Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to me .....

This was taken last week during a Raft Up with friends on the Lake.

I don't think I shared this birthday card I made for a friend.  The funny thing is I made the card and was going to drop it by her house since she lives in my neighborhood.  But then I couldn't find it.  I looked everywhere for it.  I was pretty sure it was in my car some place because I remembered taking it to the car when I went to play cards one day.  But do you think I could find it?  Well, I thought, maybe I took it by her house and just forgot!  Anyway about a week or so later, I found it .... in the car under my seat!  She ended up getting the card about a month late!  Hey - better late than never, you know!

 I used Summer Starfruit with the Sahara Sand card.  The stamp set is "From My Heart" stamped and die cut with the labels framelit.  The background piece is a wheel called Etruscan Elegance Wheel.  I haven't bought or used a wheel in so long but I really like this one.  Now I just need to remember to use it more often!  Watch out Stamp Club - may be using it this month!  I also used the Color Spritzer tool (pg 119) to put drops of ink on the die cut image.  I sponged the die cut piece with Summer Starfruit and stamped the "enjoyed" separately and popped it up.

Here is a close up of the image and the flower.  The little flower was made using a Cuttlebug die that Marianne gave me for Christmas last year.  Makes a cute little flower. 

I hope you took advantage of the items SU put in their Clearance Bin this weekend.  I ordered a few things but a lot of stuff went fast!  I was having a problem with a few of the digital items that weren't showing up in my order with the right price.  By the time, I called SU and got an answer, several of the items I had in my order had already sold out  - like the magnet sheets and all the envelopes.  I was bummed but I still got some good deals - red grosgrain ribbon, Vanilla Velvet ribbon, heart punch, card stock and some digital items for pretty cheap.  I love those kind of deals.

I had a pretty quiet weekend.  I spent a lot of time finalizing my Christmas cards for the Christmas Stamp A Stack I am having in November.  I will be posting details about it if you live in the area and would like to come. 

October Stamp Club

This is Stamp Club week.  Tuesday I had 7 ladies and one cat at the gathering!  Sammie has really gotten a lot more playful in the past couple of months.  It used to be when I would have people over, she would go into hiding.  But, not any more!   I wish I'd taken pictures.  We'll see if she does the same thing today when my Thursday group arrives.

We made a variety of cards this month.  I had a request for a birthday card and I had to do a Halloween / fall card plus I have a few ladies that want to do Christmas cards.  So, I tried to fit them all in!

Not much stamping on this birthday card.

 Supplies:
Cardstock:  Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Polka Dot DSP
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Accessories / Tools:  Razzleberry ribbon, Scallop Punch, Cupcake Punch, Crimper, Sticky Paper, Glitter, Extra Lg Oval Punch, Designer Frames
Stamp:  Word For You (I think that is the name of it!)

 Supplies:
Card Stock:  Going Gray, Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Howlstooth DSP
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Black, More Mustard
Accessories / Tools:   Small Oval Punch (for pumpkins), Daubers, White Gel Pen, Ribbon, Perf. Preserved Framelits, Banners Frameslits, Ribbon (retired - from SAB)
Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Perfectly Preserved

This was CASE'd from Chic'N'Scratch.  She has a great video demonstrating how she made this treat holder.  I gave everyone a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup to put inside the pocket and we made a little 3x3" card for the back pocket.

The next two cards are Christmas cards.  I let the ladies pick which one they wanted to make.  We did the coloring on both cards with Watercolor Crayons.

Stylin' Snowman Stamp Set

Winter Memories Stamp Set

Happy Birthday card

Before we came to Texas, I had to get caught up on a few birthdays.  Here is one of the cards I made:

I just love the colors in this card.  The stamp set I used was Raining Flowers.  It is a set I got last year at SU Convention and I haven't really used it much.  But I really like it in this card.  I stamped each flower three times and raised each layer up with dimensionals.  Then I put a pearl in the center of each flower.  I embossed the white layers of the card with the Dotted Embossing Folder  So, how do you like it?

Here are a few pictures I've taken since I've been in Texas.

I snapped this in a hurry from the backseat of the car as we were driving to dinner -  a beautiful Texas sunset.

Ashley and Sonny at dinner ... Mexican of course!  We convinced Sonny to sit outside in the courtyard.

We toured the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory last Wednesday. Yum!!

Bogart is at the door watching us in the back yard.  He likes to keep his eye on us - either at the door or sitting in the window.

Bogart's favorite way to drink his water!

