Settling back in ...

We recently returned to Minnesota. We've been back almost a week. The weather is just perfect. The trees and shrubs are in full bloom. Mike's clematis already needed to be tied to the trellis. He cut it down to almost nothing last fall like he was supposed to, so you can image how much it has grown. This noon I stopped at the Bachman's temporary greenhouse in the Byerly's parking lot to buy a few herb plants and some impatiens. Looks like I'll only be putting these out front since our deck "heaved" this spring. Sounds like it threw up, doesn't it? We have always had a moisture problem between our townhouse building and the one next to us. They tried to fix it once with a new drain, but obviously that hasn't done the trick. We'll find out this week what the new plan is. Needless to say, the furniture on the deck is going into the garage until our deck is once again level. I'm not quite sure how many inches higher the deck is on the left, but it is definitely higher. I know this for a fact because I took Mike's level out there yesterday! Ugh!

I attended my first card-making ministry meeting last Wednesday since December. It was so good to get back with the gals. We worked on cards and tried to do some catching up. I'm working on birthday cards for boys for the church festival in August. I'll try to get my first design for that posted this week.

Mike and I listened to three books on CD while driving back from Florida. We listened first to one of John Sandford's mystery novels. We've always enjoyed his stories especially since he is a local author. We laughed when the reader pronounced Cretin Avenue incorrectly.
(Cretin Avenue runs from near my college alma mater down to Mike's over in St. Paul.) We listened to Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and Ronald Reagan's autobiography as well. Sorry, Mr. Sandford, but I am afraid you came in third this time.

Enough for today. Hope wherever you are, you are experiencing a BEAUTIFUL Sunday afternoon. The sky is SO BLUE here today, the temperature is in the 80's, and the greenery abounds.

My new blog design ...

I must have been asleep yesterday when I chose my blog's new look. Don't get me wrong, I do love it! I chose it because of the flourishes in the design. It reminded me of some many flourish stamps and patterned papers I've bought and, hopefully, used in the past. It did NOT even dawn on me until a few minutes ago when I was trying to figure out what to post that the main color is ORANGE!!! Yikes! Orange is one of my LEAST FAVORITE colors! No offense to the color orange-lovers out there. However, my love for the flourish design has overtaken that. {{{SMILE}}}

Have a wonderful weekend ... I am heading to a "Nook" class today at Barnes & Noble. My dear husband bought me an early Mother's Day gift, the NookColor! I am really enjoying it. And I want to enjoy it even more by taking the free class.

Paradise Birthday Card Design

After a long dry spell of not posting any cards to my blog, I finally have one to post! (However, the photography skills on this one are seriously lacking. I used my husband's camera since I thought I had left mine in Colorado. I was "in a hurry" to take the picture and rush out the door as well.) I made this card for a dear friend down here in "paradise" using stamps from the SU! Tropical Party stamp set and sentiments from a Hero Arts clear birthday set. The colors I chose were SU! Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, and Pink Pirouette as well as Whisper White, of course. I stamped the images on the 1.5 inch squares with Versamark Frost and embossed them with Stampendous White Pearls embossing powder. I used Certainly Celery to stamp the greenery around the card base and stamped the sentiment with Versafine Black Onyx. The brads are part of the SU! Subtles collection. Thanks so much for stopping by to take a peek!

Seamanship Exam Results

Just this morning we received confirmation that our whole class passed the Seamanship exam! Hurray! And congratulations to all the members of our class. Even though we hate to leave our grandsons out here in the west, we are getting eager to return to "the boat" and start utilizing our Seamanship knowledge. Both our boat and my card-making supplies have been in "dry dock" for quite a while. I am also itching to play with some paper, some rubber stamps, etc.

New Grandson Arrives

February 16th, 2011 -- Brecken Joseph came into the world via C-Section weighing 8 lbs and measuring 20 1/4 inches. Mother and baby both did well. Big brother Cullen James was excited to meet his new little baby brother. Gramee and Papa arrived the evening of the 14th and have been staying to help. We will be leaving tomorrow to head back to Florida. We'll sure miss our precious little grandson, but will be back in May to do some babysitting.

Seasmanship Exam Postponed at 11th Hour . . .

My mouth dropped at 9:00 PM EST last night when we received the news that the Seamanship Course exam had been postponed until next Thursday at 1 PM. I, personally, had been spending HOURS studying for this exam. I wanted to SCREAM, but was just too tired to do so. However, I decided it wasn't worth it to pine away, so I picked up Sanibel Flats by Randy Wayne White and read the prologue before my eyes could no longer stay open. Even though I will continue to prepare for the exam, I have so many study notes/aids now, I can spend a short amount of time each day on them and hopefully create a few cards as well. Hurray! I know that I have been getting frowns from my supplies whenever I head to my desk! :D Stay tuned ... I might actually post a card or two within the next week!
Have a wonderful weekend and stop by, again, please.

A long dry spell from posting . . .

Instead of making cards, I am currently taking a US Power Squadron Seamanship Course with my husband. I look over at my card-making supplies, sigh, and go back to reading and studying. We still have two more classes and an exam before we are finished with the course. I am knee deep in learning about anchors, distress signals, docking, etc. Something on the opposite end of the spectrum from rubber stamps, dies, and all those wonderful supplies! I hope to be back in another week with some cards to share.