Crafty Cardmakers' Challenge #83 - Belated Birthday!!

Happy New Year to you all - yes I know I'm over three weeks late, but better late than never eh? And that's the theme for our first Challenge of 2013 - Belatedness - in this case Belated Birthday!! 

The challenge to you comes from our lovely Kim, and it is to create a card for a belated birthday. You can use any image, Stamped or Digi, but your card MUST include a sentiment indicating that the card is for a belated Birthday, for example - Sorry I missed it, Have a very Happy Unbirthday, Better late than never, Your birthday came, your birthday went, here's the card I should have sent!! See what you can come up with to amuse us, or just a straightforward belated birthday wishes will do, but remember it does need a sentiment as outlined above to qualify. 

We are sponsored for this challenge by Milk, Coffee Digital Stamps

with 5 images for our winner

I have to admit that this is the first time I've crafted since the last challenge and am feeling both rusty, apprehensive and lacking in inspiration. However, I was determined to have a go to try to get myself motivated again!! I'm not sure how successful I have been, as I am not overly happy with the result. 

  

I decided to go with just stamping the message and making it the focal point. My original inspiration for the colours came from Craftwork Cards Bohemian Glitter selection. Sadly to say, none of it made it onto the card, as things did not go to plan. Anyway, I used Forest Moss DI with my Forever Friends Script Alphabet stamp set, and stamped onto Crafter's Companion Neenah card. This all went to plan!!

To cut out the sentiment, I use the largest die from Spellbinders Majestic Elements Marvellous Squares, with of the Grand Labels 1. I wanted to cut outside the square to create a border, as there are some gorgeous little details on that die that can only be seen if used as the inside of a frame.

Everything had gone fine up to this point, and then I decided to do some stencilling with DI through the dies. The border went well with Bundled Sage, and then I started with Victorian Velvet on the message area. I think that 'heavy handed' is the term I would use, and once I had started there was no going back. And when I had finished it was no longer a possibility to use the Bohemian Glitter card as the colours were just not right.  I suppose I could have started again, but I put it down and walked away. When I came back I decided that I should persevere to see if I could salvage the work as I didn't have the energy to try again. 

So, I sprayed it with Crafters Companion Iridescent Glitter Spray, and mounted the message part onto foam to raise it slightly. The border is cut with an old style X Cut Border Die called Rosa. The card is from my stash (Bazzill and DCWV), as are the white satin and organza ribbons, and the pearls.

I'm sure we all feel a bit ho-hum about our work sometimes, as I do today, but hopefully you will take some inspiration from it and have a go yourself!! Even if it seems somewhat daunting to start with. Take some time to visit the Crafty Cardmakers blog to look at the inspiration from other DT members - there are lots of different takes on this one - there's sure to be something to get your creative juices flowing!!  One thing we would respectfully ask is that you read the blog rules before entering, to avoid any disappointment. 

So, I will sign out and go have a look for some crafting inspiration - there's got to be some lurking around  here somewhere!!

Cxxx