He CAN'T be FORTY!!!!

Today my oldest son, Scott,  is FORTY YEARS OLD.  How can that be??  If I am not getting older, how can he??

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday with his wife, adorable new son, and his brother, Robert.  It was a fun time sharing dinner and just good family time together.

I made beef stroganoff in the pressure cooker (my Instant Pot - love it!), noodles, grilled asparagus, croissants and homemade cheesecake ice cream and homemade lemon cookie gelato. (see the photo below!)  I had not made stroganoff in ages, but it was fun to experiment and it was an unusually cool day here so it was perfect weather for that kind of a meal... (stroganoff recipe to follow soon!)

In lieu of birthday cake, I made lemon cookie gelato.

Scott said it was the best gelato ever - even the ones he had in Italy!

Made my night <<BIG smile!>>

The birthday card file is from Dominc (Crafty Vectors) and I so love how his files cut. The shell is pretty symbolic to both of us - my parents lived fairly close to the beach and my children spend a lot of time at their home when they were young.  And I have been longing for more time at the ocean lately, so it seemed like the perfect image to share with Scott. He loved the card.

Dominic's shell file - love the intricacy of it...

The file with two different backgrounds to give it a finished look...

But more important than all of that is thinking back to forty years ago and as trite as it sounds, it does seem like yesterday.  Scott was my first child and I was practically a child when I had him  (very early 20s). I always say he turned out well in spite of me.  I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but the one thing that was always constant was my love for him.  And forty years later, it is only stronger.  I am so very proud of the man that he has become. And watching him with his wife and baby son just makes my heart skip a beat! He is really living the life he is meant to live and isn't that what we want for our children... for them to be happy and content and fulfilled?

One of the highlights was capturing Scott and Carter having quite the conversation!  This looks like contentment to me...

Scott didn't change his position much, but Carter was certainly animated...

I  feel very blessed and look forward to the adventures we have ahead of us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY , DEAR SCOTT!!

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70th Celebration

I have a dear friend who turned the big 7-0 a few weeks ago.  I was struggling with what kind of card to make for him as I knew it was not the easiest decade for him to step into....... so I let his love of wine take over the inspiration.

I had found a file online ages ago (if I can remember who to give credit for this wine card, I certainly will) and had it sitting in my rather vast SVG collection. It is a good thing that these files only take up storage on the computer and not my craft room or I would have to curtail collecting -  perish the thought!

This was with  the satin silver on gold tape....

I struggles with capturing the colors on this so I apologize for the blue background - 

it was difficult to capture

Anyway......... the rest of this became simple.  I added embellishments from the SCAL library, used my Brother labeler to add a touch of personalization to the wine, and of course the papers are from Paper Temptress.

And it was a success - he loved the card! :)

The cork was embossed with a mesh embossing folder and flipped over so the deboss side shows...

Here is to many more birthdays (and bottles of wine to celebrate!)

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December Birthday Greeting

When I have to make a card for a December birthday, I want to make it reflect the time of year (wintery) without screaming "Christmas".  Anyone celebrating a birthday during this festive and hectic time of year deserves to have a card that is not holiday based - at least that is how I feel.

Simple pine tree cut in three layers

I shifted the colors a little just so you could see the detail in the snowflakes and the frosty film effect.

This design is from Miss Kate's Cuttables.  The winter pine tree (that came with the additional snowflakes) was one of her free designs during the month of December and I love how it turned out using papers from Paper Temptress.  The snowflakes were cut from the Tim Holtz Frosty Film.  It cut much like vinyl - is very light and sparkly and I love the effect it gave the card.  I don't know if this product is still made, but I am so glad I got several of them a year or so ago.  Yes sometimes it takes me a while to use what I have!

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Family Birthday Cards...... Part One - My Oldest Son!

This is the time of year when I really need to be looking ahead as I have three family birthdays in the span of a month.... my oldest son, my youngest granddaughter, and my daughter .  I am usually ahead of the curve, but not this year.  With my daughter and granddaughters visiting the week before Easter, it really threw off my timing, not to mention that Easter was SO late this year.

So last week I started on my granddaughter's card because let's face it - kids cards are SO much easier to do than adult cards.  And for me, female cards are TEN times easier than a card for a male. So poor Scott already had two strikes against him.  And it wasn't until I got about halfway through a card I needed for May, that the realization set in that I had not started my son's card yet and it needed to get in the mail.  Yikes! The panic was on!

He loves all things Disney (yes even at the age of 39, you don't outgrow Mickey Mouse and all of his friends), and is an avid golf player, but I felt like I had exhausted those topics in previous years!  So I looked and I looked and I looked. I went through all of my stamps, digi and rubber. I searched through my endless collection of card sketches and books with card ideas.  Nothing.  Even Pinterest failed me - so I knew I was in serious trouble at this point!  Finally after stepping away from it, I just decided that the greeting was the most important thing and keeping it simple was probably a good idea.

