Soldier's Cards

My little brother is away at boot camp in South Carolina, and he is dearly missing his girlfriend Whitney.  I just spoke (via Facebook Chat) with her last week, and she sounds very sweet.  I think they make a cute couple, and it's clear that she adores him based on her facebook posts.  I know that he's writing her a lot, so I thought I'd make him some cute cards to send to her, so she gets something other than notebook paper!

The "Can't Buy My Love" card uses a real quarter and is made from the Sassafras Monstrosity line and Basic Grey sticker sheets.  The "You Make My Heart Go Vroom" card is made from My Minds Eye Round and Round.

The idea for the "You Make My Heart Go Vroom" card came to me in the middle of the night when I was thinking about how to use the leftover paper from my "Maggie" page (which I'll post later).  

I hope she likes them, and I hope my brother gets some satisfaction out of sending her something pretty!  I think it's fantastic that he has someone who makes him happy.

New Bedroom Paint Colors

My friend Kathy's husband is a general contractor, so I took the opportunity to hire him to do some of the stuff around the house that I've been meaning to since I moved in. He removed the popcorn ceiling in our master bedroom, and was able to texture it the same as the walls. It looks AMAZING and it's so nice to have the popcorn gone. He also took down the "fake" ceiling fan and gave us a real one, wired and all. It makes a big difference on the temperature when you're sleeping!

Since all that was done, we realized it was time to finally paint the bedroom from the pinky-peach color to one we really wanted. Problem was, we had no idea what we wanted! We pored over paint chips, websites, HGTV shows.... anywhere we could look at colors. Our ideas went from red to blue to green and back to red again. We still had the bedroom furniture cleared out, so we had been "living" in the living room. I was getting sick of that, so I decided once and for all that picking the colors was necessary!

Thanks in most part to the sherwin williams website, I settled on a green primary color with the loft as a brown accent wall. We're loving how it turned out, and can't wait to start shopping for accessories and artwork to make it complete.

Giving Back to Onyx and Breezy

A couple years ago Brooklyn got really sick, and we found out she had heartworm.  The disease was advanced and large worms were already growing in her heart, so she needed serious treatment right away.  It was heartbreaking because she needed shots and to remain crated for almost 10 weeks. She's so playful and wanted to just do puppy things, but while the worms were dying we had to keep her as still as possible.  It was a rough couple of months for us, and to top it off the treatment was well over $1,000.  That was a lot of money for us at the time, so Brian's mom told us about the Onyx and Breezy foundation. 

We submitted a letter and photos of Brooklyn, and they covered nearly the full cost of her care.  It was so generous, and we're so lucky to have Brooklyn around today because of their gift.

Every year Onyx and Breezy has a silent auction, and Brian's mom asked me donate a scrapbook for it.  It has a dog theme and plenty of room for photos and journaling.  I used a Bo Bunny Press pets line, and I think it came out really well.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to give something back to an organization that gave so much to us.

Just a Few Cards...

I was feeling pretty stressed today, so I thought I'd take a break and make a few cards.  My Grandmother's 75th birthday is this week, so I felt like it warranted a handmade card!  Also, Brian's mom and dad sent me a birthday gift and a very generous gift for our trip to Ireland. 

This is the card made for Brian's mom and dad as a thank you.  I lifted the layout idea  from a page on 2peas.

And this one is for my sweet Grandma, turning 75 this week... I can't believe it! Three quarters of a century!  I think that over this next year I'm definitely going to have to make it a point to spend more time with her.  My trips to Vegas are usually spent with Mom and Michael, and Grandma is usually working.  When I head up there in September for Mike's birthday I'll make sure to get some quality time.  She has so many great stories and interesting tales, and she still giggles like a schoolgirl at corny jokes.  I love my grams!