I needed a couple of 16th birthday cards recently for a female relative. I have no idea what is ‘in’, or indeed ‘out’ of fashion, what is cool and what is hot. Funny that these last two can mean the same thing, isn’t it? Like fat chance and slim chance? I digress. Odd, that has never happened before. Ever. Really hard to type with my tongue in my cheek though…
So, back to the point. I didn’t want them to be childish, nor did I want them to be too ‘old’. A Goldilocks card, if you will. Much frowning followed. I may have developed another wrinkle. The things we do for art….oops, back to the tongue in cheek situation again…
Anyway, some miracle face cream later, I had a plan. One card would be contemporary (I hope!) and simple, spelling out the age in die cut letters. I used punchy contrasting colours and printed pattern for the letters to make it more interesting. Hopefully minimal is acceptable!
The second one was still giving me trouble, but I had used up all the face cream so couldn’t risk another wrinkle. Then, it came to me. On such an occasion, go to the mattresses, as they say in “The Godfather” and “You’ve Got Mail”. Time to break out the giraffe in the party hat. This is such a fun image from one of my Louise Tiler digital kits in Serif CraftArtist. I added a few extra gold dots to the background and drop shadow to the crittur and cake before printing. The banner is also from the same kit. I decided to cut a star from packaging acetate and added the ’16’ in peel offs (remember them? I have a sticky stack!). Hopefully quirky, or just plain crazy, is also acceptable.
Supplies: Louise Tiler Birthday Florals digikit for Serif CraftArtist; XCut Wedding Alphabet and Numbers dies
I love them both, Gillian! The giraffe is especially festive. And I am happy to know that someone else gets stuck in the thinking phase! I recently got stuck on 13 year old girl cards…that will be saved by the parents for 12 more years (girl is turning ONE this year). My crystal ball was in the repair shop, I had no idea what would be in style, what colors the birthday girl might like in 13 years, would she be princess-y or skateboard & video games?? I should look about 111 at this point!
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Wow, talk about a difficult task! Are they going on a space mission or something?! Or do they worry that you might have hung up your stamps and retired (early, of course!) by then?!
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Well, they were collecting letters to be opened in the baby’s bat mitzvah year. Lovely thought. Mine field for card designer! Hard because I wanted the cards to be special, but no idea which way to go.
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Oh yes, that is a lovely idea! And more practical than a trip to Mars….
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You have definitely cracked it with these 2 cards! The giraffe is fun and quirky and the first card is a fab CAS design! I could do with a good alphabet die-set and I like the look of this one, can you tell me how ‘tall’ the letters are approx. pretty please? 🙂
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Thanks Karen! The letters are just under 3.5cm tall. the set is all upper case and includes numbers, which are slightly smaller (about 2.8cm) plus a small heart, exclamation mark, apostrophe and even smaller letters to do the ordinals. Plus, being from XCut, it doesn’t cost a fortune! Hope this helps!
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That’s great thanks! They might be going on my birthday list! 🙂
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They’re just lovely! Xx
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Thank you!
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I love your “tongue in cheek” remark. I have often found myself in these quandaries also. Sometimes I think I am a dinosaur in the craft world. Anyway, the first card is not too girly and not super sophisticated either. The second is playful and festive. Well done.
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Thanks! Hopefully I am in the right ball park with them!
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Lovely cards- I like giraffes especially with party hats!
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Have you come across party giraffes often?!
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Yes. Although in my experience they do prefer raves..
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I’ll have to find him some glow sticks and a whistle….Thanks for the tipoff!
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You’re very welcome…and perhaps some neon legwarmers…
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Gonna take a lot of yarn…
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Maybe..knitted bangles?
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Might just try brainwashing him with a bit of Mozart. Sounds cheaper.
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Only if it’s a Rothschild giraffe…reticulated giraffes tend to prefer drum ‘n bass…
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That’s it, I quit. Giraffes are too high maintenance!!!
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Rhinos are pretty laid back, so I’ve heard…
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OK. I’ll hold the ears, you grab the tape measure…
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And we’ll whip him up some knitted booties in no time!
