Happy Birthday - and 2 challenges

Since it's a sleety, rainy and gray day here in northern Illinois...I thought it was a good afternoon to spend a little time at my craft table.

Today's card is going into 2 challenges.

Avery Elle's AEI{heart}U Challenge - This is my first time playing along.  I just couldn't resist this inspiration photo!

The Paper Players PP130 - love this sketch by LeAnne

As I said, that inspiration photo from Avery Elle was so inspiring.  Maybe it had something to do with the rainy, gray weather here.  I know I was drawn to the gray pavement, the striped socks, black coat and (of course) the rich red of her umbrella.  I knew what patterned paper I wanted to use, and LeAnne's sketch seemed to fit perfectly.

Here's what I created.

When I looked for an embellishment to represent the circle on the sketch, I sorted through my button stash and found this gray shiny treasure.  The surface made me think of shiny, wet pavement.  What do you think?  No?  

So.  I popped up the chevron die-cut, but adhered the black piece flat to the card base.  I was so glad that that Avery Elle sentiment fit perfectly inside.

I'm glad you stopped by to take a look today, I hope you'll leave a comment.

Later!

Recipe ~
Card stock: going gray, basic black (SU)
Ink: versamark (Tsukineko)
Stamps: framed fonts (Avery Elle)
Patterned paper: breeze 6x6 pad (My Mind's Eye)
Die: fabulous frames (PTI)
Other: cherry cobbler embossing powder, cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon (SU), glue dots, foam tape, scor-tape, tombo mono adhesive, heat tool