Simply Sent Birthday Cards

How do you like my new blog header and background paper?  Just screams summer time!!  I made it using My Digital Studio .... so easy!

I am really getting frustrated with doctors!  When we took Mom back for her surgery check up last week, the surgeon did the MRI and said all was well with the incision area but it looked like their was narrowing at the S-1 vertebra area.  So, he recommended we go back to the Pain Mgmt doc for another injection.  We tried to call that doctor on Friday but their office was closed.  Today they called Mom and had her scheduled for JULY 16!!!  Please - another month???  This is unacceptable.  I feel like Mom is their dart board and they are just pitching darts hoping to hit the target eventually.  So, tomorrow I am taking her to her general doctor to see what his recommendations are.  I am getting really fed up with getting the run around.  You would think the surgeon would be trying to do everything he could since he didn't look at her first MRI for a week and then discovered the blood clot.  Sounds like a case for a lawsuit to me.

I have been trying to use up some of my retired items.  I had a Simply Sent card kit that I bought during Saleabration so thought I would dress them up a bit.  Plus, I needed a few birthday cards.  These three all went in the mail this week to friends.

Enjoy Every Moment

I made this great birthday card this weekend to send to a good friend for her birthday.  I had such fun making the card.  It was trial and error cutting the little squares and getting them spaced out but I finally got it pretty close.  The squares are 3/4" each and I didn't have a punch for that size so I used the good ole SU cutter.   I used last fall's Spice Cake DSP (which is no longer available) and Pool Party card stock.  I used a lot of different elements for this card - the eyelet at the top is retired but I still love them!  I ran a piece of the eyelet ribbon through it and used my Crop-a-dile to set the eyelet.  The tag is just a metal tag that I got at an office supply store.  The bird is from a retired SU set and I colored it with markers.  The butterfly is punched using the SU butterfly punch.  I layered the Pool Party behind the Spice Cake DSP and used the Butterfly Embosslit Die for the small butterfly in the center,  I wrapped twine around the center for the antennae.

I got news today that my friend and the owner of our local stamp store lost her husband in a battle with dementia.  What a cruel disease!  He had steadily been going downhill for the past year and died in her arms last night.  She told me recently to enjoy every moment I had with my husband and I am passing that advice along to you.  Enjoy every moment of life and take time to give thanks for what you have.

Well, it's starting to storm here - thunder, lightning and winds outside so I'd better sign off and shut down my electronics!!

Magic Birthday Card

I made this card last week for a friend's birthday.  I don't know what the technique is called and I can't find the website that I got the directions!!

This is the front of the card.  I used Creative Elements stamp set (one of my favorites!!).  The colors I used are Pink Pirouette and Regal Rose.  So you can see the flower through the circle when the card is closed.

Here is the card open - now you see "Birthday Greetings" through the hole.  It's magic!!

Here is what it looks like as you are opening the card.  The "birthday greetings" slides into place over the flower!

You make two folded cards and adhere them together.  The dimensions of the two are:  5 1/2" x 11" (scored at 3 1/2" and 7") and #2 is 6 1/8" x 5 1/2" (scored at 4 1/4".)  If I can find the video that I watched to make it, I'll post it later.  I first saw the card on Splitcoast and followed a link.  I thought it was on Dawn's blog but I can't find it now!

EDITED TO ADD:   (I FOUND THE LINK!! - Check  HERE)

I really liked how the card turned out and I hope Brenda does too.

Today was a good day for football!  My Steelers and the Panthers both won today.  Marianne joined us at Big Al's to watch the game.  It was pretty much a blow out - Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 35-7!  Ashley was pretty bummed out today.  She is taking a two week Army career course and thought they would be done by noon so she could get home and watch the game.  Several of her friends were coming over who are in town taking the course also.  She had already told them that her big TV would be on the Steeler game but that she had a couple of other tv's in the bedrooms they were welcome to watch other games on.  Well, she called me about 11 am and was still in class and it looked like she was going to be there until 3:00.  She has Direct TV and I was able to go on the internet and log into her account and set the Record button for her!  Isn't modern technology great??!!!  Well, when she got home to watch the game, she was able to watch it until the middle of the 3rd quarter. The score was such a blow out that the station changed the game to another one!!  Glad that didn't happen at our house - afraid Sonny would throw a brick through the tv.  On second thought, maybe that would be a good thing since I have been bugging him for a while to get a new tv!!  Hmmmm ....