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I think it is a great idea to put sixteen on these cards. And the giraffe is really cool 🙂
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When in doubt, minimalism always works…but I do love that giraffe xD
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S/he is pretty fabulous, I agree!
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I think both of these cards are fantastic for a 16 year old. Both beautiful and elegant. Liked all your tongue in cheek comments. Lol
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Thank you. It was hard to find my inner 16 year-old!
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Oh – I cannot find my inner 16 year old at all anymore. Ha
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I just love these. The Giraffe is amazing. Very nice work!! and so fun! =)
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Thank you! Sometimes digital art is a life-saver!
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I love both of these! They’re beautiful!
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Thank you! I have just been having a great time over on your blog. You are very funny!
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Oh thank you! I think I’m just unfortunate enough to end up in unusual situations…. Not sure how that happens so often! 🤔
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Both cards are so creative, they play on all my creative personalities. 🙂 I think you set your own trend with your card making, how could anyone not be thrilled to receive one of your creations.
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Thank you! I think teenagers have their own rules though!
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Love the sixteen card, what a great idea! Looks fab too (or is that old hat these days to say that!) The giraffe certainly looks crazy,so definitely a winner 🙂
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I say ‘fab’ all the time, but I am not exactly ‘current’ or ‘relevant’! Thanks for the moral support!
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We (meaning all of us born in the ‘make love not war era) will always be ‘in’, as we are the one & only original sixties babes! 🙂
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Cool!!!
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What great cards! I love the neat and fresh sans serif font on the first one – the lovely robin’s egg blue and exclamation mark make it an official party! And the hatted giraffe on the second one is delightful. Both wonderful takes on the big birthday (oh, so many moons ago for me) 🙂 Love it!
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Thanks! I think the moon was just a boy when I celebrated my 16th!
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😀
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There’s a girl at work who is turning 25 on the 25th, she called it her “golden” birthday. Have you ever heard of that? Something to do with the numbers being the same.
I’m going to dig out some paper pads and figure out something for 25, the girl who drives a Jeep and has a cute round blue purse, along with beautiful white teeth. She’s like Barbie but, has a job..lol
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No, never heard of a ‘golden birthday’ before. I expect it has been invented to make us spend even more money! No doubt you will make something gorgeous for her as your cards are always great!
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Oh what great cards! I love them both! I love the die cut letters on the first one. Great paper! I’m sure she will love it! It is not too “in” or “out”. I think it is perfect. I adore the second card! The giraffe and cake are perfect, and perfectly placed! What a great card! 🙂
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Thanks Nancee! I was definitely out of my comfort zone for these!
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They turned out great!
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Love both the cards, ‘though giraffes always win my heart! 🙂 💜 Jackie@KWH
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Thanks very much!
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Both of those are brilliant Goldilocks cards! I love the giraffe and the acetate heart but I also love the minimalism of the first card, with the jazzy letters. And poor fat chance and slim chance, both with eating disorders and neither lucky.
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He he! Very funny! Thanks for the kind words too.
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Haha I would LOVE to get a giraffe-in-a-party-hat card! But the simplicity of the first one is also gorgeous. They’re both great 🙂
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Thank you, and nice to meet you!
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Sooo pretty!!!
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I would’ve been puzzled if I needed to make a card for a teenager, but it seems like you’ve done them right!
This giraffe is very cute!
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Thanks! I might have been happier making a card for a Martian, but that was not an option!
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But you can do one just in case, lol.
I have a stamp set with some space… I can’t call them spaceships… space creatures and plan to use it soon. It should be fun!
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Ooh yes, I have seen a few really great cards made with space imagery. I am looking forward to seeing what you create!
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These are great. His Lordship’s niece is the only teen we know (17 this year) but is very horse-y which makes a fall back option so nice and easy, but not as fun as a giraffe in a hat!
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I so want to use the Shakespeare horsey quote right now! A horse would have definitely have made life easier!
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Both your cards are great! One trendy and the cute! I’m saved by this dilemma as i have 2 teenage kids who “approve” my cards!
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How handy for you!
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