Big Bonsai Birthday

I like to spend the evening midweek, trolling through the various challenge sites to get my own creative juices happening. I hope the cards I make inspire you in some small way, to create too. I often find that I am inspired by someone else's card, and while it is a lovely compliment to CASE another's work, it is always nice to acknowledge where the inspiration comes from, and even provide a link.

Today I was inspired by this very cute sketch by Jen B. over at Freshly Made Sketches and then I thought I would see how I would go with the colours at Color Throwdown. Both of these are so fresh and clean. My bonsai-loving son is celebrating his birthday at the end of this month. He has a very small garden and plants his vegetables in box gardens. The Bonsai are on stands and shelves in different locations. His four-year-old son loves to help out with the watering!

Now this Oak tree from Lovely As A Tree hasn't turned out looking very bonsai, although Jake does have similar trees, but it's missing the lovely glazed ceramic pot. I used the Woodgrain Embossing Folder and turned it to the de-bossed side for a smoother look. A circle was cut out to show the stamped image underneath and the layers of card were popped up with dimensionals. The sentiment is from a new stamp set, Playful Pennants which co-ordinates with the Petites Pennant Builder Punch.

The sketch calls for something across the base (and it doesn't need to be card) I felt I needed more green, so I embossed a strip of Pear Pizzazz mounted on a slightly wider strip of Island Indigo with the Arrows Embossing Folder. Do you like the super chunky two-tone trim in the Holiday Catty? I had to add a length of that too. It reminds me of the cord that used to tie old men's dressing gowns.
I still felt the card was lacking something when I finished and thought some definition around the opening would be beneficial. The fancy surround was a happy experiment, playing about with Circle Collection Framelits and the Deco Labels Framelit.

Fingers-crossed that Jake likes his card,
Rachel

 

By the way, I'm on the design team for CASE-ing The Catty, which goes live every Friday at 7pm Australian Eastern time. Australia is ahead of most places in the world(not New Zealand) so it probably goes live in the early hours of Friday morning in the US, and perhaps just as you're getting up in the UK and Europe. I'd love if you popped over to check out our blog, where we are casing the current catalogue section by section. Last Friday was Card Giving, tomorrow it's Thanks.

Lovely As A Tree Wood Stamp Set

$48.95

Lovely As A Tree Clear Stamp Set

$38.95

Playful Pennants Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$37.95

Playful Pennants Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$28.95

Folder Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$13.95

Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$13.95

Circles Collection Framelits Die

$45.95

Deco Labels Framelits Die

$42.95

Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock

$11.95

Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz

$11.95

Island Indigo A4 Card Stock

$11.95

Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate

$11.95

Neutrals Candy Dots

$9.95

Natural & Old Olive Two-Tone Trim

$8.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.