A couple days ago I made a couple fairly quick items for my sister’s upcoming 40th birthday.

The first is a wooden sign she can wear around her neck when taking naps.  Such things are important as you get older.  :P   (Fans of Terry Pratchett will understand the reference.)  I printed out the text on some decorative paper and then découpaged it onto a piece of wood that I had sanded and stained.

The second is the card I made to go with the gift.  I wanted to photograph Nutmeg with a cane and use that as on the card.  (If you’re curious, Nutmeg is a stuffed bear I got when both my sister and I were children.  He’s a rather crazy bear.)  I happened to go to the grocery store the day I was making the card and found a plastic cane full of psuedo-M&Ms for $0.89.  The candies were made of a rather disgusting chocolate (how did they manage to ruin chocolate?!?), but at least I now had a cane.  The body of the cane was clear plastic which probably wouldn’t look good in a photograph.  So I printed out a wood texture that I had tinted purple, rolled that up, and put it inside the cane.  The rest of the artwork on the card was inspired by the Paddington Bear T.V. series whose props and backgrounds were white with inked details.

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