birthday wishes

yesterday was my husband's birthday and no one (in this household anyway....) can have a birthday without a homemade card. or more a postcard- i used circle scraps, and i had used the diamond stencil and laid it onto another paper, and allowed to dry. using the book paper is somewhat flimsy- so, i glued it onto a piece of black cardstock for support and then, sewed the whole thing...love sewing circles and the little zig-zag off the page. top off with a stamp (mixed media essentials found at Paperbag Studio), and some washi tape.

 and what present doesn't want homemade wrapping paper?!....well, this one did! so, i painted up some newspaper with acrylic paint, stencils and again- some stamping. birthday done!

birthday love

 my birthday is this week....lucky me. my parents and my aunt and uncle bought me the perfect birthday presents....they know me so well; and actually, i am not all that complicated-pretty easy to get figured out.  so, my parents got me gelatos!!!! and my aunt found the necklace. i wore my new necklace today and cannot wait to see what i whip up with my new gelatos! and i thought gelato was only italian ice cream- go figure.

roller coaster day

well the day was supposed to be a good one. the day that my husband was born many years ago at this point. we had to pick on him a little bit...feels good to have evened the years ticket...he likes to pick on me for the 6 weeks in between our birthdays saying how old i am until his fateful day comes. but, i have for many, many years been his "old lady" (since our high school days...)

he doesn't care for cake, so, i baked his favorite...apple pie! and what a beautiful pie it is! i like to think that i got this apple pie gene from my gramma peggy- god rest your soul.

so, the pie was out of the oven filling the whole house with its most delicious smells when the phone rang...my art gallery calling. and, i managed to sell another painting and the buyer would like another one....so, even better! i was feeling on top of my little painting world! i had even been painting off and on between loads of laundry.

but, at 4:30 today, my one and only "aunt" elizabeth passed away. she was 96 and had only been closer location wise to us for the last 6 weeks. she had been moved due to health reasons and just getting older. i think the weeks have not been overly easy for my family but, we are thankful for the time that she was closer. she was able to come to our house for easter dinner and see the kids and we just went to her place on mother's day to celebrate the day and to share our daughter birthday cake. she had fallen and had a small fracture in her hip, she was still up and about and was genuinely happy to see us- i am so glad we were able to get there. she had been admitted to the hospital wednesday night because she had not been feeling well. we went on friday to see her, and she didn't know we were there- she had just gotten a pain shot- so, i was a little disappointed, but, i also just wanted to know that she was comfortable. there was only one elizabeth- the good lord threw out the mold after she was born!! you will definitely be greatly missed elizabeth!! we loved you!