A Fine Feathers gift set

All my children went back to school yesterday leaving me to get the house back into some kind of order. Now, I don't want you to picture a scene of devastation or anything but I got so carried away with my domestic fervour that I didn't get the chance to make anything for my blog - not like me at all! Instead I'm showing you a gift set I made for a lovely friend of mine before Christmas. Come and have a look:

Here's the card, stamped with images from Stampin' Up's stunning Fine Feathers stamp set. It's very clean and simple and the Scandinavian-inspired colours were perfect for my friend.

I love the different styles of feather in the set - and they make a great motif for male cards too. The 'happy birthday' is from my favourite sentiment set, A Word For You. Of course I had a little gift for my friends' birthday so I stamped the feathers in a border design on a plain white gift bag...

... and tied a coordinating gift tag to it using grosgrain ribbon and seam binding to match my feathers.

When I'd stamped the tag, I cut it out using one of the Labels framelits which makes an interestingly-shaped tag.

Here's a close-up of the feathery border and the tag. Doesn't the ribbon look pretty?! I know it will have been carefully saved for another crafty project!
Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Fine Feathers, A Word for You
Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Labels framelits, Big Shot, Handheld circle punch, Baja Breeze seam binding, Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon (retired), stamp-a-majig
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I don't get fits of housewifely zeal very often (!) so I have to make the most of it when I do.  I think this is partly because when I've finished scrubbing the kitchen floor, my sons are apt to run over it in muddy trainers asking if there are any sausage rolls to keep their strength up; when I've hoovered every crevice of the living room, my husband takes it upon himself to drill holes in the wall to put up the shelves I asked for two years ago; and when I've deep-cleaned the bathroom, my daughter drifts in with blue hair dye casually mentioning that she's transforming herself into a sea witch for a fancy dress party... Well okay, some of this may be my imagination working overtime, but you get my point!

See you tomorrow for something bright and beautiful (I hope!)