Relaxing Teddy Bear Retirement Card

 Here's a card and gift card holder set I put together for a dear friend who recently retired from her workplace.  

 

I kept the front of the card simple, decorating with die cut images from different companies: Stampin' Up "Adirondack Chair", Lawn Fawn "Stitched Rounded Rectangle" and "Stitched Hillside Border" dies, and an unbranded double palm tree die from "Custom Crafter 500" store on Etsy. The Happy Retirement sentiment was computer generated using Brisk Extended font.

On the inside, I used the "Adirondack Chair Pop Up" die set from Karen Burniston to create a fun pop up card. 

I made a very similar card to this one several years ago when I created the cutting files for the palm trees, wave border and slippers, so decorating the inside of this time card took a lot less time to do. 

The one thing I did do differently this time was to add a sitting teddy bear to the chair. I used the "Bentley at the Beach" cut file from Marjorie Ann Designs to paper piece Bentley the bear and propped him up onto the adirondack chair with a tropical drink. The cut file for the "Summer Cocktail" is a freebie from Cre8ive Cutz.

Then, for a matching gift card holder, I decorated a slider box with a mini version of the front of the card, using the adirondack chair die from  the "Tropical Collection - On the Beach" from Creative Expressions. Fishtail banner was hotfoiled and cut using Spellbinders "Hexi-Gems Sentiments" Hot foil plate and die set.

As the drawer is pulled open to reveal the gift card inside, the panel with the beach scene pops up.  The svg template for this fun pop up slider box comes from the Lori Whitlock Shop. I really like that the pop up panel can be decorated as you please and that the slider drawer is deep enough to hold candies or even a small gift.

Friends Forever

One of the things I enjoy doing the most is spending time and reconnecting with old friends. Recently, a group of us who were very close in high school have been making it a point to try to meet for lunch at least a few times per year. Although some of us had not seen each other for years, we had no trouble picking up right where we left off... it was such a comforting feeling! For our most recent get together, I made these shadow box milk carton treat boxes to share with my special friends.

I started by fussy cutting images of my favorite iconic childhood friend characters, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. I used foam tape to layer two fussy cut images onto the original for a 3-D effect.

Inspired by the assembly video tutorial for a shaker milk carton box by "Oh Partyland!", I  created the cut file for this shadow box milk carton treat holder with a round window in Make the Cut Design program. A piece of transparency plastic was placed behind the window and the 3-D image of Pooh and Piglet was adhered onto a square box-like insert which I glued inside the carton. 

The top and sides of the carton were embellished with the word "friends" and a heart border cut from glitter cardstock using Karen Burniston "Greetings 1 Word Set" die and "String of Hearts" die from Impress Rubber Stamps. On the back, I used a freebie svg file for a label shared by "Images By Heather" to do a print and cut with one of my favorite "Pooh-isms", perfect to share with  dear old friends.