Snowman Birthday

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating their November release with a blog hop & challenge to create a wintry birthday card. This is my creation for that challenge.

I used the following sketch from Operation Write Home for my design:

For once, I stayed exactly true to the sketch, with no alterations. :)

I combined 2 digital images for the focal panel on my card. I used Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Winter Friends" for the scene inside one of Doodle Pantry's "Snow Globe Gala" images. After printing it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, I colored it with watercolor pencils and a damp paintbrush to blend the colors. I wanted a softer look, since it is such a relatively small image, so I didn't use my Inktense pencils this time. After coloring in the globe part, I added snowflakes with a white gel pen. I also added some shimmer with a gold gel pen to the decorative detailing on the snow globe topper & base.

I created the greeting in Photoshop. I admit, the wording is probably a bit of a stretch, but I wanted to make this card as wintry--and cute--as possible! :) After getting everything formatted and sized, I printed it on a piece of white cardstock.

I chose two patterned papers from my scrap stash for the remaining 2 blocks on the card. I wanted to warm the card up just a bit, so I decided to use a pink cardstock for the background. I felt it tied in well with the pink retro snowflakes in the larger piece of patterned paper, as well as the pink birdhouse. This is definitely a feminine birthday card! After arranging and gluing down all the panels, I adhered the completed card front to a white A2-size card base. I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home.