EASTER CHICK POUCH

Who doesn't like Easter chocolates?  

And the residents at Mom's retirement home are no exception.

Inspired by a video tutorial from

Michelle Last, 

(which can be found here:

http://michellelast.typepad.co.uk/my_weblog/2012/03/easter-treat-pouch-using-the-stampin-up-bird-punch-video-tutorial.html)

I decided to make these little pouches filled with chocolate eggs 

for Mom's friends where she lives. 

Michelle has created some amazing projects and her

video tutorials are well produced and easy to follow.

Thanks Michelle, for the inspiration for this project.

Mom has become acquainted with many of the residents and some 

have shared sad stories of how they miss their

families who they rarely ever see.

Who does that???  Who can put their loved ones away 

some where and just forget about them?  Do these people

not realize that we will all be in our golden years eventually?

Anyway, to help bring some Easter smiles, these little pouches were

made with love and I know they will be enjoyed.  

And best of all, Mom is so happy to be able to spread

some cheer among her friends.

Thanks for stopping by.

HAPPY EASTER!

~Bonnie~

PUPPY LOVE

My sweet little LILY is never far from me, no matter where I am 

or where I go.

Here she is, enjoying a snooze in her canopy bed

while I am crafting.

Crafting above ground has certainly worked well for me

as I find myself in my craft room

whenever I have some ME time.

These are a couple of recent creations.

My copics are going to dry up if I don't use them more

so I decided to ink up this stamp (which incidentally I have had

for at least 2 years!) and play with my copics.

I am still learning but the more I play with them, the

more pleased I am with the results.

 Spellbinders and Pink ... what a combo!

When I saw this image on Pinterest, I knew that it would

be perfect for a dog sympathy card.  

Unfortunately, I have needed quite a few of these in the past few months.

When my clients have to say goodbye to their fur children,

it's difficult for me too since some of these puppies have

been coming to me all their lives for grooming

and I have become very attached to them.

 My hopes are that a personally crafted card will let the puppies' humans

know how much I care and that I am thinking of them

during these difficult times.

Thanks for stopping by.

LUMINARY

Due to some sketchy weather conditions, I missed our recent 

Workshop Friday which CATHY hosted.

So as not to be left out, Cathy came over the other day and

brought with her, my kit for the project 

and here it is.

This is the velum opening where the light shines thru.

And this is the light shining thru.

We used alcohol inks on the background.

This was such a beautiful project and it's now displayed on our

fireplace mantel, where I enjoy it every evening.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

ON A ROLL

As it turns out, there will be another lady coming to

Jenny's birthday lunch tomorrow... Stella, who is celebrating her

81st birthday on the same day as Jenny.  So, I decided to

make each of them the same style cards

but in different colours.

Inspiration for these cards can be found here http://www.card-making-magic.com/doublezigzagcard.html

Both of these gals love flowers so I'm sure they will enjoy these cards.

Hope you are having better weather than us here in

southwestern Ontario ... minus degree temperatures, with

snow and high winds resulting in white out conditions.

Of course these are just regular conditions for you Gail!

http://scrappintimes-gail.blogspot.ca/2013/01/celebrate-what-you-want-to-see-more-of.html

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

CREATING ABOVE GROUND

Since Mom decided to move to a retirement home, the bedroom that we had built for her was calling my name.  Moving my craft room from the basement to the

main floor of our home was to say the least, extremely arduous ... 

but so worth it.

Now I am crafting above the ground and LOVING IT!

Spending time on Pinterest is very addicting but I have been so inspired

by the many incredible ideas that I find there.  The next card is one of those ideas.

It is a zig zag fold card

and the instructions can be found here:  

http://www.card-making-magic.com/doublezigzagcard.html

Modesty aside ... you know when you complete a project and you

just feel so good when you look at it?  Well, that's how I

feel about this card.  My dear friend Jenny is celebrating her

80th birthday next week and we are taking her out for dinner.  

This will be her birthday card.

I ♥ SNOOPY.  And have ever since I was a little girl.  

I have made it a mandate to haul out some of my old and never been inked stamps

and create with them.  In a drawer marked "Snoopy", I have several 

stamps paying homage to him and here is a little card that I 

made with one of them.

And I would like to share an idea with you for my new

method of housing my punches.

I have several edge punches that cannot be stacked or

otherwise stored in an organized way, so I came up with this idea.

These Bygel rails can be purchased at Ikea and I hung them

on the inside of my closet door in my craft craft room.

I drilled a small hole in each punch, where a hook could be placed and the

punch subsequently hung on the rail.  Then I punched a sample of each 

punch and have them hanging with the punches on the door.

Well that's it for now.  

And thank you CURT for lighting a fire under me

to post on my blog again.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

WORKSHOP WONDERS

Better late than never ... here are the projects

that we created in our last two Workshops.

Carolyn hosted with these two cards.  

She is the Queen of Intricacy as you can see in these cards.

Kristy hosted our Christmas Workshop, where we

created these beautiful ornaments.

Thank you girls, for these amazing projects and for your

creativity and passion for our shared

love of paper crafting.

Wishing everyone a New Year filled with

Love, Health and Happiness.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

A SMALL GESTURE OF CHEER

It's been several months since I've attempted to create anything in my

craft room.

I always take the summer off from crafting, to spend my time outdoors

and I totally enjoyed my summer this year.

Then in September, when I usually get back into crafting, my MIL fell and 

broke her hip.  After surgery to repair her hip with a metal plate

and screws, recovery and rehab, she was finally discharged after 6 weeks

in the hospital.

During those weeks of recovery and rehab, I witnessed many things in the
hospital environment.  I came to realize that

 the circle of life is relatively short. 

 You have to accept the things you can't change, 

cherish what you do have 

and look at each new day as a gift. 

Patience, forgiveness, understanding, compassion ... they all

matter and can make a big difference in what you see

when you look into a mirror.

After a stay with us, Mom decided that she really wanted to live

somewhere with people here own age and still have

 a bit of privacy and independence.  So, her house was listed and sold

and she now lives in an assisted living retirement home.

In the few short weeks that she has been living there, I have met

several of the residents and I am absolutely dumbfounded as to

how many of them rarely, if ever, see any of their family members.

Some of them have literally been put in there and forgotten about.

So, I decided that my first craft project was going to be a little goodie box, 

to be placed at each place setting on Christmas Eve at dinner.  

Even though it is a very small gesture, 

I wanted each resident to know that someone is thinking about them.

There are 66 residents so the preparation of 66+ boxes took a few days but

it was time well spent and it felt soooo good to create again.

Maybe this Christmas Season, you could consider remembering

those seniors who are not able to live independently

anymore and rely on the kindness and compassion of those

who care for them, many who are not their own family members.

And just remember, if we are fortunate enough, we will all 

be seniors one day.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~