A Birthday Card and Some Praise!

Good Morning!

Today is a WONDERFUL day!!!!!!!!  My husband, who has worked 7 days a week, 12 hours a day for MONTHS, finally has a day off! We are off to Disney World to spend the day,,,,,,,,and we have reservations for dinner at one of the restaurants tonight! WOO HOO! I'm bouncing, I'm so happy!

I hope you're not sick of window cards LOL. I know that the Grand Madison Window die is extremely popular for a reason, and I've used it here again!  I have to say, that in googling this die to see what other people have done with it, I have especially enjoyed Kittie's cards  .  Although I did not directly copy any of her cards, her style has definitely STRONGLY inspired this card!  I surely hope she doesn't mind! Pop on over (link above) and see some of her gorgeous cards and leave some love while you're at it!

Here's mine!

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You can probably tell by the shine, but I used an old spellbinders package cut to size to imitate the glass in the window,,,,,

  

I also created little hinges for the shutters, so they pop out a bit,,,,,,,,,and of course, a bow on my bow maker!  The garden fence is a die by memory box,,,,,,,I bought it some time ago, and had no clue what to do with it until I got this window die LOL

Card Recipe:
Papers:scraps (PP), Coordinations Cardstock
dies: Poppy Stamps Grand Madison Window die, Grand Madison Shutter die, Memory Box Wrought Iron gate, Spellbinders ribbon banners
punches: Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace Punch around the page set, The Paper Studio tiny flowers punch, Martha Stewart winter branch punch
Ribbon and Flowers: Michael's Brand

Now time for some praise!

I bought my Grand Calibur exactly a year ago,,,,,,I can't imagine life without it! I love it! Unfortunately,,,,,,JUST out of warranty, it died on me LOL. My kinda luck, right?  Well, I didn't want to buy a new one if I could help it, so I emailed Spellbinders to see if they offered a repair service.

Turns out, they do!  She asked me a few questions, to which I responded honestly,,,,,,and I told her I was out of warranty on the machine and did not mind paying for repairs!

She responded back that they would HONOR that warranty!  My machine will be fixed for free.

I have to say,,,,,,,,I was stunned. How often does a company, in the face of being honestly TOLD they are no longer responsible, CHOOSE to take responsibility?????? NEVER,,,,,,,,,except,,,,,,it has happened!

Fortunately, I have my old Big Kick, which I was able to get new plates for yesterday, to hold me over until my Grand Calibur is returned to me (free of charge!).

But in case you are contemplating a Grand Calibur,,,,,,,buy with confidence!  You won't be sorry!

I hope you enjoyed the card! Now I'm off to Disney World to enjoy the world!!!!!!  Have a lovely Sunday!  And thanks so much for your comments!

Happy birthday, Grandson!!!!!

Good afternoon!!!!  In a few days, one of my grand sons will be eleven. So, of course, off I went to make a birthday card,,,,,,,,,he's receiving a video game system from his father and my daughter (His step mother), so I thought this paper from DCWV (Generation Tech stack) and this image from Mo Manning (Video Boy, African American version) would be perfect,,,,,,,The image is perfect for African American boys and also Hispanic boys like my grand son,,,,,,,,and probably even curly haired white children,,,,,,it's really an adorable image,,,,,,,,,there are also female versions and straight haired versions available!

Here's my card!

And here's a close up of this really darling image, which I've colored with copics and cut out and matted with Labels One.

I've used my Justrite fonts to add my text-speak/computer-speak "Happy Birthday to You" sentiment,,,,,,Kids,,,,,,they speak a different language these days LOL.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Angel,,,,,,,Grandma loves you!  And thank you all for looking,,I hope you liked the card :)

The Men in my life,,,,

This is my second post for the day,,,,,,,,please scroll down for my Party Time Tuesday DT post!

so almost 24 years ago, on my 23 birthday, I gave birth to one of the most important men in my life,,,,,my darling son, of whom I am SO PROUD.  He dropped out of high school, and then went back a few years later, to get his HS degree, then went on to college and is graduating in June (but finishing in 2 weeks!) number one in his class!

