Skip to content

Belated

  • by

Several years ago, I made myself a birthday calendar which hangs over my desk. I consult it at the beginning of every month (and usually the middle of the prior month) so I’m sure to have the cards ready for birthdays and anniversarys. I do have to hustle to get a sympathy card made. I never seem to have one of those made ahead, and usually a get well card is made at the moment I need it. But I’m very prompt with birthday cards, so it surprises me that I’ve had to make two “forgot your birthday” cards this summer. My go-to sentiment is this:

InsideOhShoot

Given my fondness for cameras, and my love of photography it seems a perfect fit.

OhShoot

Papertrey Ink’s Shutterbug Special includes one of my favorite camera stamps, and I used it for both the background and the focal point. The inside sentiment is from this set as well.

Here’s one I made earlier with just a slight modification in the sentiment and a camera from Mama Elephant’s “We Click” set. The inside sentiment reads “So sorry I forgot your birthday!”

OhSnap

I’m linking these up to the Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge, as well as the Simon Says “Anything Goes” Challenge.

SimonSaysStamp_160x240

I’ll be back later with some more birthday cards–finished ahead of time!

Happy Anniversary to Us & a CASology Challenge

  • by

Today is our 40th anniversary. Last night we both agreed it surely hasn’t felt like 40 years—we can’t be THAT old! But it is, nonetheless, and we’ve had our big anniversary trip already. But we didn’t want the day to pass without marking it in some way, so a bit later we’re off to Seneca Lake with our good friends, Bob and Cathy. We have two wineries to check out, and a farmer’s market I want to explore. Then we’ll have dinner at Suzanne’s Fine Cuisine, a restaurant highly recommended by friends and in the book, Summer in a Glass, which we both finished reading this month.

I thought I’d post this card tonight with a few photos of our day, but I want to link it up to the CASology challenge for this week, and the link closes before we’ll get home. I recently discovered this challenge on Cassandra’s blog, but haven’t had much time to play along this month.*

Week 54 - Gold
I cased the design for this card from Nora on A Creative Touch. The woodgrain cardstock and the chipboard hearts both came from a Simon Says Card Kit. The die is also Simon Says, and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s “Live Love Life.” The gold paper I’ve had in my stash for years. (The store where I bought it closed at least 10 years ago.) I love it, and this is the last piece of it.

AnniversaryCard

The inside sentiment (I forgot to photograph it before I wrote a note inside) reads: “A good life is a collection of happy moments,” and we’ve had 40 wonderful years of happy moments together. There’s no one I’d rather spend time with! I’ll be back tomorrow, hopefully with a few shots of a day in the Finger Lakes (though it’s a bit drizzly now), and a 52/50 update.

*Great update on our friend, Mike! He was released from the ICU Friday night, and is walking around the nursing station, eating real food, and joking with us all. He’s still very tired, and will need some weeks of rehab, but a complete recovery is within reach! Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. 

Summer Card Camp: Week 3

  • by

SCC2_participant1

This is my second post of the day, but it’s the first time I’ve had a chance to play around with the Summer Card Camp challenges. Here are this week’s colors and sketches:

Screen Shot 2013-07-25 at 3.30.56 PM

Truthfully, these are the most difficult colors I can ever remember trying to work with. After I finished the first two cards, I realized you only needed to use four of the five colors. That certainly would have been easier! 

The first card, and my least favorite, was supposed to be Sketch #2, but it ended up looking more like Sketch #3.

StarSpangled

Looking through my embellishment drawer, I came upon these wooden start stickers (Studio Calico?), the patterned papers are from Paper Source (purple) and the Hip Hip Hooray paper pad by American Craft. The sentiment stamp is one of my oldest wooden stamps (St. Louis Stamp Design). I managed to get the fifth color in there with some My Mind’s Eye enamel dots. I think the funky light at the bottom of the card is because the banner extends off both ends. 

I’m happier with the second card.

SuperStar

I haven’t used this border die cut from Memory Box yet, so I thought it would be perfect for Sketch #3. I used three patterned papers, two from Bo Bunny and one from American Craft, added some pink gems (there’s that fifth color again!), and a tiny banner I hand-cut for the sentiment from Star Prints (Papertrey Ink.) This card is getting linked to the Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge.

