A 50th Birthday Card

Hello I want to share a special card I have made for my friend's 50th Birthday.

This is the year of turning 50 for me and some school friends

who I still keep in touch with.

This is the last one I will be making for 2011 as we have all turned 50 now.

I first met my friend in 1967 in grade one.

I was her bridesmaid in 1982.

I have tried to personalise the card by using seam binding for the bow in the same colour as the bridesmaid dress I wore at her wedding.

The sentiment stamp...Blossom....is a name her dad called her...

and

the little girl has a basket of eggs

Collecting the eggs is a job my friend had and I believe did not enjoy.

I JUST LOVE this Stampin' Up Easter Blossoms stamp set.

I have been dying to try it out since purchasing it on ebay a couple of weeks ago.

And it took me about 7 days to complete this card,

once again due to a combination of pain and working it all out as I went.

I never make the same thing twice and everything I make comes from the heart. I used a lot of techniques on this card. Inking, shading with chalks, layering and stamping under the focal images, tying a double bow the Amazing Paper Grace way, stamping, embossing, using lots of Spellbinders dies, Flower Soft for the little girl's bouquet, glittering up the scalloped frame around the little girl and using a final coating of Glossy Accents, pearl bling,

 ribbons secured with Scor Tape etc etc........

It is truly amazing how many products, techniques and effects go into one little card.

I enjoyed every minute of it!!!

Thankyou to all you wonderful people who release such wonderful products for us to use and enjoy when cardmaking.

It is amazing how much I have learnt in the last year and it is chiefly thanks to card making blogs and Youtube demonstrations.

When I think how my skills have expanded in 12 months it is mind boggling!

Happy 27th Birthday Dear Daughter and Father's Day in Australia

My daughter celebrating her 27th Birthday one day early.

No doubt she will be spoilt by her DH when she arrives home today.

He might even make her a cake as well.

My one and only DD has been staying with us for the last week.

She wanted to visit us and then travel to our home town for a few days and catch up with relatives and friends but the dreaded morning sickness really took hold and she spent the entire time with us, feeling sick.

Not a good way to enjoy a holiday but she did get a lot of rest which is great as she never lets any grass grow under her feet and a good self imposed rest is probably just what she needed.

Here in Australia, yesterday was Father's Day.

 My parents travelled one and half hours to my place on The Darling Downs, mainly to see my daughter as she was not able to get to see them so we spent a lovely day together.

They had not seen her pregnancy bump before either.

We have always lived no more than 30 mins apart and in the last two years my DD and SIL

moved to Gympie

and

DH and I moved to The Darling Downs so it is rare for all of us to get together anymore.

Anyhow DD set off for her home this morning bright and early because her morning sickness is really more like afternoon sickness.

Therefore feeling fresher and chirpier in the morning was the wisest time to set off for an approximately 3 hr trip to Gympie.

DF & I, Father's Day 2011

DH, DD and me.

Sadly our son lives 6 hrs away and was not with us for DD's birthday, I think for the 1st time ever.

Dear Daughter (& her 17 week old baby bump) with her Dad  

&

me with my Dad. 

My DM, DD & me

We spent quite a lot of time walking around the garden.

Mum and Dad love gardening and always enjoy looking around at our new plants,

 especially here on The Darling Downs

as the seasons are so pronounced 

that we have had to learn to adapt to the very different gardening conditions,

especially what plants will survive the successive harsh frosts we endure in winter.

Gazanias, salvias, petunias, sweet peas, diosma, coastal rosemary

and

 primulas are just starting to either bud up or flower.

Spring has sprung!!

The 1st of September is the first day of Spring in Australia.

Rusted garden ornaments are from my parents and some even from my grandparents.

My parents lived on a beef farm until 6 years ago

and

there was always plenty of garden art to be had.

DF calls it junk....how hilarious!

It's win win for me and him.

Bought this at the plant sale on Saturday....a faux tap plant stand.

The petunia and dianthus were free as we bought a lot of plants,

for every $50 spent we received 2 plants.

Ornaental garden wheelbarrow made by DH years ago

and rusted wheel courtesy of my cousin

who used to work at the local dump....how exciting for me!!!!

I got lots of treasures from him over the years.

Bought this beautiful little lavender on Saturday at a garden sale at Kingsthorpe.

It's so sweet I put the bird cage over it as I did not want to risk it being dug up by my dog or a stray cat that has been hanging around.....

SO

   anyhow....

Dear Daughter

Happy 27th Birthday

for

today

5th September 2011. 

Love you lots

xoxoxoxoxox

God Bless You Always!

Well it came and went and it did not hurt at all.

Yesterday I turned 50. Not something I have been looking forward to but its arrival of course was inevitable. Three days prior I decided I DID want to spend it with good friends and rellies so I promptly text messaged or facebooked my guest list and to my surprise everyone was able to attend especially as we live quite a distance from all the guests.
It was a great day, in fact one of the best birthdays I have ever had and not a drop of alcohol in sight. Mainly because it was lunchtime and also way too cold.
The day commenced with a low of -5c and the entire yard white with frost. The skies were blue and cloudless and it was quite pleasant sitting in the sun although the temp in the house never went above 10c.
I told everyone to rug up and I think almost everyone came layered and scarfed.
This is quite funny as this type of weather in Queensland seems quite obscure and surreal even though we do live in a temperate region. All my life (except for the last 18 months) I have lived in the
sub-tropics as have all of my party guests.
My two children were also able to attend so it was extra special. My daughter and SIL live 2 1/2 hrs away and my son a 6 hr drive in New South Wales.

Speaking of my daughter she made a beautiful ginger birthday cake (I chose ginger) for me and decorated it so sweetly. She has had very bad morning sickness for the last few weeks so lucky for me and her she was feeling a little better, enabling her to do so much cooking.
My DH did an excellent job on the BBQ.
I got the through the day better than I would have thought possible considering I am only 8 weeks into recovery from my Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF). When someone asked me what I got for my birthday they were surprised to hear that it was the TLIF. Even though we have private health insurance and there is some Medicare coverage we were out of pocket $13,000. So there went my dream of a Western Australian pink diamond ring. I have been dreaming of one for about a decade. Maybe in a decade's time I might finally get one??? But the way the economy is headed, what with the Carbon Tax (weirdly announced on my birthday 10th July 2011), fears of rising un-employment,shares prices still not recovered from the highs of 2007, the rising AUD $, recessions and maybe even depressions looming, house prices receding, food prices increasing etc etc where will it all end up?