Under pressure

I was asked, very last minute on Thursday, to make a Birthday card for a friend's daughter. So far so good - and then, like Topsy, it sort of grew. Could I use a photo of the recipient's beloved horse, could I include her name, could I include the horse's name - and so on. With only 24 hours in hand I had a few wobbly moments, especially as (I bet you all know this) working with coloured photos on cards/layouts takes a lot of colour co-ordination or at least avoiding clashes - and frankly stresses me out. Anyhow, this was the end result:

And, as the card is being smuggled on holiday by the recipient's daughter 'cos they will be sunning themselves abroad for the celebrations, I thought a sturdier envelope than usual was a good idea :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card stock

- a photo of 'Teddy' which was hurriedly emailed to me. Cropped a bit, re sized and then a canvas effect applied. At this point my printer started to play up, sigh, so I had to use Len's printer (thankfully using wi-fi) but of course there was a bit of trotting to and fro to collect the printing :(

- Core'dinations card for the backings and the strip of card underneath the ribbon, punched using Martha Stewart's 'Lace Heart' edge punch

- a snippet of ribbon across the punched strip, little tie of ribbon then a brown cord bow to fasten a butterfly charm in place

- sentiment banner is probably a Lakeland Limited one from the days when they did a range of craft stuff

- peel offs to spell out 'Michela' (and it's the correct spelling!) and 'Teddy' - isn't he a splendid chap too?!

- at that point the card looked a bit bare but I'd kept the punched out hearts from the lace edging so just popped some of those here and there as well as at either end of the sentiment banner

- the envelope was made using a 12" x 12" sheet of card/thick paper - a lucky find really, topped with two ovals for Michela's name when her Mum writes the card

When I'd finally finished Len said 'Now I think you ought to brush your hair and come and have a glass of wine in the garden'. What a fright I looked, in the heat I'd been running my hands distractedly through my hair as I fretted and worked - it looked just as if a couple of birds had been trying to build a nest!

Di
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