Happy Birthday

I made a birthday card for my nephew this morning.  I am really proud of myself because his birthday is on Sunday.  It will arrive to him a couple of days early - yippee!!  Now this may sound strange, but I am notoriously late with cards and gifts.  I don't mean to be, but time always seems to slip away, and there I am hurrying at the last minute again.  So you can see why this is an accomplishment!

I used the CTMH Fanfare papers for this card.  My nephew plays baseball in the summer, so I wanted to get a baseball in there.  I found one on my Slice Big Kids card.  I cut it on some of the patterned paper and then adhered it to a white circle.  Of course, I had to sponge it all with desert sand ink to make it look dusty from a ball field!  The ribbon is from the Black Mini Medleys collection, and the stamp is from Happy Birthday (a discontinued set).

I took a look around the yard and everything is so green.  I guess after all the rainy weather we've been having, it should be!  I wanted to show you pictures of a few of my favorite blooming flowers.  The first is a bearded iris.  It has propagated by someone in this area, so it has the most wonderful smell!  I always cut these and bring them in.

And where would be without lilacs?  This is Jerry's favorite fragrance, so when they are in bloom like this, I bring fresh ones in every day.  I should tell you that this is just the end of one of my lilac bushes.  I have a row of 12 that are in full bloom!  When these are done, it won't be long before my white Japanse lilac tree blooms.  That is an amazing smell!

Now if I had to pick the most unique flower in my yard, it would be the trillium.  I planted the first one 9 years ago, and jsut last year it started to spread.  It actually grows new plants, so I guess it took some time.  This is a gorgeous flower, don't you think?

I've been working on a 3x3 card class, too, so when that is done I'll post pictures and give you the details!