Mothers' Day

After a week of rainy and cold damp weather, it was so exciting to see the sun come out on Sunday, which was Mother's Day.  Each spring we like to take a trip to Jenkins' Arboretum in Devon, PA. It is beautiful with the rhododendrons and azaleas blooming throughout the wooded hillside.  There are lots of other wildflowers emerging and coming into bloom as well.  And so my hubby and I decided it was a perfect place to spend the day.  Even though it was still a little cool, the sun was shining and it was a perfect day for a walk through the woods!

Here are a few of the pictures I took.

The skies were a brilliant blue with light fluffy white clouds.

.

More flowers.

In addition to lots of white trillium we saw a few pink ones and this beautiful purple one.

It was a perfect way to spend Mother's Day!

Spring Has Sprung!

This past week we have been enjoying some beautiful weather.  It seems that at least Spring has arrived.  Last Saturday I was able to clean off my porch and finally enjoy some time relaxing on the porch.

The grandchildren enjoyed helping Paw-Paw with some planting in the front of our house.

Aren't these tulips just beautiful?

?

The azaleas are almost ready to bloom.

My hubby landscaped the hillside behind our house last summer.  It is looking beautiful and full of life as well, but it is continues to be a work in progress!

Can you tell we like lighthouses?  Here is another very pretty planter.  I love the red and purple together.

Hopefully the hummingbirds will be back soon.  I got ready for them this week as well.  I have two feeders.  One off the front porch and one in the back.  Last year we had several hummingbirds enjoying our neighborhood.

Yes, Spring has returned!  Hubby, who loves to garden, is happy to be outside tinkering in the yard when he gets home in the evenings.  I enjoy watching the yard and gardens come back to life.

This Week's Craftiness!

This week I have been thinking Spring as I was making cards.  I have been playing with some of the pretty designer papers I have in my stash as well as some of the recent fabrics that I purchased.

But first, my hubby surprised with me with some stamps that he found at Goodwill. My first card was made using three of the little stamps that he brought home.




I took a 2 x 5 1/4" piece of perfect plum cardstock from Stampin' Up and using a circle punch, tried to evenly space the three holes. Then I used it as a template to stamp the three images on a piece of white cardstock and colored them with my colored pencils. It took a couple tries to get them lined up the way I wanted them! I used a piece of designer paper for my card front and finished it as seen here. The card front was mounted on a white card base.  I don't often do cards with colored pencil, so this was a nice change.





Here are two similar cards that I made using strips of designer paper in a sunburst pattern.  On the first one I used an image that I had cut from fabric. The second one has a cardstock flower from a pack I had purchased at a yard sale last summer.























And a few more cards made with fabrics.

All in all, it was a productive week. Card crafting is relaxing and something I really enjoy doing. Which is your favorite?