I Made a Pop-Up Birthday Card!

I am not a very crafty person.  And you may be thinking that I’m just being modest.  I’m not.  I really have never been very good at crafts.  

I grew up with an extremely talented mother who could do just about anything that had to do with art.  She painted, sculpted, build doll-houses, sewed, decorated little books, drew, crocheted, etc, etc…. Like, freakishly amazing and gifted!

I, however, was too much of a perfectionist and really struggled with art concepts… especially when comparing what I’d done to what my mom had done.  I felt like nothing I ever did was quite right…. or quite “perfect” enough.  I was always my harshest critic, so it never became something I really enjoyed.  

Nevertheless, every once in a while there will be some kind of project that I will get really into and enjoy for awhile before eventually loosing interest and putting it on a shelf (leaving me with SO many unfinished projects).  Some of these activities include, tatting, cross-stitching, painting (with watercolors), scrap-booking, and making pop-ups.

*Ahem* Back to the subject of birthday cards….

Now, I HATE shopping for greeting cards.  After looking for about 3 minutes, I usually give up, feeling extremely overwhelmed.  The “funny” ones are usually kind of stupid, the “sentimental” ones have too many words, and they’re expensive!!!  The only time I can justify buying a greeting card is if something stands out as the most awesome thing EVER (like that Star Wars card that played the Star Wars Theme when you opened it up) or relates to some kind of inside-joke I have with the person.

But there are times when you REALLY want to give someone a card.  In these cases, I usually like to make them, using my fabulous pop-up art techniques, as well as some scrap-booking basics.

So yesterday, I did just that for my good friend, Samantha’s, birthday. (Complete with a Starbucks gift-card, hidden inside a Starbucks cup-sleeve!  Because who doesn’t need more Starbucks in their lives???) 🙂