Announcing Garrison!!

This is the announcement I sent out when Garrison was born in '01! Who would've thought that 9 1/2 lb. bundle would turn out to be such a runt today!

 Notice all the deckle edge cutting and sponging. I think I made about 50 of these. Again, not something I would mass produce today! Geez, I wonder how I got anything done back in those days!!

Christmas 2000

This is the Christmas card I found at my Mom's from 2000. I remember making about 40 of these! Not only was the image and sentiment embossed, I tore the image and gold behind it in a heart shape. Then  I tore the sentiment. I can tell you that wouldn't happen today! Waaaaay too much work for mass production!

Sweet Baby Jack

I made this mini album for a sweet lady that just had her 1st Grandson. I had a baby paper pack from Making Memories that I bought on clearance a long time ago. It only had 2 patterned papers in it, so I found some other paper that coordinated with it at Cat's. I already had this mini album, but it was white and 6 1/4". Since I was trying to save paper, I had cut my paper in half , but then it didn't fit top to bottom. I inked the edges of the album with brown ink before adding the paper. I usually completely cover my pages, but I think it came out okay. A classic example of use what you have and "make it work!"

Mother's Day 2000

I made this card for my Mom for Mother's Day 2000. The basket is from the SU Button Bear set. I think I used a blender pen to color the image and make the square around it, using post-it notes as a mask, then coloring inside the square. Tearing and Mulberry paper were the trend at the time.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today would be my Mom's 77th birthday. This is the first birthday card I made for my Mom in 2000. At the time, vellum was all the rage. I stamped the image on vellum in white pigment ink, colored over the image on the back of the vellum with marker, then layered the vellum over the patterned paper, and of course everything had a bow like this added to it! I was so proud of this card when I gave it to her!

Easter 2000

This is the Easter card I made for my Mom in 2000. I used a roller stamp to make it, using colored pencils to color in some of the images. I purchased several roller stamps at the time because they were less expensive than buying a stamp set for a holiday that you may not get a lot of use out of. Having gone on to purchase at least 100 stamp sets, it didn't take me long to get over that way of thinking!

Mom's Drawer

We've been busy working on cleaning out my Mom's house. It is physically and emotionally exhausting. My mom was a bit of a packrat, so there is quite a lot to deal with. She has a buffet with a huge drawer and I decided to clean it out. I opened it up and it was crammed with practically every card she had ever been given and she had dated them. I found some from the late 80's!

She had all the birthday and Mother's day cards all of us had given her, as well as, graduation and wedding announcements, newspaper clippings, etc. She even had cards and drawings the grandkids had made her and their birthday invitations! Apparantly, my neice and nephew went through a phase where they were fascinated by the mail system. They would make Grandma a card then go to her house the next day and check her mail to see if she got it! She had saved all of those including one that was a wadded up piece of wrapping paper with a note written on the back!

Besides the cards from all of us, she had numerous cards from her friends through the years. It was so touching to read all the cards they sent thanking her for being a great friend, giving them a thoughtful gift, taking them to lunch, calling to check on them, or being there when they needed someone to talk to, etc.

I spent about 7 hrs. going through that drawer. I made a box for each of my siblings and as I found a card from them, I tossed it in their box so they could have them. Of course my husband thought I was nuts for spending so much time going through everything when there is so much to do, but it was the best 7 hrs. I've ever spent!

So since I have every card I've given her in the last 20 years, I also have every card I made for her since I started stamping in '99! I thought it would be fun to post a couple each week to see how my stamping abilitly evolved, as well as, the different trends through the years. Trust me, some of them are something only a mother would love! This card was made after going to my first Stampin' Up! party and buying the Button Bear set (that I still have, but never use!) Notice I didn't bother coloring the bear, but check out the roller background and fabulous deckle edge scissor detail!! 



Hot Fun in the Summer Sun!

I made this scrapbook page using sketch #327 from Sketch Inspiration.

The paper and embellishments are leftovers from an old Bo Bunny line. It will be great for pool pictures!

Hi!

This is a bright, cheery card I made using sketch #325 from Sketch Inspiration. I used old leftovers from Bo Bunny - my favorite!

Proud to be an American!

Happy 4th of July! I made this from sketch #326 from Sketch Inspiration. I took liberty (no pun intended!) with the sketch to make it work for my card.