Sweet Shades of Aqua

Hello friends!  Well, we finally made it to Friday.  It's April 3, 2020, and it was a long week.  Busy too.  I am still working full time, praise God, and we had some celebrating going on here at home this week too.  It was my husband's birthday, and we ordered takeout from the Silver Diner.  My youngest daughter and I baked him a fudgy chocolate cake, and we will have that finished tonight (baked last night, and we're about to put the frosting on).  She found the recipe here. It's easy and has a little bit of instant coffee and cocoa powder in the batter, to give it a darker chocolate flavor.  The frosting is a chocolate ganache, made with just two ingredients:  heavy cream and chocolate chips.

Another celebration of sorts is for our town's high school seniors, of which my daughter is one.  We were asked to decorate our front door in honor of our son/daughter, and take a photo.  The pictures will be included in their yearbook.  These poor kids.  It's been an anticlimactic second half of her senior year.  The Disney World class trip was cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Not sure if there will be prom.  And who knows if they'll get to graduate together in June?  Anyway, I included a picture of our front door at the end of this post.

On to some cards:

Papertrey Ink Inside and Out: Birthday II sentiment stamp; Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch; clear gems; Inspired By Stamping Graceful Hydrangea floral branch stamp; Sizzix Sweet & Donut Phrases sentiment dies; gold embossed cardstock from store-bought card; oval die cut

Stampin' Up! Beautiful Friendship sentiment stamp, punched leaves, aqua rhinestone brad; L'il Inker Designs Stitched Rectangles die; Spellbinders Blossoms dies; fabric

The card below was for my senior's birthday.  She went to France last year with her French class from school, so I included the Eiffel Tower.  And we have a black cat named Cristabel, so there she is, looking up at the Tower.

Hero Arts Eiffel Tower die; Impression Obsession Cat Set die; clear sequins; rhinestones; Inspired By Stamping Paris fleur de lis, 'paris' sentiment stamps; L'il Inker Designs Stitched Rectangles die

Lawn Fawn Little Bundle stamps and matching dies (birds, clothing, clothespins); Glitz Designs Fancy Frames frame stamp; Papertrey Ink Monthly Moments: Journal Card 2 die scalloped rectangle, Daily Designs Sentiments sentiment stamp; Stampin' Up! oval punch

Here's the celebration door for our girl:

I did lots of papercrafting, as you can see!  I hand cut the word, 'Hawks' and '2020' from red cardstock.  My older daughter cut out the boat (because our senior, Kerry, was a rower on the high school team).  I cut two oars out of paper, but they look like kitchen rubber scrapers.  Ha!  And below you can get a better glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (Hero Arts die) garland I made out of two different shades of pink cardstock and some red and white twine.

I also cleaned out my whole china cabinet and washed every dish and glass and bowl and tray, then polished up the shelves themselves, and put everything away.  Whew!  What an undertaking.  But now it's done for a while.

Hope you are healthy and enjoying your families in our quarantined situations.  😀
Thanks for your visit today, and God bless you!