Pirate Theme and a New Door

I spent a lovely day on Saturday with my sweet friend Sue. We were celebrating her birthday which was last Thursday. We started with breakfast at The Pancake House....oooh that was delicious. We split Blueberry Pancakes and Potato Pancakes and there was still some to take home. I had my camera but I was too intent on eating that I completely forgot to take it out of my purse. Maybe next time.
So after our feast we headed to Old Town Orange to do some window shopping in the fun antique stores and boutiques. While browsing through "Heavenly Hostess" I spied this.....

and I immediately thought of my son Andy...who is turning 27 on Saturday. He's got the pirate thing down and I knew it would be a winner, so the pirate cupcake finery came home with me.
Back to my day with Sue.....next we went to "The Perfect Circle" my favorite Cupcake store (they've competed on Cupcake Wars on Food Network) but alas they weren't open. (Sue and I promised ourselves another trip back for the best Red Velvet cupcakes and Banana Cupcakes ever!)
After a quick stop at Home Depot for insulation (I know, doesn't really fit with the birthday fun theme of the day, but I did get a new mailbox, so yay!)....we came back to my house to make some cards. Sue made a beautiful birthday card for her aunt based on a card she saw on my Hall of Fame wall. These are cards from my stamping/cardmaking buddies. For this card, Vanessa was the chosen muse. Again, I'm sorry, forgot to take a photo, DOH!
here's a peek at the inspiration though....

Thanks again, Vanessa!

After Sue went home I started plotting my birthday card for Andy. With the pirate theme in my mind I set to finding some pirate images online. I found these at Graphics Fairy....

I opened them in Publisher, cropped, sized and changed the color to grayscale to print on white cardstock.
Here's the finished Pirate Birthday Card....

I added color to the pirate images with Distress Inks and then coated them several times with Versamark and clear embossing powder melting the powder between each coat. I was going for a glossy shine like a sticker.
The background is an Impression Obsession map stamp that I stamped with Weathered Wood Distress ink on a Powder Layering Paper from Hero Arts. Then I layered more stamp images from Hero Arts: Fabulous Flourish in both Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo.....and a Happy Birthday sentiment in Weathered Wood.
I computer generated the pirate birthday greeting sentiment and printed it out, trimming each phrase closely. Then I over-stamped Fabulous Flourish, Old Letter Writing and a small shadow stamp to give some pattern and interest. Everything was edged with more Distress ink  before assembling on a card base made from more Powder Layering paper. I love how it turned out and I know Andy will get a kick out of it!

On to the next part of this way too long post....My New Door. The truth is it's not so new. The hubs and I bought it 3 years ago when we were remodeling the house (and we were both employed) but it has taken this long to install it. I have the patience of a saint as I've been told but even my long-suffering was being challenged. Finally today, the coldest day so far we decide to get the new door put in. Al is working on it with a friend who does this type of thing. It's not up yet....it's 3 pm....and I'm so cold I can't stand it; but it will all be worth it when I no longer have to look at this....

or this.....

Here's the new door getting ready to be installed, with 2 of my favorite people at the moment.....

That's the hubs on the left and his friend Ed on the right. They look like they know what they're doing...don't they? The door is Mahogany with a beautiful stained finish that Al custom mixed to get just the right color. It's a bit dusty and covered with saw dust at the moment because it's been languishing in Al's wood shop for the last 3 years.
Here it is hanging up....it started to rain pretty hard shortly after they got it up....more parts are still needed for the threshold and the trim and frame and final stain and finishing.....hopefully it won't take another 3 years to get it done. I do love how it looks for now and luckily I am very patient.

Update on the cupcakes....they were delicious (triple chocolate with my secret recipe cream cheese frosting) and all were devoured before I had a chance to take a picture of them....suffice it to say they were a hit!

~ Ephesians 2:10 ~

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

blessings,

nancy