Surprise 40th Birthday and Engagement Cards

If you read the title, you may be thinking these cards are for a surprise 40th birthday or engagement party. Not so. The cards themselves contain a little surprise.

First up is the surprise birthday card. It's a feel-good card. Receiving this card you momentarily pause to remember how fun it was to be 29. 

But too quickly you snap back into reality. You're not 29. No way. You're FORTY. 

And then you move around in the light and see the entire card. F-O-R-T-Y. Well, it was fun while it lasted. You can always set this card up against a wall where no light will come from behind. Or you can embrace entering your 5th decade and proudly stand the card on your kitchen window sill. Your choice.

I've always thought it was so cool that the uber-talented JJ Bolton shared her cut files. If you're interested, here's a free, downloadable Silhouette file that I used to make the 40th birthday card. It does not have the fancy easel on the back of the card since that is something for sale in the Silhouette store. The cut file does have the triple target I used around the window, which I can see using on other cards. Keep in mind, I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING on the Silhouette, so if something looks odd in the file, it probably is. : )

Next is an engagement card. The platinum ring is cut from my precious American Crafts foil paper. The "bathroom girl" graphic (is there a name for this?!) was copied on-line and traced in the Silhouette. As a new user, I am still blown away that you can find a graphic on-line and use the trace function to have it in your cut file. Just like that.

 
The diamond has a layer of glitter paper, and then acetate on top to give it a more smooth finish. I drew the facets with a permanent marker and ruler on the acetate. 

Here's the back with the built-in easel to stand the card. The easel cut is from the Brochure or Photo Holder in the Silhouette store. I highly recommend buying it, not for the holder, but so you can stand any flat card with the fold down easel. I've used it 4-5 times already.

You can also see here how I stamped the top layer of vellum in pink and blue textures to help hide the "bathroom boy."

In the light you see the "bathroom boy" graphic appear, holding hands with the girl. For the sentiment I really wanted to play on the idea of the girl finding the boy, like "congrats on finding the man of your dreams" or something along those lines. Nothing came to me, so I'll leave it as-is for now. Since it's so quick to cut out another card base, I can wait until I come across the perfect sentiment. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Here's a free, downloadable Silhouette file for the engagement card. Again, no fancy easel on the back, but everything else is there, including the bathroom man and woman.

I'm linking both up to the Moxie Fab Challenge to incorporate a window in your card (bonus that these cards are made to sit IN a window),

and the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to use a circle to celebrate a milestone.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

PS, I've been inspired by Jackie Rockwell to stop listing supplies for each card I've made. I'm hoping this will free up a little more time, and also keep things fun for me as a blogger. I'm a big fan of putting details in my work, but do not really enjoy recording the details. I'll still mention the main elements and would be happy to answer any questions of course.