A little of this and that

Sorry about not posting the past few days.  I've been super busy with my Christmas Stamp a Stack.  I had a group of ladies Friday night and another group of ladies Tuesday afternoon.  I think everyone was quite happy with their cards.  I had a lady in each event that made 45 cards!  That's some assembly line stamping!  My Friday night gal had her mom and daughter here to help her but my Tuesday lady did hers alone.  She stamped everything she needed to while at my house and did a sample of each card.  Then she took them home to assemble them later.   I really enjoyed the stamp a stack but I am glad it is over so I can go on to do other things!! 

Several people have asked me about my mom.  It seems she takes one step forward and two steps back.  Last Friday, Angela called me to tell me mom was having really bad pain again.  When I've talked to mom in the past week, she has been pretty depressed.  I guess so - she hasn't been out of the house to speak of in over a month.  She has really been missing going to church and socializing with her friends.  She went to the dr. today for the second spinal shot.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that this one will do the trick.  If not, I guess we will be doing the surgery.

I have not been doing much stamping the past week or more except for the Christmas cards for the stamp-a-stacks except for my Monday Mailers each week and I don't think I took pictures of the cards I made to send before mailing them!  That's the way October was for me.  But I do have my most recent received Monday Mailer to share with you.  It is a great fall card using the sentiment stamp from the mini catalog that is just so elegant.

 

I also have a birthday card to share with you that Margaret sent to Sonny.  It is a great card!!  I don't what company makes the stamp but I love it!!  She did a great job with this card.  Oh .... speaking of Sonny and birthdays, someone told me that I made an error in my birthday post about him.  I said that he was now on Medicaid instead of Medicare!  Most of you know us and know that I meant Medicare!   Like I said, October was a crazy busy month!

We (Sonny) has made a lot of progress with our paint project.  He has finished the hallways both upstairs and downstairs as well as the dining room.  We had a painter com on Saturday to do the foyer with the 18 foot ceilings!   I'll take pictures of the dining room to show you.  It looks really good in burgundy!  Tomorrow he is starting in the kitchen .... oops, guess I won't be cooking tomorrow night!   So after the kitchen, he will only have the bathroom downstairs, the laundry room and his office.  Then to the upstairs and the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Hopefully, all will be done by Thanksgiving!

More Birthday Cards

I have a few more birthday cards to share.

This first one is from Margaret, my Texas friend.  It is just beautiful.  The ribbon is dyed to match the flowers and cardstock.  She is smart - whenever she orders an ink pad, she always makes sure she gets the matching refill so she has it to do things like this as well as ink up her pad when it runs dry.  She asked me to suggest other color combos for fall for this card.   I suggested More Mustard, Tangerine Tango and Soft Suede.  This is where the Color Coach comes in handy.  I hardly ever do a card without consulting the Color Coach.  According to the Color Coach, More Mustard, Night of Navy and Cajun Craze would be lovely on this card.  What combo would you suggest????

 This second card is from my sister, Marianne.  I love it!!  Her "lollie" is great!  I have to say this is the student teaching the teacher.  I just wish she didn't have to work and we could play a lot more.  Marianne used the Flirtatious DSP on this card.  I need to use that paper more - I have it in my stash!

 Last, but certainly not least, is this beautiful card from Judy.  She told me she has been getting her money's worth out of the Fabulous Florets stamp set and this card is a fine example of that.  Judy is smart - when she makes a card, she doesn't make just one but makes several to have on hand.

I'm still waiting for my birthday card from Ashley to arrive!  I played the "pitiful me" part on Tuesday that she didn't send me a card and she told me yes, she did.  She took it to Boston with her and put it in the hotel mail on Tuesday so I would get it in time.  Well, I don't know what they did with it but I should have received it by now.  Come on USPS - send me my card!!!

Well, I have a "girlfriend" from Florida coming over today to play.  So, I need to tidy up and make room for her to work create.

Last night was Senior Night for the Mooresville soccer team.  I was proud of Marianne - she didn't get emotional.  Don't think it has not hit her yet that Harrison will graduate in May.  Hard for me to believe it too.  It seems like just yesterday that he was a toddler and I was helping her potty train him!

Too Many Years to Remember!

My daughter-in-law's birthday was yesterday.  She turned 34 but on her blog post, she said that all year she thought she was 34 so it was a pleasant surprise to her that she was not turning 35 on Friday.  Guess that is one way to sneak up on the years.  Unfortunately, I have known all year that I was 62 since I started getting my Social Security check last year so guess I can't fool old Mother Nature into letting me have another year at 62.  The good thing is I guess, Sonny will have a birthday next week and he'll start getting his medicare health insurance!  So at least I am not there yet!

