One of the things that I love about card-making is that one can tailor a card to be so uniquely personal for someone's specific circumstances, interests and personality. Today's card is an example of exactly that.
My neighbor, a physician, had his very own overnight hospital stay not long ago, and it was on his wife's birthday. I wanted to make them each a card. Here's his.
I've seen those cute shirt & tie cards, but I wanted this one to be two-layered with the lab coat over the shirt and omitting the tie. To make it I cut the card base to be the traditional 5.5 inches tall, but 7.5 rather than 8.5 inches long , scored so that the card front is 3.25 rather than 4.25 wide (the back remains 4.25 wide). Part of the front was trimmed off at an angle and a second piece of card stock adhered to the inside and folded around the front edge to create the lapel.
The second sheet of white card stock measured approximately 7 x 3.5 inches, portrait orientation. I folded back the lapel at a pleasing angle, cutting a small notch and then scoring from the point of the notch to the fold to give the illusion of the seam between lapel and collar (peek at a photo of a lab coat for inspiration and guidance). That piece was then adhered to the inside of the card front and the top trimmed flush to the standard 5.5 inches to match the original card base.
I've also recently seen "pocket boutonnieres" made with a plastic ID card or baseball card sleeve with flower stems sandwiched inside, so that gave me the idea of the rose in the pocket along with an "embossed" pencil. The rose is from one of our many lovely floral stamp sets (pick your favorite flower), and the sentiments inside and out are from our Typewritten "Just Checking In" set.
Here's the shirt inside. The lab coat and shirt pockets were both cut with rectangle dies, so the rest of the card only required a little more cutting and scoring to make a collar and button placket. I love the way it turned out...it has the perfect combination of words, and a warm, relaxed "country gentleman" vibe that is just the feel I was going for.
While this card was made for my neighbor's "doctor turned patient" circumstance, it would be easy to adapt for a prom or wedding groom/best man setting with a change of colors and prints and greetings.
The plaid is an ode to my trip to Scotland! I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon, carpooling with some girlfriends to Orlando to meet up with my son who, I am very excited to say, is going along, as are several others' husbands and brothers! We have a direct flight from Orlando to Edinburgh and will be touring the country for nearly two weeks. My husband will be keeping the home fires burning until our return.
Supplies: