Wicked Busy Month of May

  May has turned out to be a very busy month , indeed!  We have had loads of fun with family all around. My sister, Phillis and her husband, Cary were up from Florida for a visit. They brought the sunshine with them and promptly took it back with them when they left. Hoping for sunshine on Monday, if we are lucky...
  We planned a 50th birthday party for my sister, Andrea while Phillis was here. Andrea's birthday isn't til August, but we really wanted to surprise her ( like my sisters did for me). And we did surprise her!!! Here are a few highlights of the party. The food was great...

 

 

Happy 84th Birthday, Mom!

Surprise, Andrea!

  

   Phillis and I made a great card/book for Andrea  teasing the life out of turning 50. ( It's in the slide show.) She took it all in stride since most of us have already joined that club and then some.. It took us three days working on this project on and off. I think the results are cute and funny. At least that was what Andrea said....
    It was Mom's 84th birthday, too. We decided to celebrate them both on the same day.  It is no nice getting together with family and celebrating milestones. What a busy day!

  When Phillis and Cary left to go back to Florida, we headed over to The Garden Spot to buy flowers for the cemeteries. We spent two days cleaning out and planting the Memorial flowers at Riverside Cemetery, Morningside Cemetery, and the Bath Cemetery. Dad's grave site looked great with the geraniums  all planted.

Visiting Dad.....

   It's still quite rainy and chilly here. Wishing for the summer temperatures, but loving the beauty of the spring.

Beautiful crab apple tree

Side door hanging flowers.

   Well, I am getting ready for a lobster bake at our house. The weather is suppose to be warmer and no RAIN! I hope that weather man is right... Happy Memorial Weekend , everyone!!!

 

Spring and Mother's Day

   I absolutely love Spring. It's so pretty outside right now.  I have already bought plants for our outside pots and am weeding the flower beds in preparation for more perennials.
   We are also doing some Spring cleaning in the house. Russ did a fabulous job on our side entry way. I had seen some great ideas on the Houzz website for entry ways. Our entry way is not very big, so we needed to have a built-in bench that didn't take up alot of room. Plus I wanted shelves to hold baskets for our mittens, hats,  and etc.
    Russ looked at pictures I had found with the ideas I thought we needed and he worked on making it come true for about a week... Here are some pictures of his awesome design.

The entry way is much larger because of the bench Russ made that fits perfectly. I love the baskets we bought at Michael's. They will hold our winter gear. It will be much easier to put on boots. We plan to put four hooks across the back for hanging small jackets or sweaters. Love Russ's design.

   I am working on the entry way closet which is across from the bench. I cleaned out "stuff" and just left our Spring coats. I am painting the inside of the closet, too. Russ made a longer shoe/boot rack for all our footwear. I'll show pics of that when I am done.

   Mother's Day is upon us. We are thankful that we have our mom here with us to honor her on this day. We are taking her out to dinner in South Portland. She got some lovely flowers from Hal and Charlotte, my brother and his wife. They can't be with us since they live in New Jersey now.
    I made Mom's card this week. I used vellum paper for the flowers that I stamped from Stampin Up's stamp set called "In Full Bloom". It's a lovely set that I have not used before this time.

Flowers for Mom from Hal and Charlotte

For MOM!

  


    I used my Copic Markers to color the flowers. I love the new Spellbinders die that made the background and cut out the oval for me. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the sentiment in the middle and make it straight. I have trouble with that little skill. Thank goodness for tools.
   Well, I have to get busy and start staining a mini table my husband made for my craft room. It's wicked cute. I will have to show you pictures when it's done.It will give me a little more room for my Big Shot machine and dies freeing up more space.
   Have a happy Mother's Day to everyone....

Phillis's Birthday Card

  Before we set sail for our cruise in April , I had finished my sister, Phillis's birthday card. I forgot to take a picture of it before I had sealed it for the mail. I asked her to take a few pictures of the card 'cause I was pretty proud of how it came out. She sent them a few days ago.
   It's kinda like a mini-album; only really mini. I put pockets in it to hold some photos of Phillis from long ago to the present.
   I used my Memory Box butterfly die cut that I absolutely love. I was pretty ecstatic to use my birthday embossing folder. I don't think I have ever used it...
   The background stamp is from Memory Box, too. I used my Copic Markers to color the branch and flowers.

Phillis's birthday card

Inside Pockets

    I got the idea for the inside pockets 'cause I have been working on mini albums so much lately. I am putting pictures from our cruise into the first album I made. Now I am working on finishing the Disney Album.
   

Here are the tags I made for the pockets.

   I loved making these tags that go in the pockets. It is fun to pull them out and see what "treasures" they hold. My Crop-a-dile tool comes in real handy making those holes in the tags.
   Phillis and Cary are coming for a visit in a few weeks. I think they might be a little chilly coming from Florida to Maine in May. Although we have had a few days here and there of warmer weather.
Maybe they will bring more of the warm stuff with them.
   Thanks, Phillis for sending the pictures. Can't wait to see you guys. I guess I will head outside to pull some dandelion heads. Happy Spring .....