Darlene's challenge this week in the
Crafty Secrets member forum at Splitcoaststampers is a great one! She's asked us to "check our calendars" and make a card for any occasion that's printed on there (so not all those birthdays and anniversaries etc you write in for yourself). As soon as I spied
International Literacy Day on September 8th I knew I'd found my calendar occasion!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyXAS8UPDh9NrDqIraZvY7OMr7Qp4R-y9QV8-P9uyyMITuTL9Vuc554ZIWx3cF2cbYl8QiBz3IvDpJ7iMOn1wRbSN91xcR1EjJmxxrtXgTxksxVks3YCizVeXRnwfvSCs8JRr6qwN_Qw/s320/cssc20calendarEventClosed.jpg)
I love to read. I've always loved to read. I don't even remember learning to read and I was pretty fluent by the time I started school so it obviously didn't present too many difficulties for mini me! This little bookish chap is obviously having a fine old time in his imaginary world and I thought he'd be perfect on a surprise pop up card which was yesterday's technique challenge at Splitcoast (there's a tutorial
here if you'd like to make a card in this style yourself).
I used a cheesecloth background stamp to make my card base a bit leathery looking like an old book binding and sponged the edges too for a more aged and handled appearance and added a border of machine stitching, again because it made me think of old style book binding techniques.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fw2f-BSFiobrS4CqAbCcfc1lCEM1g6NGDRicQSiNIzGA7sVyubLEiY5sQLxVXIgWBpjebdAqDFS5-jw88rShpwVWBohT9MKFbp3sxgOlk9OHiElP08339TlFEKYr6P5oS3W0gmvc7rk/s320/cssc20calendarEvent.jpg)
I made a little tassel at the top of the slider as I thought it looked a bit like a bookmark! I stamped the panel that's revealed when you pull on the slider with a handwriting style stamp in Antique Linen ink so that I can add a message without it being swamped by a strong pattern but there's still some interest there.
I thought I could turn this into a gift by tucking a book token in there so it slides out at the same time as the message is revealed (not sure if my American visitors have book tokens - in the UK we have a national scheme which means you can buy a token in almost any book shop and send it as a gift that can be spent in almost any other book shop).
Supplies: Story of Me and Journaling (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets), Cheesecloth backgrounder (CHF), Tim Holtz Distress ink (Fired Brick and Antique Linen), Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, sewing machine and thread, Brass and Cream Hardware stickers (Heartwarming Vintage/Crafty Secrets), Nestability Classic Circle (used as a guide with a scalpel), copper gel pen, old gold cord from stash, corner rounder.
Thanks for your visit today, hope you enjoyed it!