Happy Birthday My Friend

My b.f.f., Ellen, turns, well, someage, on 4/23. This is the card I made for her and she finally received it. USPS was a bit of a disappointment...but at least it arrived on time. For this I used an old cabinet card (use the good stuff!), old Victorian scrap, a French "postcard tag", and old flocked wallpaper. Ellen loves her horses, cats, and even the odd rat. Uh, no rats here.

I tied it all together with some crepe paper and new scrapbook paper, plus a few doo-dads. Ellen, I hope you think of me and smile every time you look at it. Happy Birthday To You. And Many More.

Make This Now

You probably expected a make-it-now paper craft project? No! This is a must make recipe. Easy. Low Fat. Healthy and Delicious. It is a foil packet fish preparation. I used fresh halibut. Salmon, or cod, or swordfish would work well. Tear off a square of foil (or parchment paper), place fresh vegetables of your choice in the center of the square, plop the single serving size piece of fish on top of veges, season with salt and pepper, a sprig of fresh herb, a squeeze of lemon. Seal packet tightly. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Done.

I served this tonight with orzo cooked in chicken broth, along with steamed fresh baby spinach seasoned with fresh minced garlic and ginger. No fats used or needed. Give it a try.

For Me

I wanted to make something just for me: Partly as an Easter style memento, and part journaling opportunity. I decided to start with the folder from an old photograph. And to use one of the newly purchased religious "scrap" images as a focal point.

I used 4 different types of glue; hot, fabric, Elmer's and Glossy Accents, plus sewing (not a glue...but, you know, it attaches stuff). I'm seriously invested when I use some of my precious vintage flocked wallpaper.

I decided to finally use computer text in place of my handwriting. Velum creates a nice touch. So, this delicate pretty is completed and ready to place next to my bed.

Snap Fish Photo Book

They've been around for a while now; these "photo-books" by the various film developers. This is my first one, from Snap Fish. I made it to give to Garrett as a souvenir of our trip to Hawaii.

It cost around $11, had a neat background theme that worked for a tropical local.

And the text boxes are useful for a running commentary. A bit too much cropping of the images, maybe because I chose the 5"x7" book. Still, a neat little memento.

Easter's Coming

My friend Ellen made me a couple of sweet Easter cards, that I received yesterday. Uh, yeah, Easter! So I hastily put away my Valentine decor, and out came the Easter swag.

A couple years back I was on the hunt for vintage sugar panorama eggs, like the kind I had when I was a kid (well, I think I must have had one, but maybe just in my dreams...) I trolled eBay for a while and managed to purchase 4 perfect and very old ones. Made in 1951, two of them in their original green Easter print boxes.

Here is the interior of one of them. I don't know how these early American characters relate to Easter, but the colors seem to fit.

Sadly, one of the sugar eggs crumbled, but I couldn't toss out the little scene. Should anyone be interested in trying to construct a new egg, this is how the interior is constructed. Several years ago Martha featured making sugar eggs in her "Living" magazine. I purchased a plastic egg mold, super fine sugar, and made a couple, and they were really cute. But they were more like decorated whole eggs, without the interior scene. There is just no modern day version of these old beauties. I hope mine can last forever.

Journal Journey

Here are 3 more journal entries. I am not liking the hand written aspects of journaling so much.

Sometimes I write a little more...

and sometimes a lot less.