My Friend Eileen's Birthday Surprise !!!

Well..... I think it is about time sat and typed this as I was so pleased with this and to be honest I don't usually say that about my own work but this I really was chuffed to bits with and I believe Eileen was too when I gave it to her .....

I visited the Craft Barn down in Surrey on the last day of my Sick leave from work to cheer myself up as I know I was going to have a tough time going back to work after the Operation I had 3 months earlier..... Whilst I was in there looking for pretty papers for a Workshop I will be taking in May my Husband Steve and many of you will know him clapped eyes in a stamp that he thought looked like OTL who is Eileen's Husband..... If you need to know why he is called OTL you will have to tune into Daisy's Diary.... Here's the link..... http://daisyg.blogspot.co.uk/  Daisy is one of Eileen's Dogs and she writes a blog about her adventures with Holly who is her Sister, OTL and TM who is Eileen..... Please take a look it really is worth reading and following.... It has us is fits of laughter at all the things they get up to and I wouldn't miss my bedtime reading each evening.....

Anyway I looked at this stamp by Art Impressions called "Bud" and I thought I could do something with this to create a framed picture for Eileen's Birthday. So we then went hunt for a little Doggie Stamp as I had then a vision of what I wanted to do for Eileen. Well after turning the shop upside down and that's not hard for me as I do love a hunt around a Craft Shop and try not to miss anything..... Again Steve spotted another Stamp by Lindsay Mason called Sartorial Elegance that had just the legs and boots I needed and also it had a scruffy little dog which once painted up would look like Daisy and Holly..... I also purchased another Art Impression Stamp called "Bud" as I needed his hat to complete the image.....
I really was so excited and as soon as I got home I got to work as I knew I only had a couple of weeks to complete a card and the picture for Eileen which I would give to her at the Oyster Stamps Retreat that we were both going to along with a lot of other Friends and Crafters .....and I couldn't wait !!!

So I set to it stamping as usual..... I always stamp everything 5 times to give the image the correct depth which then will need painting 5 times and for Daisy and Holly 10 times as they is two of them. I used various colours of Distress Inks to paint them and also to create the background which I stencilled with 3 different Stencils..... 1. TCW Theory Cells..... 2. Donna Downey Stencil called Sunburst..... 3. TCW Mini Ferns.
I first used the Cells Stencil to make Pebbles and Sea on the card and then stencilled the Sun on top of them and then to the left of the Sun I stencilled the Fern leaves...... The reason I chose these was because OTL walks Daisy and Holly on the Beach everyday and then on occasion in the woods close by.....

Anyway I used the top of Bud to create the top half of OTL and the lower half of the boy on the Sartorial Elegance as I needed the shorts and boots which seemed to be just perfect.....

I couldn't wait to give Eileen her present and card and her face was a picture as I think she was so surprised with them both but especially OTL, Daisy and Holly.....

Anyway I have babbled on too much so here are the photo's of her picture and card..... Below is the card details and photo's for you to see......

 

Eileen's Card was created using another Art Impressions Stamp called "Girlfriends" and I then painted them to look like a few of our other Friends being (From Left to Right) Chris Hearn, Eileen Godwin, Martine Smith and Zoe Russell and all these Ladies attend Eileen's Craft Workshop in Allhallows Kent which is where I met them all and we have a fabulous time each time we attend...... I just love it !!!

Anyway that's enough for me today and I really hope you have enjoyed these as much as I did in making them......

Till the next time....
Thanks for having a look at my blog and hopefully you'll be back Soon

Lots of love to you all
Marianne xxx