Birthday Blues

Once again it's time for Lauren's sketch challenge. This time, I had to make a gift for a friend of mine who is just starting out as a teacher. I made the gift first, and then the card, so that is how I will show them here :)

Lauren is a big believer in gift sets, so she was part of my inspiration for this gift. I wanted something fairly quick to make, and not too "girlie" since the recipient isn't into bows or glitter so I focussed on using graphic elements and only one colour.



I took 10 sheets of regular printer paper and cut it in half to have 20 sheets of 5.5 * 8.5. I then stamped the circles from Shapes by Design in Brilliant blue along the long side. This is one of my favourite "go to" sets when I want a graphic element and not an image. I stamped the same image on the left side of 10 envelopes to coordinate them.

The pen is one I bought at the dollar store that fit well with the colour scheme. I also added some stamps and some envelope seals.



I wanted to use some small metal tins with clear covers, but the only ones I had were the wrong size, and there isn't a Lee Valley in Regina, so I went on a search at the dollar store to see if I could find a container that would work. I took my tape measure and it didn't matter what was in the container, as long as it was the right size. I ended up getting coloured staples in these containers.



There were five different colours for $1.00, so I got five containers, and used 4 of them. Two have regular domestic stamps, one has international stamps, and the fourth has non-traditional envelope seals in it.

The seals (see photo above) are cut to 1 * 1.75 from a printable sticky label that is a full sheet size, and stamped with the initials of the recipient, LF. To finish them off, I sponged them with Brilliant Blue Ink.

After making this gift, I wanted the card to also have some graphic elements and not be too busy so that it would coordinate.



This is Lauren's sketch, and here is my card.



The paper is from the Azure paper pack from Stampin' Up!, and the sentiment is stamped using Just Right stamps in Brilliant Blue onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I had originally tried the sentiment with white paper, but it was too stark on the card, and the vanilla blended in much better. The buttons were a last minute addition because the card looked too plain without them. As much as I wanted the card to be somewhat basic, and not too busy, I didn't want it to be boring ;)

All in all I think the card and gift set look good together and I am quite pleased with them.




Please check out other cards made by the other members of the sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Also, if you want to participate, we would love to see your card! Add a link in the comment section, and if you want to upload to SCS, visit Lauren's blog for the keyword so that we can find your great creations.