5/25/2010

I am back!

Happy Tuesday! I am back home from Italy. And I am glad about that. I love Italy but that vacation wasn't very much fun. It was the first time we travelled with our little girl and she had problems with sleeping. I wasn't able to go anywhere when she was supposed to sleep. She wanted me to stay with her all the time and now we are back home she still isn't back to her normal sleeping routine. But I hope that'll change soon!
When I came back home there was a box of new Hero Arts stamps waiting for me! They were from my win of the Mother's Day challenge. I love to play with new stamps! Here is a card I made for this month's "Birthdays, Dads and Grads" Challenge, using this week's Cardpatterns Sketch:


This beautiful swirl stamp is stamped with Hero Arts' Soft Pool Shadow ink. This ink is one of my new favorites!
I hope I'll be able to catch up with you all soon! But I have to do a lot of stuff in the garden first. Yesterday I prepared the vegetable patch, dug out 7 large wheel barrows full of dirt to replace it with 7 large wheel barrows full of compost and planted zucchini and butternut. Today I mowed the lawn. It hurt to destroy that beautiful meadow full of wild flowers, but after Alyssa had a tick the very first day we arrived, I had to cut it down! But I took some photos before doing it:






I hope you are all well! There is still time to enter my give-away, I forgot to say how long it will be open, so I'll draw a winner next Monday (May, 31st)! Have a beautiful day and thank you for visiting!

Hugs,
Vanessa

33 comments:

Kelly Massman said...

Beautiful card today! The ribbon color is so pretty--love how you attached it, too! I also love your photos!

Kathy Martin said...

Lovely card! Great butterflies! Love the photos as well! :)

Anita Rex said...

Welcome home Vanessa! I am so sorry to hear about how hard it was for your daughter to sleep! My daughter was like that but my son is a lot better, I think he is around the same age as your little girl. I always said when I have a boy he would love to sleep and he does he will sleep anywhere. It's a lot easier to travel when the little ones stop napping or can do without but it does mean early evenings so they can sleep! :> Love your card that swirl is soo pretty! Also what a pretty garden too bad you had to mow it down! Ticks are so scary!

Sarah J Moerman said...

Gorgeous card! Such an elegant stamp! Love how you've used it!

Lin said...

Welcome home, Vanessa! Your meadow flowers are lovely, so glad you took some pictures! Love your card, too - the soft pool goes nicely with that new stamp.

donna mikasa said...

Welcome home, Vanessa! Your card is gorgeous--don't you love new toys to play with? Love your photos, and how you captured a ladybug, too! Take care and I hope your little one gets back into her routine...

Nat said...

stunning card :) Love seeing your wildflowers too!

Jacqueline said...

Welcome back Vanessa, they say a break is as good as a rest, so I hope you will at least feel the change did you some good!
Your first card on your return is stunning - new stamps seem to have that impact don't they?!
Good luck with the garden patch - you can be thankful you have good soil... we have poor vineyard ground so I have some peas growing in a pot on my windowsill at the moment..:)

whoistracy said...

What a gorgeous card Vanessa! I love the softness of it. Sorry that your trip wasn't much fun. Love the look of your "meadow" though.

Isha Gupta said...

Welcome back Vanessa. Some kids miss home, when we r away from it. My younger one still has problem, even tho she is 6 now. Your card is so very pretty and soft. Love the color and stamp.
I already did put your candy at my blog and am keeping the fingers crossed...lol.
Happy cleaning and gardening.

Agata said...

Glad you had a nice time in Italy! And glad you're back with this gorgeous card!

Kathy (krolski) said...

Beautiful card! Love the colors and the ribbon is gorgeous too!

Dawn T said...

Welcome home and I hope your routine gets back to normal quickly for your daughter.... how lovely to have all those goodies waiting... such a lovely card you made. Love all your garden photos as well. Take care

Chris said...

Welcome back, Vanessa. I'm sure your daughter will soon settle back into her routine. We always had the same problem with our children when they were younger.

