My "Big" Brother

Hello.

My card for today recently marked the birthday of my "big" brother. Dan is three years my senior and was always there for me growing up. I'll always remember how he scared the neighborhood bully away from me when he caught him twisting my arm behind my back. He "politely" informed him that if he ever bothered me again, he'd have to come through him first! Wow! What a day that was. I think it's the first time I realized that my brother actually loved me. For anyone who has one, you know that brothers don't just go around getting all mushy with their little sisters.  :-)  He didn't exactly declare his love that day either, (although he has many times since), but his actions spoke loudly enough.

Anyway, Dan and I don't get to see each other much any more. We live 250 miles apart, and he works six days a week through most of the year. I only get to go home about 3-4 times a year, and since Dan's a truck driver, the last thing he wants when he's off is to get in a vehicle and drive.  With only one day off a week, he would be driving more than visiting anyway.

Well, here's Dan's card for the year.  I tried to make it masculine, but I expect the best I can hope for is that this is sort of gender neutral. I tried to go a little rustic with background papers and the bulky twine for the bow. At any rate, I know he was glad to be remembered.

 

 

For this card, I used Flourishes' Pinwheels and Popsicles stamp set.  I cased this card from Tosha Leyendekker, in a card she called "planted pinwheels." Her card was uploaded to the Flourishes gallery on September 1, 2013. 

 

The pinwheels are colored with Copic Sketch markers. The excellent design of the stamps meant it only took a few minutes to color each pinwheel - with a great result!

 

I've already made numerous cards with this set, which is very versatile.  I repeated a shadow-ink pinwheel for the inside of the card. (See the faint image at bottom right.) The corners of the white cardstock are punched and embossed.

 

 

Well, that's it for today. The hour is late, and tomorrow starts another big week at work. It's also time to count down the days until my husband's first cousin and her husband are coming to us for Thanksgiving. We can't wait! We always have such fun!

 

Thanks for visiting, and please stop back soon for another card. I should also have a new video coming soon.  May God bless!