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,

Rose Sympathy Card

Evening Everyone,

I mentioned in my last post that as well as the usual birthday cards I had a couple of unscheduled card to make. Sadly, this is one of those cards .It's one I never expected to have to make, and one of the hardest.

My son-in-law's best friend of many years, Gordon, died on Monday this week. He did have a heart condition but was scheduled to have a triple heart by-pass operation later this month ... he was only 54 years old ... so none of us expected this. Sadly, he died on his fiancée, Debbie's birthday.  As well as being a good friend to my son-in-law and my daughter, he was like an uncle to my grandchildren. We will miss his gentle manner and cheerful smile always.

I made this card for Debbie.

Materials used:

Cream card base
Joanna Sheen's Jane Shasky, From the Heart of the Garden
DP from The Nitwits Heavenly Collection, from Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine
Stampin' Up, So Happy for You stamp set
Memento Rich Cocoa ink pad
White card candy

Goodnight to you all,

Easel Card and Matching Bookmark for a Bird Lover's Birthday

Afternoon All,

It's been a busy day but I managed to fit in Barbara Gray's class on C&C this morning - didn't participate but enjoyed watching. In fact, I've been out of the craft space all day until now, but I wanted to post this card before I forget the materials used to make it.

Here's a birthday card made for a friend who gets so much pleasure from the birds that visit his garden that he has feeders in both his front and back gardens. In fact, he's so keen he has built an edifice of twigs that now has mile-a-minute vine, various clematis, honeysuckle and ivy growing through to accommodate the birds that visit his feeder ... it is the equivalent of a luxury block of  apartments to the bird population, and much appreciated it is too  :)

I've had the white hammered card that forms the base for so long I've forgotten where I bought it from and the blue mirri card and the turquoise textured card are from the leftover pile. There was so little of both pieces, and they were the perfect colour for the matting, that I gutted the layers on the base in order to stretch it far enough mat the topper. The topper, which is printed onto glossy photo paper - thought I'd give it a try out after seeing it done on TV recently - and papers come from Joanna Sheen's CD, Jane Shasky, From the Heart of the Garden ... love the illustrations on this set of CDs.

It's just an easel card but I've incorporated a pocket to hold the bookmark in the inside to make it a wee bit more special.

Bookmark Front

Bookmark Back

On the back I've adhered one of the little labels that Di, of Pixie's Crafty Workshop fame, kindly sent that illustrated how an easel card works.

So an easy card made all the more easier by using Joanna's CD ... and at this time, every card needs to be reasonably quick and easy to produce because, much as I'd like to experiment and produce more complex projects, I have so little time to spare. It's just like the thing, that when I thought I only had a couple of birthdays to cater for this month, some unscheduled events have unfortunately been added to my workload ... so it's quick and easy to the rescue!

Of course, because I've used snippets/leftovers again, I'm submitting it to Jules' Craft Snippet Challenge - Week 47

Right, I'm off again - Barbara's back on TV so must watch that and I won't be back until later because this is Strictly Movie Night ... the competition is really hotting up so I don't want to miss that.

Hope you are all enjoying your Saturday night wherever you are.

Happy crafting,