Not very shy and retiring!

I was asked to create a retirement 'card' for a colleague who was leaving work. The brief was incredibly tight as the colleague loved birds, but hated birdcages (that was Tim's birdcage out of the window then!). The card needed to be signed in two different buildings and had to allow for colleagues to send email messages instead. The colours were to be purple and silver which presented a particular problem as, though I do like a bit of purple, I didn't have any suitable card in my stash! Oh! And I needed to create a birdhouse (with a slate roof) just like the one on her garage wall?!

What to do? I quickly realised that if I made pages which fitted within a mini scrapbook then the pages could be distributed for signature without fear of damaging the project and it would also buy me some time to get the project finished. We agreed a template and I quickly got to work! The papers were from HobbyCraft (I was very naughty and forgot to note the name of the manufacturer - humble apologies). I used plain purple cardstock for the pages and cut out tabs for my pages (I love the tab punch from Stampin' Up - couldn't find the UK link - sorry!)

I covered the front and back of two sheets of Tim's grungeboard with plain purple card (stuck with lovely Mod Podge) and edged each board with  Tim's tissue tape (I use the script one from Hobgoblin and the musical notes from Symphony).


I then made pockets from the patterned paper to fit on the inside of the front and back covers for the emails (with a little notch cut of out of each a thumb hole! I 'heart' my circle punch!) 


Both covers were stamped in Shabby Shutters with a background stamp from Stampin' Up that I dimly remember is called Bella Toile. I misted them with Ranger's Perfect Pearls (Heirloom Gold) - mental note: next time mist them BEFORE glueing the pages down to prevent warping and bubbly and all sorts of other horrors!

The birds were from Tim's birdcage - just with their legs amputated - but were covered in dictionary paper, paper with musical notes on and one I stamped in Dusty Concord. Before they were covered in Glossy Accents and Crackle Accents I inked the edges in Dusty Concord to highlight just how pretty they were! There was even a bird on the back (covered in  my favourite stickles!)


The branches were cut from real tree bark (have no idea where I got that from) and the punch I used was a Stampin' Up one (the link was broken) and the bird house was made from on off-cut of grungeboard covered in Vintage Photo and the roof in Black Soot.

Finally I added a few ribbons and trinkets to the binding rings, made a box and put it all together!


What a mammoth post! If you read all that I commend you - didn't realise it would be so wordy! Will try and cut down on my musings on the next one!


Gabrielle x