Three Birthday Cards, Three People, For The Same Day

Hello Everyone!

Did you expect me to post again so quickly after yesterday's post? Well after I completed those cards for the 'Denim & Girls' card kit yesterday, I immediately set out to make three birthday cards for three different people that have their birthday on the same day! These people are my Dad, who is turning 87, and my two younger sisters, who are twins and turning 60! I had to get them done on time so that my sister that lives an hour away could also write in and sign the cards for the other two birthdays in time to send them off in the mail. As a matter of fact, she is the one that commissioned me to make the cards. I also had to make one for me to give to her too. So let's have a look.

Here are three cards all together.

The first card you see here should look a little familiar to some of you if you have been following my posts for about three years. I posted it here when I was teaching at Scrapbook Essentials BC after being chosen to be a Spellbinders Educator. This was a card that I hung on to for a long time because it was a favourite of mine. This is the card that I decided would suite the younger of my twin sisters.

 I just added the stamped 'Birthday Greetings' and the large '60'.

This next photo shows the '60' closer.

Hopefully you can see the four layers of light pink cardstock under the gold foil layer. I love this technique the Jennifer McGuire shows many times on her video tutorials.

Next in the first photo is a masculine looking card that I made for my Dad.

This card is comprised of Stampin' Up! stamps from when I was a demonstrator a few years back. (If you haven't seen my Stampin' Up! blog here is a link for some further inspiration for you.) I tried to make this an elegant masculine card.

You can see the layers above. You know me and layers; I love them!

I think my Dad is going to really like this card! I forgot to take photos of the inside, because I did some gold embossing on the inside too.

Now come the last card for my other twin sister, the oder of the two by 2 1/2 minutes. This one uses Altenew's "Cherished Memories" stamps and dies. I also used their alcohol markers to colour the flowers and leaves.

 The 'Happy Birthday' stamp is from Stampin' Up! however. If you look closely you can see that all the flowers around the edge are glued down to the edge of the cardstock piece, and them popped up toward the center of the the piece. I love how it turned out!

I used the same technique with the '60' again, except I used layers of white cardstock for this card.

I think I will do more alcohol marker colouring again. I forgot how much fun it is, and I'm a little out of practise.

Well, that's it for these three birthday cards. Hope you enjoyed seeing them and that they have inspired your creativity too.

Happy creativity!

Grandson's Birthday Card - G45 Sun Kissed

Hello Everyone!

Surprise! I have something to share with you today. I do have other posts planned for you, but they are not ready to post yet, but I do have my eldest grandson's birthday card to share with you today.

To make this card, I do not have all my stamping stuff organized yet, so I turned to my paper collections. It turns out that most of my paper is feminine, but I did come across the turtle sheet from the Graphic 45 'Sun Kissed' collection and found out that my soon to be 14 year-old grandson (end of August) likes turtles. So that is what I used to make his card with.

The fussy cut turtle on the bottom right corner is of course fussy cut out and popped up.

The inside of this card, is based on a card I made a few years ago when I was a Stampin' Up Demonstrator. You can see it here. So let's have a look at it.

My grandson was surprised when he opened the card, and loved it. I did my writing on the right panel. Let's have a closer look at the details, shall we.

On this left panel, you see a large die cut '14'. In case you are wanting a Number die set, these are an older Stampin' Up die set, and as far as I can see, it is no longer available. But I am sure there will be other companies that have a numerical die set, or an AcuCut number set.

I cut three layers of the orange cardstock and then the patterned paper, gluing all the layers together to make the number stand out more. Then of course, I added some more of the fussy cut pieces.

Know let's have a closer look at the folded card center.

You see the large heart die cut and in the behind the fussy cut sand dollars, and star fish. Then there is the large turtle attached behind the heart die cut, peeking out. On the front, cream part, are more fussy cut images - the little turtle, and the flowers.

To create this inside piece with die cut, here is some help.

Measurements

Card Base
Your Choice of Colour - 4 1/4" x 11" - score @ 5 1/2"
Inside Card Piece
Your Choice of Colour - 4 1/4" x 11" - score @ 5 1/2" then turn cardstock to other side & score at 2 3/4" & 7 3/4" (OR 3" & 8" if you wish to have a smaller folded inside section for your die cut and larger side pannels.

First center your choice of shape and die cut your shape from the center before folding any score lines. Once your shape is cut out, use your bone folder to fold the score lines, and attach the left & right panels to the inside of your card base, leaving the center sections free to fold as you open and close the card.

