Boys and girls come out to play

May and June are always busy for me when it comes to family and friends celebrations and high on the list are two of our three grandchildren who celebrate their birthdays in June. So Having a little spare time a few nights ago I came up with these two cards for their birthdays.

Damien is the eldest and he is very much a boy's boy. He is currently into pirates so this seemed the perfect theme for his birthday card. I also know that he loves cards with lots of 3D detailing so I decided to raid my husband's work box to liberate a sheet of sandpaper to incorporate into my design. I also found some great sheer fabric whilst in Ikea it is meant to be used to screen windows in the summer to stop unwanted bugs coming in, but cut into wavy strips and layered up in alternate colours it makes for a great 'sea'.

I used a foil stamped image from Hunky Dory which I coloured using Spectrum Noir markers, and the cloud paper was some I had in my stash.

I started by sticking the cloud paper to a white card background that would fit the front of a A5 card blank and then wrapped the bottom half of the card with the strips of fabric, sticking the ends down on the back of the panel for neatness. I then cut a large 'island' from sand paper and stuck it to the bottom of the panel, The image was stuck to the card so that the bottom edge was tucked underneath the top most 'wave'. Then I went to town with a sticker sheet I had in my stash. The two palm trees in the foreground were stuck to white card and cut out before being stuck to the card with glue gel. To really add to the 3D effect I stuck more layers of sand paper onto the 'island' to make sand dunes and added the treasure box which is overflowing with bits of old jewellery chain and some bright red stick on crystals. I added 2 smaller treasure boxes a jolly roger and some coins again from the sticker sheet and stuck to white card and cut out. The finishing touches were a couple of parrots, the foam sun, and a message in a bottle floating in the waves.

I am entering Damien's Card into the following challenge

http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - use fabric on your card 

Now as much as Damien is a boy's boy, Chloe Ann is definitely a girl's girl. She is positively a little lady and loves pink. So a theme of fairies was perfect for her card. Being lucky enough to be on the Ooh La La creations design team I was able to use their most recent 'Fairies and Blooms' CD for the lovely image and backing papers.

I mounted the image on a piece of holographic mirri card and trimmed it to leave a really narrow border. I used the  rest of the Mirri board to make the card front, working with it as a panel to fit an A5 card front so any edges could be neatly tucked behind. I had some lovely hearts stars and beads in a clear mink and lilac acrylic from a project several years ago (I never throw anything out) and these were threaded onto silver thread to make the hanging charms. I cut a piece of the backing papers from the CD to slightly smaller than the mirri card and punched the edge using a Martha Stewart lace edge punch this was then stuck to the mirri card and the basket weave edging added. I wrapped the panel with the left over silver thread from the beading and then wrapped a piece of pink polka dot ribbon round the  panel before sticking it to the card front. I attached the hanging beads using a blob of glue gel and positioned a punched butterfly over the glue so that the ends of the  threads formed its feelers. Three paper flowers and another butterfly along with a ribbon bow were added to the bottom corner of the image to balance the card visually. The final touches were a spot of stickles on the fairy's wings and tiny pure white pearls made using pearl paint.

All that remains is for me to package them up and send them off to Mummy ready to be presented to Damien and Chloe Ann on their Birthdays. 

I am entering Chloe Ann's card into the following challenge

http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - lets hear it for the girls