Easter Joys...and a "Vintage" Easter Egg Hunt!

Good evening, everyone! 

From what I hear, today's been much better weather-wise for just about everyone--is that true?  I sure hope so!  Enough snow & rain--we want Spring!

With that in mind, I've got a couple of new, fresh Eastery things to share with you...and a bit of a stroll down  memory lane, if you'll indulge me...!

First off, I made a fun little Easter card this morning before work--just had to squeeze in a little creative time! 

I found this sweet vintage image online and just had to use it!  Love these lady chicks, each with their floppy Easter bonnets on...I did something fun with the lace--I didn't think cream or white stood out enough with the papers I chose, so I started wondering what I could do.....Glimmer Mist, of course!  I sprayed it, let it dry (with a little help from my heat gun!), and it was perfect!  That Glimmer Mist is a miracle, I tell you!

...a little Dazzling Diamonds to sparkle up the eggs & flowers on their bonnets...surrounded it with Martha Stewart's "White Gold" fine glitter, some ribbon, and that's about it!

Next--oh, I just love these--another of Vicki Chrisman's amazing 3D Shadowbox die cards...available through Crafty Secrets, of course! 

The sweet pastel colors on these vintage Easter images just make me so happy!  Look how wonderfully these cards stand up on their own--great design, Vicki!  And get a load of those new Prima flowers--fabulous!  They even come pre-sparkled!  (How thoughtful, Prima--thank-you very much!)

This image I found online---just fell in love with this sweet little ducky family!

This little cutie is from Crafty Secrets' "Easter" Creative Scraps--her beautiful tulip is covered with Dazzling Diamonds just to make it pop a bit more....and see that adorable little basket with the eggs at the bottom?

This is a new (to me, at least!) Martha Stewart punch--don't you just love it?!  I punched it with various pastel colored cardstock for the eggs, then covered them with Glossy Accents and Dazzling Diamonds...

And this little bunny boy also comes from Crafty Secrets' "Easter" Creative Scraps--a little more Dazzling Diamonds on his yellow daisies, some "White Gold" glitter framing each image, beautiful crystal rhinestones here and there...lace, ribbon & pom-pom trim--that's it!

Now for the indulging me part...this is mainly for my family, scattered near and far, but I hope you will enjoy it, too!  Some "vintage" scenes from a sweet Easter Sunday long ago...

My brother Steve & I ready to head out to hunt for eggs...don't you just love how excited he looks?  Not sure what I was thinking right there, though!

What's up with that enormous bow, Mom?!

What a cutie-pie!  (He's an old daddy now--but I love remembering him like this--love you, Stevie!)

Proud big sister...that little guy that I'm holding is Scott--my pediatrician brother--love you too, boy!

Now joined by Dad and Mom to make the picture complete...until the next three came into the picture...a ways down the bunny trail...!

Finally got rid of that bow!  Thanks for sharing these memories with me...I actually remember this day, hunting for eggs in the back yard, taking the pictures, the warm southern California sun, the smell of the grass...funny how those things stay with you after...um...a LOT of years!

***A quick thank-you to Lynn for the kind award yesterday--you're too nice to me!***

Hope you're busy making fun memories with your families this weekend--I'll be back on Sunday with something new to share.  Have fun!

Mellow Yellow...Play Date Cafe' 19 and Sour Cream Banana Bundt Cake

Good evening, everyone!

Hope it's been a great day--still raining here--was just hailing wildly a few minutes ago!  I love days like this when I don't have to go anywhere except drive my kids to and from school...I can stay nice & cozy inside...just the way I like it!

I've got lots to share with you--no short post tonight!  The color challenge this week for The Play Date Cafe' is Deep Yellow, Pale Yellow & White, which led me toward an all creamy yellow day of cardmaking...I really enjoyed it!

First of all, here's the challenge for PDCC...

These colors are so soothing and spring-like...so much fun to play with!  Here's my take on the challenge:

I love this sweet image I found online...unfortunately, I can't remember where I got it--sorry!  I didn't keep track of things as well in the beginning--now I do!    I used some retired SU! So Saffron dp, lace, ribbon, a big vintage shell button, gold glitter, and a touch of Dazzling Diamonds on her flowers...that's it!

