Birthday

A lot of my friends have April birthdays.  I can’t tell you who this one is for.  Is it going to show up in your mailbox?

I cased my card from the Global Design Project Challenge #GDP032.

The color combination came from Pal Paper Arts  #PPA297

These flowers are great at giving a card a lot of dimension.  Botanical Builder Framelits are a must have item!

#imbringingbirthdaysback By the end of the week, all my April birthday cards will be sent.  Better late then never. 🙂

Speaking of birthdays, Super Man surprised me with my birthday present yesterday.

It’s a black iron planter.  They have these all over downtown Des Moines.  He drilled down into the tree stump to level it.  By next weekend it will be full of beautiful flowers.  I love it!  I actually got two smaller iron planters for Mother’s Day a couple years ago.

We made it through the bike ride yesterday with no incidents, but Super Man’s leg had a run in with the planter as he was installing it today, requiring ice and band aids.

The is Super Man in Water Works park yesterday. Yes, he’s a serious biker.  He started doing triathlons last year at age 51, after losing 50 lbs.  A friend asked why I call him Super Man.  He’s a humble, godly man who tries everyday to do what God is calling him to do.  He’s a wonderful (not perfect of course, none of us are) husband and father.  He’s smart, funny, and really kind.  He likes to make guacamole for me. (Not the most important thing…but definitely a perk!) He’s been my best friend since we were 12 years old and he’s been there with me through all the ups and downs of life.  We are celebrating our 30 year wedding anniversary on May 31.  There’s no one I would rather do life with.  For all these reasons and more, Steve really is my Super Man.  I hope all of you have a Super Man too.  Give him a hug, life is short.

Here’s our selfie in front of a beautiful crab apple tree.  The whole park was full of beautiful blooming trees.

Pat wrote and asked if Super Man cleaned the garage yet?  The answer is not yet.  Stay tuned, I’m confident he’ll hold up his end of the bargain.  Remember he’s wonderful, not perfect. 🙂

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

 

 

Guess what arrived today?  A birthday card from the one and only Shannon West!  Yep!  Shannon is the awesome Stampin’ Up gal who started the #imbringingbirthdaysback movement and inspired me to participate.

I was so excited to find this awesome birthday card in my mailbox!  Shannon is making so many more cards than I am.  Another big difference is her cards arrive early and mine arrive late.  🙂

All the cards have the #imbringingbirthdaysback on the back!  Thanks so much Shannon!  You made my day!  My birthday is actually next Tuesday, but I was excited to get the party started early.

Actually the last couple days have been pretty awesome!  Yesterday my dear friend, Donna, surprised me with a delicious coconut cream pie for my birthday! She also helped me organize my attic.  Yep, Donna’s a really good friend! Super Man challenged me to get the attic organized, and then he would deep clean the garage.  It was actually hard to walk through the attic and impossible to find anything.  Now I have a map and know where everything is.  When my nephews, Liam and Gavin, come back for a visit, the Brio train bucket will be on the train table waiting for them.  Last time they were here, I couldn’t find it.  Anyway, attic- check.  Super Man when does the deep cleaning garage project begin?

Today was another fun day.  My friend Teresa and I have birthdays a couple days apart.  Janene, Teresa and I met for breakfast at La Mie Bakery in Des Moines.  We were shocked when we got there at 8:30am on Thursday and there was no parking and no tables.  Don’t people have places they need to be at 8:30am? Thanks for breakfast Teresa!  Janene gave us each a very cute Kate Spade kitchen towel and fancy brownie mix.

When I looked at the towel, it looked very similar to a flower in the free additional set sent to all Paper Pumpkin subscribers in April 2016, called All About Everything.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, here’s my Kate Spade knock off.

Are you a Paper Pumpkin subscriber?  If not, you should be. It’s only $19.95 per month, and less if your purchase a subscription.  My Paper Pumpkin subscribers are invited to a free class every month to make creative Paper Pumpkin projects.  April subscribers- there’s a Kate Spade knock off card in your future.  Please stop by my blog tomorrow and I’ll show you my Kate Spade card set.

This afternoon Barb, my sweet BSF and stamping friend, and I worked on decorating 22 gift bags for a top secret BSF project.

Here’s one of the bags.  Isn’t it cute?  I’ll show you the rest of the bags when we complete our mission.

Keegan is practically living at his high school for the next two weeks.  They are putting the final touches on the musical, James and the Giant Peach.  They practice from 5-10pm.  I get up at 5:15am to exercise six mornings a week, so I have trouble staying awake late enough to go pick him up at 10pm.

It’s rained for the last two days.  Iowa could not be any greener than it is right now.  I think of my gardens and flowers when it rains.  Keegan told me this morning he loves it when it rains.  Rain=$ to him, because he mows lawns.

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

 

 

Slowly but surely I’m getting the birthday cards in the mail. #imbringingbirthdaysback

I got to volunteer in the 3 year old class at Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) today.  We had twelve of the sweetest kids ever!  The teachers do an amazing job. If you have a preschool age child, you need to find a BSF class near you and sign up!  Jenn- Liam and Gavin would love it! (Liam and Gavin are my nephews who live in Georgia)

Abby and Keegan are so easy to please.  I asked what they wanted for dinner this morning and they both wanted Stir fry and Cauliflower Fried Rice.  It’s a grain-free, low-carb dish because the cauliflower is the rice!  When they got home tonight and I had it made, they were so pleased.  I guess because I don’t always get a good dinner made, they’re extra happy when I do have time to make a good one.  Let me know if you want the recipe.

Here’s the cauliflower after I ran it through the grater on my food processor.  Doesn’t it look similar to rice?

There’s a 1/2 c. frozen mixed vegetables in the Fried Rice.  Keegan’s only complaint was too many vegetables.

Here’s the chicken stir fry.

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

Card Details:

Paper- Bohemian DSP, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Crushed Curry

Stamp Set- Happy Birthday, Everyone

Accessories- Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack- so sad this is on the retired list, Deco Label Collection Framelits-also on retired list