Recently a friend celebrated her 65th birthday AND her retirement. We had a great time at her open house, and took this card and a bottle of wine.

The card turned out to be a snap to make. I picked up Teresa Collins’ Studio Gold “Create a Beautiful Life” paper pad at Joanne Fabrics a few months ago. I gold embossed the sentiment from “The Big, The Bold, and The Party” by Winnie and Walter, and added that panel to another patterned paper from the same pad.

The gold embossing powder turned out to be an almost perfect match.

The wine tag was created with the “Uncorked” dies by Papertrey Ink, some gold and silver papers from The Paper Source, and a strip of same paper used for the card. And, of course, some sequins.

All I can wish for someone who retires is that they enjoy themselves as much as I have since I retired! A former colleague told friend of mine who was considering retirement not to be in any hurry, since retirement was “lonely and boring.” I felt so bad for her. I’m never bored, never lonely, and fortunately, neither is my friend who retired in October and is having a fine time of it.

We’re off tonight to celebrate a wonderful vacation at The Dry Dock. Our friends, Bonnie and Ed, who just happened to be here on Longboat Key with us for several days took us there the first week we were here. We loved it, and already know what we’re going to order this time around. Can’t say I’m very excited about heading back to the cold. Matt tells us a lot of the snow has melted, but as I expected, there’s still snow on the ground. Hard to imagine, sitting here looking out on the Gulf of Mexico in the bright sunshine.

As soon as I saw the dies and stamps designed for Papertrey Ink’s anniversary by Maile Belles, I knew I’d be adding them to my collection. I also purchased her new paper pad, “Watercolor Wonder,” and some of the gold adhesive paper they released. With these three products and a few sequins I got several March birthday cards created.

All the colors in the Watercolor Wonder pad coordinate with Papertrey’s cardstock, so matching it to a card is so easy.

This gives you a better look at the gold adhesive paper which makes using these die cuts a breeze.

I needed a couple cards for guys as well, so I made two of these. I thought the colors were more masculine, and there are no sequins to be found.

This paper pad is going to get a workout! All the designs are printed on beautiful linen cardstock that’s a great weight for “bumping out.” I used to use dimensional tape to do that, but after watching Jennifer McGuire use “fun foam” from Michaels, I’ve started using it. It’s a much better for mailing, pretty economical, and easier!

You’ve seen many cards over the last six months that were created for a friend who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The prognosis was rather iffy, but this week she got great news. The chemo has halted the progress of the cancer, and she doesn’t have to go back for another CAT scan for three months. So this time it was a “Happy Hello!”

You’ll be seeing lots of this patterned paper by Papertrey Ink called “Watercolor Wonder.” I just love the spring colors, and it’s definitely a bright and cheery card for such good news. The die cuts are from Papertrey, too, “Wet Paint” and “Life is Beautiful.” It’s my favorite butterfly die. Behind the butterfly, is a “Circle Scribbles” die cut from vellum.

Here’s another cheery “hello” card that I sent off to a friend awhile ago, and never posted.

I laid down a couple of strips of Washi tape, and die cut Mama Elephant’s “Hello” from an OLD Cosmos Cricket pad, “Jolly By Golly.” The stamp is from W Plus 9’s “Hand Lettered Hello,” and the enamel dots from MME.

It’s so nice to be able to send cards to celebrate good news!

In my continual rant against the weather, it is -4° this morning, with a wind chill of -22°. Really? Worse yet, we discovered ice damming in several places yesterday, which can cause all kinds of damage. The last time it happened, we had to have three rooms repaired and repainted. Since then we’ve had the roof replaced. We also have cables on the roof which usually take care of the problem. This year it’s just been too cold for too long. The icicles on everyone’s homes are amazing. Beautiful, but a potential sign of problems to come. Tracy has a call into the man who came many years ago, but all the folks who deal with these problems are overbooked. Two weeks from today, we’ll be in Florida,, although it’s even chilly in Florida (they were predicting lows in the 30’s this week), but it’s surely better than here. I’m actually glad to be here right now, so we can keep an eye on the ice damming.

Well, on to more pleasant topics. I don’t usually leave making a card to the last minute, but for Sarah’s ordination, I did exactly that. I made it the evening before, just before we gave her a stole. (I never got a photo of that either, but I will on Easter Sunday when we’ll be celebrating at her church.) But she immediately said, “Nice card!” I think she’s partial to CAS as well.

It couldn’t have been simpler. White cardstock, a piece of patterned paper from the Studio Calico “Print Shop” pad, and a die cut from Penny Black in gold.

And somehow, when I posted about Caleb’s birthday from Chicago in December, I never shared his birthday card.

Caleb LOVES cars, and this little car die from Savvy is one of my favorites. I cut it three times in Limeaid Ice, Pure Poppy, and Hawaiian Shores and mounted them on a piece of Summer Sunrise (all Papertrey Ink). It’s been ages since I used any of my 12X12 scrapbook papers, but I found a piece of map paper and cut two banners. I can’t remember (and didn’t record) where the “happy, happy, happy” sentiment comes from. 

On one final note about the weather, it’s sunny today! Makes going out a little less onerous. I’m going to lunch with two friends from college, but otherwise I’m staying inside!