Our Sea Creature

Our oldest niece, all of 9 years old, was in her school production of "The Little Mermaid" this past week.  She worked very hard rehearsing before and after school for a LOT of hours.  She was a member of the chorus and dance team, a sea creature, and a chef.  She really enjoyed working with the ensemble and cast.  Several months ago I saw a cut it set by Lettering Delights on Jin Yong's blog, Under A Cherry Tree, called "More Happily Ever After."  My niece's hard work gave me the opportunity to use one of the files to construct a card.  I had a lot of fun going to the production and putting together something to recognize her achievement. 

Supplies:  water pattern paper, various cardstocks for the cut it files (done on my Silhouette), stickles, computer generated sentiments, silhouette crab and fish, done with print and cut text. 
Thanks for coming by!

Best Doctor

I am doing so well following my unexpected sinus surgery in March.  I attribute this to the skills of my wonderful ENT surgeon, Dr. Donnelly.  What a wonderful doctor.  So compassionate, patient-centered, and in love with his profession.  I just adore him.  I don't usually send doctors thank you cards, but Dr. D is getting this one.  I saw a similar card on Pinterest and adapted it using my Silhouette and Janome Sew Mini. Dr. D always wears a lab coat and one of the mirror thingies strapped on his head.  For some reason, this just makes me feel at ease when he walks in!  So here's to you, Dr. D.  You deserve all the accolades your patients give you!

 Supplies:  white cardstock, striped pattern paper, slot punch (for button hole), Verve Superstar sentiment, caduceus by Silhouette, stitching with Janome Sew Mini.  Size 5" by 5".

A REAL Picnic

Last Saturday, my youngest niece declared that she wanted to go on a REAL picnic.  None of this picnic shelter, picnic table stuff would do.  We had to spread a blanket under a tree and all sit there together.  We drove up to Floral City and settled under a big shady oak tree.  After we got everything all laid out and our plates all prepared with scrumptious fried chicken from Chicken King and potato salad and other goodies, we were asked to move as we supposedly were in the fairway for Frisbee Golf.  Now, how could we be in the fairway?  We were right in front of an oak tree the size of Nebraska for criminy sake! And it wasn't as if Tiger Woods was attempting yet another comeback on the 18th green.  There were no signs, no media, no ESPN. It practically takes a derrick to get me down and up these days anyway so it wasn't going to be speedy or pretty in any case. And besides, I wasn't worried that one of us was going to be knocked out by a stray frisbee. So we calmly finished our lunch before leaving. I wanted to ask the young man who asked us to move if his mother had packed him an extra pair of pants, just in case he got a "hole in one."  Oh well, it was a fun time anyway.
Well, this very week, my friend, Lisa, participated in a blog hop for Creations by AR. She did a PICNIC BASKET!  You can see her wonderful creation HERE. I had to have it so I ordered up the file.  I really love this project.  My Silhouette software imported the DSX file perfectly, with some minor adjustments to my preferences (explained on the Creations by AR site).  I didn't have to resize, adjust, tweak, or anything.  That's always hard with a multiple set of files for a project so I was very pleased with the designer's thinking, planning, and talent.  Before I could snap a picture of the first two projects, I had those puppies filled with chocolate and wrapped up for the nieces' teachers for Teacher Appreciation week, but I did one more before bed.  I photographed all three this morning and I realized the wrapped ones are hard to see but I hope you noticed the ANTS.  I found those stickers at Michael's yesterday and couldn't resist, because they also led to the end of our REAL picnic, when picnic girl, who is bugaphobic, realized that we had more uninvited guests than the Arnie Palmer wannabe.  Needless to say we won't be picnicking in Augusta come Masters time!

Supplies:  khaki cardstock, basket weave paper attached to cardstock, various pattern papers for the lids (which open on both sides), ribbon, buttons, and ant stickers.