Rockin' into your 40's

I made this card up for a friends 40th birthday and had to laugh at how uncanny a likeness the image was for him! It's supposed to be a hat-tip to Moby by Kenny K the artist, but my pal really does look a lot like this guy! I wanted something light-hearted and fun to celebrate his big day and thought this might bring him a smile.

I tried to stick with 'boy colours' and 'boy papers'. Nothing too 'frou-frou'! But then I couldn't find the right matching papers to mat the backing paper or for the sentiment, even the string was not the colour I wanted. Cue my trusty Promarkers! I took a plain white page and edged it with my Olive Green Promarker. I printed out the sentiment, which was a free printable from another lovely crafter and covered that in my Olive Green Promarker and finally, I took the chisel nib edge of the same Promarker pen and ran it along my plain twine, et voila - green twine! Yup, pretty chuffed with that lil' makeover. So no 'frou-frou' necessary! LOL. To mat the image I had a big enough piece of Papermania textured cardstock in Olive and managed to even cut a little star out of that cardstock too, which I sewed a button onto for a little extra interest.

The sentiment tickets are from Whimsy, which I also edged with my Olive Promarker to fit the theme and as I mentioned earlier, I coloured the round '40' sentiment with that same colour. It just didn't work in white, and I really love how it looks all coloured in. I think it works really well. The little square black gems I had in my stash, not sure where I got those, but again, trying not to go too 'frou-frou', so had to be a 'manly gem', LOL. I hung a star charm from the twine I had previously coloured, which might just tip into the 'frou-frou' bucket, but I think I got away with it. :)

The card post is short and sweet tonight, but I've been away with the kiddos up North to our Summer house, which is just in the loveliest spot on the far North coastline of New Zealand. Right up the top of the North Island of New Zealand not too far from Cape Reinga, (for those of you who have visited my lovely homeland and might be interested). It's such a special spot and I'm so lucky to have had a very generous Grandpa who bought farmland up there and kept this very special little piece of paradise for his children and grandchildren. So we have a lovely place to visit and come together with family now we're home in New Zealand again. Here are a couple of pics from our recent adventures if you're interested...

Our end of the beach, where our farm gate opens to.

Middle stretch of the beach, looking out to the Cavalli Islands in the distance.

The far end of the beach, with it's lovely rolling hills beyond.

Shame I couldn't stitch the last three pics together. You'd get a panaramic view of my Grandpa's lovely beach! If you can bear to stay with me a few more minutes, I'll show you the kiddos having some fun, 'Northland style!'. 

Here's my Georgie having a little sing in the middle of the farmland. So cute! I looked out the window and there she was, just singing away. She'd taken out one of our little folding chairs and her ukulele and was having such a sweet little moment to herself!

 Georgie and Zac chillin' on the beach Spring break style.

 Zac's beach-combing treasures

Zachy had fun burying mama's legs and combing the beach for local treasures of basalt rock, pumice stone and seashells to fill his little sand truck. He played so happily with that and loved being on the sand this time. He wasn't so sure about it the first time we came. Little British boy, he was used to pebble beaches!

 Georgie got to feed an orphaned calf on my uncle's farm!

 Spring lambs, don't you just love them?

Zac couldn't get enough of his great-uncle. Very special for me, as he's now the closest thing my boy has to a Grandpa on my side of the family. Was so beautiful, but choked me up a little too.

Well that's all for now. Thanks for looking in on my little corner of the world. I hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward to welcoming you back again soon. Hugs, Wends x

Challenge Entries:
Sister Act Card Challenge: #28
The Paper Shelter: #132 ~ Charm Us
Dream Valley Challenges: #67 ~ Buttons
Crafty Sentiments Designs: Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody: #31 ~ Anything Goes
Kenny K's Krafty Krew: #157 ~ Anything Goes
Bearly Mine Challenge: #107 ~ Ribbon/String/Twine

Fab 'n' Funky: #188 ~ It's All RocknRoll (with Kenny K!)
613 Avenue Create: #41 ~ Anything Goes with optional 'Pile it On!'
Whimsy Stamps Challenge Blog: Shabby Chic/Vintage (I'm a little 'off-brief' as my style is not Vintage, but my recipient is! Cheeky, but thought I'd still give it a go as I'd used lovely Whimsy tickets. :) xx)