Amelia Rose - Artful Passions

A St. Paddy's Day cactus?? Really??

Has anyone heard of a St. Paddy's Day cactus?
hahaha, just kidding. But really ~ this poor thing is blooming its heart out and I am enjoying it, but I thought it was called a Christmas cactus or Thanksgiving cactus. Actually all of my "holiday" cacti (that looks so funny) are putting forth a few blooms right now. Weird. I have another one called "Golden Charm" that I bought at a fundraiser for my daughter's kindergarten class. Let's see...my daughter is now 28, so that would make it...about 23 years old!! Yikes!!!

And to tie into my whole blog theme of "exploring creativity everywhere" ~ how creative is this ~ this little plant has just naturally found a way to stand out from its peers, to shine above all of them and to make the world (at least my windowsill) a more beautiful place, for a little bit of time!

It makes me feel like spring is finally heading our way!! All I can say is "thank goodness!"

Good kitty, good kitty, good kitty, baaaaaaad kitty!!!

I KNEW it was going to happen!  It was just tooo tempting a spot for a kitty to take a snooze in!!! All nice and boxy and protected ..........and with a soft velvet bed to lay on!!! What more could a feline ask for????  How could a kitty resist???

It was midday and all was quiet in the house.....too quiet, actually! You know how when your kids were little and you realized that there was an eery silence in the house - it could only spell trouble...with a capital T!!!!

I thought that all of our kitties were happily snoozing in their favorite nappy spots, dreaming of tuna bits and tinkle balls. But I decided to do a nose count anyway, just in case there was trouble....let's see:

Diadora (Deedles for short) Good kitty!!

 Bailey, good kitty!!!! 

Annie, good kitty!!!!

 Burtie - BAAAAAAD kitty!!!!!

Ackkkk, NOT IN MY BRAND NEW photo box!!!! How could he!!!

Well, it took me at least a half an hour to get all of the cat fur off of the velvet backdrop material! GRRRRR!! Of course it couldn't have been Bailey who chose to sleep in there, since she is 9/10s white with just a wee cap of calico and a tail to match! Noooooo!! It had to be SIR Lardybucket who is totally brown and black and resembles a beached whale as he sleeps and sheds a winter's worth of fur!!!

But I love them all and have since forgiven him!! And now I store the box in a BIG closet in my studio where none of the kitties can get near it!! Lesson learned!

My Top 10 Things to Leave Off of Your Man's Father's Day Card or MT10TTLOOYMFDC for short!

Here are my Top 10 things that should be left off of a Father's Day card list. We women all seem to feel that there can never be too much "stuff" on a card. In our minds it just shows the recipient how much we love them! To men, its a different story.

Here are 10 things that I feel can really turn a man off when you use it on a card for him and why.

10. Glitter - men like shiny things, but only when they have wheels and go REAL fast!

9. Bows - you might be able to get away with a knot, in a manly color, but never a bow. They see absolutely NO reason to use more of something than is necessary to get the job done.

8. Flowers - reminds him too much of yard work that he's been avoiding.

7. Pearls - reminds him of an upcoming event for which he has to buy you something - instant discomfort for him!!

6. Pastel colors - unless it is a light blue sky behind a car, a boat or a golf club image, better not use it.

 5. Buttons - again, buttons remind them of work and how much work it takes to get dressed in the morning. Zippers might be okay though since they are a work saver!! Hmmmm..... new embellishment line here, maybe??!!!

4. LOTS of hearts - punchouts, die cuts, whatever....more than one is a gross overstatement of fact. Sort of like asking him to do somethig more than once is nagging.  

3. Swirly, curly Q's - these are all the rage right now in the stamping, decorating and clothing world. However, that is not your man's world. Simple straight lines are good in his mind, the less, the better.

2. Mushy, overly long sentiments - again, the less, the better. "You, me, love." says it ALL to him. He can't comprehend why you would waste your time coming up with 3 or more whole sentences, when 3 simple words does the job. When you put too much in your card it just sets the bar too high for him and puts pressure on him to top it the next time he has to find a card for you.

And the #1 mistake that women make when adding things to their man's card:

1. Too many colors - any more than...... 2.... is looked upon as "too many colors" by a man. One color actually is just fine in his eyes, although you might get away with a second color.....as long as it is black, brown or navy blue. 

So those are my hints for making a Father's Day card that your man will appreciate!

I hope you enjoyed them!

Wow ~ has it been THAT long??

I finally finished my "Bloggers Bootcamp" that was given by John Sanpietro!  I took lots of notes and now have to go back and review them. I also have to go back to the "Bloogers Bootcamp" website to watch all of the videos and tapes that he prepared for the class.  He really gave a TON of info and I'm sure sometime in the (hopefully) near future it will all make some sort of sense to me!! There is only so much a non-techno-geeky girl can absorb at one time!!