Hope this helps. then you can decorate as you wish. IF YOU ARE STAMPING behind the die cut shape, you must do that before attaching the die cut piece inside the card.

WARNING: Before attaching any of your fussy cut or die cut pieces to the die cut shape/hole, be sure they do not stick out passed the card edges when the card is closed, or you will not be able to put the card into an envelope.

Hope you have fun make some cards like this!

Happy creating!

Masculine Birthday Card With Altenew

Welcome!

Today I am sharing with you another masculine birthday card made for a family member. I could have used masculine papers to create a card, but I was more in the mood for stamping. The challenge was that I do not have a whole lot of masculine stamps. Something to correct I guess. I went through the stamps that I have unpacked (some are in storage) and came up with the idea to use the Altenew 'Birds of a Feather' stamp and die set along with the leaves from the 'Hope' stamp and die set. Maybe use some Distress Oxide Salty Ocean as a background and see what I can come up with to make this card more on the masculine side.

I thought I would start by showing you the background piece before I put the card together.

I ended up adding Distress Gathered Twigs on the edges (I don't have it in the Oxide yet), and splattered a few water drops on the 'Salty Ocean'.

This is how the card turned out.

Now, if you are wondering why the NUVO Glitter drops look a little on the strange side, that is because I did not let them dry before taking the photos. I have a busy day ahead and had to take the photos this morning or wait till Wednesday. So I opted to photograph while they were still wet.

So, do you think this looks masculine enough? I think so. I also love the Butter yellow embossing powder I was able to use for the first time. I have some coloured embossing powders from about 5 years ago that I have never used because I was always busy using product for classes.

In the above photo you can see that the only things that I popped up are the bird and the sentiment. Everything else is glued on leaving the edges free so that they lift up a bit.

To lighten the birds tummy, I took a clean cloth and dabbed the belly lightly to get rid of some of the ink on the stamp before stamping. If you look at the feet of the bird (above) you can see that my stamping did not line up with die. It was the first time I used this stamp set, and hope the next time I can get it to work better for me.

For my class samples I never do anything on the inside of the cards, but as this is a personal card I have added a little something on the inside. A benefit of doing so is twofold. It looks more finished on the inside and it gives the back of the card more stability balancing the front And back as it stands up. Especially for a top fold card.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing this card. Below, I will link to some of the product used in the making of this card.

Thank you for stopping by, and happy creating!

• Altenew - Birds of a Feather
• Altenew - Hope
• Altenew - Birthday Builder
• Ranger Tim Holtz - Distress Oxide Salty Ocean
• Ranger Tim Holtz - Distress Gathered Twigs
• Spellbinders - Prizm Die Cutting Machine
• Spellbinders - Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine
• NUVO Glitter Drops - Blue Lagoon

Masculine Family Birthday Card - 49th & Market, Laser Chipboard & NUVO Mousse

Hello Everyone,

I am guessing that some of you are wondering why I haven't posted in a while. Well a lot has happened besides my move to Calgary, and I will leave it at that for now. Still working on getting some of my class designs scheduled, and those posts are waiting for class info before I can officially post them.

I have really missed not having the time to create something. And I mean really miss it, but I haven't finished unpacking yet! This is due to the unexpected things that came up. But with a masculine family birthday upon the horizon, I said 'to heck with not having my craft room all set up', and created a quick card using leftover pieces of 49th & Market paper and some Creative Embellishments laser cut chipboard ferns.

A quick and easy card!



The heat embossed stamped sentiment is double heat embossed to give the gold a thicker look and more raised from the paper. I hope you can see that better in the following photo.

The laser cut ferns from Creative Embellishments I covered with Seaspray Green NUVO Mousse and then when dry, brushed on some Indian Gold NUVO Mousse. I love the look of these patina metallic looking ferns. It helps to give it a little more a masculine look. Don't you think?

Here is a closer look at some of the ferns.

I wanted to use my gold Gel Pen around the edges of the lighter paper against the darker green, but found I have misplaced the pen. But my card is ready to go even without that for this early April masculine birthday.

I hope you have enjoyed viewing this card, and feel free to share your thoughts on this card.

Until next time, Happy Creating!

Two Cards Using Altenew's Floral Flurries Super 4 1/4" Wide Washi Tape

Welcome Everyone!

While I was waiting for class supply orders to come in, I mentioned yesterday, I was working on a huge kit project. At one point I needed a break from it and decided to make something for myself that I had put off for a long time. That was working with Altenew's Floral Flurries washi tape!