We are going to a football game  with friends today.  In fact, as you are reading this, we are on our way!  We are traveling to Durham to see Wake Forest play Duke.  I have to find something warm to wear.  The temperature is supposed to only get to about 65 tomorrow but sunny.  I don't think it even made it to 60 today.   Don't know if I am prepared for cold weather yet!

I have received some very nice birthday cards this week and want to share them.

from my convention roomie, Nancy Lewis (I'll be CASEing this one!)

from NC Demo group

from Brenda, Stampers Alley owner

from my good buddy, Sharon D

from Stampin' Up Office (digital card)

from Joyce M, one of my stamp club ladies

from "girlfriend" Sharon R - She's gotta teach me how to do the scallop square!

Birthday Wishes and the Bronze Star

Last week was my nephew's 22nd birthday.  Wow!  Where has the time gone?  Seems like just yesterday when I  made him a little wooden stool with Barney painted on it so he could reach the sink to wash his hands!  Now, Marianne (his mom) uses the stool to reach the higher cabinets in her kitchen since she's so short!!  The family celebrated his birthday at his favorite Japanese restaurant. 

It's been another busy week so far.  Yesterday I played bridge.  When I got home, I worked on some cards for various swaps I am doing.   Today I worked at the Soup Kitchen.  It always makes me feel good to work there.  I feel like I'm doing some good in the world and not just "getting by".

I remembered to take a picture of my Monday Mailer this time!  Last week I put it in the mail before I took the picture.  The theme this month is Favorites.  I used a few of my favorite accessories in the new catalog - the Incolor Designer Brads and the new Designer Frames embossing folder ( you get two folders for $8.95).  I made the cupcake with the Cupcake Punch - super easy!

 

Do you know what this medal is?        

 Well, it is a Bronze Star Medal Award.  Ashley showed us hers today (via Skype) that she received in a ceremony this week!  We are so proud of her!   This award is given for meritorious achievement or meritorious service.

Quarterly Rejects

This week as I have said, I have been working on cards and projects for my Quarterly swaps.  Tuesday I did 2-3 cards that I loved but decided after doing them that they would be too complicated for my Shoebox.  We do a Shoebox Swap on Friday night.  You design a card and put all the materials to make the card in a box for everyone else to make.  Friday night we only have 12 participants but still, we need to get 12 cards made, visit, and snack and still make it to bed at a reasonable hour to get up bright and bushy tailed for the next day of events!

This wa my first reject.  This is a card that was demo-ed on stage during convention and I love it!  The "cake" is 3 Hershey miniatures wrapped in DSP.  I used punches to make the Razzleberry cake stand - Border Punch, Word Window and Oval.  I pulled a thread in the satin ribbon to gather it around the candy.  This would definitely be a card you would need to hand deliver!  It just took too much time and I decided it would not be a good card for the shoebox.

This was the next card that I made.  I embossed the Vanilla cardstock with the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder and then painted the raised lines with Gold Smooch.  I used the Big Shot and Scallop Circle Die for the Early Edition circle that I "smoothed" in gold on the edges.  The Fabulous Florets flower is embossed with Melon Mambo embossing powder and cut out separately.  Again, too much time and tools involved!

This is the card I settled on.  It uses the new Occasions Alphabet.  I have already die cut all the Top Note shapes for everyone and embossed the dots on the white Top Note.  So, basically they have to stamp and put it together!  The paper is from Paisley Prints.  And notice the edge on the white stamped piece?  I used the new Postage Punch to make that!!  I love it when you can do more with a Punch than it's intended use!  The flower is punched with the Triple Layer Blossom Punch.  I punched 4 flowers, spritzed them heavily with water and crumpled them up.  Let them dry a bit; then flatten them back out and put together with a brad.  I did not put them straight on top of each other but instead put every other one slightly to the side of the other one.

This is my Bookmark Card for another swap.  I used the Two Tags Die for the bookmark and just sponged Marina Mist on the bottom and Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight on top (masking a circle for the sun).  Then I stamped the Sail Away sailboat.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you might be able to see how I did the sails.  I stamped them separately onto Vellum, cut them out and turned them over and used a Stylus and a rubber mat to gently rub onto the sails and puff them out.  It really looks cool in person!  This is another great stamp for a great price!!  It is a single stamp in the Summer Mini catalog but will be gone the end of August.  So, if you like it, contact me to order it!!

