Gallery Idol Final!

Happy birthday to me! B'day gal in da house! :) One of my favorite day. Heh... yes, today I am turning 35! Don't feel like it, though. LOL, I am such a kid at heart, I think I'll stay young because of that. Let me warn you today's post gonna be long cause of all  the yummy details of my card.

On  top of celebrating my birthday, today is the start of the final round of Gallery Idol. It's been such an amazing experience. My creativity has been pushed all the way and I get to create beyond my wildest imagination. And thank you to all of you who always encourage & supported me. You know what my birthday wish would be, don't ya?? Please, please go check all  the final entries HERE, and vote for your favorite. Hopefully you'll vote for  my pop-up accordion fold card. :) This card has every thing that I love!

Here's the inspiration pic:

And here's my card. This pic  below shows when the card completely folded. The inspiration picture, makes me think of picnic time and I took the color combo of red, white, green, and orangey yellow. And since it's my birthday I thought birthday picnic bash is very approriate and the pic inspired my strawberry shortcake that the little mouse is carrying. :) I also want to represent my Gallery Idol journey from Top 10 to Top 5.

Stamps: Hedgehog & mouse Penny Black, all the other critters & tree Lawn Fawn,

tree stump Hero Arts, sun Tiffany Doodles digi stamp,

sentiment Papertrey Ink & Verve Stamps (hidden message).

From round 1 Creativity Heals theme, I took the tree and the swing. Remember my 1st card? Beside when  you send someone a birthday wish, it's because you're thinking of them, right? Then from round 2 of item found in a garage, I used sand paper for the rocks around the pond. From round 3 of creative use of ribbon, the pond. Isn't the pond looks so pretty like real water? Here's how the card looks half open. I love it that with every stages, you can get different look of the card. And all the critters start to pop up! You discover more treasure as you open more. There's even hidden message!

Duck, cattail, fence, cloud, & grass were cut using Silhouette.

Pond & rocks freehand cut. Layered ribbon

for the water.

Seriously, this card has so many goodness that I love. I love animals, I have a hedgehog pet named Coco, I used to have 2 pet squirrels, that's why there's 2 squirels in this card. I used to have a yellow lab, Hank who is now in doggy's heaven and yes he loved tennis ball, and you guessed it, I had rabbit pet, Thumper who gave a bunch of baby bunnies back in the day. I love snail image (the real thing?? not so much).  Oh, and the cake... The inspiration pic is overloaded with strawberry, make me thing of strawberry shortcake! 

On top of all those yummy goodness, I get to used all my favorite stamps from  all my favorite stamp company. I used Her Arts, Lawn Fawn, Papertrey Ink, Penny Black, and Verve Stamps in this 1 card. Here's the view when  the card all open.

There's a hidden Irish blessings

that you can see when the card is open.

The cool thing is I think this card still has my clean style even with all the details. And one of the main thing, I want people to be wow, yet know they can do this, too. It's all about stamping a bunch of stuff & cutting. The only tricky details is doing the pop-up, but still very do-able.

Here's the close-up of the apple tree. All the "apples or berries" are made of thread tied in french knot tie.

I love animals (and stuff animals). And since I have great imagination, I like to think how cool would that be to be Dr. Doolitle. This card is my dream world where all living being get along so well, enjoying beautiful sunny day, and I can speak to the animals. I am not in the pic, as I am  taking the picture. LOL. Hey it's my imagination, I can dream it anyway I want, right?? :) 

This close up view of the duck is definitely one of my favorite. The ribbon water looks so real, I can't help but feel happy when I see this cute Mama Duck with her duckling. And the rocks? I *heart* this section. The cattail. Thank you, Silhouette! One of the best b'day present (got it last year).

And here's Coco my hedgehog is helping me celebrating my birthday. Remember there's kiwi on the inspiration pic? That's what Coco is eating. See those little dots on the thingy she's holding? I added those, so it looks like she's eating kiwi instead of cookies. :)

I put so much love in this card. It represents my Gallery Idol journey, it represents all the things I love. No matter what the end result, I know I give it all I have and I am proud of it. I hope you love it as much as I do. If yes, please VOTE for my card. :)

Oh yes, before we end this long post, why don't we finish with the rest of 15 random facts about me as I celebrated 35 years of wonderful life.

21. Each birthday I wish my family is here. Miss them so very much.

22. Scotland is one of my favorite place to visit. Hello, Sean Connery... :) We passed the school he went to on our tour.

23. I am very laid back.

24. I am a softie. I got teary eye even watching Up!

25. I scatter things around, but am also very organized. Does it make any sense? LOL.

26. The Lion King is my favorite animation. 

27. I know all the songs from Mama Mia! My feel good movie.

28. Every now & then I crave cotton candy.

29. I love to travel & wish I can travel more often.

30. My mom is my idol of all time.

31. I still miss my pug, Milo that I lost 6 years ago. Always will.

32. I don't have a green thumb.

33. I am not a good cook. In our household, my hubby is the chef.

34. I loved really spicy food. 

35. My life is wonderful. I am grateful for everything, the good & the bad, cause it makes me a better person.

Okay peeps. That's it. :) Have a blessed day and may your week be full of sunshine & yummy goodness. Hugs, Vera.