Before I go on to the card portion, I just have to say that I can hardly believe that 39 years have passed. I can remember the anticipation, fear, excitement, worry - all of those emotions that come tumbling in at once, as if it was yesterday.  The fear was because he was a big baby and he was losing oxygen fast, so they did an emergency c-section. I was terrified, but he was healthy and beautiful.  It was a tumultuous first month as the two grandmothers took care of him most of that time as I ended back in the hospital with an infection and it was touch and go for a while.  But we clearly had a happy ending.  There is nothing like your first born.  All of your children are special, but that first one is truly that first miracle - and there is nothing in the world like that experience.  He is all of my hopes and dreams wrapped into one wonderful person.  Thank God he has a sister and brother so all of the pressure is not on him!!  I love him dearly.

Now, onto the card....

You can see the detail of the letters cut with the Silver Bullet Professonal.

I had to do a closeup of the papers as they are so beautiful with the gold flecks running through them.  The red and blue are from the incandescent line from Paper Temptress.  

And the tone on tone white striped paper creating the lattice work is from the luster line.  

I love how these papers make everything look so special.

And here is the final product.  The file is from Birds Cards - it is her Card Cover series.  I altered it a little and added the greeting.  The buttons were made with the Epiphany Crafts Shape Punch (cuts the shape and attaches an adhesive dome to the paper shape). I have had that punch forever and realized it was time to use the tools I have!   The red and blue twine is American Crafts.

So here you have it - a very simple card, done in the colors of  his alma mater (University of Arizona). It isn't my best work, but it is full of love and I hope that is enough.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT!!

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Happy Birthday to my Youngest Son!!

My "baby" is turning 24 today.  How did that happen?  I can still remember bringing him home when he was two days old. His sister was 11 at the time and his brother 14!  Yes there is a huge gap, but this special young man was very much wanted and planned for.  He is adopted and a very special gift.

I have three wonderful children and they are each different and unique. Only my youngest is adopted but he is the one who really taught me about love in an unexpected way.

By entering my life, he taught me that it doesn't matter how you enter someone's life, only that you do.  Love truly knows no bounds.   Children are born in your heart.  Nothing else matters.  He is a product of my heart as are each of the other two.  I gave each of them my heart the day they were born and the amazing thing about that, is that somehow, the heart manages to grow as big as you need it to grow to meet the demands placed upon it.  It allows you to love until you feel it might burst, but it never does.  It pours out love in infinite abundance.  What a miracle that is!!

Good thing he doesn't read my blog - he would be embarrassed!!

Ok - card details.  I used the Silver Bullet Professional Cutter and SCAL to do a simple print and cut.  I loved the expression on this policeman!  The rest just seemed to come together. The stop sign is on foam tape as is the policeman so he stand out a little!  The card stock is from Paper Temptress (PopTones) and the yellow was embossed with an M-Bossabilities folder - Bricks!  I like the little bit of texture.  This is really quite simple - I just wanted it to be fun.  The "celebrate" text was printed in Microsoft Word with a border. Yes I went back to basics on this one!!!

So today, on the 24th birthday of my youngest son, I wish him all that life has to offer.  He has a college degree but that has not transpired into a "real" job, so he just completed classes to become a security guard, thus the policeman on his birthday card - it was the closest I could get!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!!!!!

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Happy Birthday, Scott!

My oldest son just celebrated his birthday..... he turned ??.  It still puzzles me how I could possibly have a child that age (the card below gives away the details .... I just don't want to admit it in print!

Scott LOVES to golf.....I mean he loves EVERYTHING about it and would probably be on the course every single day if he could afford not to work and be a man of leisure.  His wife is an avid golfer too, so that makes it nice.

I have made him many birthday cards, using the golf theme and I thought I could not possibly do one more.....I had exhausted all ideas until I thought of a golf cart.  So it's not the most ingenious card I have ever made, but it works!

His sister-in-law was married last Saturday ON his birthday, so we have not celebrated yet.  But since he is not reading my blog  *gasp* - I think I am safe in posting the details!!

Once I found the golf cart image on line, I traced it in Sure Cuts a Lot Pro and cut it out with my Silver Bullet Pro using Paper Temptress mica paper. I also cut out a shadow layer to make it pop a little.

I then printed a birthday greeting on the outside of the card using a laser printer and then ran it through my Foilmaster with gunmetal foil to give it a nice sheen. I like how it turned out.

The added pennant is just a simple triangle cut out of incandescent card stock from Paper Temptress.  The wheels are embellished with silver brads that have been colored with a black Spectrum Noir marker.  It's simple, but I hope he will enjoy it!

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