Easter Baskets

Are these adorable, or what! Thanks to Beate for her wonderful tutorial on Fresh and Fun for these little baskets. I made nine today for our Easter table. They will contain some Easter grass and chocolate goodies, but will also serve as namecards at each place.

Visit www.beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com for further deets and instructions.

Mothers Classes--Easter Cards

Since the chocolate bunny stamp would not be available until the afternoon, the morning's Mothers Class made cards using another design. Nicole, an experienced stamper, is our only regular in the morning; so we decided back in Sept. to call it the Advanced Class. Her cards shown here, with room to stamp sayings on the front and inside later, show why!

Upon arrival of the Chocolate Bunny stamp in the afternoon, Linda, Jackie and Melisa got busy stamping right away. First they stamped the bunny on Soft Suede cs with Chestnut Roan ink and embossed them with clear ep. They were then anchored on some Easter grass for effect and embellished with bows, eyes and a bunny tail. The Boho Blossom punch made use of leftover scraps.

Earlier, Jackie made a "white chocolate" bunny at home and brought it in to show us.

Linda, who has more artistic talent of her own (without the use of stamps) made these last two cards at home. The red flowers are from a Gina K. set that we stamped last week, with an added butterfly. The sunflowers are hand drawn and are the focal point of her second card with the fancy checkered bow.

WEDDING CARD

Here's a wedding card I made today using my Cuttlebug folders and the butterfly die. It pretty much speaks for itself.

For the inside, I used a stamp I had in my stash with a meaningful verse from I Corinthians 13. The tiny butterflies were made with my SU Embosslits "Beautiful Wings" and attached with glue dots.

I was originally thinking of doing it all white on white, but thought the contrast with the off-white layer helped enrich the look. Enjoy!

The Party's Over...

...and a good time was had by all!

Thankfully, the rain held off until evening so that it was not a soggy day. Once inside, it was far from dreary too! Decorating and food preparations were all in place as guests arrived.









Sousa marches greeted everyone as they came in, giving the event an upbeat feeling. Name tags and Ghirardelli thankyous with marching band themes were displayed on the dining room table.













There was so much laughter and conversation, we had no time for the usual party games. Everyone enjoyed the luncheon fare, the music, the spring bouquets and, of course, the visiting with old friends.


Rick, however, got out of town!

MARCH INTO SPRING FLING

Today was spent thoroughly cleaning the downstairs in preparation for my Spring Fling on Friday. There are about 18 ladies coming for lunch and fun. I'll try to remember to take photos this time! See you back here soon...

STAMPING CLASS

Tuesday's Bible Study elective is on using cards to minister to others, which will continue through May 4th. Here is the class using kits I made from used store-bought cards. After making the cards, we wrote notes on each one and enclosed them all in one large envelope for our dear friend, Lucy, who couldn't be there.

The next day, the Mothers Class had a great time making new cards from the old. Linda was admiring one of the designer papers that Jackie brought for us. The lupines image in the upper left corner was used for one of the cards shown.









All in all, the new cards turned out great!

DE-CLUTTER DE HOUSE (Final Challenge)

The final challenge is to look around your house as though you're a potential buyer and deal with anything that would detract from a good showing. Things out of place can be put away, unwanted items can be donated, table tops can be cleared--you know what needs to be done, right? Just use this perspective to wrap up your de-cluttering until we repeat the process next Fall!

Young children can help, too. Put on some marching band music, turn up the volume and enlist their help to put things away. Keep it short but FUN, for you as well as them. Pick things up and march to the beat of the music while you move them to other rooms. Empty waste baskets, polish furniture, swoosh toilets, put way clean laundry...

Now that winter is almost over (but not the snowstorms!)it's time to move on to more "fun" things, like stamping and other creative outlets. Aren't you glad you got your house in order? Enjoy!