Martha's Birthday

Today is my sister Martha's birthday. She loved sunflowers, so this is for her.

Martha was the perfect birthday girl. She celebrated the entire month of November and loved it when people wanted to take her to lunch or a movie. If she were here I would have made her a card and my daughters and I would have spoiled her in some way as we did every year. I will try to be happy and laugh because that's what she helped others do when they were in a tough spot. I don't know what else to say except that I miss Martha, my person who loved life and lived it to her fullest, so very much.

The Gift of Time

This year I gifted my daughters with things I made instead of bought, beginning with what turned out to be a very rich chocolate cake. I also detailed Valerie's car (their Aunt Phylliss did Dawn's!) Actually, I cheated, I only did the inside (with a little bit of help from their dad), I ran it through the carwash for the outside. Hey, California is in the middle of a water shortage, okay? :-}

Bookmarks have become something all of us seem to have aquired. Here are two more Dawn and Valerie can add to their collection.

The numbers bookmark is for Valerie, she loves numbers and text. I dry embossed cream-colored cardstock, heat embossed the lettering with gold embossing powder and finished it by inking it with my favorite walnut colored ink pad by Tim Holtz.

  Dawn makes the prettiest tassels, so I'll leave that touch up to her.

The galaxy-themed one is for Dawn, she loves the night sky. It's painted with all sorts of colors of sparkly ink pens on canvas and backed with black cardstock. The planet was cut from a piece of gold shimmered card stock that had veins of white running through it. It actually looks like a copper penny!

Then I wrapped them up in cardstock which reflects their fondess for (Dawn) cameras/taking photos, and (Val) numbers and letters. I even dug up a brad with her favorite #7 on it!

The flowers are handcut from a combination of patterned paper and tissue paper using a nifty technique I found on YouTube by Shannon Green. It's addicting!

Their main presents were paintings I created. Dawn's has a galaxy theme and Valerie's is more of a mixed media piece.

I used canvas paper and a variety of inks and paints. I had intended for it to be darker, more starry-like, but after walking away from it for a few days and coming back to it, it grew on me.

When I was finished, I ran some black glitter tape along each edge and framed it in a simple black frame. I titled it "Out There." She actually likes it turned with the corner planet at the upper-right, but for some unknown reason when I rotate this photo it won't upload here in the new rotation. *sigh*

As I said, Valerie's is more mixed media because after I finished the painting I wasn't very happy with it. So I added the girl with the suitcase, the tiny dog, flowers, tree and created a shiny sun to beam down on it all. I titled it "Oh May I Go A Wondering," because she likes The Happy Wonderer song. We sing it using her name instead of what the song says.

After wrapping the paintings I topped them off with the tags I made. Valerie has a fondness for western themed things (who am I kidding, fine cowboys are her eye candy!), so I went with that.

 

I used a Julie Nutting paper doll stamp and fussy-cut her outfit from cardstock. Her skirt and bodice also has a layer of Tim Holtz's shimmer paper, a gift from my daughters. Glossy accents was applied to her boots and hat just to give them that extra pop. Oh! And I drew her face free-hand! For someone who doesn't know the first thing about drawing, I'm getting the hang of giving Julie Nutting's doll faces a bit of personality.

The balloons are shaker stickers from Michael's. And I have so many of these beautiful paper flowers not being used, I couldn't resist adding a few here. I think the orange, yellow and green adds a pretty touch, and the gold leaves makes it that much more special.

Dawn's tag was reminiscent of our trip to London, England, last year. She gave me several Julie Nutting tag tablets and this is by far my favorite print; it has the feel of an English garden. Dawn also gave me the pretty girl stamp, which reminds me both of photo of Dawn holding a little green suitcase and Audrey Hepburn.

Seeing Big Ben is my favorite thing from our trip, and probably the most iconic, so, of course it had to be featured in the background. The taxi is because we relied on and appreciated having access to this form of transportation. They saved our aching feet, I'm not even exaggerating. And the tiny little airplane is symbolic of the bravery of my daughters on their first flight, a very, very long one.

So my gift to my daughters was essentially of my time, something I have plenty of when it comes to them. They have the patience of a saint for this forgetful, bumbling old woman, and I can't even begin to list the things they do for me on a daily basis. I'm so very proud of the women Dawn and Valerie have become. Happy 31st, girls, it's only just begun!

Happy Birthday, My Lovely Daughters!

And suddenly they're 31 years old.

Happy Birthday, Dawn and Valerie!

I can't believe I'm the mom of such awesome young women! I always wanted to be a mom, but having twins was a life-long "gee, it would be neat if..." bonus!

Happy birthday, Dawn and Valerie,

I love you more!

