On the make

So many birthdays right now!  I'm trying to make most of my presents and cards this year (partially for money reasons, but) mostly because the cards in the shops never seem quite cool enough, or say what I want them to say.  I find cards for boys are particularly difficult, as most cards seem to be aimed at women -let's be fair, we buy cards way more than men do- and our very decorative and girly tastes.  Lots of flowers, teddies, puppies etc, but the shelves for Man Cards are usually only a fifth as big and the options are pretty limited.  What if your brother/husband/boyfriend doesn't like golf/yachting/football/cars/beer/dirty jokes?  Mine don't.

All the Man Cards I like normally have a badge stuck to them with 'I AM 3 TODAY!' written on them.  I don't think I'm asking for the world, but this time round it seemed easier and far more personal to make a novelty card that my brother might actually chuckle at instead of giving him something generic.  Add to this fact that I was short on time and it had to be something pretty simply.  I ended up doing this...

I don't normally like collage much, but doing these big flat shapes was actually quite a good look, and saved on the hastle of trying to paint smoothly or smush a piece of card through a printer designed for copy paper!  And when you open the card Bats draws back his cloak to reveal...  A Cake!  Of course :)

Bolstered by that attempt I decided to get a bit weirder with the second card.  All I can do is promise you that this line makes complete sense if you knew the person I gave it to.

Let's be honest.  A Shakespearean badger would be quite difficult to beat in a battle of awesomeness.  You'd mention that you knew a good card trick, and then the badger would clear his throat and begin quoting Othello at you.

And here's one for a friend after a month's hard work towards her goal

I know these cards won't be winning prestigious art awards any time soon, but they were surprisingly fun to do for a girl who hates cutting out paper, and I liked the fact that they are cheesy and blatantly handmade.  It occurred to me that I could do a lot of cards like this.  I have a cheap set of animal cards that I lifted from somewhere and use for random notes and thank yous but they get a bit boring sometimes and the Frog gets used way more than the Orangutan ('cause really, what occasion do you have to give someone a card with an Orangutan on it?) but I can add things to them, cut out props or hats or captions of my own.  Much better!