As in the past, our family spent Spring Break in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  And as we have done before, we visited the Casa Hogar orphanage.

Unlike the United States, Mexico does not have a foster child program.  So although there are true orphans at Casa Hogar, any child that has been abandoned or abused…

or whose parents are imprisoned is also sheltered there until such time that the parents are able or allowed to care for them again.

This year we had some “homemade” books to handout to the children.

Our church group took an evening and cut out pictures from magazines.  We then organized them into books, and one of the woman in our group who speaks fluent Spanish wrote in them for the children to read.  I was the lucky one who got to deliver them.

They were a huge hit!

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We love Puerto Vallarta.  From our terrace we are able to see the pirate ship that sails daily filled with tourists.

And we can hear the singing and dancing and cannon fire and are treated to a fireworks display every evening!

But this year something was different!

They are building a second pirate ship and we witnessed it’s maiden voyage.  (Okay well it was maiden to us.)

See the mermaid?

I was inspired by her and couldn’t wait to ink up my newest set from Crafty Secrets called “Mermaids” when I got home.

We also got an email from one of our renters there that she had left a charger in the condo.   So before we came home, we found it and mailed it back to her.  I made this card to send to her along with the charger.

Thanks for sharing PV with me!

Happy Crafting!

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Mermaid Card:

Stamps: Crafty Secrets “Mermaids”; Rubber Moon “Happy Birthday”

Papers: SU! Whisper White, Summer Sun, Pink Passion, Taken with Teal; PTI True Black; Graphic 45 “On the Boardwalk Collection”

Just a note:  Ellen Hutson has put all of her in-stock Graphic 45 papers in her store on sale at 15% off through to the 28th!!  Use the promo code G45.

Inks: Memento “Tuxedo Black”; SU! Taken with Teal; Copics:

Mermaid:

Water:

Seawall:

Accessories: Circle Nestabilities; Kaiser Flatback Pearls; EK Success Butterfly Punch; SU! Border Punch; GG Ribbon; Beads and Sequin Ribbon

Palms Card:

Stamps: Viva Las Vegastamps “Palm Forest”; PTI “Scattered Showers”

Papers: SU! Summer Sun and Whisper White

Inks: Versamark; SU! Summer Sun, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust and Not Quite Navy

Accessories: Embossing Powder; Ric-Rac; Corduroy Brad 

Today is my blog’s one month birthday! Thanks to everyone who has stopped by. I’m having so much fun! I hope that you’ve had an occasional smile while you’ve been here!

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Before I get to my card today can I backtrack just a bit? Remember my tulip “painting” a couple of days ago… the one I painted at my friend and neighbor Michelle’s home? Well one of the other ladies (Nan) in the class took some pictures of Michelle’s beautiful work. I just wanted to share them with you. The top two are watercolors.

And this gorgeous tulip one is acrylics.

Oh and check out Nan’s sketch and subsequent painting!

All these gorgeous tulips… Here I am struggling trying to paint just ONE!!

But I decided I have an excuse. See that plate in the lower left hand corner of the picture? Those are coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate. Now seriously… who could concentrate with those intoxicating goodies right under their nose!!

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This evening my youngest son had his first high school track meet of the season. He ran the anchor on the 4 X 400 relay. His team came in first! Well if you’ve ever been to a track meet, they run the events in the same order every time. The 4 X 400 is the very LAST event. So the meet started at 4pm. Zach ran at around 7:30! But it was worth the wait to see him cross the finish line! *insert huge grin here*

So I didn’t get a chance to stamp anything tonight. However I still have a card to share that I made awhile ago. While browsing magazines and catalogs I will often see pictures that my brain will immediately twist into some sort of card design. (I think this may be some sort of sickness. Not sure.) Anyway I came across this chandelier in a Neiman-Marcus catalog.

And finally the card that came from it.

All stamped images are gold embossed. There is gold leaf around the Cool Carribean panel and also on the large oval behind the sentiment. The flowers are all cut out and popped up on dimensionals.

Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley, Small Script

Paper: Cool Carribean, Cranberry Crisp, Whisper White

Ink: Versamark, Gold Leaf

Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Ribbon, Rhinestones, Oval Punches, Gold Cording

Have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!

My friend and neighbor, Michelle, is a fabulous artist. When you walk into her home you are surrounded by her gallery of beautiful paintings. She is also an art teacher. A couple of weeks ago she invited me to come to one of her classes that she holds in her home.

This is my “finished” project. It’s a tulip. *chuckle*

(This is as big as you are going to see it! Believe me you don’t want to see it any larger than this!! lol)

Michelle was wonderful. She explained how to use the white and darks to make your image pop. It was really fun despite the fact that I was the only first timer in the class and wished more than once that I could hide my creation under the table. Michelle said that I had just been looking at it for too long. And that if I just put it up and came back in a couple of days it would look better to me. I could relate to that as that is sometimes the case with making cards as well. But the difference is that instead of having to draw your image there is this really cool thing called a stamp! Well I thought I would give the 2 day test a try. Nope. It still looked pretty bad to me!! lol So why do I stamp? Yup you guessed it! I CAN’T DRAW!!!

Awwww… That feels better. 🙂

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Stamps: Terrific Tulips, Sentiment from Rubber Soul (I added the exclamation point.)
Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, Whisper White Craft
Accessories: Taffeta Ribbon, Brads, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun
Technique: Emboss Resist