Happy Birthday!

To two of my closest friends, J.T. and Lauren, wishing you both the happiest of birthdays.

A card for J.T.

A simple, asymmetrical border design, small font, and small card ought to do the trick. Sometimes small and simple better suits the occasion.

A Card for Lauren

Using Artifact Uprising, a wonderful printing company most commonly associated with VSCO, a popular editing software (available to download in the app store), I was able to print a photo that I had taken of Lauren from a little while back. It turned out beautifully, so I turned it into a written card on the back in addition to writing a smaller separate card from brown card stock. The two together were not only pleasing to the eye but easy to assemble as a pair.

As another side gift, I gave her a small bottle with four pieces of rice in it, each with a different word written on it. The four in total read, "Happy 17th B-day, Lauren."

My first encounter with words written on rice–besides in the movie, Mulan–was when visiting an aunt in Boston. Along the streets were side vendors, and a woman offered to write peoples' names on rice for free and charge a (rather unreasonably large) sum for a necklace to put it in.

I immediately wanted to try it for myself, and I've been turning them into side gifts ever since that sixth grade winter break trip.

Lastly, I wrapped up another one of Lauren's gifts in some tissue paper and used a simple felt marker to write "happy birthday."

Can't wait to do some more birthday gifts in the future!