55 And Still Alive!

September 23rd I will be welcomed into the world of senior citizens. Double nickles. Old pooty.

The photo above is part of a greeting card book I saved when we cleaned out the remnants of my mother’s things. A lot of it was icky from being stored in the garage, so I went through it and tore out the pages on which my mom had written each of our names and years of birth. It was such an awesome thing to come across; I plan to send my brothers’ and sister’s their pages on their birthdays. It’ll be one of those bitter-sweet things, but I’m hoping more of the sweetness will shine through.

Birthday Crafting

My twin daughters, Valerie and Dawn, turned 29 this month, so I've been crafting like crazy for them. It's been fun to craft with such a purpose. I made quite a few things, cards, journals, rosettes, shrinky-dinks cut from dies, a fairy jar and these elephants. I'll share a couple at a time so my posts won't be a mile long.

Valerie collects elephants (as did my mother), which gave me a great starting point. I made the little white elephant a while back by layering tissue paper and water into a mold, letting it dry then coating it with Glossy Accents. I used one of the dollar frames I found at Michael's a long time ago, backed it with fabric adhesive and glued the little fella to that. (Later I added some grey highlights, but I should have let it be. Ya live and ya learn.) I added an umbrella embellishment and dubbed it "I've got it covered."

Another gift I made her was a little felted elephant. I've played around with needle felting, but I never really made anything, so this was quite a fete for me. (I drew blood 3 times and broke 2 felting needles, something I'm sure a lot of newbies can relate to.) But it was fun trying to figure out what was what, like the tiny brads I used for the eyes. When I finished I decorated a little square plastic container with cork that looks like brown pebbles or a bumpy road, moss and flowers and put it inside that, just so there was a safe place he wouldn't get damaged.

My favorite part of the elephant is the back end, like there's a swagger to the walk. I'll post more as I get my photos uploaded.

Happy 28th, My Duplicate Daughters!

If anyone were to make me choose the best thing in life that ever happened to me, it would be Dawn and Valerie, my identical twin daughters. They have brought unmeasured love and joy into my life and continue to do so on a daily basis. I did not expect to be such great friends with them at this stage of our lives, so, BONUS!

I must comment on the Easter outfits they're wearing in this photo, the only ones I ever made for them. It was quite the undertaking to make one dress, but two, well, that was that. They were a bit roomy, but that's okay, they got that much more use out of them.

Call me old-fashioned, but, growing up I wanted to be a wife and mother more than anything. It even trumped wanting to be a secretary, at which my best friend, Lauri, and I played on a regular basis. That, and being scientists (we found out talcum powder and water don't mix), airline stewardesses and piloting rockets (made in the sand from rocks, ice plant and anything else we could find to create a dashboard).

I am a wife and mother, which may sound like an everyday, ho-hum thing to many. But it was my dream, and I'm still living it!

Wearin' of the Green

I have been decorating cupcakes for Saint Patrick's Day and thought I'd pop in here and post a photo or two. Valerie did the baking and I did the fun stuff. She took the first batch for her co-workers to enjoy and Dawn will take the latest batch to work with her tomorrow.

One more thing, happy 6th birthday to my grandogger, Clover Grace!

Party on.

Happy birthday to Deni!

My hubby is one of those people who has gotten a gazillion birthday gifts with a "BTW, this is for your birthday AND Christmas." Poor guy. So anyway, I always make sure we celebrate his birthday (the 22nd) separate from the holiday hustle and bustle. Since we all have to work tomorrow, two of us work swing and the other two work days with no way for all of us to be together at once, we gave him his gifts a day early.

I picked up several Hallmark ornaments from his favorite Christmas story (Rudolph, the stop-action version from eons ago) and a refill kit for his rock tumbler. The one I was really excited about giving him was the two San Jose Sharks tickets and he was mondo happy to get them! They're a set of tickets I bought from a season ticket holder a while back and I've been bustin' at the seams to tell him about them, they're fantastic seats! Since Valerie and I both have to work the night of the game Dawn will be accompanying him to help him cheer his favorite sports team on to victory, lucky duckies.

The girls spoiled him rotten with gifts like add-ons for his World of Warcraft game (from Dawn) and some awesome Bose speakers for his computer (from Valerie, they sound fabulous, dalink!). We all got a kick out of the Hallmark Star Trek ornament Dawn gave him, a communicator that makes that neat-oh noise when it's opened. There's also buttons to push to listen to phrases from The Captain, Spock and a few other cast members, all original recordings. I know, we're dorks, but it's pretty cool. Deni and I have been rockin' out to the sounds coming from those speakers and let me tell you, I'm gonna have to get me some of those, too, wow!

The weather is cold and wet, and the hot tub is screaming for me to jump in so I'm off to warm up these ol' bones.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas!