Great Grandma's China

I just got back from a 3-week trip to Omaha, Naperville (Chicago) and Atlanta to visit family. While in Naperville, my sister offered, as she has for many years, to pack up some of our great grandmother's china for me. This time we were driving and not flying, so she carefully packaged this little tea set for me. They are totally not my style, but precious to me because they are family heirlooms. And frankly, it makes me want to have a tea party with my youngest granddaughter!

We always heard that the pieces were hand-painted by great grandma; yet many of the pieces have a china company name and logo on the bottom in addition to Mary's signature. Jack asked me today if the pieces were identical. Wow, I never thought of that! A good look today showed that neither the cups nor the saucers are identical to one another, although at a casual glance you wouldn't notice. Various pieces in the set are from different companies, yet except for the two pieces in the upper left they all match. An online search of one of the companies indicated that some of the pieces were available either plain or patterned. So, I'm thinking that Mary probably did paint them. Now why didn't I inherit her talent?

Operation Write Home joins World Cardmaking Day!

How fun that Operation Write Home is celebrating World Cardmaking Day with a blog hop! Participants are making a holiday card, and I can't wait to be inspired by all the great cards that will be posted. I made several using die cuts and paper from the Making Memories Colorful Christmas line:

OWH is a wonderful organization that collects cards to ship to our military in Afghanistan and Iraq so that they can have something nice to write home on. I so much enjoy making cards for them, and feel like I'm doing a good turn as well! Hope you will click the link below and hop on over to see more cards!

OWH Cards for September

I've been a busy little bee making cards for Operation Write Home, and I just accumulate them until I have enough to send. Some are from sketches on their website; some are sketches from a creative friend of mine; some just created themselves from bits of what I have on hand. I probably should pick a design and make a couple dozen of the same thing for efficiency's sake; but I have too much fun trying new things. I just packaged these up today to ship:

Plus this pretty card from my sweet and talented friend Norma Anne (I have to ask her how she tied that gorgeous, tangly gold thread):

And Saturday, October 1, OWH is hosting a blog hop to celebrate World Cardmaking Day. Go make a card! And if you don't know what to do with it, send it to OWH to bring a smile to the face of a soldier and his or her family.

A Touch of Color

For the past several years, we've had in mind that we would be moving; but the right opportunity hasn't presented itself yet, and we do have a small mortgage and a livable house in a decent, if modest, neighborhood. So we haven't bought new furniture or done any redecorating in a long time. I'm more than a little bored with white walls and status quo! Several months ago I bought these cute "lessons" post cards at a local wildlife rescue center. Among the lessons? It's OK to be a little nuts (from a squirrel). Spread seeds of joy (from a wildflower). Take thyme for yourself (from a garden). Michael's had a big sale on frames and I bought 3 simple ones, backed the post cards with cardstock, and hung them in the bedroom interspersed with 2 Donna Downy foam stamps I always thought were pretty enough to hang. The photo angle is off because I had to stoop down to avoid a reflection, but they make me smile every time I wake up and see them!

Now if we could just find somewhere nice to move to with a craft room for me, I could hang them there! And I will DEFINITELY not have white walls in MY room!

OWH Eyelet Challenge

We R Memory Keepers is sponsoring a contest at OWH to make a card using eyelets. I made this Cricut cut a couple weeks ago when I got the new Paper Lace cartridge, intending to use it on a card; but it was too plain and needed something. This challenge made me think of eyelets -- you know -- those things we all like the look of and forget to use? Little brass eyelets were just the accents the shape needed, and the card came together.

Contest deadline is Friday, Sept. 9, and there's a Crop-a-Dile prize -- here's the link: OWH Birthday Bash

Not only do I enjoy making cards for our servicemen to use, but the OWH blog has so many great card-making ideas that I sometimes don't know which idea to try first!

Postcard from Costa Rica

Lindsey spent five weeks this summer studying Spanish Conversation and Grammar at Veritas College in San José, Costa Rica. From the pictures she posted on Facebook, she also got to do a lot of sightseeing and having fun with her fellow students  -- waterfalls, mountains, beaches and some beautiful city sights. And apparently parasailing! She sent me a postcard because she KNEW I'd scrap it! Hah! Whatever gave her that idea?


The photos worked perfectly with my challenge sketch for my monthly scrap class. I knew I wanted a bright, colorful LO like the beautiful Costa Rican cart wheels and was thinking of making the large circle a cart wheel. After trying and discarding a number of ideas, I found a Cricut cut (Paper Lace cartridge) that looked a whole lot like the cathedral windows instead. There is tiny journaling along the rim of each "wheel" as to what and where.

I couldn't decide which side of the postcard to feature. The text of Lindsey's card makes perfect journaling, but in the end I used the picture side. First I scanned the text side, then pasted it beneath the postcard, hinged the top, and made a "lift" tab with a lizard stamped in copper and a heart. 

What a wonderful adventure for Lindsey! She is doing a more complete scrapbook of her adventures in Costa Rica; and I can't wait to see her pages when I see her this Fall!

You Never Know

You never know when you will see someone for the last time. In June I took my granddaughter Ashlyn, my daughter-in-law Angela and her mother Joanne (I call her my granny-in-law) to the scrapbooking class I take every month from my good friend Lynn. We had a great time.

Last Friday, I brought Joanne here and I showed her how to make cards. She made two birthday cards and a thank you card and was pleased with the results. We spent a really delightful couple hours together. I brought her home and told her to be a good girl -- she laughed.

Sometime during the night Monday/Tuesday, Joanne passed away unexpectedly at home. Oh, she had been ill, had lost a lot of weight, and was heavily medicated; but she was in good spirits and seemed to be improving and looking forward to a number of things. We buried her today.

Here's the photo Lynn snapped, as she often does. Joanne is the lady on the right in turquoise. It made her family happy to see she had been having a good time so recently. And it made me remember something I believe, which is to never miss a chance to tell someone you care or to pass along a compliment or a happy thought.