Hello 50th Birthday

Hello there!

Another recent card make to share today, this time for a friend who turns 50 this year (and for once, I'm not late with this card - whoot!).

Technically this is a scrap-lift of a card design a did a few years ago but I loved the way it worked out so just went with it.  I used up some older October Afternoon Cakewalk papers and paired them with some Pebbles chipboards and stickers from the From Me to You and a Valentine's collections.  How adorable is that little bird?  And of course a 50th birthday needs a little gold bling, so the glittery gold Thickers made a reappearance.

HB2U Card

Hello, hello!

I'm terribly behind on birthday cards this year, which is bad enough but especially so with so many people turning milestone birthdays this year.  Anyway, I'm working on catching myself up, starting with a card for a male friend who turned 40 the end of January.

He's certainly not the Hipster type, but I couldn't resist this Simple Stories 4x6 card with the text speech and the opportunity to play with the fab mustache rhinestones I found at the local craft store - how cool is that 'stache?

Just kept it simple with the mustache, a sprinkling of sequins and I ran a line of turquoise stitching around the outside edge, then trimmed it down to show a bit of the white card base underneath.

Then I got a bit cheeky on the interior for the sentiment, putting Shimelle's first stamp set to some fun use.

Hehe, you have to have a little fun with these things, after all.

That's it for today - short and sweet - but stay tuned for some more recent makes again soon.

Mini Album: Sweden - Part V

Welcome back!

If you've been following this mini series, you'll know that I've been sharing a mini album about my friend Adam visiting me over the summer.  You can find the previous chapters here: chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 and chapter 4.  And now, the final chapter 5: Copenhagen, Denmark.

Chapter 5: Copenhagen

The Little Mermaid

Copenhagen itinerary

Danish royal crown jewels

Leaving our mark on the Happiness Wall

Hop on/hop off bus tour sights

Canal at Nyhavn

Tivoli

At the end of this chapter I also included a few extra random tidbits:

Notes from a random sick day

Goodbye note

Extra photos & keepsakes envelope

And that's it!  Once carefully wrapped, it made its way over the Atlantic to Adam.  He absolutely loved it - worth every ounce of panic and stress getting it done in time.

Thanks for following along!

Mini Album: Sweden - Part IV

Hi again!

Welcome back to my little tour of a mini album I made for my friend, Adam, who visited me over the summer.  If you've missed the previous chapters, you can find them here: chapter 1, chapter 2 and chapter 3.  And now moving on to chapter 4: vikings!

Chapter 3: Vikings

Handmade Viking costume & fittings

And during our day in Simrishamn while paddling in the Baltic, we turn around to find a Viking longship sailing by.  You know, as you do when living in Sweden in the 21st century...  It docked in the harbour.

Longship in Simrishamn

Rune stones

Foteviken historical Viking museum

Viking longhouse and longship

Viking life

Viking ships with the Öresundsbro in the far distance

Viking attack!

Here there be dragons...

Eat your heart out How To Train Your Dragon fans.  ;)

One more installment left - see you soon!

Mini Album: Sweden - Part III

Hello, hello!

If you haven't seen the first two installments of this mini series on my mini album of my friend Adam's visit to Sweden, you can find the first two chapters here: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.  Today we're moving on to chapter 3: fun and silliness!

Chapter 3: Fun

Selfie time!

Adam is a total gear head so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to tour the technical museum, which features a number of different vehicles and even a cool submarine!

Geeking out in the sub

Photo frame exhibition silliness

More photo frame silliness.

We enjoyed a day at the mini golf course, which features famous historical sights throughout Malmö.

Mini golf

Having fun playing on words in the park.

Playing on words

Accent card

Another little space for Adam to write some notes himself:

Note bubbles & interactive art

It turned out there's a big car museum in Simrishamn and they were even having a rally day so we had to go to it.  We jumped on the train and spent the whole day there and it was great fun.

Autoseum

Creepy mannequins & Ronald Reagan's car

Strangely, there is something about this photo and page that I also really love; perhaps it's the simplicity of it:

Paddling in the Baltic Sea

Random snippets

And that's chapter 3 all wrapped up!  Just two more chapters to go so be sure to come back soon.

Mini Album: Sweden - Part II

Hi there!

Today we're continuing on with the mini travel album I made for my friend, Adam, after he visited me over the summer.  If you missed the first chapter, be sure to check it out, too.  Chapter 2 features one of my favourite travel pasttimes - food!

Swedish meat fondue

A beer at Lillitorg

Scandinavian food list

Accent page

Plank salmon

I've had these fun crayfish confetti that I've decorated the table with every kräftskriva so I popped a few of them and some star confetti into the side pocket, then closed with some washi tape.

Kräftskriva - crayfish party

Yummy pasta

Three course surf & turf in Copenhagen

Curry & banana pizza, plus dinner at Lillitorg

Now, doesn't all that just make your mouth water?  Stay tuned for the next installment of chapter 3!

All Star Dad Card

Hello, hello!

If you follow my blog, you may recall that I've been behind in my card-making a lot this year, such as when I finally made my mum's Mother's Day card not in May but in July (and confession time - I've only just posted it end of October - eek!).  So, not to disappoint my step-father but his Father's Day card has similarly been enormously delayed but it was totally worth it because I'm thrilled with the design!

All Start Dad

You'll never believe this but the inspiration for this card came to me while I was out for a morning jog.  I'd been struggling with what sort of theme to use for this year's Father's Day card and then remembered that I'd bought some of October Afternoon's gorgeous Apple Cider line and the colours would work nicely for a masculine card.

I also picked up the puffy stickers for the line (which, btw, are absolutely gorgeous) - except that several of them are American football-themed and not something I would ever use.  But they would be perfect for a Father's Day card...  Now if only there was an awesome retro TV set included somewhere in the line and as luck would have it, there was the perfect TV card in the do-dads pack.  Score!  I even used up a bit of scrap OA Woodland Park paper with a retro picture story design on it in the layering.

Finally, I got to the sentiment, which I hadn't thought about at all by this point.  I knew I wanted something sports-themed and eventually landed on the obvious: all star dad.  This mix of Bella Blvd. letter stickers and Amy Tan Thickers layered up worked perfectly.  There are just some cards that come together so easily and are a joy to create and this was without a doubt one of them.