Next, in keeping with my mellow yellow mood, I made this card...a bit more summery here...am I wishing, or what?!

Another image I lost track of where I got it...again, apologies if it was yours...and thank-you!  I used the same retired SU! dp for this, just a different print.  I'm enjoying using what I already have laying around on my table, if it works...don't worry--I'm cleaning off my table tonight to get ready for tomorrow--new stuff!

Lots of Dazzling Diamonds on the sunflowers & leaves, and I surrounded her with mica flakes.  Around that, I edged the image with Cinnamon Stickles.    Finished it off with some beautiful brown crocheted lace, ribbon and my favorite brown & cream gingham ribbon.

Last card--are you still with me?  I really love this image--another one I found online from a lovely blog--Art-e-ology.  She does beautiful things with Photoshop and vintage images! 

Isn't this an adorable collage image?  Love the soft colors...The polka-dotted yellow paper is from a gorgeous new paper collection from K&Company called "Cut N' Paste", which I found at Michael's.  The yellow rose is one that I cut out from one of the pages in the pack--beautiful! 

Some wide, beautifully detailed lace, ribbon, creamy crochetetd lace...

...Dazzling Diamonds on the parts of the image I wanted to highlight, mica flakes all around.  You can't really tell here, but I did something really fun with the mica flakes today--I had an idea to put some in a ziplock baggy, then I sprayed in some Gold and Lemon Zest Glimmer Mist and mooshed it around--it dyed it perfectly!  I let it dry for a bit and used it around the image...in person, it looks beautifully creamy yellow & dazzling!

Last of all, in keeping with our creamy yellow theme for the day...how about the most delicious bundt cake I've ever tasted in my whole entire life?  Sound good?  Well, here you go!

The icing doesn't look as good as it did before I added the edible glitter to the top.  I love to sprinkle it on pretty things, but it kind of soaked in and looked funny...oh, well!  It still sparkled! 

It was my husband's birthday on Saturday, and all he asked for was a bundt cake...so I searched around for a good recipe, and found it in my Bundt Classics cookbook that I've had for years...never tried this one before, but he LOVED it--said it was the best he'd ever tasted!  

Here's the recipe:

Sour Cream Banana Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, cut into pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup Bundt pan.  If using a 10 cup pan, fill 3/4 full with batter and make 3 to 4 cupcakes with the remaining batter.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients.  Mix 2 minutes on medium speed.  Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Remove from pan; cool completely on rack.  If desired, drizzle with Vanilla Glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 Tablespoons milk

In medium bowl, mix sugar and butter.  Add vanilla.  Gradually add milk until desired consistency; mix until smooth.  For thinner consistency, add additional milk.

YUM!!!  This cake was dreamy, I tell you!  Try it--you'll LOVE it!

Well, that's it for tonight.  Hope your evening is wonderful and that tomorrow is as well.  I'll be back on Friday with something new.  See you then!

Sweet dreams!

Vintage Postcards--Birdies and Babies

Good evening, everyone!

It's been raining like crazy here in California today!  We've got a bit of a break right now, but there's more coming!

This will be a very quick post tonight--trying to make up for all my long ones lately!  I finished a couple of pretty postcards from Crafty Secrets' Vintage Postcard Kits...here's the first one...

This sweet springtime image is from their "Family" Vintage Postcard Kit--so many lovely images in this set!  They are so quick and easy to do--can do as little or as much as you'd like--they always turn out beautifully!  Here I just added some silver shavings glitter, some topaz crystal rhinestones, Dazzling Diamonds on the nest, an acrylic amber bead, and some brown & cream gingham ribbon--all done!

And then we have...

...an adorable baby girl image--complete with poem--so sweet!  Again, some silver glitter, Dazzling Diamonds, some deep rose rhinestone crystals, and red pompom trim...tie a ribbon on top for hanging, and you're done!  The natural light wasn't very good today---sure shows in my photos--oh, well!

That's it for me tonight--told you it would be quick!  I'll be back tomorrow night with something new...see you then!

Sisters...

"Sisters, sisters...there were never such devoted sisters...."
                                                                                    --Irving Berlin

Good evening, everyone!

Hope it's been a wonderful and relaxing weekend for you all! 