My favorite of the three cards is this last one where I tried a double-stamping technique Jennifer McGuire shared in a video. 

Awesome

I used Mama Elephant’s “Trifecta” stamps to create the background. It’s a border stamp with three rows of tiny triangles. First I stamped it in purple, and then went back and slightly offset the blue triangles. This is the kind of thing that usually is a disaster for me, so I’m really please that I only had to do it once. The rosettes are an oldie but goodie and I’m not sure who made them (another find in the embellishment drawer. The die cut banner and sentiment are a set from Simon Says called “Tilted Banners.” 

I’ll be linking this last card up with the Moxie Fab “Trendy Triangles Challenge.” 

July 2013 Papertrey Blog Hop

  • by

This month’s challenge for the Papertrey Blog Hop was a color challenge. There were six gorgeous color combinations to choose from based on the “Fruits of Summer.” You can see them all here. This color combo screams summer to me, so that’s where I started.

PTIBlogHop3

I was hoping to use the new birthday stamps I ordered this month from Papertrey, but for some (yet unknown) reason, the package arrived in Rochester, but was returned to Papertrey Ink before it ever got on a mail truck! I was so disappointed, but turned to the Wonderful Words: Birthday die cut for my card.

JulyPTIBlogHop

I die cut the word in each of the five colors, carefully cut the letters apart, and reassembled the word. “Wishes” was selectively stamped from the Think Big Favorites #16, and I die cut the stars from the Star Gazer dies. It’s a pretty simple card, but I’m happy with it. I’ll be entering it in the Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge as well. 

You can find lots more colorful inspiration here today.

 

Summer Card Camp: Thursday Challenge Week 2

  • by

SCC2_participant1
Today’s challenge was to use the week’s color combination and a holiday stamp to create a non-holiday card. To qualify for the color challenges, you need to use four of the five colors.
Screen Shot 2013-07-18 at 7.29.19 PM
We’ve been invited to a lovely celebration this weekend, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get a card made. I used two flourish stamps from Papertrey’s Holiday Photo Finishers to create a “frame” for the sentiment.
Celebrate
I was quite surprised to discover I didn’t have any holiday stamp with the word “celebrate” that fit into the frame, so I ended up using Papertrey’s Celebrations stamp set. Both the frame and sentiment were embossed onto Vintage Cream Shimmer cardstock. I matted that with a piece of Hawaiian Shores shimmer paper. The card was created with my favorite brown shimmer paper that I believe is by Bazzill. I added four pretty pearls in blue. Here’s a closer look at the pretty shimmer paper.
CelebrateDetail
This is a design I’m quite sure I’ll use again, and I would never have come up with it without today’s challenge—one of several reasons I enjoy these online card classes.

Summer Card Camp 2

  • by

SCC2_participant1

At the end of the first week of the Online Summer Card Camp we were given a whole set of color combinations to consider.

Screen Shot 2013-07-12 at 1.56.56 PM

I like the third combo and wanted to try the selective inking technique Jennifer McGuire showcased on last Tuesday. I chose one of the Papertrey Ink “Stylish Sentiments: Birthday” stamps, and masked off three sections of the sentiment so it could be stamped in three different colors.  This worked surprisingly well.

SSCWk1BD

I used the herringbone striped Impression Plate to emboss the purple cardstock to play off the orange herringbone patterned paper. The patterned paper, Orange Zest mat, and sentiment were die cut with Spellbinders Label dies. Four little orange pearls from Michael’s finished off the card.

Today was another new lesson, new color combo and new sketches. Hopefully I’ll get a card finished tomorrow before I get too far behind.

Summer Card Camp

  • by

SCC2_participant1

I’ve missed the last couple Online Card Classes. I always learn some new techniques, and the inspiration is great, both from the instructors as well as from the student galleries. When I enrolled in the class, I had no idea how preoccupied I’d be this week. Tonight, however, I had time to get three cards made.

I really like this week’s color combo, and my blues really are a better match than they appear in the photographs.

Screen Shot 2013-07-11 at 9.29.55 PM

It’s bright and summery. Just what I needed for three cards I need to get in the mail. The first card also follows one of the three sketches provided for the week.

Screen Shot 2013-07-11 at 9.31.18 PM

I needed to get a “happy” card in the mail, and this fit the bill. I decided the circle/embellishment would be overkill so I left that off.

