A Special Friend's Birthday!

In August this past summer, I made one trip during the COVID pandemic to meet my sister and mother for a cardmaking holiday!  We traveled to Sister, Oregon, which was about a 5-1/2 hour drive for each of us.  I traveled south from Washington and they traveled north from northern California.  Each of us were a bit leery to do this even though we were in a lull in COVID outbreaks in the areas from which we traveled, as well as where we traveled to.  We quarantined in preparation just to be sure, and  brought an arsenal of remedies to wipe everything down in our Airbnb rental just in case.  We were fortunate to have no mishaps as a result, and we were very, very careful.  We bought groceries and prepared our own meals, and only ventured out twice, sanitizing thoroughly during and after our return.  We were happy to see the businesses mandated masks; were only allowing a few in their shops at a time; and requiring alcohol washing before entering and after leaving.

To save having to pack a lot of cardmaking supplies and because my creative mojo was pretty well shot, I focused on bringing only card kits, extra cardstock, foil, glimmers, embellishments, plus a few stamp sets that I thought might work well with the different kits.   My focus for my trip was to try to make birthday cards and thinking of you cards that I would be needing for friends and family so that my lackluster performance in my craft room would not continue to prevent me from getting needed cards out in a timely manner!  

My oldest kit was a Stampin' Up one that I purchased in May 2019, "Made to Bloom."  I thought I'd start out with it and make a card for a special friend's birthday that was about six months or so into the future (I missed her 2020 birthday with no mojo juices flowing)!  Though I liked at least two of the four card designs suggested, I decided to see what alternative card I could self-design from the materials at hand.  I mixed and match the background papers and flowers, did some fussy-cutting and layering not called for, and arrived at a card that I was pretty happy with.  Today, I finished my inside design and verse, and it is now totally ready to send when her birthday gets a little closer.  Take a peek below at this card that was made with my dear friend's birthday in mind.  I hope she enjoys it when her birthday time comes around. 

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up Products:  Papers--Basic Black cs, Gold Foil, Very Vanilla, Whisper White.   Kit--Made to Bloom (retired Occ. 2019).  Artistry Blooms sequins (2020-21 Annual).  Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Other Products:  Reverse Confetti "Beautiful Banners" sentiment.  MemoryBox "Stitched Country Borders."  Cottage Cuts Stitched Ovals dies.  Spellbinders--Lacy Ovals dies.  Colorbox Chestnut Road ink (edge distressing).  Chatterbox verse.  Fussy-cutting.  3-D Paper Piecing.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".