A celebration of friends

Hello crafting friends!

Today I'm sharing the second card I made when I decided I needed to make cards again. I had found a few stray wood-mount stamps (funny how I'm photopolymer all the way now!) and some Stampin' Up markers I'd given my son for school projects but then ruthlessly grabbed back. Come and see:

All the stamps are from retired Stampin' Up sets - the wonderful jar from Perfectly Preserved, the flowers from Garden Silhouettes, the tag from Tiny Tags and the tablecloth from a grid-patterned builder wheel called (and I've just gone off into gusts of giggles over this) Albert. I kid you not - the wheel was called Albert!

I stamped the jar and the flowers, extending the stems so that they rested on the bottom of the jar. To get the water effect, I cut a mask for the jar and sponged ink into it. The whole thing was cut out with sharp paper snips and decorated with a little label tied on with linen thread.

Albert *goes off into further fits of giggles* had been unmounted so I used a tiny bit of glue to get him on an acrylic block. I had to ink him up with a marker as I had no ink pads AND had to stamp him four times without a stamp positioner, but it sort of worked out. (Perfection, as my youngest son would say, is for lame nerds that are cramping on my style! Well yes, indeed! I would totally agree if only I knew what it meant!) I coloured every other square to achieve the gingham tablecloth look before attaching the jar of flowers with dimensionals.

It was a bit of a faff using Albert, and I was going to throw him away, but I can't now because he's become my special friend! Watch out for him on forthcoming cards!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

This card was made to celebrate the birthday of a lovely friend of mine. I absolutely love her to bits because she is who I want to be when I grow up! She is full of enthusiasm for everything, always has an amazing new project on the go and sees the best in every situation, as well as being staunch, loyal and always up for a laugh. What a lady!

Do you have any wonderful friends in your life you'd like to celebrate? Any stamps you cannot throw away? Or both? Do tell me about them in the comments below :)

Hugs,