Another Belated Birthday card

Guess what?  I have completed yet another belated birthday card.  At this point offering excuses about being late on wishing someone (in this case my cousin Sheila) a belated birthday would just be ridiculous, so lets move on.  This card is part of the Featured Stamper challenge over at Splitcoaststampers .  The featured stamper on Sunday was ITSAPASSION or Anne.  Check out her gallery it is full of gems.

The card that I choose to case from Anne's wonderful gallery was Heart of Twill .  I choose Flirtatious Specialty DSP as the patterned paper and Crumb Cake, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink and Wisteria Wonder as the cardstock/ink combination.  Again, the stamp set was my uber favorite Happiest Birthday Wishes which does have more stamps than my oft used Belated Birthday Wishes stamp.  Also I gained the first layer of the rosette from the Sizzzix Bigz Perfect Pennants die-- this is a great die and if you are a traditional die person I say definitely take a look at this one.  I hope you enjoy the card and find inspiration from it.

As always, thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Yet Another Fall Birthday (a wee bit late)

Next month or perhaps January I will endeavor to get my birthday cards out on time.  As you will notice on the card today I have used the belated birthday stamp AGAIN (and believe it's been used before I just choose not to show.)  I actually love this little stamp it's part of Happiest Birthday Wishes hostess set, out of the 11 stamps in this set I have used the Birthday Wishes A Bit Late stamp the most.  I hope the folks these cards are destined for will be happy to get them even if they are a wee bit late.

As for the card the design is from the November/December 2011 issue of Paper Crafts magazine, page 53 to be exact.  I was pretty faithful to the original except for colors, stamp set, sentiment and brads instead of rhinestones.  This card is intended for my brother Roy Jr. back in Ohio ... I didn't think he would appreciate rhinestones!  By the way, I believe the stamp set Day of Gratitude might be retired but it's what I had to use so I went with it.  Hopefully the stamp police won't come after me.

As always, thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

A Fall Birthday

There are a lot of birthdays this month on my side of the world.  And, with the illness and death of our Bingston it's been really difficult to sit down and make cards.  It's very easy for me to get sidetracked.  This card took me four days to complete and there are definitely improvements to be made ... but it will go as is.

I have attempted to revisit the coloring end of stamping.  I found an Australian woman on YouTube who explained it in a way that I could finally understand.  Dusted off my Stampin' UP! Many Marvelous Markers and went at it.  I think parts of the image turned out okay - others I was a bit heavy handed at.  I have decided to skip the details section as frankly it is what keeps me from posting on this blog ... if there is something you can't identify email me.

As always, thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Bingston 1999 - 2011

Bingston 1999

In 1999 we bought a 9-week old puppy home, after a couple of days I named him Bingston.  Little did we know how important this guy would become to our family.  Smart as a whip and determined that everyone should love him he was pure joy to our home.

Yesterday, November 3, 2011 Bingston died.  Suffering from congestive heart failure -- his poor little body could no longer do what it needed to.  We held him tightly those last minutes he was with us.  I stayed with him to the end.  Without attempting to sound melodramatic I know that a part of my heart went with him - I will forever be changed by his life and his death.  As he slipped away I whispered to him that I KNOW we will all be together again someday and then he was gone.  Seeing that spark of life disappear into a stone stare will be with me forever, I actually shudder when I remember that moment.

Soon I know that I will begin to remember Bingston the puppy and will not define him by his death.  But for this time when I close my eyes that lost spark moment is what I carry.  Today when Jase and I were leaving the house we put the dogs in their kennels and the sight of Bingston's empty kennel was cruel.

Bingston 2000