February Birthdays

The end of February is MAD in our house for birthdays - we have 3 on the one day - so I've been busy making cards for these special people. To add more to the challenge, 2 of the birthdays are males, and I find making male cards a bit difficult..... This is what I came up with this time:

This one was sent to Paul's Pop who turned 87 this year! I wanted to keep it a bit conservative, so I used Treehouse paper as the inspiration, and complemented it with True Thyme, Buckaroo Blue and Cranberry Crisp card. Itty Bitty Backgrounds and the Level 1 Hostess Set Terrific Tags provided the stamping touch (the Tag Punch is awesome for getting the tag just right) and I finished it with White Grosgrain ribbon and Hodgepodge Hardware - Antique Brass. I was quite happy with the final result and hope Pop will be too.

My sister's boyfriend is a keen fisherman, so I thought I'd try and work it into his card this year. I thought I'd make a bit of an interactive card with moving fish - it worked! but needs a bit of fine tuning! The very cute fish comes from Fishy Friends (thanks Mel!!), and I also used Itty Bitty Backgrounds and the Level 1 Hostess Set Riveting. I stamped 'bubbles' in the background of the fish tank using the steam stamp from Like It A Latte (retired; Spring Mini Catalogue 2007 - I hope it's in the new one being released April 1st!!), but it doesn't come up too well on the photo. I used Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean and Whisper White card, and Old Olive, Cool Caribbean and Marigold Morning ink (I am really going to miss these In Colour inks....). I cut down a small cellophane bag for the 'glass' and used a double layer of Stampin' Dimensionals to get enough height for the fish to move. I'll let you know what he thought.

Last card for this special trio... My good friend's daughter turned 2, so this card is on its way to her. I LOVE Bold Butterfly so it was the 'only' option for this card! The lovely bright card is Yoyo Yellow and Pink Passion (and Whisper White), and I used Yoyo Yellow, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise and Lovely Lilac ink - the bottom layer of the butterflies is stamped off, and the edge of the white card is sponged. I also used the Yoyo Yellow Stampin' Write marker (from Bold Brights) to edge the number, which is traced from the On Board Simon Lower chipboard assortment. I finished off the butterfly wings with the 2-way glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds. I also made a 3 year old card with an extra butterfly for a work colleagues daughter, which worked well too. I'm sure the little girls receiving them will love them too...

Happy Birthday to you all, you know who you are!!