Vintage style open cut card

I made this card for a friend I have known since I was 16. Initially I wanted to make a fabric friendship book, which I am still going to do, but I will miss her birthday. Hence I thought I'd make a quick 'ordinary' birthday card and make the fabric book later. 
Well it just seemed to grow into this vintage style card. I had the postcard on the front, which is Vintage, and the words were apt for her, so the card just developed from there. 
Intentionally I used some card I did not like and some gold patterned vellum which I did not like either, disguising them with other things to distract the eye!
2 new techniques I tried out was to fill the centre of the flowers I made with pva glue then drop seed beads into the glue. I think it worked ok, and secondly, I picked up a batch of vintage brass pins about 1.5" long, they are very soft. I threaded a pearl bead and left over flowers and couple of odd bits of lace onto it and pushed it through the card....top right of the happy birthday stamp, then bent it round to stop it falling out. I think these brass pins could come in very useful for all sorts of things..


The other thing I am doing with everything I make from now on is to stamp 'Save the Dolphins' on the back as I feel particularly strongly about how not just Dolphins, but all sea dwelling creatures are being decimated by humans. It's illegal to kill threatened species on the land, why not in the sea too? It's completely mad. Anyway...don't get me started! 
I am considering making some dolphin collage art depicting gruesome scenes of what humans do to them and other sealife. We all see beautiful pictures of sea life, well I am going to show the otherside of the coin, because most people just have no idea what is going on. I will sell them on Etsy and donate the money to the brave people who are trying to stop the daily masacres of Earths oceans.


Joy oh joy....today someone has asked me to make another BABY card aaaarrgh!!!!!

I used another cut down vintage card here...above. Embossed vellum stuck on the back of the front

Some of the patterned vellum shows through on the front

The brass pin

I bought a new (second hand) sewing machine that does fancy stitches. Unfortunately there is no adjusting the foot pressure so getting it take the wallpaper envelope evenly was very tricky. Also above I used my new butterfly and Swallow stamps.

Ages ago I picked up a cheap hearts and circles background stamp from a discount shop which I used on the back of the envelope, along with a new 'French republic' circle stamp.