CCHappyThoughts

I embossed the card front with a new Nestability die–A2 Matting Basics B. The patterned paper strips are from two BoBunny 6X6 pads–Very Vintage Double Dots and Very Bright Double Dots. The stamps and die are Simon Says “Happy.” 

The next card is an overdue thank you card for Tracy’s cousin who had us to lunch a few weeks ago. This one meets the 10 Minute Card Challenge. Once I had the alphas cut out, this one was done in about 8 minutes. I forgot to take a photo of the stop watch.

CardClassThanks

I die cut a Nestability Classic Circle for the sentiment which was die cut using Papertrey Ink’s Headliner Alphabet. I cut a whole alphabet of all four colors, so you’ll likely see this color combo again soon. The border is another piece from the BoBunny Very Bright’s pad, and I added three enamel dots by My Mind’s Eye.

The last card is an anniversary card for my SIL and BIL. I had cut the Papertrey Ink Hexagon Cover Plate intending to do a white-on-white background for one of the cards. It just didn’t work for me, so I put it over a Hawaiian Shores card and was much happier. 

CCEverAfter

After I arranged the sentiment, I needed a little extra detail in the heart. Two tiny gem hearts by AMuse were the answer.

CCEverAfterDetail

Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up a little better next week.

Two Cards & Challenges

  • by

 

Scene in Tangerine

I don’t often play along with the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World, but I love the color combination for this week’s challenge and decided to get my mother-in-law’s birthday card done a few days early.

I’ve seen Maile Belles use this design on lots of her cards recently and decided I’d give it a try. I like the overlaid sentiment panel quite a bit and think I’ll use it again.

HBEllie

Papertrey Ink came out with this floral set “Happiness in Bloom” a few months ago, but I held off as I surely have lots of floral stamps. I already owned the dies which were released several years ago, though, so this month I broke down. Their recent floral sets have included a variety of ways to double or triple stamp the flowers which makes them much more interesting. Everything on this card came from that stamp set.

CS147_zpsd67fc657

Cfc107

When I first saw the challenge at Case Study, I didn’t have anything in mind, but then the CASual Friday challenge to use an arrow on the card came along, and I had an idea to combine the two challenges. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

ThankYou

I don’t usually do too well stamping a pattern, but the triangles from the Mama Elephant “Trifecta” set were easy to work with. The sentiment with the arrow came from Papertrey’s “Live, Love, Life.”

ETA: I’m linking this to the Moxie Fab “Trendy Triangles Challenge.”

Both of these cards meet the challenge at Simon Says for “Anything Goes.”

SimonSaysStamp_160x240

June 2013 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

  • by

Gold

Papertrey’s June blog hop challenge was to use a “touch of gold.” It really is one of the hot trends right now, and I had a variety of ideas. But, once again, time ran short, so I decided to go with a simple design and created a set of cards that I’ll be able to pull out when needed. Another piece of inspiration came from Papercraft Magazines 350 Cards & Gifts issues which features a whole section of card sets. I made three birthday cards and three thank you notes. Let’s start with the birthday cards.

BDCards

I started by embossing a Nestability Classic Rectangle on the card front. I ended up using three pieces of Papertrey’s new shimmer cardstock which I love, and three pieces of regular cardstock. The blue and black are shimmer cardstock, and the purple is Royal Velvet. Then I embossed the Boutique Borders: Birthday stamps in the middle of the embossed rectangle. Simple and elegant. Here’s a closer look:

BirthdayCard

Here are the thank you notes.

ThankYoucards

I found several sentiments that fit between the beautiful boutique borders and tried three different ones. I kept the cardstock lighter and only the back card is a shimmer cardstock. The first card uses one of my all-time favorite “thank you” sentiments from Impress. I’ve had it for years. The others came from Papertrey’s Round and Round and Autumn Abundance. I’m quite sure this Boutique Borders will become a  go-to set. You can check out the loads of inspiration right here.

I {heart} Happy Mail

  • by

The mailman arrived early yesterday, and I received a wonderful package from Alexa as part of Sian’s Great Big Swap of Very Small Things. The mailing envelope itself was a piece of art. (No surprise!) 

Package

And what it is about “Royal Mail” that adds something exotic to a package from England.