So, these are they.

For this first card, I did some fussy cutting. I attached the washi tape to white cardstock and fussy cut the flowers to arrange and attach as you see. Fussy cutting is one of my favourite things to do because you can arrange the items in ay way you wish, and it gives more dimension to the card.

Don't you just love the colours of the watercoloured images on the washi tape? Here is a closer look at the layering of the fussy cut pieces around the framed sentiment strip. If you do not have a die set to make a frame in the size you want, you can create it from a piece of cardstock in the measurements you want and then cut out the center leaving a 1/4" all around. This means lining up your blade at 1/4" and not cutting through the piece when you start, and finish 1/4" from the end.

Shall we look at the other card now?

To see the gold gel pen lines on this card, I need to show you a closer look.

Metallic gel pens are always a great thing to have on hand for cardmaking.

Popping up the top and bottom pieces add a little interest to the clean and simple card design. DOn't you just love the beautiful watercolour flowers on the washi tape? I have some many of Altenew's washi tapes on my wish list. Check them out! They are gorgeous!

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Creating!

Attempt At A Wedding Card Turned Into A Birthday Card

Have you ever made a card that did not turn out how you expected it would? That is what happened with this card. Not that it was something to throw away, but it was not what I wanted for this wedding card.

After showing the card, I will list what I felt was wrong with the card.

First of all, I was excited to use the new Spellbinder Special Moments Die Set (S5-378). It might be a die set we will use at the studio for a future class. Anyway, I thought it would be ideal for a wedding card and this was a perfect time to play and experiment with the set.

It turned out to be too bright and look more like the colours for a little girl, rather than a weeding card. My first thought was that I should have made it all in white, or maybe not put on all that sparkle.... So though it may not be wedding-like in looks, it certainly would be a good birthday card for a little girl.

I do not know if you can tell in the photo, but there are two layers to the whit oval screen, and three for the floral flourish base.

Everything was coloured with Distress Oxide except for the bird.

Seen from another angle...

And a third angle...

It will be fun to see this die set used in different colour combinations and in different ways. I will be sure to post some of the experiments, and class sample posting if we end up using the die for a class.

How would you use this die set?

Happy creating!

Family Birthday Cards III - G45 Fairy Dust

Hello Everyone!

Are you ready for the third and final card of this series?

Again it is 5 x 7, and this time the frame I used is  constructed a little differently. I did not have rectangle dies this size, so what I did instead to create this frame was to cut a piece of paper measuring 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". Then using my paper trimmer I lined up and placed the piece to line up at 1/2" on the right of the blade. I then positioned my blade at 1/2"  and pushed it through the paper and cut down to 6". I rotated the paper using the same procedure but adjusted to the measurement of the piece. When done this gave me a frame I could use.

Next, I used the paper piece from the inside and trimmed off 1/4" all the way around. I did this so that the pattern on this piece of paper would work better visually.

Next, I attached the fussy cutting I had done from scraps of paper and the Cut-a-part cards from the collection. Here is a closer look at that.

The next two photos are side views showing you more details. You can see that the frame is attached directly onto the background paper, and the centre part of the rectangle is popped up. The background fussy cut image is glued down at the base, and other images are popped up over the first.

This time I chose to stamp my sentiment on cream card stock and pop it up.

Between the three recent birthday card posts, you have seen two ways of creating a frame to use on your cards. Hope you have been inspired and are trying to use frames on your creations.

Thank you for stopping by to have a look. Upon my return I will have to get to making another card kit. So that means you will have more cards to look at in about 2weeks. Probably some class photos in there too since I have a class on the 14th.

In the meantime, happy creating!

Family Birthday Cards II - G45 Fairy Dust

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!

As you know, I am away at a Family Reunion, and a couple of days ago I posted the first of these cards. Today you get to see the second card that I made for the Family Reunion birthday cards. Again, this is an A7 (5 x 7) card, and once again I had to use the stripped paper to create a popped up frame. The fussy cut images are cut out from the cut-a-part cards and popped up around the frame. It's not often that I decide to stamp my sentiment directly onto the paper collection paper, but in this instance it works well.

Here is a little closer look at the details...

...and the next two images show the side view from each side so that you can see the layering.

The one thing I forgot to do on this card was to sparkle up the fairy wings. I had a lot of fun  layering these images, and I think this girl is going to love all the fairies.

Have you ever created a popped up, mitred frame from paper strips? You might like to try it out. Have fun!

Happy creating!