Birthday Girl

I wanted to make something for my youngest daughter, Ryleigh for her birthday on the 11th of February. I had made a bouquet of 16 roses for my oldest daughter, Natasha when she turned 16 in December. It was interesting to me how excited Ry got when she saw what I was doing for her sister.  I say interesting because we're talking about a kid that NEVER gets excited about ANYTHING crafty. Usually when I make something and ask her what she thinks, she usually just smiles and says "yeah that's nice Mom" and goes on her way. You should see her reaction when I get excited about new paper or fabric! She generally looks at me like I'm completely crazy! This was different though. Not only did she get really excited about it, but she was openly giving me input on what she thought I should do. Who are you and what have you done with Ry?

OK so now I finally get to see her get excited about something crafty. Great! Now what can I do for her? Ummm.... It was easy for her sister. Something pink. Something girly. Easy. Ryleigh though? Her favorite color is blue and she likes zombies. Blue zombies? Ugh.

So off to Jo-Ann's I went with no real idea in my mind as what I was gonna do. The easy part was as I approached the paper section, the first thing I saw was the Blue Citrus Stack by DCWV. I knew she would love the blues in this stack! So I brought it home and showed it to her and I was right, she loved the colors, but then asked me of I could make something from Alice Madness Returns with it. Uhhh....nooo... I made her a deal (since I already spent the money on the stack), I would make something inspired by AMR if I could also make her something from the stack even if it was girly. Deal? Deal.

Before I get started, allow me to have a "squirrel moment". I have a really nice camera, that I, at one point, spent a small fortune on. I also know HOW to use it. I do a good job too. Do I use it? No. I use my phone. And then, I'm always bummed how my pictures turn out. Hellooo? Ha! Then I post them on the world wide web for everyone to see! Again, hellooo?

Anyway. Moving on.

I wanted to do something for her that was along the same lines as the roses for her sister. Ryleigh however doesn't like roses, and I had just bought this kit so I decided to do and "R" for her. This is from the 3D Letters SVG kit from SVG Cuts. It definitely took a little patience and perseverance, but the trick is to take your time and use a good glue. I used Zip Dry by the way. It's my "go to" glue if I'm working on something that I may need time to move things around, but will also set up fairly fast. 

I knew she had said one time that the Gerber Daisy from 3D Flowers Part II from SVG Cuts was her favorite and I thought the yellow would be cool with the paper she chose from the stack. I couldn't stop there however! Oh no, I had to put bling on the petals and the letter! I inked the edges of the petal with a Tsukineko Momento Dew Drop Ink Pad in Dandelion that. Then I applied Martha Stewart Glitter Paint in Sugar Cube. Both the ink pad and the paint I got from Jo-Ann's The charm I got from Wal-Mart (?) awhile back and the rhinestones I've had for a gazillion years and couldn't tell you where I got them from.

So endeth my creativity using the beautiful Blue Citrus Stack for Ryleigh.

It's not that she's all dark and Goth. She's not. My kids are VERY aware of the difference between fantasy and reality. She just likes very "strong" characters of any kind. And the funny thing is, she has the sweetest soul EVER! She can't stand people being mean. Fairness and kindness are her top priority. In fact there are kids at her school, I personally would tell them to stuff it and she just won't. She refuses. She says it wouldn't be nice of her, even if it's mean of them. Anyway, I digress. She's just not a girly girl. She dresses up when she has to. And occasionally she'll even ask to wear a skirt. However, she's the girl that if you got her a really cool pair of "rocker" boots (and I have) she's like "those are the bomb, but do I have to act like a girl in them?" 

So that brings us to Alice Madness Returns inspired birthday gifts...

Alice wears several dresses throughout the game. Each dress is inspired by what ever world she is battling at the time. Ryleigh said her favorite is Alice's Royal Dress from the Queen of Hearts. Soo... The bag is from the B Is For Birthday SVG kit from SVG Cuts. I then took the checker pattern from the Birthday Bag from the Ice Cream Birthday SVG kit. On all of her dresses in the game she has a skull on top of the bow that ties at the back so I took the Skull from Catacomb Manor SVG kit and the bow from North Pole Express in the Package file. The panel behind Ry's name is from the Love Always SVG kit.  The hearts are from SVG Cuts as well, I just can't remember which. I have all of the SVG Cuts Valentine themed kits so it's any ones guess.

The card was easy because I already had the bag done. The card is from Catacomb Manor like the Skull on the bag and the bow is from North Pole Express, like the bag. I put 3D glue dots behind the gold panel and the card base. I no longer have the packaging for them so I don't know what brand they are. 

Because the card was 3D, I needed a box rather than an envelope to put it in.  I know that SVG Cuts had loads of boxes that probably would have worked for what I needed, but I happened to download this one from the Silhouette Online Store a couple of days prior to making this, so I decided to use this instead. It's the A2 Lori Whitlock Card & Envelope Box. Again I don't remember where I got the background from. I inked (is that a word?) the edges of the box and background with a VersaMagic Dew Drop Pigment Inkpad in Midnight Black and a Brilliance Dew Drop Inkpad in Galaxy Gold. 

This is the card and the box together. This box actually has quite a bit of room in it. There's quite a bit of dimension with the card and it fits in the box perfectly with room to spare. I can think of a lot of different uses for it. 

All 3 together. See that blurry looking card? One word. Cannon.

I really dig this. I like dark and edgy anyway. I mean there's a reason my blog is named (Not So) Suze Homemaker. Mostly though, I like that it's unconventional. The really cool part is she'll be more excited about the card, box and bag than she will be with her actual presents. I am just fine with that. :)