Happy Birthday Susie!

Today is the birthday of Susie, one of my WOW (wild old women) girlfriends.  In her honor I decided to make a spring-loaded card (as seen on the Sizzix blog and on Karen Burniston's blog).  Karen forgot to mention that one of the hardest parts of this card is finding the dang springs.  After a trip to Home Depot and Ace Hardware, I came home with 8 different ones.  Some were too stiff, some were too fat, some were too small.  At last I found 2 that were just right!

One of the problems with making an original card for a friend is that they always get the experimental model (Susie gets one each year, poor girl).  I like to think they will improve with practice.  I went stash diving and found a piece of Olivia Birds paper by Glitz and thought a bird theme would work very well.  I used black chipboard for the base and for the front of the card I used the solid side of the paper.  I cut the Caged Bird Die from Grungboard and embossed it with white and gold and glued some beads on it. The bird was embossed with blue and a little yellow for the beek and a brad for an eye.  I cut a couple of the bars on the cage to make it look as if the bird had escaped. I printed out "wish" on the computer and then cut it out using my wishblade.  Since this card is spring-laoded I needed a clasp to hold it closed.  I used a Hitch Fastener and a Swivel Clasp, both Tim Holtz products, to make the closing gadget.  The little heart is from some old jewelry that I took apart.

Now for my next problem - Karen used her new die the Raising Platform (which I don't have yet) but I used her 3-D Spinning Platform and it worked just fine.  The photo above is showing how it works when opening.  Next time I will cut it from white paper instead of black.  Remember that experimental stuff?

The photo doesn't show how it is raised up but it turned out pretty cute. (See next photo)  I die cut the Top Note Die from Stampin Up for the inside and then added my message on white cut to the same shape but smaller using my wishblade.