Inkadinkado Standing Seagull - a masculine birthday card

Hi blogging friends

If you read my last blog post about my wrist and having cortisone injected into it and not being able to craft after it for a little while - well, I had to cancel my doctor's appointment as my DD has been sick with a nasty cold which just won't go away - poor little thing.  So I have been housebound and managed to do a bit of cardmaking here and there.  My wrist will have to wait until my DD is all better and back at school.

Anyhow, I finished a birthday card for my DH whose birthday is next month.  I have been having a play with my Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils which is what I coloured my image with and boy - I sure do love them.  The colour is so vibrant and really brings things to life!  They do take a bit of getting used to in comparison to my regular Faber Castell watercolour pencils.  Once I had finished colouring, I added a little bit of clear Sakura glaze onto the seagull's eye, beak and legs - alas, completely oblivious in the photo - but adds a bit of shine in real life.

Because I had chosen a "sea" image, I wanted to make a frame that kind of looked like a porthole so I diecut an oval with 2 oval nesties, added the brads, then popped this frame up on doublesided foam pads.  Here is a wee close-up of the image - you can click on the image for a bigger pic if you wish:

The designer paper is by My Mind's Eye - Stella Rose.  Gorgeous papers - and even though a lot of them have flowers, the non-flowery ones are just so perfect for a masculine birthday card IMHO.  I decided to add some stitching just to add a bit of texture.  I pierced the holes with a paper piercer then hand-sewed all the stitches - yep, all hand-sewn.

The side panel was punched with a Martha Stewart Embossed Diamond edge punch then I added some rope tied in a sailor's knot.  I learnt how to do the sailor's knot from Lynne Phelps blog Savvy Sisters Studio (thanks so much!).  This type of knot is also called The Anchor Bend, Carrick Bend and Full Carrick Bend.  According to the description on this website, it's easy to tie, does not slip easily in the wet, and is among the strongest of knots - it can't jam and is readily untied - and I actually used four pieces of rope instead of two as two just seemed to look "lost" on the panel - the four made for a bolder statement.  Both this side panel and the main image are up on doublesided foam pads.

To finish, I tied the same rope through the button then glued the button on, then glued on the "happy birthday" metal sentiment which I have had forever.  I got it free with an order from some store that I bought something from ages ago.  I "think" they are by Print Blocks; they came in a pack with other sentiments like Happy New Year, and Happy Christmas etc. but I no longer have the packaging so I can't be sure.  If you know, drop me a comment or an email and I'll update this post.  Here is a close-up - pretty cool tag isn't it?  So perfect for a masculine card - and I was so rapt that it matched the brads - a happy coincidence:

I am entering this card into the following challenges -

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Challenge #159 - Sewing (faux or real)

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Week 111 - Free and Easy July - Anything goes

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything goes with the optional extra of buttons

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - A stitch in time - real or faux

Thanks for stopping by my little world and thank you so much for any comments you leave  

If you are short of time, scroll right down to the end of this post past the Card Recipe and you will see a heading that says "Reactions" where you can just click on an automatic comment.  This is something I only just recently added and thought it was pretty cool for busy people especially those on DT Challenge blogs that are visiting all the entrant's blogs - what a huge task!  So it's easy to just do one click and your done and you can move onto someone else's blog.

I have been working on a "Welcome to your new home" card for my BIL and SIL who have moved states and built their retirement dream home by the sea so I hope to share this in my next post.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Inkadinkado Standing Seagull INKA-99205-DD wood mounted

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Designer paper:  My Mind's Eye Stella Rose 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities, 140lb watercolour paper, Derwent Inktense pencils, small round #2 paintbrush, paper piercer, teal sewing thread + sewing needle, Sakura clear glaze pen, doublesided foam pads (dimensionals), clear blue button - from Basic Grey Granola set, string, Happy Birthday metal tag - Printblocks (?), brads by Printblocks, Cardstock:  teal, mustard

Punches:  Martha Stewart embossed diamond