Homemade Cards and Other Birthday Finery – Hive and Nest

My birthday yesterday was glorious. Nothing terribly exciting happened other than that I ate so much delicious food, which is really the whole point of a birthday. And I got some lovely presents and laughed a lot.

The birds seemed especially chirpy, the clouds were extra billowy and the wildflowers looked gorgeous. I shall assume it was all for me. April is the best month for a birthday!

Last year I made this pin for my friend Tamara. She’s very modest about her birthday so I thought it would be perfect to announce it to everyone. She loaned the pin to me yesterday. And not coincidentally I was offered free dessert twice. (Of course I said yes!)  Although I did spend the first couple of hours replying in an amazed voice, “how did you know???” until I remembered that I was wearing a giant ribbon announcing the fact.

My sister made me the cutest little herb garden set. She claims not to be crafty at all but look how adorable this is! I can hardly wait for the seeds to bloom.

Did any of you read The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother? The author is an overbearing perfectionist who, for her birthday, receives some handmade cards from her elementary-school-aged daughters. She decides that the cards aren’t good enough and that her children haven’t put enough thought into them so she throws the cards back at the girls and demands that they redo them. Yikes! Who wants a gift that has to be forced and coerced (her, apparently). My kids did a lovely job with the cardmaking so there was no need for me to toss them back in their faces, lucky them!