Birthday Wishes

Ugh, I have a cold and feel very sorry for myself at the moment and if one more person says 'I hope it's not swine flu' I will throttle them!

Whilst I have been home sick I have been working on a birthday card for my Nanna's birthday at the end of the month, I usually end up leaving it to the last minute and I hate rushing a card as I like to put a bit of thought behind it.

This card started off in the same vein as my mother's day card, I knew the look I wanted to create and started pulling bits together. I originally started with some pretty green K&Co Madeleine paper and chipboard butterflies and a victorian cherub embellishment, but when I talked to my Mum about my original idea she wondered if I could make something in blue as it's my Nanna's favourite colour and this is what I came up with.


I started off with the padded idea, i tried it on thin chipboard and funky foam but didn't get the little indents I wanted so tried it again with felt as the padding and it worked better than I expected. I added the MM Paperie flocked paper but because of the padding it was had a large step between the two hence the frame. If I had been thinking a bit better I should have raised the flock paper to the same depth of the padding.

I haven't used Grungeboard before but it's a great medium to work with. I hand cut the butterflies from GB, embossed with cuttlebug folder, painted then decorated with glitter, distress stickles and perfect pearls. I mounted them over some tulle and added some ribbon tails. I have had the lace for almost 20 years (I almost fainted when I realised that, how can I be so old??) and handstitched some seed beads at the edges.

My only problem is how to pack it, it's definitely not going to fit in an envelope!

To love and be loved

I found this as a journalling card on some Fancy Pants papers and really liked it. I cut the card following the lines then cut some co-ordinating card and a card blank in the same shape to replicate. I then drew the border and coloured it with watercolour pencils and Marvy pens, which is something new for me. I finished it with some ribbons from my favourite Etsy store.

Aloha

I've always loved hibiscus flowers, ever since holidays to spain as a child, the vivid colours and long stamen, I liked to pick them and put them behind one ear and imagine being a flamenco dancer. Now I associate them with Hawaii, must be all those surf clothes that feature them.

I recently scored a bargain paper pack of mixed prints and there was a really pretty one with hibiscus on them that i knew I had to use but I wasn't sure on what or how.

I made these little aloha notecards with the paper, some sizzix die cuts embellished and raised on foam squares and stamped the aloha on little squares of card. I thought they were pretty cute.

I was then left with the remnant die cut pieces that I didn't use and I couldn't waste them so I decorated them and put them to one side and left them for a couple of weeks. Eventually I got sick of looking at them on my desk all lonely and unloved so I popped them together on this card. I think I like it and it's different from what I've done recently.

Supplies: White Card, Dovecraft Retro Floral Paperpack, Sizzix Thin Cuts Hibiscus die, Glitter, Chalks, Scallop punch, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, Woodware Circular Greeting from the previous post.