Hi Everyone, Today is my father's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Acha!! (Acha means dad in my language - Malayalam). I wish I could be there to celebrate - but hopefully soon we can all be together :) I had already made a card for my dad - but felt like that wasn't the card for him - so I started from again.
I loved Julee's awesome sketch design for Meet the Divas challenge, so I used the sketch for the color challenge for TCP Tuesday this week, which was to make a card using the colors Blue and Orange. I love using bright contrasting colors, so I couldn't wait to play. And I also loved the challenge from the Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge to only use numbers in making a birthday card (the restricted element was to NOT have "happy birthday on the card"). So since my dad is turing 70 - which is awesome and amazing - and I can't believe it, I thought I would honor this leap into a new decade by featuring the number on my card for him.
I had a lot of fun making this card. I was trying to make the #70 look like frosting by using a little paint on top of the Alpha Cut Out letters (the #70 is actually the Letter L (upside down) and the Letter O because I didn't have any chipboard numbers that size. My favorite part was creating the door that opens to reveal Sprinkles holding a present :) The sign on the door says: We love you Acha, and was created in Photoshop.
Since it is my dad's birthday today - I thought I would share a few favorite memories. My dad is one of my bestest friends - I adore him. I feel so blessed to be his daughter and wish I could do everything to help take care of my parent's - they are truly amazing.
One of my favorite things I love about my dad is watching him tell a joke. He is the best joke teller I know - because as he is telling the joke you can see the twinkle of laughter in his eyes and in the corner of his smile and then part way through he is cracking up and his laughter is so infectious that it makes everyone laugh also - even though we still haven't heard the whole joke :)
I love holding my father's hands - he has amazing earth hands - strong and sweet. I love talking to him about philosophy - I used to call him way late at night when I was in college and ask him questions about what I was learning and we would talk into the night. My dad has an amazing book collection. Any book that is related to religion and spirituality he has got it - He lives in a little library at homeand not only that, he can remember these amazing quotes from all these amazing writers and so in the middle of a conversation he will suddenly offer me a different perspective by quoting someone verbatim. My dad was the one who inspired my love of reading and my love of philosophy - I love sitting on the couch with him while he is reading something and I am reading something else.
He makes a wonderful Chai - and I love sitting out in the patio at my parent's back yard, drinking a hot cup of chai with my father as we look out at the fields in silence. I love that I can talk to my dad about the deepest subjects and also that we can just sit in silence and enjoy each other's company. I adore him - he has always felt more like my brother than my father :) He is one of the best letter writers I know - he has got amazing literary style. I loved getting letters from him when I was in Kenya - they always started: "My dearest friend, ...." Each of those letters are a treasure.
I am an only child - so my parents doubled as my best friends and my parents and I have learned so much from my mother and father - they teach me about life because of they live it with integrity, nobility and truth. I hope that I can be even a quarter of the person that they are. I missing living closer to them - they are all the way in Baltimore... and can't wait till our next visit!
Happy Birthday Acha!!! You are the bestest!!!
Hope all of you are having a wonderful Saturday!
Thanks for coming over for a visit :)
Ciao for now,
Sankari
Card Recipe:
Paper - DCVW for the cardstock and I think the patterned paper also from DCVW
Ink - Staz-on
Stamps - I used my new FAVE stamps - from The Cat's Pajamas! (you have to get some - they stamp like a dream!) and Almas is awesome! and the cake is from all Night Media
Accessories: Alpha Cut out letters, Orange stickles, metallic brad not sure from where, Red Paint, Edge Punch from Martha
Shows watched: Deserving Design on Hulu
