned parent?  Oh, I hope not.  Of course, perhaps, they would appreciate the extra set of hands.

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