Thailand All Around Pop-Up Card

A few months ago, we celebrated Ruth’s 30th birthday. Ruth has been my good friend for over 25 (!) years, and she is as close as a sister to me. For this special birthday Ruth’s wish was to travel to Thailand once again, to enjoy a good watermelon shake on an island’s beach and to shop like crazy in Bangkok. It seemed like this year she and her husband wouldn’t be able to travel anywhere, yet she kept reminding us about her little birthday fantasy.
To make sure Ruth (almost) gets what she wanted, my girlfriends and I decided to give her the full “Thai experience” – we got her a thai foot massage, followed by an authentic home-made thai meal. We sat down to eat our lovely lunch wearing sarongs and fisherman-pants… Just to make sure the atmosphere is right!

The card I made for the occasion is actually a little booklet, it can be viewed page by page, or opened entirely for display. Though I do have the Silhouette Cameo, and people now assume I cut everything with it, this piece is all illustrated and cut by hand! 🙂

The first page presents the beautiful natural scenery of Thailand, the mountains, the jungle and the elephants.

The second page reflects a scene from Bangkok, the amazing contrast of the majestic temples and the noisy, crouded streets and markets.

The third page is a little taste of the beaches – sand, sun and cocktails 🙂

The fourth page has a spiritual angle to it – for her to be reminded of the impressive Buddha sculptures, the calm monastery gardens and the peaceful expression of the monks.

If you never had the chance to visit Thailand, I warmly recommend it! It’s an exciting and intriguing place.

Ruth my love – you know if it was up to me I would have taken you on a travel to the moon and beyond if I could!

ShirA

I Love Notebooks

I love notebooks. I have so many notebooks and notepads and sketchbooks all around the house… I find them irresistible! Sometimes it’s the smoothness of the paper, sometimes it’s the beautiful cover. I can’t explain it, it’s a serious soft-spot of mine.

Not long ago, me and a bunch of crafty women came together to celebrate one of the group member’s birthday. This group of girls, all from different backgrounds and geographic locations, is a great new social circle that evolved in the past year. Birthdays are celebrated within this group in a most fun way; Among other birthday activities, we each gave the birthday girl, Michal, a gift and a card which she had to guess who it was from. Mine was kinda easy – everything that pops up is usually made by me…

I made her several notebooks – one large with a hard cover (which I binded with my bind-it-all) and a small pocket size notepad. I added a gigantic wooden pencil and wrapped it up with craft paper that I pre-stamped.
The card was actually a part of a card-book: all the guests made their card the same size, with a design on the front and a few words on the back. Once Michal guessed who made what (based on the front side), she could read her greetings on the back. Then, all the cards were binded together into a book.

It was a great party! The food was delicious and the company was awesome! I made the pink girly cupcakes for desert 🙂

Have a great week!
ShirA