A Good Friend's Birthday!

I am celebrating a good friend's birthday today by making her a handmade card.  Cardmaking is a hobby I started after I retired from the elementary school where I worked for 13 years.  This wonderful friend started working at the same elementary school within days of myself, so I have tried to continue to remember her birthday every year with one of my paper concoctions to help her celebrate her day.

It almost seems like spring here in the northwest, we've had such a delightfully warm February and March with little rain.  The crocus, primroses, and daffodils are blooming already!  All this make me feel that spring is already here, so I had the yen to make a bit of a spring card.  I decided to borrow one of my sister's designs (Heidi Gonzales: My Lil' Scrap Corner blog).  By the time I finished, my flower was gigantic and is surely the envy of every other flower in the realm!  I made it out of canvas and twine with my Fun Flowers BigZ die from Stampin' Up via Sizzix.  It needed some sort of a filler between the flower and the ribbon.  I thought a tag would be just the thing, so I used a Stampin' Up Chalk Talk framelit and made a little color-coordinated tag.  It worked great in my thinking!

When it was all done, it was very thick through and quite heavy, and I thought, "Good thing I don't have to mail this one, because it would definitely have to be sent as a package in a box!"  Fortunate for me, Carla now works at the high school not too far from my house, so it will be hand delivered to her school desk!  I hope she loves it, and she enjoys it in the days to come.

But a card is never really finished until you dream up an inside befitting the outside creativity.  I stole some of the Simple Stories flowered paper to make decorative corners for my little verse I composed and printed on my computer.

Recipe:  Papers: Simple Stories: Harvest Lane.  Stampin' Up: Naturals White, Old Olive.  Stampin' Up: Dies-Tasteful Trim (scallop) BigZ XL; Fun Flowers BigZ L; Autumn Accents BigZ (leaves); Chalk Talk framelit; Vintage Brads.  Wilton 4" Doily. EK punch: Fancy Photo Corners.  HugSnug Seam Binding: Bluejay.  Stash: 1" Crochet Lace; Buttons; Dark Brown Twine; Dark Brown Embroidery Floss; Celery Felt.  (Size: 5" x 7").