Time Marches On

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Alyssa with her brother and cousin.

Nothing reminds you of the relentless march of time like watching children grow up. You remember the tiny baby, the boisterous toddler, the grade schooler. But somewhere along the way something mysterious happens to these little people, something that we adults apparently miss or overlook until it suddenly hits us square in the face...they grow up. I don't just mean they become taller or more filled out. I mean they aren't children anymore, they are young adults. There is something about the celebrations that mark these milestone moments in a young person's life that makes the rest of us wonder where the time went as we gaze upon this freshly minted young adult in wonder and awe.

This past weekend I attended the Sweet 16 birthday celebration of my husband's beautiful great niece, Alyssa. I am amazed to think of her as a great niece. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that her father is in his 30's now. I met him when he was in grade school and his younger brother had just been born. In my mind's eye I still see them romping around, playing with my own children yet they are both grown men with families of their own. Cliche as it may be, time truly does fly.

Back of purse card

Front of purse card.

I could not let this auspicious occasion pass without creating a special card for this special young lady. The theme of her party was loosely based on Alice in Wonderland. The invited guests wore black and white and the Guest of Honor wore red since for this evening she was the Queen of Hearts. Using a template created by Penny Wessenauer, I made a purse card in Alyssa's favorite color, red, and also incorporated the black, white and hearts motif that marked her celebration. Using my KNK Zing Air cutter, I created the greeting on the flap of the purse by placing a glue pen in my pen tool holder. I wrote out the greeting in glue, cut around greeting with the standard blade tool, then dipped it in fine black glitter to reveal the text. The incredible precision of this machine made doing this a breeze. All the other elements of the card were already on hand in my RTU (Ready To Use) stash. I didn't think to take a photo of the card from an angle so you could see how it stands up like a purse. Inside the card were greetings and good wishes written by my family and me for Alyssa and, of course, a purse isn't really a purse unless there's some money in it . I used two small magnets for the closure and a narrow black satin ribbon as the purse strap.

No doubt there will be more family events in the not too distant future. More celebrations, more milestones, more cards. I'll be there, taking pictures and sharing my creations with you. I hope you'll come along for the ride.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Crunch Time

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Thanksgiving has come and gone and my head is still reeling from the speed with which the holiday season arrived. You would think that by now I would get the hang of this seasonal timing but I seem to be slipping backwards each year. I can almost feel Christmas sitting in my lap already and I haven't done a thing about it yet.


As my To Do list gets longer and longer, it's becoming more difficult to carve out time to make cards but I was able to eke out two simple ones in the last week. When my time gets crunched, I have to do away with frou-frous and work simply and quickly.

First, there is a birthday card for my purple-loving daughter in the Coast Guard who loves all things aquatic. The color choice and theme were obvious and it gave me the opportunity to play with a die set I had not used before, Spellbinders Shapeabilities Nautical Frame and Accents. It features a frame sized for an ATC (Artist Trading Card: 2.5" x 3.5") with a cute little sand castle in one corner, as well as other dies related to the nautical theme such as the wave pattern along the bottom of the card. I embossed the background with Spellbinders M-Bossabilities Sea Beauty embossing folder, then stamped and embossed the sentiment. Simple.

The other card was created for a swap with Oriental Stamp Art (OSA) Yahoo group, of which I am a member. This was part of the monthly Black and One Color swap. Participants make a card using only black and shades of a second color. This month is was red. Again I had the opportunity to play with a stamp set that I had actually forgotten about and never used before, Floral Vine (CS220G) by Forever in Time. I had a small piece of the black and red dragonfly washi paper and layered it onto red cardstock. Stamped the dragonfly from the Floral Vine set onto the red circle with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, then stamped a portion of a swirl from the same stamp set in VersaMark watermark ink and dusted it with PearlEx pigment powder (one of my favorite techniques). I lightly sponged VersaFine Smokey Grey ink around the edges of the circle, layered it onto the card then stuck on some red rhinestone bling in one corner. Again, very simple yet effective.

I'm still hoping to find time to make some Christmas cards to send out. Oh well, one more thing for my To So list.

Ballo ergo sum .
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Memories Are Made Of This.

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Every summer I vow to slow down and enjoy. Every summer I do anything but. This summer was no exception. I'll not bother to mention my gardening work. There's plenty of that in other posts. I'll just get to the rest of it.

I had heard that one of my cousins in Arizona had sustained a very bad leg break that would keep her in a cast for three to six months. I sent her this black and white get well card. Materials used were Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Circles and Standard Circles, Spellbinders Borderabilities A2 Curved Borders 1, Memory Box Vivienne (cutout) and Darla (solid) butterfly dies, Spellbinders Shapeabilities Sprigs (leaves) and Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. Solid butterfly was cut from vellum and embossed. I punched tiny flowers, sponged the edges with a coordinating ink and embellished them with tiny self adhesive rhinestones. Stamped verse from Inkadinkado Round Frames set.

My parents share the same birthday. My father, who is a year older, turned 80 this year and we marked the occasion with a semi-surprise luncheon at my house. The birthday card I made for them also served as an invitation to dine at my home. I call it a semi-surprise because although they knew my sister's family and mine would be there, they were not aware of the other family members that had been invited. My father, in particular, was surprised at the attendance of his brother and nephews who live nearly three hours away and whom he doesn't get to see very often. Card materials feature a variety of die punch and electronic cut flowers and leaves, Spellbinders Floral Ovals and text from Cloud 9 Design's Simple Thoughts - Happy Birthday clear stamps.

