Birthday collection

This week was spring break for me, which I haven't had in about twenty-five years (one of the perks of working at a school). I didn't do any traveling, but I did enjoy time relaxing and card-making. I even was able to have a craft day with a friend -- something we haven't done in about three years. I have a bunch of cards to share from the week, but before I do that I want to share a little collection of birthday cards that I made several weeks ago.

This image is from a long-retired Stampin' Up! stamp set, but I love it and still go back to it. And once it's colored it makes a really fun, festive focal point, which means the rest of the card can be clean and simple. For the card base I used dark blue card stock and wrapped yellow-and-white twine around the card front three times. I tied the twine in a knot and used foam tape to adhere the focal image (matted with a layer of turquoise card stock) over the knot. I used a sentiment strip to add a greeting to the card and finished it off with three yellow enamel dots.

Candles are always a classic image for birthday cards, and I love the size of these candles. For this card, I stamped a row of candles on white card stock using bright colors. I stamped the flames in yellow ink, but it seemed like they needed "something," so I used a Viva Décor Pearl Pen to give the flames a little dimension. I layered the panel on black card stock so there was a thin border of black on the top and bottom and then used foam tape to add a sentiment strip.

To create the card base I stamped two different background images on yellow card stock using the same color ink; there are streamers at the top of the card and burst images near the bottom. I glued the focal panel about an inch or so above the bottom of the bottom of the card and finished it off with a few sequins.

These cards started out as quick cards, which naturally meant they took me forever to make. I started with a pack of patterned paper and the big, graphic "happy birthday" image. Easy, right? But then I couldn't decide which papers or colors to use, how to do the layouts, how to embellish them, etc., etc. So after a lot of hemming and hawing I finally put together these four cad designs. I'm still not crazy about them, so I may go back and redo them later, but for now they'll go in my card box.

Thanks for stopping by!