We're Not In Kansas!

Just a quick note to let you know we are fine in this part of Massachusetts. Wild weather here though. Multiple warnings that lasted all afternoon and into the evening. A tornado actually hit one town over.

This is the hail that fell on our deck around 6pm. I thought I saw a funnel cloud while I was cooking supper when I heard the local forecasters say a tornado was spotted in Oxford (one town over and where I work).
We actually were celebrating my oldest daughters' birthday and had planned to go in the hot tub. Guess that didn't happen, lol. I am in shock we didn't lose power.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the four people who lost their lives in these storms today.

Best Camera Ever!

     I usually am a very spontaneous and impulsive person. If I like it, I buy it. However, that being said, when my husband told me I could finally get a new camera for Mothers' Day I was stumped. I like the looks of the SLR's but my brain can only learn so much at once. The idea of changing lenses and switching settings was more than I could handle. (For now anyways, lol).
     We went to Best Buy, Walmart (I heard they have good prices) and then I searched the internet. I am so glad I did. Two of the cameras I was trying to decide between got terrible reviews. The batteries wear out fast, not great pics, awful on action shots. One was a Canon 130 IS and the other a Nikon. Both were point and shoots.
     I finally contacted a friend who is a photographer and she recommended the Canon G12. I searched the reviews on line and found them very favorable (easy to use, different settings to play with if you want to without being too complicated). The only draw back was for rapid action photos but that can be remedied with a separate flash attachment so it does not pull from camera body. You can even get an optional lens for greater zoom.
     Ok so now I have to try this camera. No one close buy has it in stock or even one to try! Guess what, the canon factory was located in the area of the Japanese earthquake so stock is difficult to find. Great! I went back to the internet and thought I hate to buy it without even trying it first but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do right? You'll never guess. I went to the Best Buy website and saw it was on sale, $100.00 off! What is even better is I called the store located about 40 minutes from us and they had 3 in stock. How sweet is that? Needless to say we got back in the car and, after a quick lesson on how to use this, we came home with the G12! I love this camera. Check out these pics.

Mia's dance class. This was taken thru the glass!

If the weather doesn't warm up soon this is as close as the kids will get to swimming this year!

My favorite page in the class I just took. Love embossing!!!

Little Miss Cecilia and her first ever pig tails.

My First Ever Award!

    Thank You Audrey!!!  I love my virtual friends. I love how easy it is to share a common love (crafting) and be able to share it with people (new friends) who have the same passion about what they do! What a wonderful world this internet thing is, lol.
     Anyways, my new friend Audrey just passed on this award to me. She does fabulous craft projects, not just paper crafting but sewing, soap making etc. and is so willing to share all her talents. I love reading her blog and seeing all her creative endeavors. You can find her here:http://cuteandsome.blogspot.com/ In order to accept this award you have to write 5 things about about yourself and cricut. So here goes:
     1. I have always done some sort of crafting or hobby from painting, to sewing all sorts of things, stenciling, and flower arranging.
     2. Two of my daughters gave me my first cricut for Christmas 2009. What an addict they have enabled their mother to become, lol.
     3. I currently own the baby bug, expression, Imagine, gypsy, design studio, Yudu (which these same 2 daughters bought me this past Christmas!), Your Story(small version), cuttlebug and the Yudu Cardshop which I won thru the ProvoCraft/HSN launch with my winning card design. I can't even begin to count the numbers of cartridges and embossing folders I have. Now i am adding imagine carts to the list, lol.
     4. I love taking on line classes to expand my creative knowledge and keep my work fresh and new ( at least new to me).
     5. I have 5 children and 8 grandchildren who all seem to enjoy being creative. they LOVE to go into my craft room and go through the Cricut carts and books. I hope they are inspired by what I do as well as they inspire me. My only wish is that there would be more hours in the day to complete all the projects in my head!!!
     I also must pass this award along to 5 other people. These people have been such an inspiration to me. If you do not follow these talented people then please do, they are well worth following.
     1.Elizabeth @ 217 creations who has great tutorials http://www.217creations.com/
     2. Diane Campbell Payne @ Capadia Designs who has fabulous tutorials on Design Studio and gypsy projects http://www.capadiadesign.com/2011/05/take-idea-and-run-with-it.html
     3.Enfys @ Going Buggy. Her work is fantastic and her sense of humor is unmatched. You never know what life is like until you hear her prospective!http://going-buggy.blogspot.com/
     4.Laurie @ Hiding In My Craft Room. Amazing woman with a bunch of kids and a husband who dedicates his life to serving our country. Really cute cricut projects http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com/2011/05/im-here-for-color-dare-challenge.html
     5.The inspirational Monique @ Monkey Doodle Cricut. She is an inspiration personally as well as creatively. Monique designs the most fabulous layouts I've ever seen. She also has great guest designers. If I ever get past making cards I hope to do some lay outs half as good as hers. She also sells kits for these LO's.   http://monkeydoodlecricut.blogspot.com/
     I have been working on a Nautical wedding invitation but I can't share just yet. First, my Imagine acted up so I am awaiting my replacement machine to be shipped. Secondly, I am going on vacation for the Memorial Day holiday and thirdly I cannot give you even a sneak peek until they are mailed out. I don't think it would be fair to debut them before the guests receive theirs. Just saying!!!

Clearsnap Prize Package.

     Hi all, yes I am still alive, lol. I've been busy designing a Nautical wedding invitation. Can I just say they are going to be fabulous! Now that the design has been approved I have to get cracking to get all 92 done before I leave on vacation the end of the month, yikes!!!
     I just wanted to take a moment to share my prize package I received from the Clearsnap Facebook Egg Hunt today.

 There are some adhesive swirls to glitter, some Smooch, glitter and some beautiful colorbox inks. How did they know I didn't have any of these colors (I know, hard to believe). What amazes me is that these are exactly the colors I need to finish some Mothers' Day projects. Thanks Clearsnap, I love my prize!!!
     Now back to the invitations. Promise I will share when they are done. Hugs.

The Royal Wedding

      Please indulge me as I remember another "royal" wedding that happened 38 years ago. That's right, 38 years ago on April 28th, Fran and I tied the knot. (He told me this morning that he sent the Queen an email begging her to change the date of Will and Kate's wedding, however he did not receive a response. Hmmmm I wonder why, lol?)
     Let me back up a little. Yesterday, our official "Royal Wedding Anniversary," I returned from work to find this:

      Three dozen roses! (Almost one for every year we've been married!)

     It's a good thing I love working with flowers. I pulled out this beautiful vase we received as a gift from a Swedish foreign exchange student we hosted one year. It is reserved for special occasion flowers!

     Back to the  royal wedding. My dress was simple as well. It was a linen dress,  A lined and had lace on the sleeve caps but a very long train with lace inserts. I also had Stephanotis in my bouquet. It was a dreary morning but by the time we emerged from the church the sun was shining. The only problem we encountered were the May flies swarming around us.
     There are some similarities between the two weddings. First there were hats. Yup, I had a cap style hat with an extra long veil. All the bridesmaids had matching hats as well. Like the Queen, my mom also wore yellow. However mom had a long linen dress with a matching full length coat. It was so classy and she also looked like a million bucks!
     Lastly, Fran and I drove off in his car that said "Just Married' and we had balloons attached. I believe ever woman is a princess on their wedding day and, in their eyes it is a Royal Event. Best of luck to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge may your marriage last as long as ours has.