Summertime...

Summer time isn't exactly great for creating cards. There is the traveling and of course, the schools are closed which means kids are home and so there is the driving around and....Well, in short, schedules get messed up and I don't get much energy / inspiration to make a card. So if there is one thing that I like about winter, then it is that I am cooped up in the house and can make more cards!

So after a long time, here is my card

Isn't she the loveliest....Every time I look at her, I want to board the next flight to Hawaii - so beautiful...
But back to the card which I made using the sketch from the Sketch Saturday challenge blog.

 I added a little twist though.. Its a tri-fold card which opens up....

and brings in to focus the flower which was created using the Spellbinders rose dies. I distressed the edges a bit to give it more definition.

The back of the image needed to be hidden - Sewing on the edges doesn't exactly present a beautiful back-side :)

This did leave two panels unadorned which is a great thing if I wanted to write a big message.  Added a completely different paper on the last panel - always a bit unexpected :)

Submitting for the following challenges

Sketch Saturday challenge

and

Cardmadfairy's Digi Days challenge

Everybody Art Challenge 

Dream.....

When I was a young child, my parents always encouraged me to dream big. And boy, did I dream big....I wanted to do everything and be everything and visit all places and....On a short list of things was the dream to fly a fighter jet ( motivation ? - Top Gun, Tom Cruise and that should explain it all), travel the world and see all the beautiful places, live beautifully and with grace( whatever that meant at that age) and sing. Well, some of those dreams came true, though regretfully, not the fighter jet one...
And when I had children, I encouraged them to dream and dream big. So my daughter's dream, along with the usual travel the world and be popular, is to buy a loft in the city ( used to be NYC but is quickly shifting to San Francisco), drive a Lamborghini in a beautiful black dress and black pumps. Well, I can't give her all that, so I made this card for her birthday

The card has all her favorite things and of course, she loves to shop just like the "Shopping   Willow" from Whiff of Joy. She even has similar boots :)

On to the details.....
The Skyline is NYC, or my version of NYC skyline. I drew and cut it using my trusted craft knife. Quite pleased with the results, if I may say so myself...The airplane is a magnolia image. 

For the black dress, I looked at a number of drawings on the internet and then ended up drawing it up by hand. The edges of the mannequin are distressed just a teeny bit to give it a bit of definition.

Of course, where can one go without the trusted Lamborghini and beautiful black pumps ? On a side note, have you looked at the cost of these cars, if they can be called that. In many parts of the country you can buy a house, furnish it and still have money left over !!
But then I did encourage her to dream big :)

Her birthday is a week away but then she doesn't follow the blog, so it can safely remain our secret till the D-day..
Submitting for the following challenges:
Whiff of Joy challenge 
and
Anything goes challenge where the challenge was polka dot with a birthday theme

Charisma Cardz challenges where this week is all about "Anything goes"