Birthday Wishes!

Whenever I've sent cards to Operation Write Home, I've always sent them in United States Postal Service Flat Rate envelopes. I've never once had enough at one time to send in a Flat Rate box. Since they will no longer be taking cards after August 1, 2015, my goal for my final shipment is to send in a box of cards. This card goes towards that goal.

I first stamped the hummingbird & bee balm flower (by Our Daily Bread Designs) on Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, using Colorbox Archival ink in the Putty color. I colored them with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend the colors. The hummingbird proved to be the harder to color, as I kept tending to get hard lines between colors, rather than the soft blends I wanted. I think I finally got it to work, though. After I'd finished coloring, I zapped the hummingbird with my heat gun to make sure it was totally dry, then die cut it with the coordinating die.

For the frame panel, I first die cut an oval from another piece of Mixed Media Paper with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals LG" die. I then stamped Our Daily Bread Design's "Gingham Background," using Hero Arts Soft Pool ink. Because there was a bit of an indentation left from the die cutting, the stamp didn't quite "take" right against the oval cutout. So I took a dark teal marker and colored around the oval, which also created a more defined frame for the bee balm panel.

I applied a LOT of foam tape to the back of the frame panel (to keep it from getting crushed in the mail), then adhered my bee balm panel to the back, so the flower is showing through the oval. I applied a tiny piece of foam tape behind the hummingbird's head, then used liquid adhesive on the rest of him to glue him in place.

I stamped one of the greetings from this Simon Says Stamp set onto another scrap of Mixed Media Paper, then die cut it with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals SM" die. I inked around the edges with Peacock Feathers Distress ink, then glued it in place. Finally, I adhered the finished panel to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Our Daily Bread Designs' "Anything Goes with ODBD"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Summer"