Tomorrow is Middlests Birthday......

Well Tomorrow, is Middlests Birthday, He'll be 19, and now I am really starting to feel old!! Eldest was 21 in October, and now middlest is turning 19!! What ever happened to the years?


Well as its his birthday, and me being a crafter, I can hardly go out and buy him a card now can I? So ALL DAY I HAVE BEEN SLAVING AWAY OVER THIS Card, well ok, I had a couple of hours out, reading Blogs, and watching C&C, then I watched the Indy Film on the BBC, the one with the Skulls, then I cooked a full Roast pork dinner, including fresh apple sauce, but I have been working on it all day honest!!


The problem is he's a pretty hard kid man (When did that happen?) to please. Its not as if he has an ordinary career choice, or goes out drinking, or has the same interests as most of his contemporaries. He's still at College, and College in the UK is normally for 2 yrs then its get a job or go to Uni, but he's been there for 3 yrs, and probably another 2yrs yet to go unless he can find a job somewhere, but if he settles for something outside his chosen career I will kill him!! He currently has 32 qualifications in his chosen field, and thats not including this years crop of Qual's.
He's a trainee Gamekeeper for heavens sakes! He wants to have a couple of pens on my bit of lawn for his birds, he wants a "proper" gun dog, a Gun Cabinet, a long Barbour (a type of waxed coat), his Flat cap, and a pair of Tweeds.
HE'S 19!! When did I raise an old man? Actually I blame my Dad!! Its all his fault!! Well, its not but you know what I mean, with out someones influence, he would probably be building boats by now, erm hold on a minute dad did build a 22ft long wooden steam Launch, oh dear.................
So a Card? what to do? what to do~?


In the end I did this...now there's 2 pics of this as the colour is actually somewhere between the 2 of them in reality, but can I catch it on camera or scanner? NOPE! so you'll have to imagine!!

Not bad eh? But BOY was it hard work trying to decide what to do!!!


We have a framed copy of this luckily, an original page from the book, so I popped it out its frame and scanned it in, Phew, hard part done with!! Now to print it off, add some colour as its a Black and white obviously, (and try to imagine typing this while he's wandering in and out of his bedroom packing his bags for College tomorrow, while attempting to have a peek at whatever it is that Mums doing, as it obviously concerns him, as I wont let him catch a glimpse until tomorrow!!)
so first wet the edges with a water brush, and pull apart the excess paper, out come the Aqua Markers, and a water brush, Liberal applications of, Mauve for the Heather on the hills, a mixture of  Spring Green Golden Brown and Citrus for the Hills and grass at his feet,  Golden Brown for the Rabbits, and some Vintage Photo distress ink for the basket behind him. Then lots of Blue Mica diluted and misted over the whole picture.
then I screwed it up into a tight little ball!! Unscrewed the wad of paper, and got a large stippling brush, and liberally applied Vintage Photo, and Antique Linen distress inks all over it, bringing out the creases, then back I went with the Mica mist, and for once, I got the Iron out!! And Ironed it all nice and flat while it was still damp, as it does help to set the mica into the paper.


ok so far so good, (he's still trying to peek though), so I then backed it onto some Ivory Cream Pearlised embossed paper, part of a Pack of over sized papers I got from C&C earlier in the year, added some old Ivory Ribbon, very wide, and wrapped that around the bottom of the card. I made a Rose Sue Wilson Style, using some Red DST, and some of the same ribbon, cut length wise, so the edges are frayed. 
Then I turned to the base for it, bearing in mind that so far I had 2 layers of paper, and some ribbon.
So Navy Pearlised cardstock, from my Stash (Doncaster), and the Zyron came out to play.  I made myself a guide for the zyron some time ago, and I use it to keep my lines straight, so Happy Birthday, on the Holiday Font Cartridge, was then printed all round the outside of the piece of A4 card. As its pearlised card it does affect the print from the Zyron for some reason, muting it more, so its not too glaringly obvious, as Middlest really doesnt like the glaringly obvious, I mean look at his Career choice for heavens sakes!!
Then out came Happy, boy was I glad to have an excuse to play with Happy again!! So Spellbinders Impressabilities Flower Delight, onto the Black Mat and Pad, I had to run it through twice, and boy Does the venerated SW make it look easy, managing to line it up, and have loads of overhang, and still get it through without problems!! ITS NOT THAT EASY SUE!!!!
Finally that bit was done, phew!! Mount the sheets of paper onto the embossed card, add some nice Bronze Brads, to make sure its all Gathered together, and wont do a runner, as I hate trusting glue on Pearlised papers and card, and mount it to some Scored and Folded A3 cardstock, in Navy blue of course, and add the finishing touches, a flourish of Bronze Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue, and yes I know I made a mistake at one end, but it blobbed just when I didnt want it to!!


Finished!! All I had to do then was add an insulting verse inside, well he is getting old now, and Hey Presto done and dusted!! just got to find an envelope to hide it from sight!


The last few pics, are of the bag Wrap I made for his pressie, I was a bit limited as there isnt much out there for Gamekeepers in all honesty, and a lot of it is American Based, as opposed to the British Game, no Pheasant, Partridge or Snipe, few duck, plenty of Geese, and loads of Bears and such on the Silhouette site, but I grabbed a few, and started the CR frantically cutting bits out for me. While trying to hide everything form MR Nosey Parker!!

So its done and dusted his Shaver is hidden from view, (he's got a physical allergy to soaps and detergents, it burns the skin off his hands and face, so Shaving isnt easy, and I am NOT having a Beard in this house, yeuck!!0, so now to find some challenges to enter these in lol.


Happy Crafting everyone, xxx