I've had sisters on my mind the last couple of days...brought on by some sweet Crafty Secrets' images that I made into cards this weekend...here's the first one...

I love these little girls getting ready for some fun adventure...standing together in front of the mirror...just like my girls do today.  But these little girls lived oh, so long ago...

This image is from the "Girlfriends" Images & Journal Notes booklet.  The pretty pink & aqua rose print paper is from Crafty Secrets' "Classic" paper pack.

 I used a bit of silver glitter, some lace, ribbon  and some fabulous pink buttons I've been waiting to use...they just seemed right for this card...reminded me of little roses.  That's about it!

Here's the next one--

This image is also from Crafty Secrets' "Girlfriends" booklet...and it SO reminded me of a few pictures I have of my grandmother, LaPriel, and her younger sister, Veon--can you see why?

This was taken about 1930...I love the hem on my grandmother's black dress...she was probably about 17 here.

My grandmother died when I was just 3 1/2 years old, but I still have little girl memories of her...most importantly, I distinctly remember that she loved me.  That's the best memory of all.

For years, I wanted to connect with her sister, Veon and talk to her about her sister.  Our families hadn't really had much contact in years, because LaPriel was gone and my grandfather had remarried, and I felt uncertain about how she would react to me contacting her.  Oh, how I wish I hadn't been so nervous about it!

I finally got the courage to write to her in 1998...we would be making a trip to Phoenix where she lived...also where my grandmother had lived when she passed away--indeed, for most of her life.  When I finally arrived at her house at the appointed time, she greeted me so warmly, and told me how much like her sister I was.  I started to cry right off the bat! 

We talked for a couple of precious hours before I needed to leave...me asking question after question...she remembering and talking.  I wrote down every word I could catch, and came away with some priceless information about my grandmother that I could have gotten no other way...no one knows you like your sister...

I learned that she loved to wear Shalimar perfume...loved to act and read poetry. 

She was named "Miss Boise Idaho" (where they lived for a while) when she was 17...here's her portrait at that time...

...isn't she beautiful?

Veon said she broke many a heart about this time.  There was one heart that didn't get broken, however...my grandfather, Rudger's.  She reportedly came home from a visit to his town (their mothers were best friends), and said she was in love!  "I know it's love," she said, "because he doesn't dress the way I like...!"

                                              

Their mothers were so happy!

Much later, when they were both married with children, they loved to get together for lunch and window shopping.  Both families were trying to be careful with their money, so the two sisters would feel guilty buying things for themselves.  But, they figured out a good trick--they would buy something for each other that they had liked in the store--they would come home with that thing they had fallen in love with that day and say. "Look what LaPriel/Veon bought for me! Wasn't that sweet?!"

Remembering when LaPriel died, her sister said, "The light went out of the world when she died.  She was like a security blanket to me.  She loved her little sister, I can tell you!"

I'm so grateful that I went that day, as I was never to see my great-Aunt Veon again...she passed away two years later.

Sisters...I love mine!  They didn't come along until I was 14 and then 16 years old--but with time and shared experiences like marriage and motherhood, the years have lessened between us, and we are good friends.  I couldn't find a good recent picture of the three of us together, so here they are in recent photos...

                                     

This is Becky--she's married with four of the most beautiful children--I'm so proud of what a wonderful mother she is!

This is Jenny--the baby of the family...holding her first baby, born just this last October...little Connor Riggs Baron.    She is a wonderful little mother, too!

While we're at it, I might as well just show you the whole crazy family--this was in southern California this last summer where we rented a beach house--what a blissful week!

 Unfortunately, we were missing my brother Greg and his family, and  Jenny and her husband Edward here.  It's so hard to get a big group ALL together at one time!  My beautiful sisters-in-law might as well be my real sisters--I adore them!  And the sweet girl cousins here that are just like sisters....

One last photo for you...my three beautiful daughters...and the most wonderful, loving sisters.  I'm so excited to see what the future will bring for them, and will enjoy watching their relationships grow stronger and stronger as the years go by...

If you're still with me, sorry for the long post tonight--just had lots to share! I'll see you very soon with something new...have a wonderful night!

Sweet dreams...

"Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply."
--Jane Austen