It's been a busy weekend. In addition to Thanksgiving which we celebrated at Tracy's mom's, we also celebrated Ella's 7th birthday. Ella invited two of her friends and two of Skylar's friends to join them and the rest of the family for a petting zoo party. Ella has only attended one birthday party since the pandemic started, and her friend also had a petting zoo. She immediately knew what she wanted for her party. The two women who brought the animals to the party (celebrated in the garage), were wonderful, helping all of us hold, pet, enjoy, and learn about a nice variety of animals. Here's a collage of a few of them.
Ella petting the goat, the cutest hedgehog, Skylar with the boa
The girls checking out the armadillo, a chinchilla (the softest fur ever), Ella holding a bunny
Skylar with the fox, a prairie dog, one of two long-haired bunnies
And here's the birthday girl, all decked out for the big event! Ella is our glitter girl. Her mask was covered in sequins.
Knowing that, I made my first infinity shaker card, filled with glitter and sequins.
Thanksgiving was also lovely. We celebrated at Tracy's mom's for the first time. She's no longer able to negotiate stairs, and my sister-in-law's home has many steps to get into her house. There were eleven of us, and as always, the food was delicious and far too plentiful. I took zero photos---not the first time I've neglected to get my phone out at a family gathering.
I also have a couple of Christmas cards to share. I shared these on Instagram a week or so ago, but blog writing has fallen to the wayside with all the activities, Christmas card making, tutoring, and trying to organize and decorate for next holiday. Early this month, I enrolled in the Online Card Class: Holiday Cards 2021 even though I knew I'd be in Wisconsin for the first week of it. I watched all the videos, and once I got home I worked on some of the techniques. The infinity shaker card was also featured in the class.
The lesson for these cards was taught by Jennifer McGuire who challenged us to make our own patterned paper using strips of cardstock. I opted to use strips of striped patterned paper from Sunny Studios, and I'm pleased with the way they turned out. I used a Christmas card die from Papertrey Ink and got 2 cards for each cut as you'll see below.
After die cutting the opening for the striped Christmas tree, I was left with the tree itself. I decided to use a gold metallic oval to create gold "ornaments."
I also used tips from the card class to make multiples of both of these, ending up with 12 Christmas cards for my stash. This week looks to be another busy one. I'm almost done with the Christmas cards, but nearly all of them still need inside sentiments. Hoping to get the international cards in the mail later this week. Sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks for them to arrive. It's hard to believe December is just two days away!
