A Bellariffic Friday Birthday Card

OK, the typical hot and humid August weather showed up yesterday afternoon. The A/C is back on! We didn't have A/C the first 11 or 12 years we lived here but we both worked full time and it was maybe 5 or 6 nights out of the entire summer when it was really too hot to sleep upstairs comfortably so we didn't even consider putting it in. Then, in July of 2000 we had a company come and clean our furnace which we did about every second year. This time the guy was down there for about 5 minutes and came up to tell us he found a crack in the heat exchanger (or something like that) and he was shutting us down. His company didn't sell furnaces so we knew we didn't need a second opinion. So, while we were putting in a new furnace we decided it was the right time for A/C as well - which was a very good thing because the day they fired it up, it turned out to be over 90F and very humid....and our summers have been hotter and more humid since then so we are very happy to have it. The main thing we learned though, is to keep getting the furnace checked. It's not a very inexpensive service call and carbon dioxide poisoning is fatal...best to be safe then sorry.

So, on that happy note and suggestion, I will post my card for this weeks challenge over at Stamping Bella. To see any photo posted in larger size, just double click on it.

This week they gave us a sketch to follow. As you all know, I don't normally use sketches but do when I have to. First I pulled out a 6" paper pack and chose the striped, the flower, the light blue and the beige paper. The beige paper behind the oval was to be two different colours of rectangles. So, I chose the beige paper from the pack, cut them to size and sponged Distress Inks, Tea Dye and Old Paper on them. I stamped the image and coloured it with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. The card base was made from an 81/2" x 11" piece of heavy cardstock and I used the left over piece to cut the scallop oval and the strip that hold the sentiment - which is a ribbon. After cutting all the paper to size and assembling it I thought it needed a little something so I punched out three fern leaves using a MS punch from the same blue as the second layer, 3 flowers from the left over flower paper and the dark wine cardstock, glued them together off-set and added a blue pearl and added them all to the lower left of the oval. Of course, Stickles were added for some sparkle. Gotta have bling!

Another weekend approaches - make sure you enjoy every minute of it no matter what you are doing. Remember, "every day this side of the dirt is a good one" so make it count!