Stamp

Inside was a delightful mix of embellishments, papers, frames, stamps, and other bits and pieces. Before I ever read Alexa’s thoughtful note, I knew that the items tucked inside these folders had been chosen specifically with me in mind. (Check out the personalization on the notecard!)

Card

The goodies were enclosed in four handmade folders each with a tiny tag.

Folders

The first read: “for your little ones.” Inside were two plastic bags, one with brads that spell CALEB, and another with brads that spell SKYLAR and little bits and pieces for each of them. (There’s also a #4 paperclip which somehow I included in another photo.) How cute is this?

LittleOnesPacket

The next was “for scrapping your holiday,” with embellishments perfect for our recent trip to Turkey and Greece. I just love that airplane stamp. 

HolidayPacket

And then some lovely papers and stencils “for your art journaling.” I have two pages on the burner. Hopefully these will be an inspiration to get moving on them.

ArtJournalPacket

Finally, a folder stuffed with goodies “for just playing with.” Check out the cute cameras and some camera Washi tape!

PlayWithPacket

Right after dinner, I got busy. Dear friends of ours are celebrating their 60+ anniversary this month. I chose a lovely floral print card from Alexa’s goodies as well as a fabric-covered button as the focal points for their card.

AnniversaryDetail_B&A

B&A_Anniversary

I know you’ll be seeing lots more from this very extravagant gift in the months to come. Thanks, Alexa, it was truly a treasure-filled package!

 

 

 

 

Happy Father’s Day & Two Challenges

  • by

It’s a day to celebrate fatherhood here in the States. Two of my three favorite dads are here with me today, which makes for a good celebration. Matt, Betsy, and Skylar were here for brunch, and later we’ll be going out to dinner. It’s raining (again), but at least we don’t have the flooding that’s plaguing the middle of the country.

I think I got Adam’s card in the mail just in time. Hopefully, it arrived in Oregon before today. I think it’s my favorite.

AwesomeDad

The dark brown cardstock came from the June Simon Says card kit. The Absolutely die and awesome stamp are also from Simon Says, and the Thickers are Amy Tan for American Craft. I don’t often use Thickers on a card, but it worked well here.

The materials for the next card (for Tracy) almost all came from the June kit except for the map paper which was from an old October Afternoon collection called “Boarding Pass.” It started with this inspiration card from Kristina Werner, though I ended up in a totally different place.

What?

The card that holds the sentiment (from a Kelly Purkey set called “Dude”) is from a collection of cards by Basic Grey. Both the pad of cards and the stamp set were part of the June kit. I forgot to take a photo of the inside of the card, but I used two tickets from Papertrey’s set called “Big Ticket Basics.” They seemed to fit the theme perfectly. I coated the heart with some Glossy Accents.

I stuck with the same theme for Matt’s card, using a different map from the “Boarding Pass” collection. This card was inspired by one of Nicole Heady’s cards for a Papertrey release party awhile ago.

OutOfWorld

The plane which I colored with Copics and cut out came from “Fly Away” and neatly fit over a printed plane in the patterned paper. The sentiment is from the Boy Basics series by the same name. The last two cards meet the CASual Friday Challenge this week:  MAPQUEST.

Cfc105

And the last card also meets this week’s Simon Says Challenge:  TRANSPORT.

SimonSaysStamp_160x240

Heartfelt Thanks

  • by

I serve on three Presbytery committees. Our Presbytery serves 60+ churches throughout the Genesee Valley. I’ve been chair of one of them (Education and Resource) for the last three years. We plan and execute education events for youth and adults in the Presbytery. We host an annual Church Leadership Day with a variety of workshops and speakers, Presbytery-wide youth events and worship services, as well as oversee a resource center at the Presbytery office.

The chairs of the three standing committees also sit (with six other members) on a committee that awards grants to agencies working with congregations in the area.

The last committee is one of several under the “Urban Presbyterians Together” umbrella. Like many churches, most of our urban churches are struggling with decreasing congregations, inadequate budgets, aging buildings, and increased need for mission to the neighborhood. UPT’s aim to to help these churches find ways to collaborate and work together to serve God in increasingly difficult circumstances.

When I accepted a position on Resource and Education four years ago, I had no idea where that would lead. All of it is rewarding work, but meetings are just one part of it. Next week, I’ll be attending a workshop on violence in the city, a mission day at an inner city store-front mission, and a meeting with folks who are trying to figure out how to help feed the hungry in our urban areas where little good food is available. (Most grocery stores have moved out of the inner city.) 

