02/08/12 - Happy Birthday Mrs Soh (:

This is the card that I made for Mrs Soh's birthday on the behalf of my class. (: Rushed it out in like 4 hours the previous night>.< But I think she likes it very very much so all the effort was worth it! :D I think it is a very nice thing to use one's artistic talent to make another person happy! Well it is using your art to spread happiness around! (I think Mrs Soh was very very happy when she received the card along with 36 balloons and a birthday cake) I should make cards more often. I have not been making as much cards as I did before. Well I did make a lot of cards for people in basketball and my parents and friends in the past, but I did not bother to photograph them. ): I shall remember to photograph my works in the future.

p.s. pardon the reflection of the words "Mrs. Soh"! >.<

 

For those who have seen my Nanyang 95th Anniversary card, you would have noticed that it bears much similarity with the 95th birthday card! The concept is the same and the style is very much like my kimono(with the handmade flowers, buttons and sequins --> Very intricate and delicate stuff). I guess the main difference is that Mrs. Soh's card is more feminine, with pretty colours such as red and pink dominating the whole composition. (Mrs. Soh ♥s PINK!! :D ) I didn't take photos of the NY 95 card because I was too tired that night after completing the card. :/ but I remember that the 2 main flowers are blue and green, so the whole card looks more multi-coloured but not as feminine as Mrs Soh's card.

Close up view of big flower! (: Well, the tracing paper flower is handmade and like last year's kimono flowers, the red layers are formed by tracing paper which are dyed with red ink. That is why the red layers look crumpled.

I am quite satisfied with how the card turned out as I like how there was a combination of so many different textures to give the card its unique feel! Most materials are recycled from my kimono! Like the buttons and the flowers. I added some blue items and a little of green to balance out the warm tones of the card, but the overall colour tones are still very bright and feminine(like Mrs Soh!) It is quite a meticulous process but I don't mind as this card made her day on 02/08/12! I hope the gems that I have stuck on don't fall off though. Fragile. :/

Looking at the card, I think that I should have included one more layered handmade flower(this is just a personal opinion).... but overall, I think that it still looks beautiful!

Somehow, it reminds me of the days last year where I had to rush my kimono like crazy(ok, not rush, but work on it right through the late night). I remember trying to perfect the placement of every little thing. Well, pasting on things are more meticulous than it sounds, like how time consuming it is for Miss Michelle to arrange the art pieces for display in the art gallery. Overall, art is time consuming, but the sense of achievement after completing the work is simply overwhelming. I thought that after every little art piece that every artist makes, he/she will grow a little as an artist. So we should try to do more art, no matter how busy we are, to keep our artistic juices flowing and let creativity live on. (:

 MAIN CARD CONCEPTS

It is like a present, you can untie the ribbon to open the card(or else you can't open!) so in this way, the card is interacting with the receiver(Mrs Soh). (:

This is the external layer of the card. It acts like a "mini folder"(like a school file). So when Mrs Soh opens the card, she will see that there is a booklet on the inside of the card, which can be taken out. It will contain messages from each individual of 404 to Mrs Soh! Well, the present concept is not new as I have used it for birthday and teachers' day cards ever since I was sec 1, but the folder concept is new! I got this inspiration when I looked at my fat file. -.-

The cover of the booklet. Well, not the completed one. When I brought to school the next day for 404 to write their messages before recess comes, I realised that the cover was a little too plain. So I added the big text: "To: Mrs Soh" in silver bold outline so as to complement the silver ribbon. (: Oh and I glued down the folded flower petals later cos as you can see from the photo, some petals are folded. Well, but I did not have time to take pics of the improved version cos well, it was a mad rush to let 404 finish Mrs. Soh's card before we surprise her.

Well, The booklet looks empty the night before(when I took this photo), but now it is filled with nice little birthday messages from 404 and it is residing in Mrs Soh's house now! Haha even the pages of the booklet are pink(Mrs. Soh's fav colour as usual)! (:

Anyway, Happy Birthday Mrs Soh! (: Hope that 404 has made this birthday a memorable one for you! (: