Take It "Easel" It's the HCTB Birthday Blog Hop

Yup, it's official... it's our very First birthday at Here Come The Boys so we're 

CELEBRATING with a 

BLOG HOP!!!!

We have a special birthday challenge; make an easel card with a birthday theme (for a man or boy don't forget... it is Here Come The BOYS after all!)  We're sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps, I've used one of the "Gus" images on my card which is for my Dad's 83rd birthday... Happy Birthday to you too Dad :-)

Bugaboo are offering 7 digis as the challenge prize...
 and there's loads of prizes to be had on the hop too... start at Here Come The Boys then hop along to each of the Design Team Members listed below and link up - there's a prize to win on each and every stop on the hop and a grand prize to be drawn from the entries but don't forget to enter at ALL of the hop spots and the HCTB blog!
I seriously love Bugaboo digis, I go for the "cheeky" ones, but there's a great range of cute and whimsical images too... something for everyone in fact.  With this in mind, the prize on MY blog is... a $10 Gift Certificate from Bugaboo.  Just add your link to the linky at the end of this post and in two weeks I'll draw a winner at random.
The Candy for the hop is AWESOME, here's a piccy to get you drooling: 
Before I tell you more about my card, I'll give you the Blog Hop order:
Here Come The Boys
Sharon
Karen
Donna (you are here)
Teresa
Di
Becky
Woo
... so if you've come from Karen's blog you're on the right track and your next stop is Teresa; if you get lost you can always pop back to the HCTB blog and find your place :-)
Now on to my card:

It's an easel, of course (I LOVE easel cards!) I've added the sentiment (which comes with this Gus image) on a tab attached to the base, so it props up in front of the card when open (maybe the picture makes it clearer!)  It's for a birthday, so I'm entering Joanna Sheen's challenge and it's for a Man - lucky for me as Stamping With The Dragon wants us to make a Male Birthday Card, Divas by Design has One For The Boys, Allsorts Challenges has For a Man or Boy and Totally Papercrafts has No Pesky Girls Allowed as their challenge themes so I'm entering all those challenges.  Stampin' for the Weekend has "At Least Four Layers" as their theme... at least four layers here, so I'm in!  
I've coloured the image with Copics and added gloss to the balloon and glasses as well as pearl paint to Gus's hair... we have the term "Silver haired bodgie" in Australia... and I think this suits Gus perfectly, lol.
I've used papers from Basic Grey's Lauderdale pad, double matted on card from American Crafts and Black Glittered Card from Merci.  The glitter hardly shows in the photo, but then it never does.  
I painted the wood numerals with Jo Sonja Paint then used Heat Set powder to emboss them with fine teal glitter I've had for years; they look chunky in the pic, but are in fact quite smooth - just very glittery, lol.  The border on the base is cut with a Nellie Snellen Die and the buttons are from my stash. Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use stash is one I NEVER have trouble with :-)  Creative Craft Challenges, The Paper Shelter, Crafty Emma's Store and Colour Me Copic all have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering all those too.
Well that's it for my Here-Come-The-Boys-Birthday-Blog-Hop-Easel card!!  What are you waiting for... register at Here Come The Boys site, then get hopping.
I'll be back in a few days with my Mum's Mothers Day Card - it's Mother's Day here today, Happy Mothers Day Mum and to all the Mum's celebrating out there :-)  - until then, Happy Crafting, Donna