A Special Birthday Card for a Special Daughter!

On March 29th my oldest daughter Michelle will be turning 24! I can't even believe that so much time has passed since I first held her in my arms! My how time really does fly!

I wanted to get her card done a little early so I could mail it out to her because she will be out of town on her actual birthday. To give you a little history on why I chose to make this card for Michelle, you would have to realize that our family spent about 2 1/2 years in Japan while her father was serving in the Navy. I took Michelle to Japan when she was just three months old and her sister Leah was born over there.

We have always been fond of Japan and things oriental since then and we feel a small connection with that other side of the world. When Michelle was little she was given a doll from one of our neighbors named Makinosan (pronounced Mah-kee-no-san). We have been saving that doll every since and the Geisha lady on the front of the card reminds me of the face of the doll that Michelle was given. Our neighbor nicknamed Michelle "Michan" (pronounced Mee-chan). We have really neat memories of some of the culture over there and I know it will always be special for my daughters to recall that they lived in Japan!

So here is the card I made for my oldest daughter Michelle...

The Fine Print: DP: Red Asian Paper (Far and Away), Black ornamental (MM Fifth Ave); CS: Bazzill; Specialty Paper: Starburst Trans. (The Paper Co.); Stamps: Geisha girl unknown (rec'd in a swap), Sentiment: Custer's Last Stamp; Silver Corner Sticker: Flowersoft; Ink: Amuse and Copics; Pearls: Darice (?); White Satin ribbon and Red Flowers: unknown. Red Fun Fur: Lion's Brand from Joann's.

The sketch for this card is using another one of Julee's Mojo Monday Sketches! They really are great sketches to use and if you haven't tried it, then please do, you won't be disappointed.

The color combination that works so well with the Asian Theme is from a new Challenge Blog that I just started following called ResQ Challenge. A great group of ladies, some of whom I have met through Stamp TV are hosting this blog to help others find their crafting mojo when it goes dry.

This week's challenge was the first one and the theme was "celebrations." I chose to use the Birthday theme and then we also had to go scavenging depending on what month our birthdays fall into another person's gallery looking for inspiration of a certain type. You can find the details on the blog under the description for the challenge.

I chose to find my inspiration from eliotstamps and used this picture's color combination for my card! I love red, black and white together! It is so classic and in my case, so oriental!

Thanks for looking today... I am hoping to get some more cards made today that need to get out in the mail soon. So until next time have a great day!

May your bucket overflow with fond memories of the travels you have made in your life!