Quality Time with Family & Some Crafting Too

This weekend we had a family gathering at my niece's house in Novato. We celebrated several birthdays...don't you just love this birthday - cupcake cake (from Safeway)!

It's a replica of Nat's pool and all the bday people sitting on floating devices - too clever!

Of course we can't get together without some type of craft project(s) and we started off with a great one, too! My niece, Natalie and my sister Diana saw these unique sunglasses in Hawaii selling for over $100 and they said, "We can make those!"...so they bought all these supplies and enough sunglasses for everyone.

The project involved removing the arms of the sunglasses and then replacing it with a chain and a dangling charm. I'm modeling my sunglasses, but it's hard to tell from this picture how it works.

Here are all our finished glasses. The chain and charm will actually hold up your glasses over your ears.

Here we are modeling our sunglass creations...

Then our next project was inspired by the talented artist Roben Marie Smith and we made these decorated manila folders.

 We used a Gelli plate - that was really fun to work with.

These were the samples I made...

Decorated folders, brown paper and manila folder...I love Roben's work, on-line classes and stamps.

And the weather was beautiful that day...Rachel and I paddled around the lake on Natalie's kayak.

Another fun family gathering - thanks Nat and Jean for hosting a terrific party!

Here's some of the prints I made with the Gelli plate...it's so fun, I can't wait to make more.

And last by not least, I'm published in the latest Jewelry Affair magazine.

 Always a thrill - thank you Stampington!

Hope you're all having a great week!