Happy Birthday, Dad
Posted: April 24, 2017 Filed under: CAS, Homestead 11 Comments
I waited to hear from my dad before I posted this card on the blog. It was mailed to him a few weeks back but the postal service is an unpredictable animal so I had no idea when it would arrive in Australia. On the same day I mailed a package of cards to my mother for her to use. I intentionally did not put my dad’s birthday card in as I was sure a package would arrive later than a single card. Not so. A birthday present posted in the other direction from my parents to me was sent airmail but arrived almost 2 months later. As my mum would say, ‘You just never know!” A large and precious parcel arrived for my family on Friday sent by my father the previous Tuesday. Three days! So it is possible.
But enough about the postal service. This rustic homestead card is made with a stamp from Darkroom Door. When I was in Australia late last year I visited Rachel Greig and Stewart Yule, founders and owners of Darkroom Door and was treated to a behind the scenes tour of the stamp making process. I spent a wonderful morning talking with Rachel about a range of creative topics including my introduction of classes using Darkroom Door stamps to my teaching schedule. I am so grateful for Rachel’s support of my classes, as are my students!
When my dad came to pick me up he browsed some of the stamps on display in the studio. Two in particular caught his eye, the one in his hand above featuring the Norah Head lighthouse that he and I toured the following week and the one on this birthday card. This homestead is representative of older farm buildings that dot the Australian country side. The corrugated iron on the roof is something I rarely see in Canada but common in Australia. I chose to stick to a vintage colour scheme stamping in vintage photo distress ink and black elegant writer pen. I blended parts of the stamped image with water to bring out the shadows.
This card seems all the more appropriate this week as the precious parcel I mentioned earlier contained my father’s memoir written over the last few years about his and my mother’s life experiences and organised into chapters by ‘homesteads’.
Supplies
Stamps: Homestead, Happy Birthday (Darkroom Door)
Inks: vintage photo distress(Ranger), elegant writer pen(Speedball)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, brown cardstock
Heather Telford 
TFS your lovely card and experience Heather!!! I want to give the Elegant Writer pen a try…certainly made wonderful shadows and highlights for your card!!!!
Paper Hugs,
Jan
What a perfect card for your father’s birthday. Your stories of that stamp catching his eye, and his memoirs, are heartwarming.
I know your Father will treasure this card as it has so much sentimental meaning! How special that he has written a memoir! I know you will treasure that!
These Darkroom Door stamps are so detailed, and I love the sepia tones you have used Heather which suits it beautifully. I’m sure your Dad will have been surprised to find the stamp he admired actually on his birthday card, and how wonderful that he has written his memoirs, this will be very treasured by you in the years to come. Our son lives in Sidney so know what you mean about the unpredictbility of the postal service, it is very frustrating.
Sorry, just realised I spelt Sydney with and ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’. He has been there quite a long time so I should be able to spell it by now…lol. x
Thanks for sharing your story and the lovely card!
Wow, Heather! You made this stamp appear to be a vintage photo! It’s so perfect in vintage photo. No one blends those inks like you do. Just gorgeous and a treasure for your dad.!
What a joy to receive your birthday greetings again, and to have them supplemented by your creative friends, some of whom I recognize as your regular viewers and commenters. Thank you, too, for the reminder of the visit to Darkroom Door, and the beginning of a journey with many twists and turns and some dead-ends, but which eventually led to the publication of a Memoir and the stories associated with many ‘homesteads’.
I only have a couple of Darkroom Door sets but I do like them. This is a great masculine card – I hope your Dad loves it.
I enjoy your occasional Darkroom Door posts! This seems like a great card for a dad. (It took two weeks for an envelope of die cuts a friend sent from Toronto to reach me, so yes, I’ll agree about unpredictable mail services…)
very cool, I love the vintage/rustic feel to this!