Another Birthday in August!

   I finished Tom's card ( my brother-in-law) in time for us to go out to dinner to celebrate him turning 60. We didn't make too much fun 'cause we are going to be that age come the end of the year. We went out to Marco's in Auburn and had a fabulous meal.  Tom is an avid golfer so I used my Stampin Up set of stamps that has golfers and a golf bag. I bought it used so there isn't a name on it. I'll have to find out by going to Splitcoast Stampers and asking. Anyway, this is the card I made for him.

Stampin Up golfing set

   The inside was fun to do 'cause I was trying to be funny with the sentiment : "Staying Young.... Take your irons everyday."
Oh well, I tried... Here is the inside of the card.

More golfing stamps

   I have two more cards to make for August birthdays. I should be finished with them soon. I'll post them as soon as I am done. Whew! August is a busy month in my family for birthday's.
    We are so excited to have our deck completed. We have been enjoying it since the rain stopped. Patrick McDonnell and his crew did a fabulous job. We couldn't be happier. It is just what we pictured it would be for us. Here are some pics of the deck finished.
 

Finishing up

Side view

We even cleaned the gas bottle.

Inside view

Screens on and barbecue ready

When's lunch?

Wicker furniture in place

Umbrella ready

   Well, we have had a great summer so far. After we finished the deck we found out that we had an offer on our condo. Looks like we might have sold it... Pray all goes well... This would be an answer to our prayers. We didn't want to go through another winter with the condo on our minds.
   I am off to finish the last two cards. Hope you are having a great summer, too.

August Birthdays and happenings.....

    

   August is a busy month for my family with many birthday celebrations. I have been making cards like mad to keep up.... These two cards were for my brother, Hal and my sister, Rochelle.

For Hal

For Rochelle

  For Hal's card I used Tim Holtz's jalopy die cut. I played around with it, using an embossing folder, and painting it different colors 'til I ended up painting it black with some color showing through. I added the Tim Holtz  gears and put acetate in the back to give the windows a more interesting look. The time piece die cut is from Tim Holtz, too.  I had seen this saying somewhere so I just printed it out and used a spellbinders label die cut with some bling from Heartfelt Creations. I hope he liked it..I took so long to make it I was late for his actual birthdate... Oh well...better late than never.

We are trying our hand at cake decorating.

   For Rochelle's card I was on time..It helped that we were having a birthday party for her at my house. I love Stampin Up's owl punch. You can use him in so many ways. I cased this card from a card I pinned on Pinterest. I went back to try to link it here, but I couldn't find it to save my life. I used different colors and added the hat and balloon. I used my Cuttlebug tree bark embossing folder to make it more interesting. It was a fun card to make.  I think Rochelle liked it.

Black-eyed Susans

Some of my milk glass collection

   Her party was alot of fun. I used flowers from my garden as a centerpiece. I was inspired by Donna Hebert's blog on tea time. She has beautiful tablescapes. She blog is linked here: Donna Heber Designs

cukes

cherry tomatoes

cukes

   We have been busy with harvesting veggies from our very first garden together. The tomatoes are starting to turn red. We hope to make spaghetti sauce using a Christmas gift of canning supplies from Russ's sister.   
   The other exciting happening is to our home. We have hired a carpenter Patrick McDonnell  from Augusta. He is doing a fab job on building our deck. We are so thrilled to be getting this project done. We have wanted to do this all summer and decided we might as well do  it so we can have use of it for part of the summer and all fall. It's not completed as you can see, but I will post more pictures when it is fully done.

View from inside where the windows were....

Some electrical work needs to be finished.

View from outside

Towards the backyard

Side steps

Towards the road

I took the film off the door glass, better viewing.

   As you can see the railings, trim, and electrical need to be finished. I can't wait to put out the barbecue grill, umbrella and table, and wicker furniture. It seems to be just the right size. Check back for more pics when Patrick completes the deck. Hoping for tomorrow... Happy August!

A Hot Summer July......

    My sister, Phillis, came for a visit. She was up from Florida. She loved our weather 'cause we can keep our windows open during the day... at least when she was visiting. We took her to our Clam Festival here in Yarmouth, Maine. It really is a lovely parade....

This is "Steamer".

Everyone showed their respect.

Conestoga

Love the music

How do they do this????

   We had a great time at the parade. It lasted about an hour and a half. Beautiful weather. The Shriners are always great to see.










Shaw's Wharf in Bristol, Maine

A Maine harbor

Lobster boat

   While Phillis was here we took her to Shaw's Wharf in Bristol. It's a great place to eat seafood on the water. It's a working wharf, so you get to see the boats coming in the harbor. We had a great time except it decided to rain, so we had to eat indoors. The rain stopped by the time we finished eating our clams, shrimp, and lobster. The views from the harbor are typical for any Maine harbor up and down the coast of Maine: breathtaking...

Me... I think I'm a soft shell.

Phillis.. Cute, huh?

   The week went fast and it was sad to see my sister go back to Florida. We had a great time. We will be visiting her in Florida in October. Can't wait to see her again.  July went by way too fast.