Melody's Birthday Card

We spent last weekend in Idaho celebrating our granddaughter Melody's 6th birthday. To go along with the bracelets and other gifts, Dale and I put this card together. I did the design and construction. Dale added the sentiment inside.

This was another new-to-me design concept. The bottom of the front of the card is cut into the shape of the mouth. I gave her three layers of eyes, the last being large googly eyes. Tongue and teeth are made of paper. The bow is real ribbon.

The tricky part for me was figuring out how to make the texture of the "skin" work. I ended up putting the blue paper through the embosser twice - once on the front, once on the back. But I had to reverse the embossing plate so that all the skin bumps poked out in the correct direction once the card was folded.

Having the front of the card short also meant a smaller spot for the sentiment inside. 

For the envelope, I added some coordinating paper for pizzazz under the flap.

Here's Dale's sentiment. 

(Whoops on the strange lighting! The color is all off).

And, of course, I signed the back. I did the cursive first, then remembered that she doesn't read cursive yet, so printed my name, too.

She got a kick out of it. After opening all the gifts she exclaimed, "This is the BEST day EVER!"

Three Generation Bracelets

Dale and I were able to spend time in Idaho to celebrate Melody's 6th birthday. I wanted to make her something special and decided on a bracelet that's personalized with her name.

Then I thought that maybe Annie would like a bracelet, too.

Well, if Melody got one, and Annie got one, wouldn't their mommy like a matching bracelet?

Ah, heck. I want in on the fun too!

Now we're a family that gets to be fancy together.  

Morning in May - 1

With the weather so nice these days, I've returned to my two-mile walks around the neighborhood. Here's what my neighbors have decorating their yards.

Walking buddy

Iris

and Iris

and more iris

Much more to come

Heart Swag - 2

What other precious treasure have I kept?

Beads

Games and stickers and keys and charms

The four hearts I shared earlier this month

Oh. And the occasional giraffe

Geocaching really is all about the fun of the hunt. Swag is a bonus. My favorite part is leaving fun swag and imagining little kids getting excited to find the trinkets.

Heart Swag - 1

A couple weeks ago I posted about four pieces of heart-shaped swag I found on a single day of geocaching. As I put it away, I got caught up admiring the various swag I've kept over the last decade and a half since getting into this treasure hunt game. It's show and tell time!

The classy rings.

Jewelry and body art

The bar scene

Office suppies

More tomorrow

Dale's Birthday Card

I had some fun learning a new technique on Dale's card this year.

This is called a gate fold. The circle slides into the ring to "lock" the card fronts together.

Dale's been volunteering at our local planetarium, so I used that as my theme. I found the spacey stamp set at Dollar Tree! I used colored pencils to give the alien some pizzazz. 

One of my kids was impressed. "Mom! You've up'd your card game!"

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Wisteria Time

These graceful flowers are here ... then gone!

I catch them while I can

Mother's Day Card

Gosh, I haven't posted for over a week. I've been busy and have lots to share. I'll start with a special Mother's Day card I made for my daughter Julie.

This card represents another first for me. I added a "belly band." It's a strip of paper that wraps around the card to hold it closed. I actually sewed the large white button to the belly band to make it look like it was holding a belt closed. The rest of the buttons were glued in place.

I added one more flower-shaped button to the inside. Then stamped the back with my "handmade by" stamp and signed it.

I tucked one of my very favorite Quilted Hearts into her package. She can keep the heart for herself, or set in out into the wild of Idaho.

Julie said our grandkids got a kick out of all the colorful buttons.

Flitting Around and Geocaching

Last Tuesday Dale and I had a great morning of geocaching. We found new-to-us country roads to explore and some geocaching gems. This was a favorite. The name of the cache is #Retweet. The container? A decorated birdhouse. Inside the birdhouse was a plastic container that had the log and a nice selection of swag. 

I have a particular love of leaving extra swag in each cache. I'll usually leave three new pieces of swag for any one piece I care to take. The swag I like best is, of course, hearts. In this cache I found the angel with patchwork hearts on its wings. It's a wooden lapel pin. From the 15 caches we found that morning, I found a total of four pieces of heart swag. The other three are small charms, two heart-shaped keys and a silver puffy heart that says "Lovely." 

Since I was taking the pin with three patchwork hearts, I thought I'd leave one of my Quilted Hearts near this cache. 

I hope it gives the next cacher an extra smile.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

The warmer, drier, sunnier days will find me moseying around the neighborhood on walks again. Blooming trees and yards full of daffodils and tulips are a treat.

I can get close enough to stick my nose in some and take in their fragrance.

This week I wandered down a street I usually don't use. I found a very colorful Little Free Library in a neighbor's front yard.

They fixed it up adorably, including a stepping stone path. 

The little library seemed like exactly the right spot to place another Quilted Heart.

Squiggle

Playing with form and texture today.

A standard elementary school fixture.

Ding-Dong Dash

Dale and I made a May Day surprise! Flower posies for some special people in our lives.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, people would mark the first of May by hanging baskets of flowers or sweets on neighbors' doorknobs, knocking on the door, and dashing away before they can be discovered. Dale and I decided to revive that tradition - in a slightly newfangled way.

Unfortunately, we didn't think of doing this until Monday morning. So after we got all our weekly tasks done, we turned to this flash craft. Dale made the pattern for the paper holder and helped me figure out the fastest way to complete the project.

After brainstorming several ideas, I decided to make the posy cones from two layers of scrapbook paper with Spring designs. The "flowers" are made using various stickers and floral pieces I had on hand. The flower and heart stickers are double-sided, stuck to wooden skewer "stems" that were cut in varied lengths. 

Fabric "silk" leaves were added to a couple of the stems to add volume to the top of the cone. The skewers are poked into two very small styrofoam balls down in the point of the cone. I punched a couple holes in the top of the cone and threaded a ribbon through them for a hanging loop.

When I was a kid, we called it "Knock and Run." Jodie calls it "Ding-Dong Dash." Dale and I first delivered posies to the front door of each of our next-door neighbors.

Then we set off for Springfield to deliver posies to each of our grown kids. I wasn't fast enough to dash back to the car before Jodie caught me, though. I do believe I totally surprised Jeanne.

Dale and I try to remember to celebrate minor holidays as well as the big ones. It's fun to have frequent, small celebrations. May Day is certainly right in that category. 

Hmmm. What's the next one? Maybe Flag Day on June 14th. I'll put my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with an idea to create something before that date so that I'm not so rushed.

Little Free Quilted Heart

The final Quilted Heart placement of the day was at the Little Free Library down the street from Jodie's house.

Pick a book. Pick up a heart. Sounds about right to me.

I believe I've placed about a dozen hearts so far. Time to release more of them in the wild.

Adult Activity Center

For our final stop on Monday we went to the building that houses Jodie's office, the Willamalane Adult Activity Center. This connects to Island Park via the bridge where I left the last heart.

Most of the trees are in bloom right now. We had an extremely wet early Spring, but that means everything is green and growing.

Even the building's sign looks beautiful dressed in purple and yellow flowers.

I found a spot by the front door to leave a Quilted Heart. Jodie joked that this hardware is so our seniors can tie up their horses on the way in.

The heart looks tiny on this massive expanse of wall. That's a good thing, right? The red color makes it stand out. Someone will be sure to see it over the bench as they wait for their ride.