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Monday 13 July 2009

Card for My Brother



It's my Brother's Birthday this week, and Men's cards are notoriously difficult to make. I decided to take inspiration from this month's Graphicus Guild newsletter, and make a card very like one of the samples in there. I used two of the stamps from the Tall Trees set, and a mixture of Distress Inks and Adirondack Ink pads to create my background. I then used two of the birds from the new bird stamp sets to ink around the edges of my base card with weathered wood DI. The sentiment is also an Elusive Images sentiment. I hope my Brother likes this, as it's a bit artier than I normally send him, but he always gets a handmade card, or he would think I couldn't be bothered.




My second card is not so hand crafted, but has a story behind it. It is a retirement card for a French teacher at the school where I work on a casual basis. She taught me, my husband and both of my children, how about that? She is a lovely woman, I always got on with her, and I'll miss her no end now that she is leaving. She is not old enough to retire, she's only 54, nine years older than me. She was straight out of Uni when Terry and I started at the school. If she caught us snogging in the corridor, she used to hit us over the head with a newspaper! Those were the days. I work in the French dept with her now, so I will feel her going very much.




I have printed a picture of her second home in France onto photo paper, and then printed 'on your retirement' in French onto acetate, to overlay onto the photo. (I do this a lot for personal cards, printing personal messages, or names for family members.) I have mounted the photo twice onto pearlescent card, and then used some Prima flowers and a Martha Stewart foliage punch to create a floral edge to the picture. It is not a fussy card, because the person in question is not a person for that kind of card, and I really hope she likes it.




I am hoping, time permitting, now that the holidays are looming, to try and start to join in with some of the blog challenges that go on. Ryan will not need running to and from school all week, which is an hour round trip twice a day. I am a genuine stampaholic and have a huge stash of stamps which are used by my card class, but they only scratch the surface. Besides which, they are MY stamps! So, it's about time that I got on with using them, and created a bit more. Fingers crossed, anyway! Judith x

7 comments:

Lynne K said...

Your cards are beautiful, Judith, & I'm sure both recipients will love them. Those new trees from Elusive Images are gorgeous, aren't they? You sound just like me - I have hundreds, if not thousands of stamps, many of which I use with my class & never get round to doing anything with just for myself. Still, school holidays loom, so I might get a chance then....

Lynne K said...

Hi Judith, me again! Meant to say thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. x

lisa said...

Hi Judith. I love your "arty" card. It's stunning. The birds work so well as flourishes and those trees are just lovely.
I had to smile at your school antics. I think we were all the same weren't we. I work at the school where I used to go and it seems really weird to call your old teachers by their first names and go in the staff room. Do you find the same.
Your french card is beautiful. What a gorgeous house. It's such a clever way to create a card. I'm sure your friend will absolutely love it.
Happy stamping. Can't wait to see the results.

Lisax

Kat said...

These are lovely, Judith. I know what you mean about having lots of stamps. I have a bag of stamps that are going to the charity shop. I just look and think why did I buy them!? I agree about male cards. The only thing worse than a man card is a teenage boy card - I have three teenage nephews!! Kat x

craftimamma said...

Your brother's card is wonderful and I'm sure he'll definitely know you care with that one. The colours are beautiful.

And I'm positive your teacher/ colleague/friend will love the retirement one too. What a wonderful place to retire to.

Lesley Xx

Sally H said...

Both lovely cards, but the tree one is stunning! That set has arrived in the post yesterday, so I'm itching to use them now x

Anne said...

Love both of these. What a good idea to use to photo and a lovely story from your schooldays :).

You've done a great job with the new tree stamps, they look good against that background, don't they?

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