Happy Birthday!

Hello! I have been MIA for a little bit. My husband's birthday was last week and he found out he had to go on an impromptu trip to Poland and China! So the rest of my week was spent getting him ready for that and a good portion of it was at the Chinese Consulate. He left on Saturday for two weeks and I am so lonely! But luckily a friend needed help with her kiddos so I have spent the week with her gorgeous 1.5 year old and their 7 week old son. It has been so much fun! 

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN DOWN FOR PUBLICATION!!! :) 

This card is for my best friend's husband named Phil for his 27th birthday. He's just a big kid so he will love this! 

Designer's notes: I fussy cut the owl and 2 and 7 from the patterned paper that came in the kit. ***I have gotten a few questions about what fussy cut means (I love getting questions and helping out so ask me ANYTIME - You can always email me directly at the email address listed on the top right of my blog!) Here is the answer: 

Fussy cutting is cutting out anything with a pair of scissors that is not in a normal shape that you punch out. For instance, it is used a lot when stamping an image, coloring it, and then cutting out the exact figure - instead of using your Nestabilities, shape punches, or Cricut Center Point feature and cutting it out that way. So I used a pair of embroidery scissors in this case to cut out just the owl out of the pattered paper. If I had used a oval punch to simply punch it out, it would not have been "fussy cut". I hope that makes sense and thank you for asking ladies! 

I used Glossy Accents this time to make the line that twine was going to sit on to make the banner and that worked great! I got that tip from Jenny at Wee Memories. 

I also used the Glossy Accents on the party hat, balloon, nose, feet, and leaves. It definitely added a nice "pop" factor. 

Lastly, I bent the "Happy Birthday" stamp to fit the contour of the branch which worked wonderfully! 

Recipe: 

Artful Delight's March Kit (only 4 left!!!)

Twine from the Twinery in Cappuccino™

Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Sweetest Cupcakes™

Glossy Accents™

Cartridges: Birthday Bash™ (banner) and Straight from the Nest™ (branch) 

Cuttlebug Folders: Swiss Dots™ and D'vine Swirl™

i-bond (cordless glue gun) from Imaginisce™ (to glue the rope to the card)

d-stress (sander) from Imaginisce™ (I sanded the blue edges of the banner)

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro™

This card also qualifies for the Cricut Circle's contest of a man card with three elements that they listed. I used distressing, twine and string along with two complete Cricut cuts (banner and branch).

I hope this brings you inspiration on doing boy/man cards which are hard for a lot of us! 

Don't forget to play along with Artful Delight's sketch challenge this month where you could win next month's kit! It's rumored to have papers from 3 different collections! Don't quote me on that, but I am really excited about the possibility! 

Also, Artful Delight is having a GIVEAWAY over at their Facebook Page (click on the link). Like them and let them know Courtney sent you over to say hello and good luck winning! Leeanne is always very generous!