Last night, two of the committees met back-to-back. (Fortunately that doesn’t happen often.) I was asked to make a thank you card that one of the committees could send to a group of Presbyterian women who turned over a lovely sum of money for us to use for our work. It caused me to finally break out the card-making supplies after nearly a month away from them. 

HeartfeltThanks

It was fun to get back into the crafting mode. I also got my Father’s Day cards done which you’ll be seeing on Sunday. I started with “Lovely Layers” by Papertrey Ink. No matter what color combination you choose, it always seems to come together nicely. It’s hard to tell fromt the photo, but the circle and darker ink on the card are Royal Velvet, a beautiful dark purple. The front of the card was embossed with the Diamond Impression Plate, and the sentiment and frame are from the “Mat Stack 3 Collection.”

 

Happy Anniversary!

  • by

Today is Sarah and Adam’s anniversary. When this goes live, we’ll be at the end of our vacation, and I know that one of the things I’ll enjoy when we return is being in closer contact with my kids! Happy Anniversary to two very special people! I hope you have a great day!

Here’s the card I sent:

AnniversaryS&A

Just a simple card with an old wooden stamp from Uptown Designs, a piece of Paper Source ribbon, and a sentiment from Papertrey’s Fillable Frames #4.

Before I left I needed to make a couple other anniversary cards as well.

AnniversaryCircles

This one was for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s anniversary, based on a card Cristina posted. Very similar stamps to the ones she used arrived in the May Simon Says kit so I was anxious to give it a try. The chipboard heart was also in the kit, and I colored it with a Krylon Gold Leafing pen. The sentiment is from Papertrey’s Round and Round set. 

AnniversaryPink

Good friends of ours were married on my birthday (30 years ago), and this was sent to them. Nearly everything on this card came from the February Simon Says kit. I used a Simon Says die for the larger heart (embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder), a small punch for the patterned paper hearts, and a sentiment again from Round and Round.

I’ll soon be back to check out what all of you have been up to. I know I’ll be amazed that it’s nearly June already!

We’re Off!!

  • by

Today is my birthday, and I’m celebrating in airports! We leave at noon for JFK, and fly to Istanbul around dinner time. We’ve been preparing for this trip for several months, and we’re as ready as we could possibly be. I’ve read some great books, and realize that five days in Istanbul is not nearly enough time to see everything I’d love to see. By the time we reach Santorini, I’m quite sure we’ll be ready for a few restful days hiking and staring out at the Mediterranean.

Nearly a month ago I made a travel journal for the trip. I started with a small Five Star notebook and with just one Flair button, a label maker and some Washi tape transformed it into a travel journal.

4.4TravelJournalw

I have a pre-trip section where I’ve taken notes from my reading, pasted in some pages from some travel books, and stored some maps in the pockets inside the front cover. It’s nice and small and easily fits into my carry-on bag, but it has lots of pages for keeping track of what we see and do. I edged each section with a piece of Washi Tape. I got that idea while blog hopping, but I can’t remember where.

JournalPockets

Journal1

Journal2

Journal3

It will be easy to carry this with us as we explore, and I’ll have lots of information right at hand.

Because I’ll be away for my birthday, I’ve been celebrating with some friends ahead of time. I thought I’d share some fun photos. My friend, Karen, and I team-taught for four years. (The best four years of my teaching career.) We got a reputation for being incredibly alike, often coming to school dressed nearly identically, ie. a khaki skirt and a black tee-shirt. One day, a fifth-grader raised her hand and asked if we called one another at night to plan our outfits! Our three initials are the same, our anniversaries are both the the 28th of the month, and we both have son-in-laws named Adam. So we were amused when we opened gifts at dinner last week. Check out the color combination on Karen’s gift to me, and my card for her.

CardGift_blog

Her card, opened AFTER we ordered our wine.

Karen'sCard_blog

Our gifts:

Earrings_blog

Before I sign off, I thought I’d also share my crafty friend, Mary’s, gift and card to me. Couldn’t be more coordinated.

