Fab 'n' Funky ~ For A Friend

Hey there lovely crafty pals. I have to sneak this post up tonight without much fuss, as I don't want my lil' sis to see, because it's not quite yet her birthday! It's time for a new challenge at Fab 'n' Funky and our Northern Hemisphere DT have had a wonderful Summer break, but we're ready to get back into the swing of things now. So we're starting back with an easy and lovely challenge theme 'For A Friend'. 

I have six siblings and we're all very close, so it was a no brainer to combine this challenge theme with my darling baby sister's birthday card! This is a big birthday for my baby sis. She's just had her second child and is turning 30, so we're making a bit of a fuss of our 'Cali Girl'. She's been living in the US for the past few years with her hubby and they now have two kiddies. They have made a home just outside of San Diego in the State of California. So when I knew we were being sponsored by Crafts and Me, I immediately thought of Hannah Lynn's lovely image 'Cali Girl'. She looks a bit like my baby sis with that long flowing hair. So I did my best to colour her up to look like my baby sis and I'm really pleased with the result. This is my first attempt at a 'Copic Coloured' image.

Our Becky is a girlie girl and loves pink, so of course I opted for lots of pink and soft pretty embellishments. I've had the La La Land Lanterns die for a while and was yet to use it, so it was fab to work those into this card design. I wanted it to look like pretty party lanterns hanging from cherry blossoms. The die I used for the cherry blossoms is a Joanna Sheen die. I added Wink of Stella to the lanterns, so they would sparkle when they catch the light.

The beautiful lace is some of my Live & Love Crafts stash, I'm still so sad that Sandy closed her store, it really was my favourite 'online' craft store. I used a gorgeous piece of guipure lace and also a soft cream faux hessian ribbon behind it, which I frayed the edges of, to stick out around the pink cardboard panel I backed the lace with. 

Of course, big birthdays need to be recognised, so I added a '30' cut from Ranger Glitter Cardstock. It's much sparklier when it catches the light. The final touch was to dress the inside of the card and add the sentiment. I used another corner of the 12x12 cardstock I had cut the beige paper for the front of the card from, to mat the sentiment circle. The pink paper is the reverse side of Riddersholm Designs - Bello Pastello, 0066 and the beige paper used on the front and inside is Riddersholm Designs - Fleamarket, Stains. Danish company, Riddersholm Designs made such beautiful shabby chic paper designs, it's sad to see yet another craft company that has come to a close.

So that's my baby sister's 30th birthday card and as I'm lucky to call all my sisters my friends, this fit the theme for our first challenge back from British Summer 'For A Friend' theme perfectly. I hope you'll come and play along with us and show us your lovely 'For A Friend' creations. It's always so inspiring to see how others interpret the theme. 

Pop on over to the Fab 'n' Funky challenge blog to see what my teamies have been up to, you are going to be blown away! I love the range of images at Crafts & Me and we are so lucky to have them as our sponsor this week. It'll be one very lucky winner, so be in to win! I'll be back again soon with another crafty adventure and of course, that candy I've been promising! Hugs to you all until then and Happy 30th Birthday to my precious baby sister in a few days time!! Happy Birthday also to my twin cousins Beth & Ellie who actually have their birthday today. Wends xoxo

If you made it all the way to the bottom of this post, here's a pic of my beautiful sister Becky with her sweet baby girl on one of the Californian beaches near her home. You can see why I thought the Hannah Lynn 'Cali Girl' image was perfect for her right?!

Challenge Entries:
Lemon Shortbread: #50 ~ Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge: #163 ~ Lovely Lace

The Ribbon Girl: September ~ Card Challenge
Colour Crazy Challenge: #35 ~ Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times: #53 ~ Add A Number
Allsorts Challenge: #432 ~ Use at least 2 designer papers

In The Pink: #124 ~ 5th Birthday, Anything Goes Challenge
Really Reasonable Ribbon: #171 ~ Anything Goes With Ribbon

Little Red Wagon: #411 ~ Distress It (main paper edges all scissor distressed)

As You Like It: Flora or Fauna? My third entry for Team Flora! Hehe. Love flowers and nature.

Update: Woohoo, beyond excited to see that I made it into the Top Picks at 'In The Pink'. I love that challenge and always want to enter, but rarely do an all pink card, so this was of course the perfect card to enter with and I'm so delighted to have made their Top Pick list. Thank you ladies! Mwah xoxo

Second Update: I just saw that I made Top 3 at the Colour Crazy Challenge too. Woohoo, so happy, thank you so much!