A Winter Birthday Card

Hello friends and visitors! Today I have a birthday card I made for a special blog friend, Lisa of A Mermaids Crafts to share with you. Please visit Lisa at her lovely blog if you haven't already--she is one talented artist who does amazing things in her Shabby Chic style. Nothing says winter beauty to me more than blue skies and birch trees!

The background corrugate board is waste packaging from a toaster. I pulled off some of the paper and added Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint. Some was from an old jar and it was super thick, but made some amazing cracks--more so than the newer thin runny stuff. After it dried thoroughly, I gave it a coat of DeoArt Ultra Matte Varnish  and a sprinkle of Clear Rock Candy Distress glitter and DecoArt Glamour Dust. The blurry photo on the right shows just a hint of what is seen in real life. Boy, you really have to hold your mouth just right to capture that sparkle on an I phone camera! I apologize for the poorer than usually photo quality. I was trying to take this on a bright sunny morning without additional lighting to get that winter sun.

 

The blue panel was made by embossing a card panel with Tim Holtz Snowflurries Texture Fade, scraping a thin and thick coat of gesso on with a  credit card. I purposefully left some areas uncovered. When dry I went back in with Distress paints in blues. I made another of these backgrounds in a little darker combination of paints, and perhaps you will see that on a future project. I wanted this to be bright and cheery for Lisa's birthday. 

For my focal layer, I chose Tim's Birch Trees Thinlits die and pretty much followed this amazing tutorial by Anna-Karin of Layers of Ink. Anna-Karin is an amazing artist, and I draw so much inspiration from her. To make this my own, I used an old Inkadinkadoo script stamp and added some "snow" where a dusting might land in the thick woods using my Ranger Emboss It and Emerald Creek's Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder. I use the embossing liquid straight from the jar, using a fine paint brush to get it right where I need it. Of course the pine boughs (Tim Holtz Holiday Greens Mini Thinlits) needed some snow, too. You might be able to see I tucked in a Tim Holtz Tree Line Thinlit die cut. 

The Impression Obsession Deer Trio got pulled out once again, and the deer are peeking out to wish Lisa a Happy Birthday! My sentiment to Lisa is stamped with Tim's Simple Sayings set and colored with Distress inks to compliment the colors of the woodsy scene. To fluff this up a bit (I tried to make a nice feminine card for my friend, but it just wasn't happening!), I added a hand dyed seam binding bow. I had to pull it out of the way a bit to show the entire sentiment. (Next time, plan ahead!)

I apologize for all the shadows, but I think it makes the woods look a little denser! Making this card for my friend brought me such joy! One of my fondest memories growing up is walking through the birch woods on the edge of our farm. It was beautiful any time of year, but there's something so special about a birch tree in the winter, when it shows the beauty of it's bark.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

I would love to share my card with these challenges:
A Vintage Journey December Challenge-Winter Magic
--Deep Ocean Challenge #144-"Silent Night"
-Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Let There Be Snow
-Scrapy Land Challenge #55-Anything Goes (With a die that Scrap Land sells) I used an Impression Obsession die and 3 Sizzix dies.
-Creative Artiste's Challenge #21-Anything Mixed Media Goes
-Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #260-261-Anything Goes
-Noor! Design Challenge 25-'Sparkle' so difficult to capture on camera, but it's there!
-Allsorts Week 394/395 Blue Bingo I choose blue and brown, add dimension and masking. Masking was done with Distress Micro Glaze on the birch trees. Please refer to Anna-Karin's link in my text for instructions.
-Your Next Stamp Challenge #54 Color Challenge I used the first 4 colors--what a gorgeous inspiration photo! (1/5)

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #79- Angels/Fairies or Winter (2/2)
Winter Wonderland Challenge Blog For Someone Special/Happy New Year
-Mixed Media Place- November Challenge Another gorgeous mood board!I was inspired by the blues, brown tones and icy feel to it.


Thank you for stopping by and leaving your wonderful comments! I know you are busy, so your visit is even that much more special to me! 
Hugs and Blessings! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Sara Emily
UPDATE: Yippee!