Uncaged Birdday Card

I know I have been gone for a while, and then all of a sudden I have a bunch of cards up. 2012 was not a great year for my family. It started right out in January with moving from the farm, and while in that process my mother passed away. She was 94, and ready to go, so she did.

My daughter, who is 41, did not take her death very well. She has epilepsy, and her seizures were pretty much under control prior to this event. During the funeral she started having lots of seizures, and nothing seemed to stop them anymore. She started out trying lots of medications, but nothing helped.  She finally went to the Cleveland Clinic for evaluation for the first time in September, and she underwent many tests, and many hospital visits and about 4 weeks of hospital stays to determine whether she would be a good candidate for surgery. She was a good candidate, and she had the surgery December 7, 2012. So far, she is seizure free. She is no longer in need of close watch, and she is in really good spirits. The surgery seemed to be a piece of cake for her, and we attribute this to her courage and her great surgeon Dr. Jorge Gonzalas-Martinez.  We had a wonderful and blessed Yuletide Season, with much celebration.

This year will be much different I'm sure.  It is already getting off to a nice smooth start.  The house is in order, and as organized as I every get when I'm creating.  At least I can put my hands on everything I want to use, and I'm finding things I thought were gone for good.  All the excitement made it impossible to get my stuff unpacked after the move, and by the time I got around to it I had forgotten where things had been placed:(.

 

Now to describe the card.  I made it with a view to putting it on the Color Throw Down site, and I intend to do that.  However, I've found several other places that I can use it in a challenge.

 

The papers are all from Stampin' Up, as are the inks.  I used McGill Punches Birch Leaves for the leaves, and I Am Roses roses.  I used Lindy Stamp Gang Mission Bells Brown Starburst Spray to highlight them after applying Soft Suede ink to the tips.  Unfortunately you can see the pretty shimmer on the roses in any picture that I have taken (I gave up.)  I used a Spellbinders die Fancy Labels One to cut out the sentiment.  The Bird Cage and Bird are from Tim Holtz for Sizzix called Caged Bird, however, I didn't cage mine.  I think that pretty much sums up the materials.

 

The leaves were quite flat when I cut them, and I didn't think they looked good with the flowers, so I did some bending and folding.  I folded the leaf in half, the hills are all on the front side.  I then just pinched some creases in the edges with my fingers.  They turned out far better than I would have thought.  I distressed them with the Soft Suede Ink I used on the flowers and other edges on this card.

 

Here is the recipe for this card from Color Throwdown.  Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.  I hope you enjoy.

 

Namaste