He will be 24 this friday, and I wanted to make him a very special birthday card to let him know how very proud of him I am.

One of the OTHER most important men in my life is my husband, Jaime, whom I love more than you can imagine. It seems to me that whatever I have wanted to do in my life, he has only asked what he could do to make it happen. Not everyone receives such wonderful support,,,and I love him very much for all that and more. He celebrates his 53rd birthday in two weeks.

Obviously,,,,,,,I had some cards to make!  My sweet husband went out and bought me the Spellbinders Grand Calibur yesterday,,,,,,I got it early, because we are all going to Disney World together on Friday to celebrate, and there's no way to carry one of those around to give at the dinner celebration LOL. so Lucky ME!!! I got to play with it yesterday! And so, I made some birthday cards using all my new dies too!

The black and white one is for my DH and the blue and cream with a touch of black is for my DS.  Both of them use the new Moroccan Motifs dies and the nested hearts dies,,,,,,,

My husband's (black and white) center focal point is made from the following dies, bottom to top

postage stamps
Parisian Motifs
Moroccan Motifs
and  2 layers of nested hearts, the last layer inked with black while still in the die


My son's is a bit simpler,,,,

2 layers of the largest Moroccan Motifs
1 layer of the smaller moroccan motifs in black
2 layers of nested crowns.

And let me tell you, the difference in embossing with the Grand Calibur is amazing! I had previously made the center piece for the blue card,,,,,it was just sitting waiting to be attached to a card,,,,,,but I had not previously made the focal point for the black and white card,,,,,,,and the difference in the embossing is amazing. That Grand Calibur was surely worth the money spent!

Maybe you can tell the difference in the close ups of each card!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the cards!!

Prize Pack!

Good afternoon! Saturday I got my prize pack from Stampin' D'Amour and I could NOT wait to use it!!!!

There were so many goodies, I couldn't decide which to use first! I wanted to use them ALL,,,,,,,but that simply wasn't possible there were so many lovely vintage goodies! So I settled on a collage type card, which would insure use of the MOST product I could possibly squeeze on the card LOL. I needed a birthday card for the 99 year old lady down the street, and these stamps and goodies were PERFECT for her!

So, without further ado, Here is my card!

I started with a kraft card base and cut and embossed the edge with spellbinders edgeabilities " Classic Ric Rak". All stamps are Stampin' D'Amour,,,,,,I used the birthday cake, the "Happy birthday to you", the "happy birthday" and the "Birthday Wishes" stamps on this, I stamped them directly on the vintage advertising sent to me (I copied it so I can use it over and over again) in Onyx black and Cocoa, put just the teensiest touch of peachy pink with my copics (R22) and inked everything with sepia ink. I also used the GORGEOUS tickets, inked them and also stamped Happy Birthday on them. the large red rose (I wanted a pop of color!) is spellbinders spiral blossoms 1.

A few pearls and gems, a messy bow, a heart charm, and I think it's gorgeous!

Here's the close up of the stamps and flower!

I hope you liked the card, and thanks for looking! Run over to Stampin' D'Amour for the most gorgeous vintage stamps! You won't be sorry!

I'd also like to thank Pamela, owner of Stampin' D'Amour and Free vintage Digi Stamps (button on my side bar) for the lovely prize pack! I'm having so much fun with it!

Happy New Year!!!!

My goodness, the week has gotten away from me! What with holiday celebrations, parties, gift wrapping and baking, I hardly know where the week went!

I hope you had a lovely wee with family and loved ones,,,,I know I did, and Santa was very good to me!

But, I'm finally back after taking the week to spend with my family,,,,,and then cleaning up our holiday mess~! And today, I have a card. This was such a sweet image from I DO NOT KNOW WHERE! I save a TON of vintage images for later use,,,,and I almost ALWAYS save them in a file marked with the poster's site,,,,,,,OR the name of the poster in the file name.

This time I did NOT. Not smart. (Kicking self!)

