Celebrating the First 50 Years...

What a day!!!

It is indeed a milestone birthday for me.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes that I have

been receiving over the past few days.

It has definitely been a time to contemplate the question

'how did this number come so quickly'?

I was thinking about it earlier today that 10 years

ago, there were a few celebrations for my

40th because at that time, I still had my store open

and between a variety of stamp clubs, regular customers

and other surprises, it was an easy time to celebrate.

Here I am 10 years later...10 years older...

with a whole new batch of friends from virtually

all over the world...thanks to your visits to

Julie's Open Window.

How will I be celebrating?

I enjoyed a lovely dinner with parents last night

and will be having a fun dinner out with my children

and 3 grandchildren tonight.

On Saturday, Paul and I will be heading up to Madison, WI

for a couple of days and staying at the Hilton Garden Inn

which is 'literally' attached to ... wait for it ...
an Archiver's Store!
So over the weekend, I am going to spend an afternoon
using their workroom to have a little creative time.
Paul is going to bring the laptop and some movies
and have a little relax time.

I have the best husband!

As a little tribute to him, I created a card that
shares my heart towards my dear Paul...

Today is my last day hosting

It has been such a terrific week!
For my last 'official' post for Unity,
I thought I would share 3 different projects
using their newest stamps called

'Itty Bitty'

 Most of you know that I am not one to do a lot
of coloring, but these stamps make it so easy!
This set is called 'Rain or Shine'.
I used my Paisley EF from Cuttlebug for the base card.
I have been waiting for just the right project to use these
sweet blue rhinestones.  When I bought them, I had always
envisioned using them as raindrops.

Another fun set is 'Sit.Eat.Enjoy'
What a great little set for all sorts of invites.
I called on my Swiss Dot EF this time.
Labels One from Spellbinders create a nice frame
and I pulled out some really old designer paper for
the faux tablecloth.  That's my BOO for this week!

 My final project is a little something for the holidays.

 This is 'Merry & Bright'
Lots of possibilities...lots of fun!

Have you seen Unity's 'Itty Bitty' stamps yet?

Now you have!

So how would you like an opportunity to
win a set of Unity stamps?
All you have to do is leave a comment on each of my
GIU posts for this week (M-F).  That's it.
You will have through Sunday to do so.
On Monday, when I return home from the weekend,
I will randomly draw one winner from the comments left
and announce it here on my blog.

Thank you for joining me this week for 'Growing in Unity'.
I've had an absolute blast!

How about a trip to Italy! PDCC41

Well....I had nothing but the proverbial

'technical difficulties'

all day today.

I'd like to say that I hate computers,

but if I did that, I would never have met you!

It's a new challenge over at

I am actually this week's host, but because

of the variety of technical issues I took on today,

I was unable to finish my project.

I just hate when that happens, ya know?!

Our 'color' tour stops this week in

Positano, Italy.

Stop by The Play Date Cafe.

There are some wonderful projects by the  

world's best design team

for you to see along with our very

special guest designer this week

and I share my thoughts behind this

beautiful 'color' destination.

Before I go, please take a moment to

'sign' my mom's 70th birthday card.

Just leave a comment on this post

or click here to read the story

and leave a comment there.

I sincerely appreciate your kind words.

Happy Birthday, Mallory!

Starting off my day by wishing my daughter Mallory a very happy 25th birthday! Mal is my first born and we are sorta 'connected at the hip', in a good way, of course. Nowadays, if she has trouble reaching my by phone, she refers to herself as the "orphan child" and that's after the first 4 calls of the day when she has managed to reach me.

Mallory is the mom to my two oldest grandsons, CJ and Caleb(see the archives regarding 'glitter'). She works full time at one of the 3 hospitals in our city and is going to school to become a nurse. Her goal is to get into flight nursing, but everytime she helps out in the neo-natal intensive care, it tugs at her heart strings, so we'll see. Plus our sweet Caleb spent many days there after he was born, so there is a real sense of gratitude for her.

For her 1/4 century birthday(which as the good mom that I am, I have been rubbing in all week), she and 15 friends have decided to go on a 3 day, 2 night camping trip. Now normally, in the dead of July, this would be a great adventure. But I think the main adventure is going to be enduring the unseasonably cool temperatures we are experiencing here in Illinois. If she managed to get to sleep at all last night, then she had the pleasure of waking up to a cool, crisp 50 degree morning this morning....only 1 more night to go, Mal!