A very special day....

...today is one of those days that will always be very special to me, it's the day of my son Alex's Birthday and today my baby turns 20!   It's hard to believe at how these twenty years have flown by.  I feel so lucky and blessed to have two amazing sons and Alex is much like my miracle baby, after I lost my infant daughter (Kristyn Alyssa), on April 19, 1991 just one year before.   That pain and hurt of losing my only daughter is something that never truly goes away, but I also know that it would not be possible to have gone on and had Alex, had I not faced that awful time.   It was such a wonderful joy to give birth to a  very healthy and happy baby boy, almost one year later.  I love you Alex and always will and I'm so lucky to have you and Brian in my life.  My boys are my most cherished gifts and I love them both so much!!  I hope you have a wonderful day and know how special you are to me and Dad!

   Luckily, we celebrated Alex's birthday yesterday, as today has not been such a great day for me.  He's also working and then having a second birthday dinner tonight with Acacia, which I'm sure will be fun.  I was very happy they both were here last night and always love them being around.

  Today, I'm trying very hard to enjoy this gorgeous Summer weather and to also spend some time working on new cards.   I started my day by getting outside and planted my first flowers for the year -- bright purple pansies, which I put in my window boxes and in a few pots on my deck.   It's amazing how quickly the temps started heating up, record heat for us in April and also a terrible day for those running the Boston Marathon.  Temps in the 80's are far to warm for marathon and sadly, several of the runners have been hurt and hospitalized.  I do hope they will be okay and the everyone takes it easy.

   I started my newest class today (A Cut Above), and so far, it's been very informative.  Kristina shares some great tips and hints and two fun cards with us and Nichol also did a great video, all working with the Big Shot.  This is the Die Cut/Silhouette class you have heard me chatting about and we are starting out with die cuts.  The class started today and is open to all - for more details please visit the classroom  HERE!!

  My first card today was created to be entered into the classroom gallery and features flower shaped die cuts, that I cut from two different dies.  One from Sizzix/Tim Holtz and a second die from Stampin Up.   I cut the flowers from variety of Patterned Papers and then distressed with Barn Red Distress Ink.  I cut my little leaves by hand, but they also are several dies that have leaves that you can cut.    I then put them together to make this fun card which was inspired by a card that Nichol shared in her class video today.   My card is also going to be submitted to today's new Greeting Card Challenge at The Outlawz, where this week's theme is Distress!

  My next card was created and inspired by yesterday's Sketch Challenge, hosted every Sunday over at the Stars and Stamps Blog.    I didn't have any time to create yesterday, but I did print out the sketch so I could make my card today.   This is a copy of this week's sketch, which I am sharing here on my blog.

Sketch #117

My Card

    My sentiment is a digital sentiment that I printed on white cardstock and then cut with a Nestability circle die.  I then edged it with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink and layered on top of the patterned strips.  All of the papers I used for this card are from my current favorite collection - Viola by Memory Box.  It's a wonderful set of gorgeous purple, white, black and teal colors....Love love love!

    And I had one more card to share and this one was created with a few challenges in mind, the first being this week's CAS Challenge over at The Outlawz.  This week the girls came up with a fun Recipe Challenge which I am sharing here -- You can create any type of paper-crafting project using this fun recipe!  One Die cut, 2 Stamped Images (one can be a sentiment) and 3 Embellishments.  You may use your choice of embellishments - three of the same, three different etc.!    I put it all together to make this fun very CAS card.

   My die cut is a Labels 17 Spellbinder Die and I used it to create a large window in my dark purple card base.  My two stamps are both from Hero Arts/Basic Grey (Sweet Threads Thank You) set.   I used the flower and the Thank you sentiment, which I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in white.  And lastly, my 3 embellishments are 3 white pearls, also from Hero Arts.

   This card would also work out well to share in the new Die cut class and also in this week's new challenge over at "A Blog Named Hero" which is hosting a 'Card with a View Challenge", for more details, please visit the new group HERE!!

   And that's it for today!  I'm off now to rest up and be ready for another fun day in class tomorrow!  I also want to once again send HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to Alex!   I Love you and hope you are having a wonderful Birthday!!   Love always --- Mom!