Catching Up!

Yes, there are still mountains of icy snow here in upstate New York, but still it was a beautiful day!  The air was crisp, but not windy or biting and I made every light on the way to work today--woo hoo!
I've been away from this blog for a few days since I've had many appointments related to my daughter's transition out of High School.  She has special needs and besides the normal angst and preparation of any family with a senior, we need to get her services switched over to the adult world, which is a whole other ball of wax from the educational support system for students.  *sigh*  I am, however, quite grateful for having her in our lives and for all the support she has received thus far.  If you missed the story of how we became a family, and are interested to glimpse a little into our lives, you can click HERE for the scoop.

Craftwise, I was working this week on some of the cards for my Birthday Card Club and also my Card Lifter Challenge for the week on Fiskateers.  Here's what I came up with.

 The patterned paper is from Cherry Arte...winter.  I've had it for a few seasons, but it's still pretty to me. Reminds me of hot chocolate and whipped cream with snow and poinsettias and cool winter sky and ice!

 The card base is from a stationery pack from Michael's.  I like to buy plain or neutral patterned stationery from the sale bins for .10-.50 whenever I can.  They make great card bases and come with the matching envelopes.  Win-win for me!

I made sure to ink everything with my Ranger Distressed Vintage Photo ink pad.  I just love how it defines everything even more as well as giving it the aged look I love.  The little flowers are Prima with a dot of rhinestone from Michael's.
Finally I wrote my sentiments and did my faux stitching with a white opaque pen from Inksentials.  I've got t say that I DO NOT like this pen as much as my white Signo Uniball pen.  The Inkssential pen was on sale and I needed one so I bought it.  Mistake.  I needed to go over everything twice and it skips all over the place.  It's as if the ball point runs through the ink line and scrapes up the ink as you write--leaving a clear line through the middle of the writing.  I bought two of them and tried both.  Same thing.
Ugh.  Going back to Uniball for sure!

Well that's all for now!  There are some awesome blog hops and online crops this weekend.  I hope everyone has a little time for some creative fun!  I, myself, am going to a crop at my favorite LSS, Captured Moments.  If you haven't already, check out their blog, boutique, and website HERE.  It's a little slice of craft heaven!!!!!