I searched my favorite sites, and found NOTHING. If you KNOW where I found this image, please let me know so I can give proper credit!

The paper I used for this card is a mixture of scraps,,,K and Company Cut N Paste predominate, but I do see some of my favorite MME Lost and Found paper here too! I cut the image and framed it with Labels 18, backed with TWO lacy ovals, a sweet ribbon, some pearls, some Michael's brand yellow ribbon, a computer generated sentiment and she's done!

Easy peasy, and NO copics!

I hope you have a lovely New Years, and PLEASE be safe! Thanks for looking, and I always appreciate your comments!

So I screwed up,,,,,,,

Yep,,,big time. The birthday file I made a year or so ago that I thought was brilliant,,,,,,,,

isn't so brilliant if I misfile someone's birthday. Sigh.

Yep,,,,,filed a dear friend under December instead of November. I realized what had happened when I went digging for late December birthdays to make cards for. And found hers. Oh boy.

What's a girl to do???? Except maybe make the prettiest card she can and admit she's a dunce LOL.

So here you have it,,,,,,,yet again, some pretty MME paper (even when I TRY, I can't seem to stay away from it!), a nestie, a "sorry I missed your birthday" stamp. And three of the prettiest flowers I think I've ever made.

I've been playing around with rolled roses for a week or so, trying to get a specific look. And I think I finally got it. I've been asked twice already how to make them (it's so simple, it's ridiculous), so I'll see if I can't get a pictorial up here in the next few days. I wanted Spellbinders "spiral blossoms one", but at least until AFTER the holiday, anything that's 24 bucks is just going to have to wait. And I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out actually. Not sure I even want to spend 24 bucks for that flower now,,,,,,,,not when there's so many other dies I want,,,,,,,hm,,,,,,,

will have to think about that one LOL. Oh, and by the way,,,,,,,those leaves are really my poinsettia die,,,,cut in half LOL. I can't even leave the thing alone for birthday cards!

Hope you enjoyed the post,,,,,,,,,again, have a LOVELY Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever it is that you celebrate! And thanks for looking!

OOooh La La!

I just love this paper!!!! It screamed at me from the shelf of Hobby Lobby "BUY ME! BUY ME!"

A girl can't refuse after being screamed at, now can she?


It's MME and it's STUNNING! I left the card rather clean and simple, except for a bow, just because the paper was SO gorgeous~! I stamped in black onyx ink and ATTEMPTED a double frame,,,a few pearls, a stick pin and my Happy Everything kit, and this card is a go for a friend's birthday! I hope she likes it.

That's it,,,,no challenge, no nothing today,,,,,,,yet. LOL.

Hope you're having a lovely Thursday, and thanks for looking!

Beauty and the Beast!!!!!

Good morning, scrappy friends!!!!!

Well, here you have it,,,,,,Beauty and the Beast,,,,,,

The beast is the current state of my bathroom,,,,,E gads, it's disgusting! The previous owners had let the tub leak for months, and it created issues with the floor. they "fixed" the problem poorly, and it was a YEAR before we figured it out,,,we haven't used the tub in over a year, so it's going to be WONDERFUL to get a brand new bathroom,,,,,,,,until then,,,,THIS is my view LOL. As you can see, they are in the midst of tearing the flooring out,,,

In addition to this disgusting disaster, I have a card today that I finished last night (no WAY I'll be scrapping today with power tools and bath tubs tromping through my livingroom,,,,,

It's my mother's birthday in less than a week, so I need to get this baby in the mail. I'll also be entering this into the Penny Black and More challenge HERE! for a happy birthday card. In this challenge, you may use any stamp you'd like, but NO digi images.

I've used a fiskar's sentiment stamp from the Happy Birthday kit, and stamped it onto MME paper with versafine black onyx ink. some matting, a few gorgeous flowers made with my Create a Rose die out of this stunning MME paper (aren't you all glad it's NOT a poinsettia? LOL), a bow, some ribbon and a fancy corner embelly and it's' DONE. I hope my mother likes it,,,,

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you!!!!!