Jake's birthday card

Hello!  No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I have just had a bit of a dry spell in the stamp room.  I've done some knitting, and reading, and some Bible art journalling, but not a lot of stamping.  However, when a special boy turns 10, I had to get inky!

I used the My Favorite Things combination set of letters and cutting die (Vanity License Plate) to make the focal panel.  It's stamped in Deep Lagoon Fluid Chalk Ink and I added the top and bottom words with some snap-together letter stamps. I also edged the license plate with some coordinating Copic marker (BG97 I think) I inked it with versamark (should have heat set first - it smudged - grr) and embossed with several layers of ultra think embossing enamel (UTEE).  It's very shiny and looks like a brand new license plate.  The various accent layers are from the Wander collection (BasicGrey) and all the papers are edged in Memories Art Print Brown. I used my corner rounding punch (small) to round the edges of the main panel to go with the rounded edges of the license plate.  The card base is Crushed Curry (Stampin' Up).  I felt the card needed an accent of some sort, so I fussy-cut some little cars and a bus from a scrap of paper and popped them up, and brushed them with clear Wink of Stella.  I don't think it made the card too girly for Jake.

It was fun to get back into the stamp room.  I will have to clean it up and get back there more regularly.  I felt a bit rusty making this and I miss my ink and rubber! I think what it is is that my job has gotten very interesting in the last year and I have been really engaged and interested there, which has meant that I am more tired when I get home and needing less to "fill up" my "contentedness reservoir" with stamping.  Not a bad reason, I suppose!  It's nice to feel like I enjoy my job.

The other thing that happened in our household that has taken priority in a good way is this little fellow.  Introducing Finnegan!  He's a shih tzu-cocker spaniel mix and we got him on Labour Day weekend when he was 11 months old.  He's a full-time cutie and part-time criminal mastermind, specializing in aerial acrobatics and petty thievery. He has stolen all our hearts and we can't imagine how we ever got by without him. This is a picture of him from the fall, when he really loved roaring around the backyard and jumping in and out of leaf piles.  He would do big laps and sail off the top step of the deck (top of three shallow steps, don't worry) into an enormous pile of maple leaves.