Blue birthdays

I am always in need of more birthday cards. I try to keep a good-sized stash on hand so I can choose a card that fits the recipient. So when I sat down to turn some backgrounds into cards, I knew birthday cards were the way to go.

For the cards I'm sharing today, both of the backgrounds were foiled using stencils from The Crafter's Workshop along with Transfer Gel Duo and Deco Foil from Therm O Web. 

To coordinate with the green numbers on this background, I die cut three balloons using two different shades of green card stock. I taped a piece of white crochet thread to the back of each balloon and then attached the balloons to the panel. I wrapped each piece of string to the back of the panel and secured them before adhering the panel to a white card base. I used a white paint pen to add details to the balloons and finished the card with a sentiment strip and blue rhinestones. I had the perfect sentiment for inside the card: "Age is just a number (in your case a really high one)." 

The foil on this panel is pearlescent, so I chose light blue foil card stock for the accents. I used the A2 Thin Frame Cover Plate die (Taylored Expressions) to cut out the frame and the Big Birthday die (Honey Bee Stamps) for the sentiment. I cut the shadow die for the sentiment out of vellum to help it stand out a little more. The panel is adhered to a white card base, and I decided to skip the embellishments because there's already a lot of shine happening on this card.

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Gel print strip backgrounds

When I was looking through my collection of gel prints I found four background pieces made with gel prints cut into strips and adhered to double-sided adhesive sheets. (They're similar to the crazy quilt scrap papers I shared in the past.) I decided they would make a good card set, and here are the results:

I think my favorite thing about these cards is that I used navy card stock instead of black for the mats and die cuts. I know it looks black in the photos, but in person the dark blue looks so good with the colors in the gel prints. I need to remember to use navy as a neutral more often. 

The backgrounds were in two arrangements -- horizontal stripes and diagonal stripes -- so I used two different layouts for my cards. For the cards with horizontal stripes, I used a tall branch die cut and short two-word phrases for the sentiments. The strips were useful in making sure I adhered the sentiments straight. I die cut each piece twice and glued them together to give them a little more "oomph." (All the dies I used for these cards are from the retired Well Written die set from Stampin' Up!)  

I struggled with the layout for the cards with diagonal stripes. I played around with the pieces for awhile and finally settled on this arrangement. I placed a curly-style branch in the lower left and upper right corners and added the sentiments at an angle near the middle of the panels. I finished all of the cards with three sequins grouped around the sentiments.

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Sending hugs

When I was looking through my gel prints recently, I found the pieces for a card that I'd prepped years ago but never actually put together. I figured it was about time to assemble that card.

First I used Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White to add white splatter to the card base. I tore the top and bottom edges of the gel print (the letters were already cut out) and adhered it to the card base. I'd backed the letters with black cardstock for shadows, so I decided to try the eclipse technique, which I've never done before. I glued the letters back into the gel print, fitting the black shadows into the openings. (Looking at it now, I'm wondering if I should have used foam tape for the letters to help them stand out a little more.) I used foam tape to add the flag with "sending" at the top of the gel print and finished the card with gold sequins.

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July Christmas cards: Joyful Christmas Flora

One of my online cardmaking friends, Kate Deignan, has great layout ideas for using patterned paper. Last month she shared one of those layouts on the 12 x 12 Cardstock Shop blog ("Patterned Paper Handmade Card Template"), and I decided to use it for my July Christmas cards. I pulled out the Joyful Christmas Flora 6 x 6 paper pad (Carta Bella), found some coordinating card stock in my stash, and got to work.

The layout I used required two 1" x 4" strips, two 1" x 2-3/4" strips, and one 1-5/8" x 2-7/8" piece for the center. It was fun (and a bit of a challenge) to mix and match the papers and find combinations I liked. I used about half the pad of paper and ended up making eighteen cards, although not all of them used that layout. 

For the focal images on these cards, I used a variety of dies (branches, deer, trees, etc.) as well as some images I cut out of the patterned paper. I used enamel dots, sequins, buttons, and twine for embellishment and added some shine with gold card stock and a sparkle gel pen, which unfortunately doesn't show up in the photos. The die-cut sentiments were made with the Joyful Christmas Messages stamps and dies (Hero Arts).

I'm pretty happy with how these cards turned out, but they took me a lot longer to make than I thought they would. Trying to settle on just the right focal image, embellishment, or what have you was slow going. I need to stop thinking I'll be able to crank out cards when I'm using patterned paper! :)

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A quick challenge card

I do the majority of my stamping and crafting on the weekends. I find that I have a really hard time mustering the energy to do much of anything after I get home from work during the week. I'd like to change that, though, so one day last week I managed to sit down after work and make a quick, clean and simple birthday card.

The inspiration for this layout came from a sketch challenge. My current favorite craft shopping site is A Cherry on Top, and I discovered that they have weekly sketch challenges for scrapbooking, art journaling, and card making. Last week's card sketch really appealed to me, so I gave it a go.

The main elements of the sketch were six circles, the sentiment in the middle of the card, and splatter images behind the sentiment. For my card I used the Wonky Backdrops stamp set (Ellen Hutson) for the circle image as well as the cluster of stars. Since the circle was larger than those on the sketch, I overlapped them when stamping to make sure they'd all fit. The ink colors are from the Party Collection - Date Night inks (Catherine Pooler), and I arranged them in rainbow order so the colors would look ok where they were layered. Then, using black ink, I stamped the star cluster a few times in a swoosh across the middle of the card.

Before I assembled the card, I splattered it with Pearl Shimmer Splash (Brutus Monroe). (I was experimenting with flicking the applicator, so I got some lines as well as dots.) I adhered some looped silver thread at the middle of the card front and then used foam tape to adhere the strip with the sentiment over it. I finished the card with a few iridescent droplets mixed in with the stars.

This card really didn't take long to make, and the best part was that it was randomly chosen as the challenge winner. Woohoo! I'm going to try to enter more of the card sketch challenges and maybe even a few art journal ones, too. Thanks for stopping by!