Happy 25th Anniversary

Some friends of ours are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary today, so I decided to make them a card. My inspiration came from this card I found through Pinterest.

All of the paper and cardstock came from my scrap stash. I'm glad to be using that up, but it seems like a never-ending activity! I first die cut the birds from light grey cardstock, using the "Bird & Leaf" die from Sizzix (no longer available). To get the birds facing in opposite directions, I simply flipped one of the die cuts over. I die cut the birds again from patterned paper, just to get the wings, cut those off and inked the edges with Weathered Wood Distress ink, and glued them in place on the birds. I also inked around the birds' bodies with Weathered Wood, just to give a bit of shading. Finally, I glued a googly eye on each bird with some Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I got that idea from the inspiration card, and I just think it adds a bit of cuteness.

I die cut the hole for the one bird out of my patterned paper, using a Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG" die. I actually had to do this twice, because the first time I got it placed wrong. I just didn't think about it right! Thankfully, I had enough of the patterned paper left to create a second panel. I placed the bird behind the circle, just to test, and decided the wing blended in too much. So I inked around the edge of the circle with Weathered Wood.

For the branches, I die cut Impression Obsession's "Bare Branch" twice, from dark grey cardstock. I positioned the branches on the patterned paper panel, and determined which pieces to trim off. I ended up snipping off several pieces with my scissors, both so the branches would fit and not be so busy. I punched the flowers from light & dark blue cardstocks, using an old Marvy Uchida punch. Finally, using the left-hand bird to gauge placement, I glued down the branches & flowers with more Multi Medium. I glued the birds in place, backing the hole with more of the dark grey cardstock. I added foam tape under the left-hand bird's wing, having backed the open underside with more light grey cardstock. Finally, I added Silver Pearl Liquid Pearls to the flower centers. I then set that aside overnight, to let the Liquid Pearls dry completely.

I cut a piece of silver glitter cardstock and a piece of white, and punched one edge of each with my Martha Stewart "Daisy" border punch. I also cut a mat from the glitter cardstock. Because I didn't have much of that left, and I wanted to mat my greeting with it as well, I cut out the middle of the mat, since it wouldn't show anyway. I then cut the mat for my greeting from that piece.

I created the greeting in Photoshop, using a font called Vladimir Script. I printed that on more white cardstock, and adhered it to its glitter mat. Finally, it was time to assemble the card.

Because I wanted a 6x7.5", top-folding card, I had to cut two pieces of white cardstock for the base. I made one 7.5" long, and the other 8". I scored the longer piece at 1/2" from one end, folded it, and adhered the 7.5" piece to the flap. I glued my large silver mat over the flap, just for a cleaner look. By this time, the Liquid Pearls had dried, so I adhered my main panel to the card base. I glued down the upper border-punched panels, overlapping the main panel slightly. Finally, I adhered the matted greeting with foam adhesive.