Blackberry Bliss Birthday Card

Hope everyone has been enjoying their summer.  I know we have!!  On July 1st I turned 70 - hard to believe - and of course everyone wanted to know how I wanted to celebrate!  I always wanted to go to the Outer Banks in NC, so we rented a house for the entire family and had a great time!!  We had great weather and the kids had a ball.  Here's a picture of them learning how to water paddle.

We decided we wanted a group picture of everyone as well.  After a lot of tries, we finally got one where Jennifer was looking at the camera.

One of the best things about the trip was that I was able to rent a beach wheelchair!  I was diagnosed with MS 25 years ago and have not been able to go on the beach for awhile.  When I found out I could rent one of these chairs, I was in heaven!  I was able to play in the sand with Jennifer and go in the water with the kids!  It was definitely the highlight of my trip!

What's a visit to the beach without bringing home a hermit crab!  Here's a picture of Sarah and Jennifer checking it out!  They decided to name it Peanuts!

Here is a picture of Jennifer trying to be a butterfly!  She loves butterflies!!

Here is a picture of Jennifer all ready for the 4th of July celebrations!!  She loved going barefoot in the sand!

We couldn't let the kids go out too far on their boogie boards due to the shark attacks, so they got plenty of use out of the pool.

Unfortunately, we had to take Sarah to the hospital when we got home as she ended up with double ear infections in both ears, as well as, swimmers ear!  Now she has to wear ear plugs at all times!  I think she is part fish!

With all the unpacking and getting back to normal, I finally had some time to make a card.  I have a lot of birthdays in July/August and this was the first one I came up with.

I made my base card an A2 size in Whisper White with my first layer 4"x 5 1/4"in Blackberry Bliss and my second layer 3 3/8" x 5 1/8" in Whisper White.  The stamp sets I used were SU's Birthday Blossom and Gorgeous Grunge.  My ink was SU's Blackberry Bliss and Old Olive. I stamped my background first and then my sentiment.   I stamped and cut out the leaves and popped them up with dimensionals and then punched out my flowers with my Pansy punch.  I used my blender pen to color in the leaves and flowers.  I also popped up the flowers with dimensionals so they would stand out a bit.  It was a pretty simple card to make, but I love how the blackberry bliss color looks against white!

The girls came home to mail telling them their new bus schedules which definitely reminded them that school will be starting in a few weeks, but they are enjoying all the local carnivals and festivals!

Thanks for stopping by,
Nancy, Rachel & Sarah