Congratulations !

Good morning dear Reader, welcome to my first post of this new year.  I do hope you have enjoyed a fabulous festive holiday and are now rested, relaxed and ready to start 2011 full of creative inspiration !

Today's card is the one I've made for a dear friend who celebrates his 60th birthday this month.  I did originally create it as my DT card for the Just Cute Bears & Friends challenge, which was due to appear on the blog tomorrow.  Sadly, this challenge has now closed down but I thought I'd post the card on my blog anyway.

I used the adorable 'Arthur' image from Sugar Nellie - I've had this stamp in my stash for years, but he is such a cutie that I use him often.

I coloured Arthur and his balloons with Copics, the bp is a magazine freebie and I embossed the kraft layer with a star pattern embossing folder from Crafts Too.  I attached the bp over a piece of 'Early Espresso' cardstock from SU! (a luscious and rich colour).  The 'Time to Celebrate' sentiment is a free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine and I created the 'Big 60' on my computer.  I cut a couple of fine slivers of the SU! cardstock and wrapped them around a pokey tool to create the little swirly elements, adding them with tiny touches of Glossy Accents.  Finally adding some Platinum Stickles around the edges of the layers to complete the card.

I do hope John likes his card, I just need to get a feminine version finished for his twin sister before the party on 15 January :O)