Your card is beautiful. The blue looks so good with the kraft and I love the way you've placed your butterflies.

Nancy said...

Welcome back, Vanessa. Your cad is just stunning. I love everything about it! Thank you for sharing the lovely photos too!

Nicky Hsu said...

welcome home. Vanessa. I hope the little one get back to her routine soon. One more stunning card and the blue is really pretty. Love it!

Lucy Abrams said...

Hi Vanessa.

so sorry your vacation wasn't much of a rest! Hope things get back to normal soon.
Wow your garden is amazing. It looks HUGE. Stunning photos - I can see why it must have been hard to mow that lawn. :)

And your card is just beautiful. I love pool ink too. So soft and pretty.

Have a happy day tomorrow.
Love Lucy xxx

Barb said...

So sorry the trip with the little one was so tough! Glad you're back! Gorgeous pictures of the wild flowers! Glad you took them before you mowed! Love the card! That ribbon is so beautiful with the pretty swirl stamp! :)

Tiffany Ervin said...

So sorry to hear the vacation was a bit rough! It is so hard with young children! Traveling scares me as such so I'm waiting til my son is older! Glad you are back and enjoying the beauty of gardening! Your card is just divine, so very pretty and love the new stamp image you used!

Kelley Eubanks said...

Welcome back! Sorry Alyssa had trouble sleeping! Traveling with little ones is not always fun! Love your pics!! Glad you are back! :) Oh... and your card is gorgeous!

Anke said...

Liebe Vanessa,

schön, dass Du wieder da bist.

Deine Karte mit den neuen Stempeln schaut wunderschön aus, und Deine Blütenbilder gefallen mir auch sehr.

Blumige Grüße
von Anke

Irena said...

Welcome back!
Your card is amazing beautiful, I like it very much.
The stamp is gorgeous.

Deirdre said...

Oh Vanessa, sorry to hear about your DD's sleep...it will sort itself out but I understand how tough travelling with smallies can be.

Adore your photos of the garden - all stunning. TFS and welcome back

Monika Reeck said...

Hi Vanessa herzlich wilkommen..deine Karte seeehr huebsch und ich mag sehr gerne die Stempel so so pretty...deine Bluetenbilder auch sehr huebsch...

Liebe Gruesse

MONIKA

NinaB said...

Welcome back! And you returned with a bang with your gorgeous card and beautiful photos. So inspiring!

Clare said...

Welcome back! So sorry you didn't enjoy the vacation fully,..maybe next time. :)
The card is so pretty - I love how you use butterflies!
I just got my HA box too, and have been drooling over the stamps since yesterday. ;)
Oh, and the meadow is just so pretty!

Elise said...

Goodness gracious! Sorry to hear that the lil' gal was off her routine! This flower shots are hypnotic and make me thing of Alice in Wonderland, and a good nap sounds about right at this particular time! hee hee But back to your gal, hope she gets back into the routine, right quick! Mom needs to keep to her NORMAL {and amazing} craft routine, so we can see more amazing goodness like this card, here! Excellent work, sweet one! Truly elegant and WONDERFUL!

Alice said...

welcome home, Vanessa!! =) it's always a treat to see your elegant cards and i am so in love with this one!! wow! LOVE the pretty blue with kraft!! superb! thanks for sharing those pretty photos from your garden!! they really put me in a good mood! hope your girl gets back to her normal sleeping routine soon!

Dotty Jo said...

Fabulous card and wonderful photographs... Vanessa's back everyone! Jo x

dstandard said...

Gorgeous photos and card! Welcome back! Thanks for playing at Card Patterns!

Suzanne C said...

Gorgeous card! Didn't realize how beautiful that stamp was until you inked it up!!! Lovely pictures of the outdoors too!

Erin (Homemade Cards by Erin) said...

Great card, congrats on the Super Six for this card.

Irene said...

Oh, I love yor cards!!! So simple and so beautiful!