December Anything Goes Challenge - country style birthday card and bookmark

Afternoon Everyone,

Well, we had our first snowfall yesterday - it didn't last long and the snow melted away in no time at all, but it was enough to bring home the fact that autumn is over and winter has definitely set in. When the weather is cold it's great to be indoors, crafting away and here's what I've been working on today. It's another project for the December challenge, Anything Goes, on the Scrap our Stash Challenge Blog ...  a birthday card with a matching bookmark again - this time for my brother, Douglas, who is 63 years old tomorrow.

Following Sue Althouse's example - see here - I'm sharing a photo of the design paper I used for this project.

It's a Simple Stories 6x6 paper pad called Generations and I chose it because the patterns and embellishments are vintage country-style in earthy tones suitable for a male card.

The card measure 8" x 8" so I've treated the card as I would a scrapbook page, cutting out and piecing together the papers to create a background. There's also a snippet of DP from Papermania Birdsong I've added because I thought the textured pattern coordinated well with the Generations DP.  I created the topper using the brayer and blue and green inks pads for the background, together with a combination of Clarity stamps ... the birds are an exception - they are from a Tim Holtz set - on silk art card matted on to gold pearlescent card.

The bookmark consists of gold pearlescent card decorated with strips and embellishments cut from the Generations paper and finished off with a bronze brown tassel - an eBay purchase.

There's a pocket inside the card for the bookmark.

The design for the pocket is the result of a suggestion from the EM ... is there no end to this man's talents :) You can see from this shot that there is a little pleat on the side giving plenty of room to neatly hold the bookmark.

And just in case Douglas hasn't got the message to 'live, laugh and love' it's on the back as well as the the front and inside - some things are worth repeating :))

Douglas loves our beautiful Scottish countryside, having been a farmer for much of his adult life, hence the topper. Unfortunately, due to ill health, he's now retired and so doesn't get out into the hills as much as he would like. I'm hoping he will enjoy this little reminder as much as I enjoyed making it for him.

I spent an hour or so on writing out cards to post whilst watching Hels demonstrating with Dawn Bibby on Create and Craft this afternoon - she did a great job and I love those Wendy Vecchi stamps.

The EM is raking through his wardrobe looking for something suitable for the funeral tomorrow ... why is it we always get caught out clothes-wise for this sort of thing ... could it be we hope we will never have to attend another one, ever again :( 

Right, I'm off to have a cuppa and watch Pointless before I think about dinner.

Take care all, and happy crafting,