JP's 71st. Birthday!!!

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying May....it's going quite fast isn't it? Well, we celebrated JP's 71st birthday on Wednesday....just him and I. His brother called in the morning and sent a card also. This is the card I gave JP....a vintage boy wishing him a Happy Birthday. He wondered who that was, and if that was him?!?! NO JP....not you!!! I didn't make it specifically for him, it's just one of the many cards I've made, that I happened to like, so I gave it to him.

This is the present I gave him, you probably have seen it on TV. Got it for $40, it has the whole Bible on it and plays continuously till you stop it or change the verse or chapter. It also has some meditation songs on it. I am sure JP will not listen to the songs, but I will. Sorry the picture is so blurry...but you get the drift.

It's King James Version. So JP likes that, and the voice of the reader has a slight English accent....which I like. Easy listening.

I bought JP this little 6" New York Cheese Cake from Festival Foods. Lite a candle and he blew it out....make a wish, I said, and he gave me the stink eye and said that was superstition!!! Oh geez Jay.....then name a blessing!!!

This sure was a yummy cheese cake, will buy this again. Only $6.99. It was on sale....so I am not sure what the regular price was....but for a birthday cake for two...not bad.

See the cards in the back? The one on the left is the one I gave him...the middle one, his brother gave him, the one on the right, our insurance man gave.

So here we are, piece's of cake cut with strawberries and whip cream. No calories here, right????

This is what is left.....actually half of that cake left, JP had another piece last night and this afternoon....probably another piece tonight. OOOOO and I have to have a piece too!!!

Tomorrow I am going to a plant sale, hope I can find the same tomato plants I got last year.....they were the best tomatoes ever!!! "Beef Steak", the plants got SO BIG and had over 50 tomatoes, that was 3 plants. Maybe this year I will get 2 plants.....it was a very good year for tomatoes!!!

I think we are going to have a nice weekend....so I may work in the yard and try and clean things up a bit. Bring my ceramic animals out from the shed. There's enough for me to do....maybe too much. If I take a little bit at a time, it won't be bad, but I want it all done right away. So I can enjoy the summer, is that possible???

Time to close here...the Schwan's Man will be coming soon and Hockey is tonight, the Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets....it should be a good game!! Kylie wants to go for a walk too.

Talk to you all later, keep looking up cause better days are coming, whether here, there, or in the air!!! Cheers ~ Louise

PS How do you like my new background.....I needed a change and a new look. You may see me change the background many times. BlogSpot was so limited in their designs, Glad I found this site. I have about 26 new backgrounds to try...so stay tuned!!!
http://thecutestblogontheblock.com

Some Cards I Have Been Working On

HI there everyone....hope your week went well. Mine was quiet....which is fine with me. Monday I went for my A1C blood test.....hopefully everything is fine. Will have my Doctors appointment next Tuesday. JP has his blood tested next Monday and his appointment with the Doctor the following Monday. I think he has a dental appointment also....but I did not mark it on the calendar....oh, oh I better get that checked out.

So lately, I have been working on some cards. 5 early Christmas cards in May.....I picked up these die cuts at the secret stamper reveal party. When I saw the card on the table I quickly ran back to the "extra image table" to see if there were more angels....and yes, these 5 were left. I had some sparkle backgrounds in my stash of paper and made my own angles. I must look for this die, I have no idea where the die for these angels was bought at a store or ordered online. I would like to make all my Christmas cards this year with this angel die.....so pretty!!!

Here we have some "Just a little note to say..." I saw this idea on the Internet. The wavy lines is a SU die and the notes I picked up at a stamping store.....I will get the name and place it here, when I look in the garbage for the package. I had originally made my own notes....but alas, they were backwards and upside down. Although the original card on the internet was the same, so I thought that was the way it should be.

When JP saw the card (he plays accordion and keyboard) he smiled and said my notes were wrong. So he went and got a music sheet to show me what the notes should look like. So, I proceeded to take my handmade notes off and replace with these notes....looks much better, if I have to say so myself. I have no idea what the tune is on each of these cards....maybe someone musical can tell me?

Now here is my "secret stamper image for May" I have probably had this stamp for 4-5 years and have no idea where it came from or who I bought it from. Sorry. I thought she would make a great "Mother's Day Card" I colored her in with copic markers, the real beauty of this card is the background. I used iridescent foil. Which was really fun to work with.

There are many ways to use colored foil....I thought only a laminator could be used, which I did not have. I went on YouTube and found other ways to foil. Tim Holtz has a few techniques to foil using sticky embossing powder (I shall check that out tomorrow at Hobby Lobby.) The foil is laid on top, tapped and rubbed then the foil slides off. Now I can't remember if a heat gun was used, I will have to check that out again.

Another lady used her cuttlebug with the foil papers and embossing folders, getting the right amount of pressure, she ran the folder through with the foil. It did not look like much, but she used painters tape to rub the foil off in the places foil did not stick.

Another lady used different colored embossing powders, a stamp and heat gun. While the image was still hot, foil was laid on the embossed image, if it did not take, she heated the embossing up and laid the foil on top again. You could use words or flowers, the ideas are endless.

My method was using foil paste. Rub the paste on the card stock with an old artist spatula (maybe I will look for a plastic one, mine was metal and all rusted.) Place the foil on the paste and I used the heat gun. The top one turned out better then the bottom one. But then, it really doesn't look bad either.

Here is a question for you....do you think these cards need something more, like ribbon, sequins, gems???? Or maybe it is fine just the way it is? Or, maybe it is too busy??? I might add a "Happy Mother's Day" greeting using the embossing powders.

Let's see, what else could I talk about??? I have started a couple of blogs and saved them in a draft. I made my first cheese cake a couple of weeks ago....pictures and blog to follow and maybe another cheese cake.

Another draft, is the cards made and received at the "Secret Stamper Image" reveal party, Part 1 and Part 2. There will also be a draft for the cards I made at Betty's house last month. My how time flies, I will be going for another session next week, maybe I should hold off on last months cards till I get another set of cards made at Betty's.

Hospice is next week Friday, so I need to get cards and Father's Day favors done for that. That could be another blog....Mother's Day and Father's Day favors.....we'll see.

Well, time to close, hockey is on...Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets. I am rooting for the Predators...so far the score is 2-0 Predators leading. I am also rooting for the Vegas Golden Knights....so we shall see what happens. Hopefully next season it will be the Chicago Hawks in the Playoffs!!!

Have a good evening and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise