Saint Patrick's Day Greeting

I always love St. Patty's Day.  Maybe it is my Irish heritages or maybe it is memories of sitting under a blooming tulip tree with my friend Kathy.  She often hosted parties on that day complete with green frosted shamrock cookies and a pitcher full of homemade (Bailey's) Irish creme - yum!

Her birthday is also this month.  Here is a look at the card I made for her special day.

The girl is a vintage image that I colorized, in part, cut out and pasted on a background that had been colored with watercolor and stamped flourishes.  Behind the girl, I placed colorized images of butterfly wings turning her into a faerie.  Next, I used an Exacto knife to slice through the paper background just along the faerie's right wing. 

Taking a piece of chipboard of the same size, I glued a small piece of vintage print right in the center.  The print had first been given a green color wash and allowed to dry.

This done, I glued the entire background to a piece of chipboard, taking care not to glue the space behind the girl and her right wing and in front of the green printing.  Leaving this space unglued helped create a pocket inwhich I placed a tiny gift enclosure card that I have held on to for many years.  The card text, with its image of a pig and shamrock, is a birthday greeting in German.  The images in Germany, as in may other places, represent "good luck."  

After writing a personal note inside and embellishing the mini-card with a green ribbon and stick-on jewels, I tucked it neatly into the slit behind the wing.  The other end of the ribbon is attached to the back of an old four-leaf-clover image (also from Germany).

To finish of this side of the card, I added a butterfly sticker, several greenish flowers and brads.  Since the brads were an after thought I was lucky that the glue attaching the background to the chipboard had not dried completely.  Carefully, I separated them, flattened the back of the brads, and stuck the two back together again.