Birthday card surprise.

     I hope everyone had a great weekend. Unfortunately, not the Bears :- (  Oh well, this is Chicago, there is always next year. Today I worked on a card for a friend's birthday. I ended up someplace where I don't think I wanted to be with the card, so tomorrow, I'm going to go in a new direction with her card. Inspiration is funny that way. You start out with one idea and then see something and it takes you in a whole new direction and then you think you have it. I consulted with DH, who is often my design consultant and I love to bounce ideas off of him or my DS, when he is home from school. DH really didn't like the main paper I choose with the rest of the things, which caused me to step back and think about it some more. Some times you get too close to something to view it objectively, at least I do. Going over blogs today, I was on Lucy Abrams blog and saw a card she did and remembered my original idea, which had a cleaner look and fit the intended recipient better. Now you are probably asking yourself, self, why is she being so cryptic today? Well, that's because my friend reads this blog and knows her birthday is coming up. I don't want her to get any hints. I advised her not to be tempted and check, but temptation can be sooo, ah, tempting. So, today I'll share with you her card from last year. After her birthday, I'll share with you where this saga of creative stops and starts and of inspiration ended.

     The details are a bit fuzzy after a year, but the snowman is from Cricut's Stretch Your Imagination cart and I cut his hat out larger than the relative dial size. The snowman on this cart has a tiny hat and I wanted it to look more traditional. The snowflakes are also from Stretch Your Imagination,  just cut at different sizes. The snowman's body and snowflakes were heat embossed with holographic embossing powder and the snowman was pop-dotted. The front was dry embossed with the Snowflakes embossing folder. The sentiments on both the outside and inside were done with Print Shop, but you could use any word processor. The image on the inside was a Hero Arts stamp that I colored with watercolor pencils on watercolor paper.
     Tomorrow, I think her card for this year, should come together faster (fingers crossed). Maybe then I can start deciding on some ideas for those centerpieces and other decorations for the pasta dinner. Thanks for spending some of your very precious time here.