I've been absent, I know

Just in case it was noticed, thought I'd own up to having been gone for a while.  Nearly a month, sheesh.  After I returned from San Francisco, I came down with a cold and had to lay low for a few days.  Then I needed to get cracking on my sister's 60th birthday gift/card and get it done before leaving for Hawaii for 10 days.  So I focused all of my attention and energy on that project and finished it 2 days before departure to Hawaii.  I did laundry and began packing when taking intermittent breaks from the birthday project, got pre-vacation hair cut and manicure/pedicure appointments out of the way.......I felt that I didn't have a spare moment to make cards or scan them or post anything on my blog.

Unfortunately, I also had no time to photograph the gift I made for my sister so I could share it here.  We returned home from Hawaii yesterday evening and suddenly it was today and time to go to our daughter's where a celebration for my mom's birthday was held.  It was there that I gave my sister her gift as her birthday was celebrated yesterday.  Her guy and her two adult children came down to southern California to celebrate, bringing one of our sisters with them.  In addition, another sister and her two adult children also came down and two other sisters who live here in southern California, along with their families, also celebrated the 60-year old's birthday yesterday.

The gift I made for my sister is a vintage-look album made from heavy chipboard and has card stock flag pages.  That's what it's called when an accordian-folded base is affixed to the inside of the spine and an individual page is then attached to one side of each of the folds.  The cover, spine, and pages are covered with decorative paper in vintage colors and patterns.  Papers are Prima products from their Printery collection.  There are Cricut cut embellishments, lots of Prima flowers and bling and, of course, a good smattering of distressing in Mementos rich cocoa ink.  I also used clear Stickles to highlight some areas on the pages and give them a bit of extra bling.  I placed sepia toned pictures of my sister; of groupings of various sisters (by the way, I have 7 sisters.........); of my sister and her kids; of her guy and her, including their high school grad pictures; and I also included sayings about sisters and birthdays.

Sure wish I'd had time to take pix but I'm glad my sister loved her gift and that I was able to complete it before our trip.  And I have a bit of a reprieve from making another birthday card for a sister turning 60 since that birthday is still a couple of years out.

I found another organization that has requested Christmas cards, this time for folks in nursing homes who need to be cheered, and I will be making cards for them.  In addition, I need to make Christmas cards to be given to the troops, not for them to mail out, but for them to know they're not forgotten.  And then I'll be cranking out some Valentine cards since that's another holiday coming up.

My internal time clock is still a bit cuckoo and I still need to unpack and begin laundry.  (Thank goodness the saga of the washing machine is done.)  I plan to post more cards as soon as they're made and hope to do so soon.  Tomorrow will be partially a recovery from the hustle bustle but I hope to find time for stamping too.