Hello Friends!
Hope all of you
are well wherever you are. I’ve been on a hiatus for unavoidable reasons…a memorable,
short, hectic 12 day trip to USA to leave my son at University, illness,
computer problems and more and before I get busy around Christmas, I thought I
better make an appearance on the blog & share the projects I made during my
absence here.
Today, I’d like
to share two projects I made for my daughter’s 21st birthday. Both
were started here and completed at my friends place In Illinois before
proceeding to Indiana. It was a surprise for my daughter but I managed to pass
it to a friend of hers in my son’s dorm through a friend from her dorm without
her knowledge. I later got in touch with her friends to instruct them which
they did and she loved it.
My first
project is a banner….
It was hung in her dorm room by her roomie and a friend when she left for dinner with the rest of her friends.
Supplies used…
Card stock,
holographic silver paper for rosettes, sheer ribbon & scalloped die cut
circles & numbers. Both these were sent to me by Shirley-Ann from Stamping for Joy. A blog friend
with a generous heart who always kept asking me what sort of supplies I needed.
As I had this project in mind, I requested her to send me these die cuts, but
she sent even more. Thank you very much Shirley-Ann.
My second
project is an explosion box…
It was presented to her by her brother after they returned to the dorm for cake cutting and games. It was made
with my daughter's pictures of the day she was born, christening, 3 months, 6
months followed by her birthdays, First Holy Communion and all the cakes I made
for the themed parties she had (in all, 24 pictures on the innermost three
layers of walls). On the outermost layer, on the inside I added a poem from her
parents on one wall, separate ones from her brothers on the other two &
just Happy Birthday on the last… all computer generated. The cake in the center
was hollow with a surprise gift.
Supplies used…
Card stock, acrylic paint, scrapbook baby girl themed stickers, numerical stickers, paper towel
roll, thick foam (leftover from upholstery), felt cloth, Offray metallic ribbon,
Jolee’s boutique pearl flower gems, glue gun, Mini Bailey’s Irish Cream Liquor
bottle, Lawn Fawn stamp-handmade with love, 21 key and satin ribbon.
As the pictures
were large, the box ended up into a 7x7 inch square (outermost walls) and
reduced by 0.5 inches for the subsequent inner ones. After cutting the 4 layers
and scoring the lower edge of each wall,
I sprayed the layers using a toothbrush, glued the 4 layers together, adhered the pictures,
added stickers quotes, age and pictures on each layer.
For the cake I wrapped
foam in two layers around the paper towel roll and an additional 3 inch wide
layer for the lower tier cake. Next covered it with card stock, stuffed the
surprise gift, covered with felt cloth, decorated with ribbon and flower gems. The
liquor bottle was the cake topper with 21 sticker on it.
The outside of the box
and lid were decorated with strips of scrapbook paper, then adhered the 21 key
on top of the lid and finished off with a double bow.
I'm entering my projects into the following challenges...
I must mention that as I forgot to pack up the supplies I meant to use to decorate, I ended up buying stuff from Walmart and JoAnn Fabric & Craft Store. In the process I also learnt that the custom of giving a key on the 21st b’day is British which we too follow, while the American custom is liquor. I was thankful for accepting a bottle of liquor in-flight, enabling me to combine the British & American traditions. You may have also noticed that I used a blue colour scheme. That’s because Septembers birthstone is sapphire.
Thanks for visiting friends and reading this long post. I hope you like what you see here and I will surely be back soon and visit you too.
Leanne
