happy birthday, dude!

you may already have guessed this week's challenge at shopping our stash, from my title. but just in case there is some doubt, YES, we want you to make that most challenging of birthday greetings, the GUY CARD! i have a couple of standardized formulas, my favorite of which is, "best fishes" which can be made using stamps, stickers, patterned paper or an adorable bass trimmed from an old falling apart book! like this one:

vintage bits: fish image, slide mount, green map and scrap of sheet music; other collage bits are stickers and diecuts by dcwv, karen foster, k and co and october afternoon; ledger paper is also OA; blue patterned paper: elizabeth craft designs; woodgrain: american crafts; tiny letter stickers: fancy pants; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

even if you don't especially like vintage goodies, if you ever see one of those little nature guides at a garage sale, and it happens to have fish illustrations in it... BUY the book!!! because seriously, you'll get probably 100+ different fish images that are the perfect size for cards. and typically you will pay under $1 for such bounty! ok, yes, you have to fussy cut them, but really it's not all that much to ask, right? i usually back mine with a little piece of scrap cardstock before i cut them, so they are nice and sturdy and can be popped up on foam tape. maybe inside a vintage slide mount, lol! as for the rest of the "bits" i've got a nice mix of real and faux vintage... can you guess which is which? ok, i'll tell you: apart from the aforementioned fish and slide, the only REAL vintage items here are the green scrap of map (which is fun to say!) and the little strip of sheet music. all the rest are "vintage style" papers, stickers and diecuts. though admittedly a couple of them have been in my collection long enough to at least be "retro" by now, lol! some of them came with a slightly distressed look, others i helped along with a bit of ink and an edge distressing tool.

there's lots more guy card inspiration awaiting you from my design team darlings over at SOS! ♥