My Garden Favourites

I realized while I was re-reading my Garden Pet Peeves that I only had 4 not 5 so Keri reminded me of another...

5. Leaving the hanger on an urn arrangement.

Now on to the positives ( and there are so many )

1.  Walking in the spring and smelling all the delightful shrubs especially the lilacs...

2. Neatly edged sidewalks ( I need this tool )

3.  Seeds sprouting up, I put a few things in the only sunny corner of my yard: radish, spinach and lettuce...

4. Crimson King Maples, the photo doesn't do them justice...

5. Colourful flowers of any kind...

6. Boulevard trees - the existing trees were removed due to Ash Borer THREE years ago. Many calls to the City later, they have finally been replaced with a variety of new trees. I was out of the Country when they went in so I never saw them with leaves. It's been exiting watching the very slow unfurling of leaves this Spring...

7. And my personal Favourite - A Snowball bush, every house should have at least one. Unfortunately Maya likes to dig and then lay down in the corner where mine is located so once I get my maple cut down and the backyard opened up to more SUN, I will plant one (or more)....

I really appreciate the signs of Spring now more then ever on my many very slow strolls around the neighbourhood with Maya.

MFT Sketch Challenge: I'm Itching to see you!

I really liked the Sketch this week on the MFT blog so I sat down this morning to come up with a new Pet Sympathy card.
This is the sketch...

Well I made my card and went to enter it and the linkup is closed! What, it's only Tuesday, I think? and the challenge comes out on Wednesdays. Note to self: Apparently, it closes early. So I decided to change the sentiment to create something for my "Covid Collection" and I pulled out the heat embosser and that's what I came up with. Better luck next time.

Gardening Pet Peeves

You know you're reaching low for Blog content when this is your title...

1. Old shrubs, they have a lifespan people!

Fun fact: I put two of these at the curb and someone actually TOOK them.

2. Watering directions and other plant info on tag left on the plant or basket...

The information is there to guide you to MAKE the purchase!

3.  Stumps!

Especially when people try to beautify them...

Finish the job!

5. And lastly, the little product code sticker left on hanging baskets...

There you have it. My top 5!

We're all ABuzz!

I haven't done a Blog Challenge in so long, it was fun to get creative especially since the theme was ABuzz. Believe it or not, I'm not bee themed out so here is the card that I produced...

I love, love, love the Kraft paper with bees. I had a teeny tiny Bee die set that I bought originally to create with for Loonies for Lindor but it was so painstaking, I never used it. But I didn't have any premade bees to fit the paper so it worked out perfectly for this. Linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Maya turns 13!!!

My sweet girl turned 13 today! A year and a half ago I didn't think she would make it another month. Her knee is very arthritic due to ACL repair surgery several years ago and she was having trouble getting up. Well modern medicine has come a long way... She is doing really well, very slow walking but still enjoys getting out and I hold my breath every time she has a sudden burst of energy to chase a squirrel.

She was even able to tolerate a grooming appointment now that she is relatively pain free (just before the Pandemic hit)

I moved a dog bed into every room so she always has a cosy place to rest her old bones.

She follows me around way more then she used to in the past years.

I'm really glad I got this extra time with her and I hope she keeps doing strong for a few more years.
Happy Birthday, Maya!

You Pick Challenge #2

We really enjoyed picking something from our stash and making the other person create 2 cards with it so we are continuing this challenge...
Keri picked this die set for me from Cottage Cutz...

And here are the two cards I created (using Keri's favourite product line, Doodlebug, of course...

I've already popped the get well soon in the mail.

For Keri, I chose the MFT set Magical Dragons (she actually wanted to use it) and she made not one but TWO cards...

I just love the colour combo and the sponged clouds.

Another super cute variation. SO glad we have this hobby to occupy our time during this crazy pandemic. Stay tuned for next time. We have already swapped our selections (from a distance of course)

May Goals

We are entering Week 8 of Shelter in place aka Stay Home. It's been slow but it also seems to be busy sometimes. The days seem to fly by and there is a lot of time that seems to get wasted. I don't put any pressure on myself, I just go with the flow. Let's take a look back at the April goals first...

1. Make more Thinking of You cards. I feel like I did a lot of these, I'm calling it my Covid Collection keeping in mind how nice it is to go to your mailbox and get something in there.
I've started keeping track of things because #whatelseistheretodo? and I made 104 cards since the Pandemic started.

2.  Finish my Fleece blankets. Check! I completed all 12 blankets. Now what can I work on?

 

3.  Sort through old photos. Worked on this a bit. I have so many and find it hard to get rid of family photos even though I have scrapbooked a lot of them. Remember when we all made doubles and developed every photo?

In other updates, I'm still keeping my sink clean most nights, sending more cards, reading a bit (13), blogging fairly regularly and keeping up on my Planner.

On to the May goals.. Nothing too exciting here. Hard to do anything outside the realm of everyday life.

1. Wash my windows (or as many as I can reach or flip myself from inside the house).

2.  Bump up my steps. I used to easily get over 10 000 steps a day with multiple dog walks. Now my neighbour takes Lindor for over an hour every day and she's tired out for the rest of the day. I mosey around the neighbourhood with Maya while they are out but it's extremely slow. So I need to add another brisk walk later in the day, with or without a dog.

3.  Order photos from East Coast vacation from a few years ago. I've decided that these beautiful photos and memories need to come off my phone so I've decided to use the Planner format to document them. Unfortunately, the Photo processing site that I use can no longer develop due to a break in the Supply chain but we can still place our order. So that is my goal for the month and hopefully when they are up and running, I'll be all set to go...

The Boat is named the Grateful One. I thought it was appropriate in these uncertain times. And that's it for May. Wish me luck!

May Swap Card

We are going strong with our monthly swap and we continued with our guest this month.
Our exchange, sadly, is still virtual but here's hoping next month we could possible do it in person.

Keri used her cute Lawn Fawn Sloth....

It's so fresh and springlike!

Nicole also used a Lawn Fawn set (funny how that happens) and made a Peek a boo card...

This is the set she used, I think its called Smoothie.

And I used a favourite of mine from WPlus9, I think I've used it before. I've been working on some encouraging cards that I'm calling my Covid Collection. Trying to send out a few more cards to people I don't always get in touch with regularly. ...

My inspiration came from a similar card on the Internet. There is a stamp set and a coordinating die set..

There you have it! Another month in the books.