classic basic grey still looks fab, doesn't it?

at least it does to me. the sultry line was a particular fave (all that pink!) and i still love it, actually; plus i seriously doubt that anyone will ever make "solid" colored papers that i like more than the artfully distressed looking bg ones. so there. to celebrate still having such goodness in my stash, i broke out a bunch of it to make a giftbag which holds niece madeline's birthday presents. see?

(patterned paper: basic grey, recollections, making memories, anna griffin, creative imaginations, girls' paperie; chipboard letters: kay and co; butterfly die: quickutz; border punches: recollections; doily from my stash; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i used the current mojo monday sketch (#345) pretty darned faithfully for once; assuming you can get past the part where the role of the circles is being played by butterflies, instead. po-tay-to, po-tah-to! :)

maddie's actual (10th!) birthday was yesterday, and her family party is on saturday, to which we are really looking forward. it is rumored that a full complement of nieces and nephews will be in attendance, which becomes less of a "gimmee" as they grow up and develop social lives and schedules of their own. life has certainly changed over the course of the past ten years and it's both scary and exciting to think how much more dramatically it will change in the next ten. yikes! meanwhile,

happy birthday 

♥MADELINE♥ 

and many more!!!