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~

THINKING OF MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

(9-11-11 TRIBUTE)

I am sure that each of us can vividly recall

where we were and what we were doing

on September 11, eleven years ago this morning.

We all watched in horror as the events began to unfold

and the photos began to emerge.

This horrific attack, the lives that were lost and 

those who will never be the same, 

will never be forgotten.

My thoughts are with my American Friends.

♥ Bonnie ♥

TAKING A BREAK

With the arrival of a much anticipated Spring, I find myself rarely in the house

but instead, outside on my deck or puttering around in my garden.

I have a couple of big projects that I am working on outside and will consequently

not be crafting or blogging much for the next few months.

Wishing all of my friends a great Summer filled with safe journeys 

and wonderful memories.

See you in a few months.

~Bonnie~

BRAYERING 101

It was Cathy's Workshop Friday this past week and she

decided to have us work with our brayers (come to find out that

I need a new one, hence the results of my cards leave something

to be desired).  Anyway, we had fun, as usual and certainly

gained some knowledge about brayering ... thanks Cathy.

Using the new SU fabric, Cathy created a little tissue holder for

each of us ... isn't it cute??!!!

And finally, I found this adorable little Easter treat pouch 

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

and decided to make one for each of the girl's.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

FOR THE NEWLYWEDS

Classic black and white is often my choice for wedding cards.

In my stash of handmade flowers, I had this

white lace flower and decided it 

would be a nice

addition to this wedding card.

An EK Success border punch was used as the background frame

(http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/becca-bit-border-filled-frame/)

as well as the side borders.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~