Mary'sGift

I’ve given a lot of thought about blogging on this trip. I’ve loved Alexa’s tutorials about scrapping on the road, but I’m just not confident enough in my skills to do that in a time-efficient way. So I’ve decided to let go of the internet while we’re gone, and concentrate on the experience which I’m sure is a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I’ll be checking email so I’m not overwhelmed by a stuffed inbox when I return, but beyond that I’ll be checking in with all of you on my return.  Here’s hoping for sunny skies and amazing sights!

Weekend Recap

  • by

I had originally planned for this to be at least a two-part blog post, but the weekend proved busier than I expected. Friday our niece, Grace, graduated from the University of Buffalo. She is a fabulous artist, and spent one semester in Florence, Italy studying art, but her major is accounting. She’s ready now to start studying for her CPA license which turns out to be quite an involved process. This summer she’ll be interning here in Rochester with a large accounting firm. We celebrated with a party in Buffalo Friday night.

GraceBalloon_blog

Her brother was here from Oregon, and her sister from Vermont, so I thought a family photo was in order.

Family3_blog

Here’s the card I made to celebrate this big event. It’s a close copy to one Nicole Heady created for the release of this stamp set.

Graduation

UB’s colors are gray and blue. I tried to make it a bit more feminine by adding a couple of rhinestone starrs. All the stamps are from Papertrey Ink’s For the Graduate. Once every year or so I’m very glad to have a nice graduation set. 

Unexpectedly, we got a break in the rainy weather Saturday afternoon. It was chilly, but sunny, so we headed to the Lilac Festival to grab a sandwich for our dinner. I was wrong in my earlier post, there aren’t 500 bushes, but 500 varieties of lilacs on over 1200 bushes! Here are a couple more shots now that the lilacs are at peak.

5.11Horse&Carriage1_blog

Park1_blog

While we were at the graduation party Matt arrived for the weekend. We had a nice visit on Saturday. Sunday I hosted a brunch after church for Tracy’s mom and sister and her family. Matt, Skylar, and Betsy came to visit as well.

EggBoat_blog

I served Deb’s Egg Boats—always a big hit.

And Hummingbird Cupcakes for dessert.

HummingbirdCupcakes_blog

Here’s Miss Skylar.

Skylar1_blog

And with Betsy.

BetsySkylar_blog

I had a lot of fun making Mother’s Day cards, and used a template from Rebecca Cooper at Simple As That to make some bookmarks for Sarah and Betsy. I don’t think Betsy is a big reader, but Sarah certainly is, and they were too cute not to do. Both women loved them.

Bookmarks

BetsyBookmark

SarahBookmark1

SarahBookmark2

I recently acquired a few Gelatoes from Faber-Castell that I wanted to try out. The flowers & leaves on Betsy’s card was colored with some of the metallic Gelatoes with shading done with the Faber-Castell markers. I’m not a convert yet, but I’ll be giving them another try or two soon. I couldn’t get a photo that showed the sheen of the metallic Gelatoes.

MothersDayBA

The flower and leaves are from Papertrey’s “Friends Til the End” set, and the sentiment from the stamp set included with May’s card kit from Simon Says. The ribbon is ages old from my stash.

My mother-in-law’s card was made with a fun product from the card kit as well.

MothersDayEllie

This embossed card front panel came with the kit. I backed it with a dotted paper by A Muse, and added more flowers from Papertrey’s “Rosie Posie.” A bottle of pink Perfect Pearls was also in the kit, and I used it to add centers to the embossed flowers.

Sarah’s more a fan of clean and simple, but all the stamps for her card also came in the May kit. I love the sketched banner, and have seen several cards around blogland where stamps like these are overlapped. The papers are all from Papertrey Ink.

MothersDaySarah

One of the things I like about the Simon Says kits is how versatile they are. These are all quite different cards, and yet many of the supplies came from the one kit.

I hope you had a fabulous Mother’s Day! Betsy celebrated later in the day with her family, and Matt, Tracy, and I had dinner on Consesus Lake. When we made the reservations, we were hoping to eat outside, but there was actually snow in the air for a few minutes yesterday. But I got my required mother and son photo after dinner before the weather turned nasty again.

MattKarenMothersDay_blog

Thanks for sticking with me on a rather long, photo-heavy post. I have one more post to go up before we leave tomorrow, and one scheduled while we’re away, but it’s likely to be very quiet here for the next two weeks.