Hello, Friend! A Special Birthday Layout (CSI 221)

Happy five years to CSI this month. Congrats on five years of fun! So many people have created layouts they will have forever, thanks to the great inspiration in the bi-monthly case files. I consider myself a fairly creative person, but sometimes a blank canvas is so intimidating I just stare at it and waste tons of time and mental energy. Sometimes you just need a little kickstart of inspiration. 

I knew I would be doing the challenges this month (since it's January and what better way to pass these short winter days than scrapping?), but I had another project in mind, too...

I had been working on some handmade flowers for my friend Lisa (she blogs here!) since before Christmas (the perfectionist in me said I should make a few more because I can do better)... Remember when I told you guys about the box she sent me (well before Christmas) stuffed with beautiful goodies? Well, I didn't even shop for Zae (I did order him a Tardis piggy bank from Amazon, though that was more for Mr. 67's amusement than Zae's). December was a rough month (as of today I am on my fourth illness since Thanksgiving). Needless to say, time passed and Christmas flew past and then it was 2017...

Lisa's birthday is coming up and I'm thinking I wanted to do a little something more than just the flowers. First I thought of doing a pocket letter, but if you don't do pocket letters it would just be this oddball thing you wouldn't really know what to do with.  So...I'm looking at the inspiration for the CSI Case File 221...loving these fun colors and the bunting, and "Happy Birthday" is all but flashing in neon, staring me in the face. 

...and it just clicks...why not make a her a layout? I've never created a layout for someone else before, but why not? What scrapper wouldn't like that? 

Remember when Mr. 67 brought home a new die for bunting banner flags? Perfect! It hints at birthday celebrations without being too cake-and-candles. For some reason, I shy away from too much of a theme. I have no legitimate reasoning for this aversion. Maybe it has something to do with my mom watching Christmas movies in the middle of the summer.

It's just not right, Mom. You're taking "Christmas in July" way too literally.

Okay, onto the evidence used:

• Tiny dots/circles
• String
• Banners
• Different colored letter stickers/puffy stickers

Enamel dots was also one of the clues, but I didn't have any of those on hand, so I used that clue as inspiration and created acrylic droplets of paint, which I applied thickly so they created a similar effect to the roundedness {is that a word?} of the enamel dots. The color matched perfectly with this vintage yellow-green ribbon that my Uncle Ding found at a sale. It was such a unique color I had never had a chance to use it, and it's been sitting in my ribbon drawer for over a year. If you're a scrapper, you'll understand my next statement: I was soooooo excited to use it! 

You know what I'm talking about...those little bits you love but keep rejecting from project after project because it doesn't quite go. But now it went, my friends, it went. {Life is complete.}

I cut it in half lengthwise, since it was really wide at over 2 inches, and let just the scalloped edges peek out from the top and bottom.

I use Prills and this round "flower" embellishment in keeping with the circle/dot theme. And because if there is an excuse to sprinkle Prills onto something, you take it. {AmIRight?}



For the journaling, I left a little pocket behind the photo, so when the journal card is in it looks like a date label. I chose to use the testimony clues "sweet" and "life" because it was perfect to remind Lisa that a good friend makes life sweet.



That's it for me tonight. Happy rest of the weekend! Check back here in the next day or two when I post the second CSI challenge of this month!