On Monday last my Diva friends celebrated the October birthdays of myself and Kathy.  We had a lovely time and received nice gifts.  One of our spoken arrangements is typically not to send thank you cards...so instead we did our thank yous by e-mail.  Below is mine thank you card:

"Just want to thank you all for the friendship and gifts at Monday's lunch.  What a swell time. 
 I was feeling so energized when I got home I thought I would put my new pruning sheers to work (thanks Jeanine!).  I slipped off my new bracelet (thanks Rosemary!) and started trimming.  After doing some mums and
cutting back some runners on my strawberries I wandered over into shrubs, barely stopped myself in time before I hit the roses (to late for roses).  Decided to spend a little time recording how I made Kathy's card in my new journal (thanks Rosemary!) and got lost on the internet.  Looked for some halloween card ideas I could scraplift using my new rubber stamps (thanks Kathy). Went downstairs and asked the family's opinion on where to put my new Diva plaque (you're a what?) and got that finally settled (thanks Judie!).  By then I was feeling rather tired so I went back upstairs and put on my new shoulder wrap (thanks Kate!) tried several ways to wear my new Ruana Wrap (thanks Linda and Norva!) slipped on my necklace and earrings (thanks again Linda and Norva!) and announced I would really like to go to dinner.  Since I was all dressed up.  The family thought I looked snazzy but convinced me to lay my head back on my new purple throw, (thanks Sharon!) and rest.  Since I didn't have any birthdays coming up, I contented myself at just looking at all the new cards I got in my Red Hat Card Assortment (thanks Diane!).  Everything was so peaceful and comfy.  Soon there were ZZZZZ's and a fabulous day came to an end!  Thanks my friends.
JAN
P.S. Tomorrow I'll have  energy to look at my Diva Wore Diamonds book (thanks Sharon!) "

Stand Up- Fold out Cards

Today I experimented with a different stand up and fold out card which was much easier than templates I have used in the past.  Taking photos at night while trying to show the fold out didn't work as well as I hoped.

These were very inexpensive cards...the friend card used blue cardstock, friend stamp and ink, patterned background paper and a scalloped circle punched out and a bird made with a Cricut Machine.  The birthday card virtually the same with embossing folders used on the side and bottom of the card and versamark balloons stamped with irridescent embossing powder.  Yellow stickles decorated the flowers and bird.  

I had a lot of fun making these cards and hope to continue with shapes and templates.

Turning 60

My friend Barbara loves horses so when she recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a backyard bar-b-que I decided to make her a cowboy boot card.  I found a template on the internet and this card was born.  It was a great party too, great food and drinks with little goody bags for the guests as well as sparklers and poppers.  After all you don't turn 60 every day!