I Always Need Birthday Cards

 

This week's Color Throwdown Challenge is to use purple, blue, and green in a project.  Have I ever mentioned that my favorite color scheme is Cool Analogous, adjacent colors on the cool side of the color wheel?  The Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge is celebrating it's ninth birthday with a challenge to make a birthday card.  I don't know about y'all, but every time I turn around I need a birthday card.  For this reason I like to play the Seize the Birthday Challenge which currently has the optional topping of using an embossing folder.  Cool colors are sometimes referred to as the colors of water and I have a folder that looks like waves.  Just Add Ink is challenging us to make a shaker card which is always fun on a birthday card and I have a Happy Birthday die set from CZ Design which is perfect to make one with.  Isn't it great when all these challenges work together to make a card you know you will need?

First things first.  I embossed a piece of white cardstock with an old folder from Lifestyle Crafts.  Then I flipped it over and swiped ink pads over the back side where the design is pressed into the paper otherwise known as the debossed side.  When I was happy with the look I trimmed it down to fit on an A2 card with a narrow border.   Next I used the shadow die from the CZ Design Happy Birthday Lucky to Know You set to make an opening in the middle.  I held the negative space piece on my card base so I would know where to put the backing, applied glue to the back of the shadow and glued it to the card base by fitting it into the opening and removed the negative piece.  I then glued a piece of shimmer vellum over the shadow to finish the background of my shaker element.  Now to back to the top part of the card.  I glued a piece of acetate behind the opening.  I cut the sentiment from both white and purple card stock, stacked them, and glued the sentiment to the front of the acetate.  Once everything was dry I carefully fit pieces of foam tape to the back of the top piece making sure the pieces fit tightly around the opening, so shaker bits could not escape later.  Speaking of shaker bits:  I went though three packs of mixed sequins to pull out pieces in the challenge colors plus a few white and silver ones.  This is what everything looked like before I put it together:

The last thing to do was put the shaker bits on the card base, remove the tape backing, slather the foam tape with liquid glue so I could fine tune the positioning, flip it, and attach the top to the card base.  On hindsight, I think I may have put in too many shaker pieces.  

Now I have a card for a forgotten about birthday or when my husband asks me for one for a friend.  He graciously puts up with my papercrafting addiction because he knows I will keep him supplied with cards as needed.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Rainbow Kitty

 

In my world pets are four legged children whose loss requires a sympathy card.  I made this one based on this Paper Players sketch:

When I saw it I thought of a stencil and mask I recently ordered from A Colorful Life Designs .*  I started with a panel cut with a stitched rectangle set by Penny Black and used the stencil and Gina K Designs Amalgam ink to create the cat.  Next I used the mask to cover the cat because although  amalgam ink is waterproof , it is not ink repellent, and I did not want to color over her.  I then masked off a rectangle and then the outer edges of the cat.  To make the rounded corner I used a Hero Arts Infinity die to cut a small rectangle from masking paper and then cut off part of the negative space piece to use as a mask on that corner.  Now that I think about it, I could have just used one of the dies to create a rectangle stencil and masked off the excess.  I started out using Distress inks in Festive Berries, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Blueprint Sketch and Wilted Violet, to make the rainbow until I dipped my brush into the green when I wanted violet and didn't realize it until the ink was on the paper! Oh well.  I went back over the rainbow with Distress Oxides which made a more intense rainbow than I had planned but saved the card.  If you are not familiar with the association of rainbows with the loss of a pet, it comes from the Rainbow Bridge poem.  I then stamped a sentiment that is part of an old set, Big Hugs, from Close to My Heart and added a few sparkles. 

I also plan to enter this card in the Make My Monday Cats or Dogs Challenge, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Anything Goes Challenge, and the Show Us Your Pussycats Furrything Goes Challenge. 

*This is not an affiliate link.  A Colorful Life Designs is a small stencil company whose stencils are not carried by Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com, and similar stores.  I started seeing their stencils on Karen Dunbrook's blog, Snippets, checked out the website and loved their designs.  I have quite a few of them now.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi