Thank you Cards

Hello!  Are you melting where you are?  It's hot here this week and they are  not calling for a day or rain or under 30 degree Celsius weather! Today I have a great friend coming over with her two kids!  Last time she was here her baby boy who is 8 months spent the whole visit (5 hours) in my arms!  He loves me and the feeling is mutual!

On Friday I was slightly bummed that I didn't get any cards picked up by Paper Crafts, although I had only made 2, so busy with summer!  But I was happy and surprised to see that one of my cards is part of Paper Crafts Reader's Choice!  Basically they have listed 10 cards and there are two spots and you get to vote for which one you would like to see make it!  I would love it if you voted for me!  http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22G72N2BZ2H

Today I have two thank you cards that I made for Chad's sister to give to her daughter's teachers.  She asked me to make these cards big enough to hold a 4 by 6 photo because she wanted to put a picture of the whole class inside!  I made them 4.5 by 6.5 inches:

I used an 8.5 by 11 cardstock sheet for each card and cut them down to size.  Making a bigger card is a bit daunting as it seems like we get used to the A2 size.  What I did to help me out was use pattern paper since it can easily cover the card.  I also used larger stamps.  The top stamp from my favorite Floral Blossom set by Hero Arts is a big stamp it almost fits a whole A2 card so it worked beautifully here!  For the second card using the doily die by Papertrey Ink was a great way to use up space!  And the rose stamp by Hero Arts is also really big sometimes I struggle to use it so it worked great here!  I painted the roses in with tattered angels glimmer mist, and made the ribbon match by spraying it!  For the first card I used papers from the This and That collection by Echo Park and the second one is My Mind's Eye.  Happy that I didn't make just 1 card out of the 12 by 12, I think this my 3rd! I have a bad habit of making only 1 card from a 12 by 12!

On Monday I took the kids strawberry picking!  We basically spent the day at the farm since there is sooo much to do!  And it was the first day of raspberries being ready so we picked some of that too!  I made strawberry freezer jam yesterday!  :> It was very hot but I've been waiting for a cooler day and the season is almost over so we had to go in the heat like it or not!  Here are some photos, the kids love this farm:

An animal petting farm, a fun rustic playground, a train ride in a bucket all over the farm, ice cream and a corn maze!  The kids loved every moment!  And I hit up a local scrapbook store on the way home!  And than on the way home I saw a whole sale store that I like and stopped by and got some wreaths!

Well that's it for me!  I gotta get back to cleaning up the house for our guests!