And finally, my Punch Art Swap!  Good enough to eat, huh?  I used the following punches to make it:

Bun Top:  Extra Large Oval Punch (Crumb Cake)
Bun Bottom:  Word Window
Lettuce:  Blossom Punch (Celery)
Tomatoes:  3/4" Circle Punch (Cherry Cobbler)
Cheese:  Word Window (More Mustard)
Meat:  Modern Label (Choc. Chip)

Well, that it for Quarterly Swaps.  Think I am going to have to shop around for a camera today.  Mine has bit the dust I believe.

Dancing with Anniversary and Birthday Cards!

I'm gonna try and write this while I'm watching the finals of Dancing With the Stars!  Sonny even taped it downstairs so he could watch it with me!!   All season I would tape it upstairs and watch it the next day.  He would come up and just watch Hines Ward perform.  I'm hoping Hines wins tonight!!!

So, I have a couple of anniversary cards to make.  Last year this time, I was headed to Texas for two weddings (and luckily, not a funeral - get it??  a movie title!)  I forgot to take a picture of one of the cards today before I mailed it.  I made it using the (retired) Wild Rose stamp set that I got for $3 recently at Stampers Alley's used stamp sale.  What a deal!!  But, here is the second anniversary card I made using the wonderful Sizzix Daisy Die.

I love this die and used it to cut out 3 different sizes of the daisy in Real Red.  The leaves are Pear Pizazz punched out with the Owl Punch.  The heart border punch is non SU.  I used the Polka Dot background stamp (retired) on the white cardstock for the background and then ran it through a Polka Dot embossing folder for some added texture.  The brad in the middle is also retired from SU - I think I got it in the Clearance section.

I have also been making birthday cards.  I have about 10 birthdays in June!  Here is the one I made tonight using the Wild Rose stamp set ($3!!!).

This is my favorite style of stampin - two step stamping.  It is what got me involved with Stampin' Up to begin with. The colors I used on the flower are Peach Parfait and Pumpkin Pie.  The leaves are Pear Pizazz and Wild Wasabi. 

Happy Birthday to a Special Boy

Yesterday was my niece's son's birthday.  Jacob turned 8 yesterday.  Wow!  Hard to believe she has a child that old!  Melinda (my niece) is the same age as Ashley and lives in Texas.  I've kind of become her second mother since my sister passed away and hate that we are so far away from them.  She has done a great job raising her two boys.  Jacob is the most polite and mature eight year old you will ever meet.  Hope he enjoyed his card as much as I did making it .... and the treat tucked away inside!

I swear it took me almost a whole day to make this card but it was worth it!!  I love it.  I sponged a lot on this card - the sky, the grass, and the cupcakes. 

Supplies:

• Paper:   Whisper White, Brillant Blue, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Peach Parfait
• Ink:   Black; Soft Suede; Real Red, Always Artichoke
• Stamps:  Bugs and Kisses, Party Hearty, Tart and Tangy (cherry); Watercolor Minis (for grass)
• Punches:   Tag Punches
• Accessories:  Stampin’ Sponges,  Dimensionals,  1/4" Circle Punch; Crimper; Pearl Pen (Viva); Scallop Punch

Celebrate

Saturday night my cousins had a birthday party for their mom who turned 80 on Friday.  They told her they were going to celebrate her birthday on Saturday but it would just be the family.  Her daughter drove up from Raleigh and her son came up from Charlotte to celebrate at Candy's home.  So, she was really surprised when my mom, sisters, brother, Sonny and I showed up.  I wish I had remembered to take my camera to take some family pictures.  It's hard to think up presents for 80 year old ladies!!  But I decided everyone needs cards!  So, I made a few cards and a card box to put them in for her gift and it was a big hit.

I used a 6x6 paper pad from SEI that I got at CK last summer for all the cards and the box.  Stamps used are all SU.

Card Box - Stamp  from Oval All

 

Card #1 - I used the Sizzix Butterfly Die with a brad in the center.

Card #2 - Stamp from Occasional Quotes.  Nestabilities dies

Card #3 - Martha Punch; SU Daisy Sizzix Die with SU brad in center

Card #4 - stamp - Occasional Quotes

Card #5 - Occasional Quotes stamp and Owl Punch.  Also used SU embossing folder.

Close up of Ms. Owl!!

This is the birthday card I made for Aunt Carol - a CASE from last month's Monday Mailer!