I jinxed the weather!

I wrote about our beautiful spring weather, and the very next day it started raining! I guess I should watch the local weather guy more often. Although, in my own defense, my mother usually tells me what the weather is. Bad Mamma!

Okay, let's cut mother some slack today, since it's her birthday. You never ask a lady her age, but I'll give you a hint. It starts with seven and ends with zero. I know, that's wicked. But I've never been one to lie or skip over my age--I turned 51 in February. I always say you should be glad to have lived so long. Which in my rambling way reminds me of that old quote "if I'd known I would live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself". Truer words were never spoken.

Now, my mother is hard to buy for. She says she doesn't need anything--no clothes, jewelry, no perfumes. No household stuff (OH. THE. HORROR). No garden stuff, even though she loves flowers {truth is, she doesn't like to do much yardwork}.

So, I make her a nice card and call it a day. This year, she's getting a magnetic card to put on her fridge. That's the object pictured at the beginning of the post. And I'll try to take her out to lunch at our favorite place, the International Buffet. Yum, Chinese food!

Well, off to attractively package above card, and also to finish off my cards for the CFS challenge and get them ready for mailing.

Take care.

Spring in my step

I have been enjoying the spring weather lately, lots of sun, a little breeze, and not too warm or humid. I should say I hate it when it gets humid, which means the summers here are horrid. Now, I'm a native NC girl, and I have to say of the places I've lived, here is best. OK, maybe I like Arizona, too, and it's not just because my two oldest boys were born in Tucson. {Hint: no humidity.}

The turn of the season has gotten me into a creative mood also. And even my crappy carpal-tunnel-and-arthritis-ridden hands can't keep me down. I've been going gang-busters on my cards for the Cards for Soldiers challenge this month, I'm actually ahead for once!I'll post some in a bit.

I hope this weather holds long enough for me to clear out my craft building--yes, an entire building just for my craftyness, I'm so lucky! My brother, with some help from Daddy, my boys and me, built it a couple of years ago from a kit. It's 16 x 16 feet, but I wish I'd gotten a larger size. By the time I put all my stuff in, it's pretty crowded. But, I can always add on!

I need to get stuff out and sorted, get more shelving up, and rearrange everything. I'm putting my scrapping corner in the front next to the door, to the right as I go in. Then on that side next will be my sewing/beading/embroidery stuff. On the opposite side will be dollhouses, dolls and bears. And somewhere amongst all that I must fit in a small painting supplies area. I keep thinking I need to weed out one interest, but I love to do all of these things!

I think I'll go out and sit in the sun with the cat and the dog.

It's Dad's day

I've been working on the new Cards for Soldiers challenge, which this month is Father's Day cards, and also cards for kids. I'm also doing some graduation cards.

Here are some of the cards for the dads. I'm using basic colors, with lots of blues, browns and greens as well as metal or metal-look elements. I have a cool roll of silver metallic shelf liner and a roll of metal mesh that I got at Michael's a while back that I've used on these cards.

I'm trying to be creative with using cuts from my Cricut (a die cutting machine for those of don't know) cartridges since I only have three. I know, shocker. I have George that came with my baby bug, Joys of the Season, and Doodlecharms. I hope to add to my collection, but with all the new carts out, I know I'll have trouble making a decision.

I cut a nifty frame on the third card from, believe it or not, the Joys of the Season (JOTS) cart. I just had to snip out the little candy canes in the corner squares, not a big deal. And yes, I used ribbon on a "man" card. lol The two that have tags, the tags were from the George cart.

No pictures uploaded yet for the graduation cards, I've got three done so far: a general sort of one, and one each suitable for a boy or girl. Got to get busy!

I thought I'd post a few of the cards I've been working on for the Cards for Soldiers challenge on the cricut message boards.

I think these are a pretty good indication of what my style is in the process of becoming--sort of a shabby chic look, I guess you'd call it. And yes, I know the ric rac is messed up on that red one. Got to fix that before hitting the post office. Arrrrrrgh!





Over the months I've been making cards for these challenges, I've found I get a feeling of satisfaction when I finish cards like these, and it's hard to let them go out but I hope the recipients love them as much as I do.

As far as this becoming my "scrapbooking style", I never thought I was a "girly" type of person; I was considered a tomboy while growing up and I mostly worked jobs that were not "woman's work". I've been in the Air Force (MANY years ago), and for several years I did machine and building maintenance work in different types of mills/plants. But, I've also done secretarial jobs over the years as well. I wonder if being a Picses has anything to do with it?

Of course, being that I am a Neptune's daughter, I also seem to have another style going on, but I'll leave that to another post. Oooooohhhh, the anticipation. All good things come to those who wait!

Family squabbles

I haven't blogged in a couple of days because my aunt died and with the funeral and the usual family mess, I just haven't felt up to it.

Can I just say one thing? People, make a will and pick somebody to take care of your stuff! And make sure your family knows who that is, and where all your important documents are. What a lot of grief that would save, especially when nobody feels like dealing with legal crap. Or doesn't trust anybody else to do it. And having a will won't make you die quicker.

I'm going to take my own advice and write everything down, and give a copy to several close relatives. It's not that I own a lot of stuff, I don't, but my youngest son is still a minor and I want things arranged for him. I don't want people fighting over things after I'm gone, mainly 'cause I'm not going to come back and bash people's heads together if they act up! Maybe in the next reincarnation.

So, the funeral was Thursday, a simple graveside service. It was nice, but man was it cold. Cold and windy. The soloist was good, she had a lovely voice.

Bye, Aunt Betty.

Skinny pants

Oh, not for me, silly! Gosh, I haven't seen skinny in a long time. Mamma and I were out and about yesterday with #3 son, and he wanted to go to this store, Rue 21, and look for some colored jeans--preferably purple. Seems all his friends have them.

Now, I try to be up on at least the vague details about current teen fashion, but I guess I missed the colored jeans thing.

After digging through a pile of green, purple, red and gray pants to find his size, he settled on a pair of RED jeans with the skinniest legs I've ever seen. I don't know how he got them up over his feet!

For those of you who don't have the pleasure of owning a teenage boy, it's also apparently acceptable to wear "girl pants". But that may be just a skateboarding thing, so don't go out and splurge on Hanna Montana stuff for your boy just on my limited "Mom" knowledge. LOL

I've got to get a picture of #3 in these jeans. We are not much for taking pictures in my family, but if I don't get with the program, I soon won't have anything to scrapbook with! But that's a story for another day.

Claiming the ether.

So, I'm claiming my spot in the ether, aka, starting a blog. Who knows what's going to happen now! ::snicker::

I held off making a blog, because, really, who wants to know what I'm thinking? But, like everyone, I have an opinion and I might as well spread it around. Now, my boys would probably be rolling their eyes right now. Mom has an opinion? Who knew?

What will I blog about, you may be asking? Well, random thoughts about my life and the world in general, what I'm doing creatively, what I dream of . . . . . you know, the usual bloggy stuff.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings, or if not, I hope they make you think. Cause thinking is a Good Thing in TWATM: The World According to Martha {Stewart}. My mother is fond of quoting that line.

Mamma (that's a Southern thing) is a hoot. I'm sure you'll be reading more about her in due time. Probably more than you want. Or need. LOL