Shades of Purple Flowers

I thought I'd share a few of the pretty flowers from the gardens in my yard. I've been busy lately fixing them up and it's so much nicer to be outside now with the yard looking all pur-dy! lol :) I just found these gorgeous purple passion flowers and I just couldn't leave them at the greenhouse. Aren't they beautiful? I've never seen these flowers before and I love the shape of the petals in the first picture - they're so delicate and pretty! Unfortunately, they didn't come with a plastic info spike in the soil, if anyone can tell me exactly what these flowers are called, I'd really appreciate it, I can't find them online - I believe they are part of the Passion Flower (Passifloraceae) family, but I could be wrong. This family includes over 500 species, so it's no wonder I can't find them (the flowers pictured above and below) online! Help, please! lol :)


The flower pictured below is one that I already had in my garden - I believe they are called Bachelor's Button, but again, I'm not a gardener, if you know the proper name for them, please leave me a comment. :)

Well, I've gotta call it a day. I hope to get a chance to get in my crafty space tomorrow... gardening took over today so I didn't get a chance. But, I have a few cards to make for a few upcoming birthdays so I better get a start on those tomorrow...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Fires Reported as Stable

Just a quick update on the local brush fires happening here for those of you that are following it. The fire is described as stable and controlled but there are still areas of open flames. It still hasn't rained but they are calling for showers tomorrow and rain on Friday so that will help as well to get things under control.

Here's another newspaper report in today's Halifax Herald. The info below was taken directly from info given in the paper. You can also see a few pictures there of the damage, as well.

About 5,000 people were evacuated over the weekend after a wildfire started Friday in the Porters Lake-Lake Echo area and quickly swept through the brush and forest toward Lawrencetown. Most residents were allowed back into their homes Sunday night, but there are still restrictions in place as firefighters continue their battle.

About 80 displaced Lake Echo-area residents whooped and applauded at news they will be able to go home at 2 p.m. today.

“We’ve decided it’s safe enough for everyone to go back,” Halifax Regional Fire Service Deputy Chief Roy Hollett told a crowd gathered at Cole Harbour Place late Monday morning.

As of Monday morning about 120 residents were waiting to return to their homes.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Hours/Beer Coincidence

Happy Father's Day today to all the Dad's out there! Hope you all have a great day and receive sweet, sappy cards from your little ones. Both our girls made sweet cards for Jim and gave him really cute presents that they made at school. I think he was touched...I might have even spied a tear in his eye... :)

This is the card that I made for my hubby, Jim for Father's Day, it's not very Father's Day-like...unless he decides to drink himself silly today, I guess! Yeah, that's not gonna happen...he's not a Spring Chicken anymore, either! lol :) Anyway, I just thought he would find this card funny, I kinda like to try to make his cards entertaining. I think he'll get a kick out of it. :)

These are some more stamps that I borrowed from Kim. I've been having fun playing with them all. Kim has been stamping for about 20 years, she has so many different fun stamps in her collection and we all try to share our stamps back and forth to change things up a bit.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: 'Brewsky' Beer Mug (Dewey Inkum &Howe - Clearsnap), Beer Saying and Moosehead Beer Bottle Label (Viva Las Vegastamps)
Cardstock: Dark Brown (Bazzill), Royal Blue (Bazzill)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU), Old Olive (SU)
Tools: 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success)
Embellishments: Olive 3/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (Michaels), Dark Brown 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (Atlantic Fabrics)

Update on Forest Fires

I thought I'd update you all on the current conditions here with the brush fires happening in our area. Here's a link to an article on the front page of today's provincial paper. The fire has been stretching three kms wide by seven kms long and there have been more than 5000 people evacuated to this point. The above picture is an aeriel view that was taken yesterday that I copied from the local paper.

At this time, it's been reported that there have been 2 homes that have been completely destroyed by the flames and 5 others that have had property damage. There may be more that I'm not aware of. Yesterday, the winds changed three times and caused the fire to keep shifting...hopefully the fire will stay within the woods today and not come further into the residential areas.

On a good note, the winds have subsided a bit today, however they're expecting the winds to pick up later today. Hopefully they can get it beat down before the winds pick up. Please keep all the evacuees in your thoughts that they can go home soon and that everyone else in the area stays safe. And to those people who have lost their homes, may they find peace in what they've lost and hope that they are given the assistance to rebuild their homes for a new beginning.

Forest Fires- Out of Control

It's been a pretty stressful time around these parts for a lot of people since yesterday afternoon. I was on my way into work yesterday and we noticed the huge clouds of smoke that went way up to the clouds from a forest fire that is still currently out of control in our neighbouring town of Lake Echo/Porter's Lake. They've evacuated over 3000 families and a several people have lost their homes.

This was the view from the top of elementary school grounds in our backyard last night.
Over looking the school. You can see the smoke is mixing right into the clouds it's so high.

This one was taken today, we took a drive over to Rainbow Haven Beach and this is one of the fires overlooking the beach. The water bombers were in action the whole time we were at the beach today.

It's very sad, I've worked the past couple of nights and we've had people coming in who have either lost their home or are in limbo, waiting to hear if their home is gone. The winds have been really strong here the past few days and it's not making the job an easier for the firefighters. They've brought in extra water bombers from Chatham, New Brunswick and Gander, Newfoundland to help the efforts, but the winds really need to settle. I guess the winds changed direction, as I just heard that the fire has reached the Preston area now, which is only about 5 kms from my house. We also have several gas stations in the middle, so I pray to God that the it doesn't meet those, or we're gonna be in one hell of a mess.

I realize that human lives are of more importance than material things, but my heart goes out to all those people that were at work and weren't able to get home to get anything before the evacuation order was put into effect, and now all the roads are closed down as the fire actually crossed one of the highways. Scary stuff. Please keep us in your thoughts that they can control the fires in the very near future without much more damage to homes or worse.

Gotta get some rest, it's been a long couple of days. I'll update more soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Yellow Caterpillar...

So, I just wasn't happy with my other colouring job of my tractor, so I redid the tractor drawing and coloured it in this time with just yellow instead of the orange, too. I'm much happier with the card now. Just thought I'd share my finished version... lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Caterpillar Tractor Card

My Dad is a 'Caterpillar Man' through and through. He's operated Cats his whole life, owing his on company in land forming, dyke and road building. He's now retired, but he spends a great deal of his time now restoring antique Caterpillar tractors. His garage is full of them and he's happy as can be when he's tinkering with them! So, for a Father's Day card this year, I thought I'd make him a Caterpillar card. I couldn't find a stamp to use, so I drew my own tractor freehand! (Well, by looking at a clipart image online - but I didn't trace it!)

I coloured the tractor in with markers, but I'm not overly happy with my attempt at outlining the tractor and my shading with the orange colour. I'd redo it, but it took me a fair time to draw it and I don't have the time to start over. Anyway, I think Dad will really like it anyway. We'll see on Sunday, I guess, when I drive it down to his place. Hope everyone has a great weekend and all the Dad's out there have a great day!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: 'Happy Father's Day'- Greetings Galore (Impression Obsession)
Cardstock: Coffee Brown -Double Mates (WorldWin Extraordinary Papers), Cardstock Vellum (SU), Cream (CTMH)
Patterned Paper: Old World (CTMH)
Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Ink (Tim Holtz - Ranger)
Tools: Edge Distresser (CTMH), Black Pigma Pen - Micron 01 (Sakura), Sea Sponge
Embellishments: Dark Brown Grosgrain Ribbon (Fabricville), Antique Brass Brads and Buckle from Hodge Podge Hardware (SU)