As you know I am very blessed, particularly with talented friends who make hand crafted greeting cards. You know who you are and I want you to know how much I love your cards! I can feel the joy and happiness you had when making (and delivering the cards to me). Here are some of my favorites.
Just in case you don't know, this technique is called quilling. We saw this type of card sold at the arunculus farm for $10 each.From the Cambridge Dictionary: Quilling is the activity of making designs by rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper.
For the back, The Quiller has a stamp that reads "Handmade from the Heart" which she signs.
The top left card is a Valentine's Day card! The other three are cut outs and the artist confessed, "Alcohol ink is my new favorite craft." I don't know if she meant alcohol and ink ...Okay, so I googled alcohol ink: "Alcohol Inks are a highly fluid colour that are vibrant and fast drying. They are also moisture-resistant and permanent once dry, and will work perfectly on almost any clean, oil-free surface. Use them for stamping, scrapbooking, textile and fine arts – the creative opportunities are endless!" My friend had signed her card on the back with a stamp that says "by me for you." It was framed with jewels.
These cards are certainly all fine arts in my humble opinion!
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Guess who's in their second flowering with a third bloom!
This little girl has been blooming over two months!****************************************************
Mom and I at the end of Dottie's birthday party at Waters Cafe.
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One of the many roses in Carole's garden.
Carole threw me a wonderful birthday party early. Look at how prettly her table is!
She made delicious vegetarian chili and countless appetizers. Of course, Carole's signature side dish is a huge (and I mean huge) baked potato. Seriously, three people can eat one potato and be happy.
I couldn't resist taking a picture of the cake and cookies. The cookies are amazing with big chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. The cake was chocolate with mocha frosting. It was fabulous!
And then we played many rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes! It was a really fun time.
On my actual birthday, Mom and I discovered a really good sushi restaurant which turned out to be a favorite of many of our friends.
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The weather has been a bit unusual lately. We have been about 10 degrees cooler than normal, which is o.k. with me. But we have had a lot of rain for the desert. Yesterday, with only 0.6 inches of rain, I had to drive through a puddle that looked like it may have been a foot deep. I was on Dinah Shore Drive in Cathedral City and there was no place to turn off. It's a divided four lane road and the cars to the left of me were barreling through not only sending plumes of water high into the air but also making waves that came back at me. I was very scared thinking I'd be on the news as a dumb tourist who doesn't know any better with her car dead in the water. I made it through, going slowly. The brakes, however, complained loudly at being wet. Luckily, they seem dried out today.
There was actually hail which covered the ground in Cathedral City yesterday. I didn't see it but it probably melted quickly in the 50 degree weather.
Below are the clouds from last Friday. It rained off and on for a couple of days before it really poured on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lake Arrowhead is counting 15 feet of snow. People have been stranded for a week and today they had to use SnowCats to bring firefighters to a house that had an explosion blowing out a wall.
This image is Ramon Road going toward the Palm Springs airport. (Yes, I pulled off onto a sidestreet to take the picture.)
There is a lot more snow on the "little" mountain near Mom's house but I didn't get out to take any pictures.
Did I show you my latest sunset picture? This was February 21.
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I have to confess that I have been slacking off in sewing, but I plan to make strides in finishing projects soon.
I wish you all health, happiness, and interesting times. Cheers!
