Monochromatic Birthday Card

Hi there!

I have a new card to share with you today.  If I'm entirely truthful, I started this card with the best of intentions and then after deciding on the card base and the tab sticker, didn't know where I was going with it and set it aside...for a few months.  Oops.

But determined as ever to catch myself up on back-logged cards, I dug it out and finished it nonetheless!

The approach I finally decided on to finish it?  Very simple: just keep adding and layering!  Sounds silly, I know but I really enjoyed putting together this hodge podge of emphemera - banner, washi tape, View Master slide reel, mustache sticker, brads, die-cuts, chipboard, staple, letter sticker accents - just go crazy and pile it all on!

Here's a little close-up of the layering.  And you know, that October Afternoon bear brad in the top right corner up there?  I never really liked it when I first saw it and now, I think it's pretty awesome.  Go figure.

With all the layering on the right side, there was a heavy lack of balance on the left side so I filled up the space with some repeated date stamping.

So the next time you find yourself stuck with what to do for a card, why not try the just add and layer until you can't anymore approach?!  It just might work for you, too.

Picture Day 2007

Hello, hello!  Yesterday I enjoyed a fun crop day with my friend Anya.  Our last crop day was last summer so it's been a while.  So lovely to chat and craft away together.  And it seems that my stash is now rivaling boutique status, as every item she had forgotten or didn't have on hand and asked me about, I had (and then some).  Oh dear...  At least I can justify using it regularly.

I made two LOs yesterday; wrapping up another class photo.

 Picture Day 2007

I finally found some papers that helped to compensate for the green undertones on my last class photo - I off-set the green with some bold magenta and went with a monochromatic scheme to give it some bold impact, what with all of that drab grey back dropping.  The ledger paper is actually upside down and the black and white flowers I fussy cut with my awesome new Fiskars finger craft knife from the photo mat paper.

Embellishments included some Heidi Swapp primrose colour spray and stickers from Echo Park's Here and Now collection and Simple Stories' Vintage Bliss.

I love these Amy Tan Wish Thickers - they are so versatile and I've used them on so many projects.  I knew I wanted to put the class stats in the box at the bottom but that it wouldn't be enough to fill the space so I cut out some little cameras from one of the EP papers (in an ombre, even) and added some machine stitching to fill the gap.

Final embellishment shot with cute ampersand and glasses.

I'll be back tomorrow to share my second LO from the crop day - I was still tweaking it this morning and I want to make sure it's 'done' before releasing it upon the world.