I still love ice cream...

During the first 8 years of my life, my parents owned and operated a restaurant. Most of my little friends thought it would be so cool to be a member of a family that owned a restaurant. I really didn't like it at all - except for the ice cream!

My 5 siblings and I ate in the restaurant nearly every day--but we didn't get to choose from the menu. We often got pancakes for breakfast - my dad was the cook and he had the batter all mixed up and ready to go.  If we ate there for lunch or dinner, we HAD to have that day's "special" - whatever it was.  It seemed that the daily special was always something I hated at the time - like hot roast beef sandwiches swimming in gravy, or a big bowl of homemade beef vegetable soup. As kids we wanted burgers and fries, just like the kids of today, but my parents wisely made us eat a healthy and varied diet.  We did get to have a couple of treats on a regular basis - fresh donut holes (my dad made the BEST donuts) and ice cream cones, dipped from the ice cream freezer behind the counter. I preferred strawberry then - now, just give me chocolate!  When my parents left the restaurant business, they took that old ice cream freezer with them and used it as a home freezer for the rest of their lives. I have no idea how old it actually was (I think it was second hand when they got it for the restaurant in 1950).  We finally sold it after my dad died in 2000.  I do know it had been in continuous use for at least 50 years! Can you imagine using an appliance for that length of time?

Today's project is a simple--but fun to make--pair of birthday cards, using the ice cream cone from Stretch Your Imagination.

You can see that I used a Martha Stewart border punch and a narrow strip of red cardstock to break up the background pattern of the card base.  I used the Divine Swirls embossing folder on the ice cream and another embossing folder (can't remember the name) on the cones.

In the photo at right you can see that I added some Diamond Glaze to the cherry to give it some shine and help it stand out.  I also added a little sparkle to the ice cream swirls with some glitter glue.  I didn't think it was necessary to put a sentiment on the front of these cards since the pattern of the card base makes it pretty obvious what they're for.  These cards are for my daughters and I hope they enjoy sharing them with a birthday boy or girl whenever the need arises.

Thanks for visiting today, and remember to laugh--alittle or a lot--every day!

Cheryl