In a large heart shaped basket I placed some paper, envelopes and pens along with this oversized tag (left)  featuring a photo of my folks taken during their youth. It was the same photo I used for their anniversary favors. The guests were encouraged to write a message to the birthday couple or to insert a card of their own into the basket. As decorations I created more oversized tags, this time featuring a photo of my handsome father taken at my parents' 60th anniversary celebration in April on one side and the event on the other. I hung these around my house and in the backyard, then distributed them to the guests as favors afterwards. The tags, the heart, the corner stars and the black text were cut using Craftwell's eCraft electronic cutter. I created the cutting files in Serif DrawPlus 6. The black text is self-stick vinyl.

Here is a picture of my father posing with his photo cake. Yes, people, he really does look like that. No Photoshop. No trick photography. My dad is a handsome man who looks much younger than his 80 years. Eat your hearts out, ladies.

This is a photo of some more handsome men, my son, Alex, holding my cousin's grandson, William, both of them wearing a good coating of cake frosting on their faces. The expressions on those faces are priceless. My nephew Michael in the background is also enjoying the moment. The fact that a sudden deluge washed out the backyard and we all had to run indoors didn't dampen the fun.

Family, food and good times. This is what memories are made of.


Ballo ergo sum

- Gitana, the Creative Diva

A Busy Summer

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Every summer I have visions of taking it easy and concentrating on my gardening, puttering around the house and generally trying to be as free of outside engagements as I can. Every year it seems that the universe conspires against me and places all manner of commitments in my path as if determined to undermine every single relaxed summer thought I had. This summer is no exception.

The busy-ness began in the spring with the preparations for my parent's 60th wedding anniversary. On the heels of that event came Mother's Day, Father's Day, a Memorial Day barbecue, my husband's 60th birthday celebration at the end of June followed by another barbecue the following week. Somewhere in between all this I participated in a Moth Storytelling Workshop which had a culminating recital in mid-June. A week later my flamenco dance class participated in the annual student dance showcase where my classmates and I did a short flamenco number. As if all this wasn't enough, I enrolled in what I thought would be a short sandal making workshop. It took me over two months of Sundays classes to complete a pair of ugly sandals. This weekend my nephew Daniel, who lives in Europe, flew in for the first time in years just in time for his 24th birthday which was celebrated, along with his younger brother's, at my mother's house on Saturday. On Sunday, there was a barbecue at my in-laws to celebrate my mother-in-law's 82nd birthday and to send off my husband's twin nephews to college in Atlanta. I truly have not had a weekend to myself in months.

Well, the birthdays are over until September when my father turns 80 and  my father-in-law turns 87. Then there's a whole spate of family events in October. I'm taking this time to breathe a bit before the next flurry of activity. I'm also posting a photo of my brother and his two handsome sons for whom we celebrated birthdays this weekend. You can tell they're related...they all have the same devilish eyebrows.

I think I need a vacation.

- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Busy Days

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Me and Sal

A view of Sal's property.

This month has been one for the books, one in which I've been kept busier than a tap dancing centipede. Earlier this month my husband visited a friend of ours up in the mountains of NY to find that he was recuperating from two back-to-back surgeries, two post-surgical infections and four separate trips to the hospital in less than a month. When he returned home, my husband was visibly shaken and very concerned for our friend Sal who appeared thin, frail and weakened from his medical ordeal. He didn't like the fact that Sal did not have anyone to care for him during the day and, frankly, was afraid he might die if left alone. Long story short...I spent nine days with Sal, making sure he rested, ate, took his medications and didn't overexert himself, a tall order considering this is a man who does it all, does it well and is fiercely proud and independent. During my time in the mountains we experienced a storm that dumped over a foot of snow, turning everything in sight into a living Currier and Ives scene. I ate eggs fresh from the chickens, woke to the sound of a cock's crow and reveled in the sight of the snow-clad mountains in the morning sun. It was truly heavenly.

Bowling with my young'uns.

Angel's Valentine Cupcakes

I returned home just in time to go bowling with my kids and help my daughter and  her boyfriend make cupcakes for Valentine's Day. Well, truth be told, the only help I offered was to supply the ingredients, the kitchen and eat the cupcakes but, believe me, that's enough. Being away for over a week left me with mountains of mail, both snail mail and email, to catch up with, baskets of laundry and hundreds of dog hair dust bunnies. That's not to say that my family didn't clean up after themselves but, honestly, does anyone's family clean up after themselves well?

Somehow in the middle of everything that was going on, I managed to do some baking and whipped up two delicious pound cakes from a recipe given to me by my oldest daughter's mother-in-law a few years ago. These cakes had my husband swooning, they were that good.

Coast Guard cadet on board

One of my surprise birthday cakes.

The highlight of my return home was my birthday weekend. I had expected a very quiet day with no fanfare whatsoever. Instead I received dozens of calls, email, text messages and Facebook well wishes. I was surprised with two birthday cakes and several gifts. My son cooked me a shrimp dinner and I was plied with wine and spirits. The following day we went to dinner at my sister's house where a going away dinner for my youngest daughter was being held to commemorate her imminent entry into Coast Guard boot camp.

Puppy patient in recovery.

My remarkable month was not without its down side. This morning I fell down the basement stairs...again...and was lucky that I didn't break a bone. I did, however, sprain my left shoulder badly enough that it swelled up to the point that I couldn't move my arm and the pain was close to unbearable. Fortunately, it's  nothing that rest, pain killers and some muscle relaxers can't take care of in time. Then my son and I had to take our dog to the vet to have her teeth cleaned, a procedure that requires she be anesthetized as if she were having surgery. My son was there to reassure his dog, I was there to reassure my son who was beside himself at having to leave his "little girl" alone with strangers for most of the day. We went to breakfast where I managed to get ketchup all over my light pink top and was witness to some quiet drama going on between two waitresses vying for the same customers and tips. In short, it was a day filled with minor mishaps and major annoyances, but even this day has its silver lining. It's over now.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva