HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOMINICK!!

Today is Dominick's 11th birthday. He was born October 2 (19 days early) at 3:35 pm. That was very important to him this year for some reason. He wanted to tell be in class on the exact moment he was born. Unfortunately he'll be home by then. He's never been a "cake kid". I think he's had maybe 2 cakes in his life. He usually wants brownie cups or cheesecake or pie. This year he asked to take pie to school. He polled the class and it came out almost even between apple and pumpkin pie so we sent one of each along with some apple cider. He's very excited! This is the card I made for him. About 2 months ago I just got this idea in my head and I figured I better get it out while it was there. I had to keep the card hidden in my craft room because he spends a lot of time in there with me. I wish I had known when I made this that he was going to become obsessed with the Beatles. We went to Las Vegas in August and he and Makena stayed with my In-Laws. The one thing that I wanted to do was see the Beatles Love Cirque show. Of course they were on vacation that week... so anyways when I got home there was a documentary about how they came up with the idea for it and the preparation that went into it. Dominick watched it with me and was instantly hooked. He switched all his MP3 songs to Beatles and now wants the Beatles Rock Band game for our Wii. He's been reading books and watching old footage and movies. It's kind of cool. Anyways if I had KNOWN I would have made this card more "Beatlesque" and less "rock". I think he'll really like it anyways. Most of the stamps are Inkadinkado. I used a Martha Stewart Border punch and a Colluzle alphabet to make his initials. The record has lines on it but unfortunately you can't see them in the picture. I just think it's a fun card for a boy. Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Harley Davidson Skull Birthday

What better way to make a masculine birthday card than to use Harley Davidson paper and Inkadinkado skull stamps? My nephew has a birthday in a couple of weeks and he loves Harleys. I used two Inka stamp sets to make this card. One is a Halloween set and the other is the You Rock set. I think he's going to love this. I'm sure he's not expecting anything like it. I even did some sewing on it. There was more... as you can see I had sewn across the top of the skull border but the thread broke mid way through and there were strings flying everywhere so I ripped it out and left it as a paper pierced look. There's lots of metal hardware on this card. In the top corner of the frame is a metal photo corner. It looks black in the photo but it's really silver. There is metal mesh screen behind the image in the frame and I used some brads in various shapes as well. I just love the ones that look like screws. And... though I don't normally glitter up a guys card I did add some Stickles glitter glue. I cut the frame using my Colluzle square. Inside was decorated as well. A little more mesh held on by some orange staples and a Happy Birthday phrase from Stampin' Up. I can't wait to hear what he thinks of it.

Thanks again Nick

A few days ago I posted the thank you card that I made for a student at school. That one was for Christmas and this one is for the Valentine gift he and his mom gave me. I really like how it turned out. I used a set from Inkadinkado that is great for boys. (girls too but it's tougher for me to come up with new ideas for boys). I love the contrast of the light green and black. I wish the photo came out better. The photo corner is shimmery black sparkle paper and the 3 black circles are very shiny metallic black. I used stickles to add some sparkle to the guitar and a Cuttlebug die to make the silver bar across the bottom. This is the only Cuttlebug item that I have a complaint about. All of my dies cut great except this one. I also have to take my exacto knife and cut out the little squares and triangles when I'm done. They have never cut right. I have tried altering the sandwich layers, adding shims etc. but nothing has ever worked. I still love the die though so I do the extra work involved to be able to still use it. I thought it looked cool on this card. It reminds me off those metal tower things on the sides of stages at rock concerts. Inside I used more of the same stamps and a Stampin' Up Thanks phrase. The cute peace symbol and hand are from the Cuttlebug Alphabet set Hippie Chick. I think it's perfect for a 10 year old boy.

Damian's Thank You

This Christmas at school was quite touching for me. It was my first Christmas there since I started last March. The teachers, aides, parents and kids were quite generous to remember me. So much so that I joked that I'm going to have to spend my entire break making thank you cards. One boy gave me this angel. I took it home before his aide was able to see it and he wanted me to bring it back to school so she could see it. I figured posting it here and showing her my blog would be easier. Plus, now you all get to see how sweet he was. I used the Inkadinkado "You Rock" set. I think he'll really enjoy it. Merry Christmas and thank you Damian!