A very special Friday!

Hello, and happy Friday! Today is my husband's 55th birthday.  We met when he was 24 and suffering from a brain tumor.  We started out our life together thinking life was precious and not knowing how many years we'd have together.  We'll celebrate our 30th anniversary this December.  We now know without a doubt life is a gift.  So is love, and every day we have together!

We're celebrating his birthday by getting out of Dodge.  The dogs are being kenneled (something we never, ever do -- bad things happen when we kennel our dogs, but that's a story for another day), and we're heading North to Lake Superior. We're hoping for some nice weather to enjoy our favorite lake together (but the forecast is for 2 days of rain mixed with snow. Oh well!). We're taking today off of work to get an early start, making a 3-day weekend of it.  Off we go on a little adventure, celebrating life and love!

I've made my husband several different birthday cards that I'll give him throughout the weekend.  You'll be seeing them in the next few weeks.  Today, I'm showing you a kinda goofy one I whipped up, saving the fancier ones for later...

 

I cut this out on my Silhouette, using some old DCWV birthday papers I've had FOREVER.  The candles are sorta 3D, sticking out from the cake.  Inside, I stamped a Unity sentiment:

 

 

I framed the sentiment with a couple more birthday candles.  One of them covered up an ink smudge ;)

 

I have a couple more cards to share with you also.  This week, my 26 year old nephew was diagnosed with Leukemia.  He is facing a month of hospitalization and chemo.  I made what I'm guessing is the first of several cards heading his way:

 

 

I used the Unity/Susan K. Weckesser Autumn Grunge stamps on this card, stamping the leaves randomly, and in different Fall colors.  The sentiment is from Close To My Heart.

I made another one almost identical to it.  Those of you who know me, know I often make 2 cards the same.  This one went to a co-worker recovering from carpal tunnel surgery.

 

 

I added a little bling to this card, since it went to a "female" recipient. I was also liking the way the fern-like leaf stamped, so stuck primarily to that one on this card.

I promised my husband this weekend is all about him.  I don't know that I'll have a chance to visit all your blogs like I usually do, so forgive me if I skip a week.  I also don't know if we'll have internet access where we're going.

Have a great weekend!