A Birthday Card for Sherry!

Yesterday was my friend, Sherry's, birthday -- and I had a GRAND time making her card! (Cleaning the horrific mess I made -- not so much.)

Not long ago, I was at Sherry's home and she was showing me the special massage setup that she created in two rooms of her home for "Raindrop" treatments that she gives as a ministry/business. She uses essential oils produced by a company known as "Young Living" which owns its own herb and plant farms and distills its own oils. (I have become a distributor -- and USER -- of the oils and they are AMAZING!!)

She has a professional massage table and the most SOOTHING & RELAXING environment imaginable -- and the WONDERFUL oils scents!! Aaaaah!!!

When showing me how she had organized her client records, she pulled out a large BLACK plastic file box! DEJA VOUS!! (Remember the black file box that I scavenged at work and for which I crafted a decorative front panel??) I knew IMMEDIATELY that I would create a pretty panel for HER file box -- and I made one as an "extra" birthday gift for her.

                                                              Sherry's birthday card

                                                                   inside Sherry's card

                                                 decorative panel for Sherry's black file box

Last year, I crafted Sherry a mini-legal pad "holder" and since she is using it in her "massage haven," I chose materials for her file box panel that would coordinate with it. (Maybe now, she'll not hide the file box in a cabinet! grin)

AUTUMN JOY!!

Today is my daughter-in-law, Joy's, birthday, so yesterday afternoon was spent making her an "autumn" birthday card. I've written SEVERAL times, and it remains true, that I am the S-L-O-W-E-S-T cardmaker in existence!! But, I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I crafted while watching an old chick flick -- "Sabrina" with Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear.

Friday, I had extra work hours for the week, so left the office over an hour early to begin my evening with my daughter and her two youngsters. Well, Moriah wanted to run by a local thrift shop and it is THERE that I discovered a supply of old VHS movies! (I have a VHS player in my craft room, so was tickled to buy several titles!!) Soooo, truth be told, I invested as much time watching the movie as I did crafting Joy's card, but it was a relaxing and pleasurable experience.

Now, about the card...I used several manufacturer's dies and punches, as has become my habit. The leaf was made with an oldie-but-goodie Sizzix die (I doodled the veins with a stylus); Paper Trey Ink made the die used for the mat; Simon Says Stamp produced the sentiment panel. Stampin' Up!'s Word Window punch was used for the itty-bitty sentiment -- and, a Sizzix embossing folder produced the wood grain panel.

The kraft card base was not perfectly folded -- the front didn't "meet" the back, so I just trimmed it back MORE and added lace along the cut edge. When the card is open, the pretty lace can be seen -- I like that.