Fun project for a b'day

My sweet neighbour asked me if I could make a b'day card for her brother

that turns 40 this weekend. Of course I could. I asked her what he likes and she said -

besides his family - he loves his little red cottage/summer house.

Well - I first looked through all my stamps - but no house.

I then thought of drawing one myself, but no.....too boring.

Then I got this idea - why not build a house of paper. I asked my sweet DT colleagues at RoP

if they had any links to any nice templates. While they were searching - I found one myself (but now I have misplaced the link.....sigh)

I cut out the template on white cardboard. Attached DP from SU and glued all the sides together. Added black cardstock as the roof. Cut out the windows and the door from the template and coloured them with my copics.

I stamped Charlie Bond from WoJ and coloured him with my copics. I think he is just perfect. Then I decided to make a little fireplace out of matches (my hubby was upstairs and suddenly he shouted - have you burnt something?? I told him to relax - I am just burning matches to make a fireplace for a card ;-))) Crafting has no limits - right??? *lol*

Cut my cardsock in the regular 6" x 6" size. Added some DPs from SU as the lawn and flowers. Glued the house to it and then the "fireplace". The burnt ends from the matches became the charcoal.

Stamped over the blue DP with my blue ink - using my scallop circle to get the cloud effect (don't know if you can tell). Added the sentiment from Aud Design - saying Happy B'day i Swedish. Made a birch - needed a tree to get the scene more realistic ;-).

Finally I added Charlie to the card to give a toast for Stefan who turns 40 (the name is cut out with QK Eliza and added to the roof).

What do you think? I must say - it was a lot of fun to create.

Kramis - Anki

PS. The fireplace is there to give him a hint on what he is getting as a b'day gift - can't reveal it here of course - but I guess you all get the clue....