This is the second card today- this one is for my second niece who is at sleep-away camp :)

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Alas For Those Who Cannot Sing, But Die With All Their Music In Them

I have this quote taped beside my computer. It is a reminder to sing our song - whatever that may be - everyday so that we live our music and do not die with our music never having been a part of this world. Making cards, creating, is a part of my music - it is one very vital way in which I sing. Thank you for sharing my song with me :)

My nieces are away at sleep-away camp until the end of the month so this card will be headed to one of them. I purchased the Wild About You set right before it retired - I was tempted to not buy it since it was retiring...but I loved it so much that I couldn't resist :) I stamped the lion image twice - once in close to cocoa and once in more mustard - and then cut out the more mustard face and adhered it with dimensionals to the cocoa body. The certainly celery card stock was run through an embossing folder. The "window" was punched using my oval punch and then I stamped the greeting on the layer beneath. I added the ribbon and the button latte button as a finishing touch! Hope you like this particular song :)

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Get Acquainted With Your Boundaries

Boundaries are an interesting thing. There are reasons why our cells have boundaries, why our skin creates a boundary with the outside world. Sometimes it is very important to realize where one thing ends and another begins. And sometimes it is equally challenging to honor those boundaries. Today I am all about getting reacquainted with my boundaries. Reminding myself that there are some things I will do and some things I won't and respecting that. Have you gotten to know your boundaries lately?

Today's card was so simple! The limited supply challenge on SCS was to use your high school or wedding colors and a staple, clip or photo turns. My high school colors were purple and yellow...I still have my high school jacket in the basement...not sure when I'll wear it again, but you never know :) I scored the yoyo yellow card stock horizontally and then vertically - this was so easy to do with my Scor-It board! I then sponged the card with yoyo yellow and so saffron to make the texture stand out a bit more. I covered the chip board bird with yoyo yellow and cut around him with a hobby knife and then stamped a little yellow flower all over him in yoyo yellow ink. His beak was colored with an Only Orange marker. Hope you like him!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: It's Never Too Late To Find Yourself Again

I have always found my way to wherever it is I need to go...at least when I'm in my car. In my life, I seem to have a knack for getting lost and it takes me a little bit longer to find my way back to who I am. For the last 2 years I've been a little lost...and I'm finally finding my way back home. It's been an interesting journey and I have to say...it's nice to be back :)

This card was soooo simple! Just 2 bugs stamped with sahara sand ink (I stamped off one of them so the ink was lighter). I stamped them again on a separate sheet of card stock and cut out the bug bodies and popped them up on dimensionals. The greeting was computer generated and the holes paper pierced. I hope you like it!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be." - Shel Silverstein

This may look familiar if you check out the post right after this one :) This is the 4"x4" card to go with the little notebook. I couldn't resist the urge to duplicate the layout in a smaller size. This time I used really rust and old olive card stock and retired Haiku designer series paper. Once again I die cut the "A" out of the sueded mat board using my Sizzix Simply Serif alphabet. Inside it says "happy birthday."

Busy in the craft room today - making thank you cards and birthday gifts...this notebook is for Michael's sister Allison since tomorrow is her birthday :) The finished book size is 6"x6". The rust-colored mat board is "sueded" - my Aunt who owns a wonderful little frame shop call Glen Roc Gallery in Trenton, NJ, gifted me some pieces of mat board she had in her shop and I am having a blast!!!! The inside of the book is filled with blank white paper. Hope you like it!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Live Fully

This card is a thank you card for one of my aunts - I had to fly unexpectedly to Boston last Monday as my cousin Myles, 44 years old, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. It's hard for me to even know what to write right now - so many lessons are tied up in his life and his death. Myles was a person who lived his own way - he did what he was drawn to do and touched so many people along the way. One of my other cousins told a story at the house, after the funeral, about Myles going to visit a college president when he was 18 years old. He was considering the school and the president turned to Myles and asked, "What would you like to be in 20 years?" And Miles looked at him and answered, "38." I smile just thinking about the exchange :) I also realize there is so much I don't know about my cousin - so many things I could have learned - so many opportunities I could have tried to create to get to know him more...and now, I will have to do so through others since he is no longer here. We never know when our time will be. All we do know is that each day we get closer to the time when we, and those we love, will no longer be here - at least not in the way we are now. So today, and every day, live fully - take it all in - this is a beautiful experience we are blessed to have.