Birthday Card :)

Happy Tuesday, my talented friends! I hope everyone is having a beautiful week! :o) Thank you for the birthday wishes for my mom. She had a wonderful celebration yesterday, filled with lots of love and laughter. :o)

The celebrating continues today as we go out to use a gift card she received and I'll finally give her this card! Though the effort was valiant, I couldn't complete it on time. It's always fun getting goodies the day after, right? Hehe.

The creative process began with this precious Elisabeth Bell image, Apple Blossom, and a sketch challenge. I knew this stamp would be used because some of my happiest memories with my mom involve apple orchards/cider mills and being outdoors. Our favorite cider mill always opens on June 1st, so it's a summertime activity as well as autumn. I colored her in deep roses and light browns, with layers of Star Dust on her ruffles, hair ties, and the flowers and butterfly in the image. I used Broken China distress ink and a cloud template to create a sky backdrop. I cut her out with a Spellbinders Labels 4 die, using the out of the box technique that I saw on Bev Rochester's tutorial page. It's so easy that I was disheartened it never occurred to me! ;) Simply use scissors to cut along the part that will go beyond the die, then place that part over the die and run it through the die cutting machine like normal. I was ecstatic because I wanted a smaller rectangular background for her instead of the huge open space on one side due to her hair that is billowing in the wind. :o)

My sweet mom loves elegant patterns like those found on teacups, so I knew I wanted to use a collection of brown and pink papers from the First Edition Isabelle stack. The bottom layer looks like flowers and leaves caught up in a whimsical breeze, while the rest are coordinating patterns that are right up her alley. The diagonal layer is the reverse side of the pink, with the colors alternated. All layers have a deep chocolate brown mat.

The heart tucked in the corner is covered in rhinestones to deliver sparkling love on her special day. :o) The roses and lily are from Wild Orchid Crafts, with each one trimmed in Star Dust. The primary arrangement is nestled atop a double bow made with Snow White crinkle ribbon from My Craft Spot. The itty bitty bouquet on the opposite side has a delicate white butterfly frolicking among the blossoms, which is centered with a rhinestone.

The sentiment is from the Whimsical Designs~ Everyday Sentiments set, which is cut out with a smaller Labels 4 die and secured with a marble pink button and chocolate truffle trendy twine. All layers are inked with Walnut Stain. I hope she loves her birthday card. :o)

Challenges entered (the most ever for me.. I was just so excited to play along!):
 * Charisma Cardz~ Bling
 * Crafty Catz~ Buttons and Bows
 * Elphine House Australia~ Let's Get Sketchy
 * Papertake Weekly Challenge~ Anything Goes
 * Really Reasonable Ribbon~ Flowers and Ribbon
 * Simon Says Stamp~ Anything Goes
 * The Crafty Pad~ Ribbon
 * The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog~ Die Cuts and Punches
 * The Ribbon Girl~ Ribbon or Lace
 * The Shabby Tea Room: Sweet Summertime and photo inspiration

Thank you for fluttering on by! I wish you all a day of sparkling love and dancing sunbeams. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Spellbinders Nestablities/Shapeabilities: Labels 4, Fanciful Holiday (heart)
 * Paper: Core'dinations, First Edition~ Isabelle
 * Rubber stamp: Elisabeth Bell~ Apple Blossom
 * Copics: E0000, E000, E00 (skin); E23, E25, E31, E50 (hair and basket); R81, R83, R85 (clothing and flowers); E40, E42, E43 (clothing and puppy); YG11,  YG17, YG25 (apples); YG17, YG23, G28 (grass)
 * Sentiment stamp: Whimsical Designs~ Everyday Sentiments
 * Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
 * Ribbon and Twine: My Craft Spot
 * Button: My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie
 * Miscellaneous: Fiskars butterly punch, iRock, Stickles