Well, it finally happened. I knew it would have to one of these days but … Yes, that’s right, DH hit the big FIVE-O! Where did the time go? At least he must feel good about being married to a MUCH younger woman, LOL! Ok, ok, at least he must feel good about being married to a CREATIVE woman! All of our DH’s should feel good about our creative abilities – we are a smart, strong, and loving group! Heck, I am so loving that I made this beautiful, warm, and moving tribute for DH’s 50th birthday – and he was SO surprised:
Yes, this is what met him at the front door when he came home! Glad his sense of humor didn’t die along with his youth.
I used black and grey vinyl to make this door decor. The tombstone and the word ‘beware’ are from the new October 31 cartridge and the other words are from the Jasmine cartridge. Even though I like Halloween that wasn’t the main reason that I got Oct 31. I have so many photos that I still need to scrap from our many trips to Disneyland and Disney World, one of my favorites attractions being the Haunted Mansion. As soon as I saw the images from this cart I knew that some of them would be great on my layouts of all those photos that I took of the Mansions. But it also hit me how perfect some of the images would also be of those landmark birthdays that would be coming up soon. So it really is a must-have.
I used Design Studio to make this and cut the tombstone at 11” and the “50” fit perfectly at 2 1/2”. The other words were weld together and then I just played with both the height and length until I was happy with them. My speed was set on 3, pressure on 2, and blade depth on 2. Remember, you only want to cut through the vinyl, not the paper backing!
So if you have just thought about buying vinyl up until now, I strongly recommend that you just go ahead and do it. It is so much fun to play with and there are so many ways to use it. Next week I’ll show you another way that I’ve used my vinyl.
We each had one side of the box. I placed older black & white photos of us on the first layer. The second layer had photos of all of our children. On the following layers I put photos of the grandchildren then the great grandchildren (I can’t remember if I had room for the great, great grandkids). 
The bow is also handmade using just strips of cardstock (black) and patterned paper (white) cut into various lengths and secured into loops of different sizes. Those loops were then attached together with a large brad. 
Mom keeps it on her coffee table in her living room where she can keep us close to her. 
