Happy Birthday Rose

Created by Lorna
Images ©1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

I made this card for my mother-in-law, Rose who had her birthday yesterday. My mother and father-in-law live about three and a half hours drive away, so we didn't think we'd see them for a while. However, last Friday, I was asked if I could work in Wollongong Monday to Wednesday. My husband came with me and he drove over to surprise his mum yesterday (she lives a lot closer to Wollongong), while I was at work. She had a wonderful birthday. On Tuesday, her newest granddaughter Matilda was born in England, and seeing Ben on her birthday was another wonderful surprise.

I really wanted to use A Beautiful Thing Set from the Spring Mini Catalogue before we have to say goodbye to make way for the sets in the Summer Mini. I originally tried to use the two large flowers with two-step stamping, but I couldn't get the colours just right. In the end, I decided on lots of layers along with a window showing the circle from the same set. In the centre of the circle, I've used one of the four hollow-centred flowers and put one of the very small flowers in the centre of that. The original greeting says "You make my life a beatiful thing", but I inked up all the words except "my" to make the card from both my husband and I. I did this using a Stampin' Write Marker. Also, since the card could be hand-delivered rather than mailed, I got to use my Pretties Kit to make it a bit more 3-D. I loaded up a hat pin with some embellishments and put it through the ribbon. I also stuck 3 half-brads on the bottom-right. I sponged around the window to carry over from the sweeping pattern of the circle.

Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Wild Wasabi.
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Handsome Hunter, Bravo Burgundy.
Punches: Round Tab, Scallop Circle, 1-3/8" Circle, 1-1/4" Circle, 1/2" Circle, 1/4" Circle.
Others: Pretties Kit, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Write Markers, Sponge.