Birthday Girl Had Fun

Mama said she was so looking forward to this birthday and doesn't mind at all being 80. With her nieces, Pat and Judy, in town, my husband and I brought Mama on a ride down St. Charles Avenue and some of the side streets. Then we went to Cafe de Monde for beignets and cafe au lait. After that we stopped in Central Grocery for olives, spiced string beans and Italian sausage.







Mama received flowers and many birthday cards.

80 years young

My little niece, Emma, made 10 today. My youthful Mama makes 80 on Friday! There will be a PARTAY going on as soon as her nieces, Pat and Judy, arrive in New Orleans tomorrow via Southwest airlines all the way from her hometown of Rochelle, Illinois. I forgot to take a picture of Emma's "wallet" card I sent her but here is Mama's tri-fold card:

Happy Halloween

October Birthdays

Happy Birthday to the 2 Susan's in my life...my friend since grammar school, Susie (Oct. 26) and my sister-in-law Susan (Oct. 28). As I remember them with similar birthday cards, I also remember my dearly departed mother-in-law, Blanche's, birthday too.

Fall in our yard is Pink

Traditionally colors of Fall are yellow and orange but in our yard it is PINK.
The majority of the pink blooms are from the Confederate Rose trees. The double blooms start out a pale pink and turn to a darker pink as the day goes on. The blooms only last one day but with so many buds we get blooms every day.


We have pink lilies blooming in our pond and, in the gardens, we have pink blooms on our azaleas and camellias. What the heck? It looks like spring around here.



Oh yes, we have red hibiscus too!

Birthday and Christmas Cards

I'm all over the place making a variety of cards.

En Pointe Stamp Set Gift

I asked around my stamping circle of friends for a ballerina stamp to borrow and Sally had a set she wasn't using anymore so she gave it to me. Lucky me! Here are a few cards I made using that set.




I like the next pink ones in person more than on this blog post. The color reminds me of little girls' ballet practice slippers. The sentiment reads "Dance is a poem, of which each movement is a word."


This sentiment reads "Glad we're friends".

Thank you Sally!

A couple of new cards

Just piddling with a couple of new card designs:

Team in Training Cards

With the help of my sister, Andree, I had 75 thank-you cards to make for a lady at work. She belongs to Team in Training and runs marathons for charity. She wants to send each sponsor a thank you card and enclose a picture of her crossing the finish line. After all the parts were ready, I set up an assembly line to put them together. I made a few cards with a simple style but most were made fancier.

Fairs and a Winner!

The last few days have been filled with going to craft fairs. I went to Canton, MS, Slidell, LA and my hometown of Mandeville, LA. I did a lot of touching but little buying. I did not see any vendors selling greeting cards so that means no competition. One interesting item for sale were pumpkins made out of Kraft paper, slightly stuffed, sewed and painted. They were sealed with shellac that made them stiff and shiny. One lady bought 4 of them at $12 a piece.


The best thing about attending all these fairs is I won a raffle basket full of kitchen stuff.

World Card Making Day 2009

It's been a week since the Chapelle craft fair and I've been filling orders and getting out some of my personal cards for birthday, get well, anniversary and thinking of you. Yesterday was World Card Making Day (WCMD) and splitcoaststampers.com sponsored hourly challenges for the occasion. Some challenges even came with prize incentives so I hope I win. Below are some of my creations I submitted.

Chapelle Craft Fair 2009

Today was a first ... my sister, Andree, and I were craft fair vendors and it was FUN! Thank goodness our first fair was only one day so I'm not totally exhausted. It was at our alma mater, Archbishop Chapelle High School, and we wore t-shirts that told we were from the Class of 71 and 72. Our dear husbands helped with set-up and break-down so the job went much quicker than we expected. We enjoyed all the people who stopped by to say hello and loved all the compliments too. We just might have to do it again soon since, judging by all the invitations, there are a lot of local craft fairs in the fall. I had no idea.

Another sneak peek

I'm still making greeting cards for the craft fair this weekend. Here is another sneak peek.

Beach

I did a couple of beach scrapbook pages yesterday with the help of Shari. It's hard to tell but if you look close you will see my favorite part - the background paper. I put my hand in a scrunched-up plastic bag, inked it up with a white stamp pad and dabbed it all over the solid 12" x 12" sand-colored cardstock. Then on top of that I rolled with two different stamp wheels to give it a textured look.

Jude made 21

21 years ago, before ultrasounds and sonograms were used to determine the sex of your unborn child, I delivered a baby boy. Artie and I named him Jude Adam. Even though my best friend, Becky, gave me an ultrasound a few months before I delivered, she said the baby was not cooperating so she couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. I first prayed for a healthy baby but since I already had a girl, I then wished for a boy. What a blessing and a surprise to have both come true!
Now back to the present. Artie and I spent the day with Jude at his apartment in Lafayette. He allowed his parents to fuss over him with dinner, cake, ice cream, and gifts. We even were able to go to Mass together and spend time with his girlfriend, Emily.
Cheers to you, Jude. We are so lucky to have you.





I was thrilled to see Jerry and Jude take so much time looking at the heritage album that I just finished.

Pause

I was rushing around this morning getting things together to go "play" with the Scrap Shack Chicks and had to PAUSE when I glanced at Amelia's table. Artie had placed 2 hibiscus blooms by her picture that took my breath away.