Second Great Day! Winter Survival Kit #2

You may not want to look too carefully at this picture if you regularly receive a snail mail birthday card from us!  The first cards of the year were hot off the press this morning.  At least nine of them are completed and nine more are ready to be assembled.  You're seeing the three colors I've chosen: shades of coral, lavender, and aqua blue.

The 6:00am dip in the pool must have given me the energy!    We are fortunate to have a beautiful workout facility here in Kohler called the Sports Core.  Besides many classes, workout rooms and

tennis courts it features two pools, a lap pool and a family pool.  Being a very cold blooded critter, I  choose the warmer family pool for water aerobics and visits with Sports Core friends.

After breakfast and reading the papers, I assembled all the lovely colored papers, stamps, and inks so I could begin designing.  The above combo was based on an adaptation of a card I had seen before, but I added  some new elements and they turned out quite differently.  Tomorrow I hope to design three more and complete those started today.

Dinner was actually nostalgic for me as I made potato pancakes, an old recipe that was taught to me by my paternal grandmother.  It isn't actually a recipe I guess, as she taught me by how the ingredients look and feel as they're mixed.  I was so pleased to have mastered it as my mom did not like them and preferred not to make them, so after Grandma passed away I could make them for Dad as a real treat.

The clean up did not take long, giving me time to finish my book and get my nap in before an easy supper.  Then it was a quick hop next door to babysit while her Mom and Dad stepped out for the evening.  She's such a delightful baby and so easy to enjoy.  I got quite a kick out of her hitting her plastic golf ball with her little plastic clubs!  I also started a new winter hat for her as she has outgrown the ones from last year.

What a great day!  There's only the coffee pot to set up and the bakery to raise before the warm, wonderful bed will call. 

Buenas noches!

Nine more days to go!

Wow, time is flying!  Happy to say that yesterday's goals were met and after a "WigWam" shopping trip tomorrow, I hope to make 10-12 more greeting cards, finish another baby hat and  complete another dozen scrubbies. 

The "Thinking of You" note cards and some similar thank you notes will be available at our show in nine days.  We're hoping for better weather than we had today, which included a ton of rain and at least an inch of snow!

Until tomorrow! 

S.........pring!!

Even though it's not "officially" spring until next week, I am so ready for it to arrive, and the rain falling now makes me feel it is here. The present Etsy Bloggers Carnival has asked if we had spring items in our Etsy shops, so I quickly got to work and am introducing some new thank you notes in lovely spring colors. These feature my hand crocheted Irish roses accented with a gold brad. Spring flowers and polka dots complete the look. They are available in green, blue, and gold and are sold in sets of four. C'mon, Spring!!!!

H.........appy Haunting!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of year. It is, for the most part, a light-hearted, even humorous holiday, and I find it inspires universal creativity. So when the Etsy Bloggers Carnival suggested telling about Halloween at our house, I thought I'd show one of my greeting cards, an original design, just for this occasion. Here I made use of inky black silhouette paper for the carved pumpkin, with a base of other colorful jack-o-lanterns. My favorite part is the little spider hanging in the upper right hand corner. Hope you receive many cards, treats and a few chuckles this year!

B.........utterfly kisses

As I'm hoping for an early spring in the middle of an ice storm, creating these cards cheered me considerably. On my more than occasional trips to the craft store, I love to rummage through the bargain racks, and in so doing recently, I came across these cheerful butterflies. So at an affordable price, these cards are now offered in my Etsy shop. I must admit, I made several for myself as well. With just the word "Celebrate" stamped on the front, they should be useful for any happy occasion and great to have on hand. Happy end of February to everyone!

A.........lphabet notecards!

When I purchased a package of paper that first was earmarked for scrap booking, I had no idea that a set of 26 note cards would pop into my head. But once I began, each card became more fun to do. Perhaps my teaching background and the fact that I have a daughter who is an elementary school teacher had something to do with it! Those who enjoy working with the English language in any capacity should be able to put these to good use. The stunning blacks, whites, grays and shiny silver cards are accented with a tiny red ribbon and are blank inside for messages. They're available for sale in my ESTY shop listed in the right hand column of this blog.