Happy 40th Michelle!

A friend of ours recently turned 40 and so it was time to make a very special birthday card.  I remember turning 40 (it was only about two years ago ... okay so I'm almost 43, but ...); I remember how fabulous it felt; I remember how young I still felt.  Michelle is known (amongst many other wonderful things) for her purple leather boots somewhat reminiscent of Doc Martens (they probably are!).  As you can imagine making a card for Michelle wasn't going to be the usual, 'girly' affair LOL!  Well I'm pretty happy with my efforts and although I won't know for sure until we see Michelle tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I've hit the nail on the head with what I came up with ...

Michelle's 40th suite

products used (wait for it) include ... Stampin' Up! cardstock; Prima Pulse Collection designer scrapbooking paper, 6x6 pad; American Craft Thickers, gift box, raw chipboard; Bella! box of raw chipboard alphas, circle; Making Memories rhinestone brads; Dymo labeller and purple (what else?!) tape; organza swirl ribbon; Making Memories acrylic paint, Eggplant; Jo Sonja's acrylic paint, Carbon Black; Plaid Extreme Glitter paint, Black; leather off-cuts; Tim Holtz Alterations die, Tattered Florals; Tim Holtz Alterations On The Edge die, Brackets; Sizzix Bigz die, Box, Pillow; and last but not least, Stampin' Up! Bigz die, Scallop Envelope ... phew

Have you ever worked with a patterned paper range or style that's just grabbed you and kept you creating?  Well that's what happened here.  Yes I could have just stopped with the card but the envelope was a fairly ordinary one (I so need to get myself some decent envelopes) so I 'spruced' that up a little with some paint and a die-cut flower which I distressed by simply scrunching it up and then carefully unfolding it.  I love that technique because it's (a) so easy and (b) gives a gorgeous 3D feel to the flower.  Then there was the present.  We bought Michelle a Pandora bead for her bracelet and let's face it, the Pandora boxes the beads come in are, albeit classically simple, essentially plain and boring.  So I die-cut a little pillow box and voila, the gift packaging was taken care of.  But then what were we to do with the receipt?  It can be so awkward sometimes giving someone a receipt when giving them a gift and saying something along the lines of "oh and just in case you want or need to change your present ...".  Know what I mean?  The Stampin' Up! scallop envelope die was the perfect solution.  I die-cut a little envelope in which to place the receipt, labelled it "just in case" and popped it in with the card.  If the present had been larger I would have included it in the present packaging, but in this instance I had to make do with it putting it in the card.

So what do you think?  I'd change the positioning of the sentiment on the card so the "happy birthday" was all at the top because it now looks like I meant to say "happy 40th birthday" but left off the "th" which isn't the case.  I just wanted to include the number 40 on the card and when you see the sketch I used for inspiration below, the numbers are meant to replace the birds in the sketch.  I love my die-cut leather flowers which were made with, literally, scraps of leather I've picked up here and there like a bower bird.  Die-cutting the leather to create a handmade flower really has added some wonderful texture to the card and I do love working with textiles.  However I'd straighten the "40" a little as although I wanted it to be on a bit of an angle and offset, I don't think I did it quite enough and to me it looks just a little like I didn't quite get it right LOL.  All in all though I think I did an okay job with this 'birthday suite' for an awesome, purple leather boot wearing, chick who has just turned 40!  I'll let you know what that chick (Michelle) thought ...

BTW here is the PageMaps sketch I used ...

see Becky Fleck's other fabulous sketches HERE

Conveniently this sketch was also the April card sketch challenge at ScrapChat so although I said in an earlier post I wasn't going to do anymore challenges, if you need or want some inspiration for a quick card, well what's a girl to do?