My best friend made a HUGE transition last year by moving to Thailand to do volunteer work with Destiny Rescue. For those of you who are not familiar with Destiny Rescue, it is an organization that rescues underage children from the sex slave industry.  Destiny Rescue is a great organization full of wonderful volunteers following the calling that God has placed in their hearts to help kids all around the world. Please take a few minutes to check the organization out. You can also join the fight to put an end to child sex slavery by making a donation or sponsoring one of these great kids!  You can find more information about Destiny Rescue and how you can help by visiting their website {click here}. You can also read about my friend’s journey by visiting her blog {click here}.

My friend celebrated her first Christmas away from home, and I bought her a Christmas gift. BUT I forgot to take into consideration the length of time it would take for the package to go from Indiana to Thailand. Her birthday happens to be in January so by the time the package arrives it will be a birthday/Christmas gift…..hence the Merry Birthday card!

Using the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

I made the banner using scraps from the Sparkle & Shine Paper Packet that was available during the Holidays From The Heart Gift Guide promotion {October-December 2013}. The sentiment comes from two different stamp sets. The first is the birthday banner, stamped in Ruby Exclusive Ink®, from the Artiste Cricut® Cartridge Collection Birthday Stamp Set. The second stamp set is the “merry” which is stamped using Keyboard Uppercase Stamp Set in Whisper Exclusive Ink®.  I used Amy Tangerine Embroidery Floss to stitch along the banner. {Tip: if you don’t have a stitch guide to aid in getting a straight line. Use your sewing machine without thread to create a straight line. Then you can go back with the embroidery floss and needle to create this look}

To give the card a birthday feel, I added balloons from the same Artiste Cricut® Collection Birthday Stamp Set in Ruby Exclusive Ink® and Juniper Exclusive Ink®. Because the stamp set is included in the Cricut® bundle the balloons and the banner coordinate with the Cricut®!! Meaning I didn’t have to “fussy cut” either of those images!

This card is also linked to the Seize The Birthday Challenge.

This card also works perfectly for Day #3 {use scraps} in the Project A Day Challenge I’m participating in for the month of January!!

I’m still running behind in the challenge so check back soon for day #4 & day #5!!

-Kelly