DT Surprise!

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather last week when I got a private message from Jamie asking if I were interested in assuming some Design Team responsibilities at Coordinates Collection, such as the Monthly Kit contest and the Question of the Day (QOTD)! I'm on the Forum every day anyway, and always leave comments about the work in the Gallery; so it's no stretch for me.

I am now officially the Forum/Gallery Coordinator! I truly enjoy the nice people there, and was honored to be asked. Don't tell Jamie, but I would have done it without the free product and discount compensation! I had to submit a bio and Jack took a decent head shot which should be up this week. And even though I don't actually design anything, I get to use the cute little Design Team blinkie! Fun! Just hope I don't run out of QOTD's!

I would love to think of some ways to attract new customers. It's such a great kit club, and even if you don't get the kits, you are free to enjoy the Forum, put up your work in the Gallery, and participate in the contests and crops.  And besides the fact that I want these nice folks to be very successful, I also want the kits to be around for a long time because I love, love, love it when my box of goodies comes every month!

Red for Ryan

Kimberly Madrid, one of the much-loved members at Coordinates Collections, lost her 7-year-old son this week to leukemia. It's been a long, hard struggle for the whole family. The funeral is today. As a show of support, many of the CC members posted a picture of themselves wearing red today, Ryan's favorite color.

As a parent, I know Kim and her family are living every parent's worst nightmare -- to lose a child. I can't begin to imagine their grief and anger. I know from my own experiences that time will take the edge off, and some day they will be surprised to find something to smile about, but today, oh, today -- today is just too much pain to ask of anyone. Today is too hard. Let today be over and let the healing begin.

I bought one!

I've been thinking I "needed" a Bind-It-All ever since my friend Lynn bound a mini-cookbook for me (a prize I won at Coordinates Collections!) and before that, one of my crop friends bound mini-cookbooks for all of the girls who brought a decorated recipe card. 

So for the past year I've been checking prices, unwilling to spend $75 plus shipping for something I don't expect to get all that much use out of. I finally found one for a decent price on e-bay; and the seller included the space bar and a couple coils of o-wire:

Not that he minds that I spent money on it, but Jack's first question was, "oh, what are you going to make with it?". To which I replied, "um......I have no idea!"  Now I have to think of a project or two to justify buying it!

       

Coordinates Collections February Blog Hop Challenge

I've been having so much fun with all of the challenges at CoordinatesCollections.com. This month's Blog Hop challenge was to scraplift a layout from the Coordinates Collections Gallery. There's an abundance of great projects in the Gallery, but I was able to narrow it down by checking out projects I had saved to "My Favorites". This fun layout by Kimberly Madrid is a great way to use those wallet-size photos that we all have a gazillion of. I loved the clustered embellies and the white space:

I knew it would be perfect for these old wallet-size photos of Brian, although I can't place whether this was kindergarten or first grade (Note to Moms: always, always, always throw a date on the back of a photo somewhere! I promise you that you won't remember 30 years later.) 

I used the new Blue Skies kit that just arrived, as well as rub-ons from last year's Rumba kit, a journaling spot and sheer journaling tag from a journaling grab bag in the CC store (grab one if they're offered again!) and Basic Grey micro-mini letters, also from the store. The red spray mist from the kit colored a couple of the corrugated embellies, and I threaded a couple pieces with raffia I won at a crop. I kept the journaling in a light color so as not to break up the white space too much. 

Love these fun challenges!

Look What My Valentine Gave Me!

My day started out with Jack bringing me this beautiful orchid to wish me a Happy Valentine's Day:

I love how simple and Japanese-style it looks! It was a typical thoughtful gesture and made my day!

Amazing Egypt

I have been watching events unfold in Egypt for at least the last week; and I am overjoyed for the Egyptian people who are celebrating in the streets today the departure of Mubarek. Their weeks of peaceful and determined demonstrations -- even in the face of violence against them and disappointment in lack of a suitable response --  have been completely amazing and inspiring. I wish for them a successful transition to the democracy they so long for.

Butterfly Sisters trip to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary

Last Saturday the Butterfly Sisters toured the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. This place has been open for many years in Palm Beach County; but I'd never seen it until the kids were in town recently, and it seemed like a fun place for the Butterflies to spend an afternoon.

My Butterflies could be called wild life themselves: Back to front: Liz, Lynn, Sandi, Natasha and Pam. Now where did Cathy wander off to?

Busch rehabs as many creatures as it can and returns them to the wild if possible. Some, like these eagles, are unable to return to nature. Three eagles call Busch home now. One was shot, one electrocuted and the third hit by a car. Beautiful to see up close. Pam was greatly amused that the feathers covering part of their legs look like pants, and kept going back to their cage just to see them walk.

Brown Pelicans and a beautiful Roseate Spoonbill (which I've only rarely seen in the wild) live in this enclosure, along with various herons, egrets, ibis, a wood stork and a few ducks.

Apparently I have the wingspan of a turkey vulture. The eagle has the largest spread on this display.

Besides a whole menagerie of birds, we saw deer, raccoons, black bears, bobcats, skunks, gators, crocs and snakes. We also stayed for the animal encounter, where volunteers presented various critters and walked them around to touch and see close up. My very favorite was this adorable screech owl. Actually, there was a whole cage of 5 or 6 of them; but this little guy is accustomed to encounters with people in the show. He had been captured as an owlet and raised as a pet along with the family parakeet, and was quite malnourished by the time he came into the care of Busch. I've seen a few of these in the wild, but I never get tired of them:

Now I've got to sort through and edit my pictures and share them with my Butterflies. Hopefully some of them got better shots than I did!