Just One More Candle

My sister-in-law's birthday was this past Tuesday. We are getting together with her & my brother tomorrow to celebrate. So I've been busy creating cards for her, including this one. This card doubles as card and gift packaging, since there's a tag inside I will attach a gift card to. An extra little surprise! I found this tutorial for a Napkin Fold card on Splitcoast Stampers' website. I figured the engineering would appeal to her scientific/analytical side.

I began by scoring and folding a 12x12" piece of teal cardstock, as per the instructions in the tutorial. I cut the triangles from patterned papers from Carta Bella's "Soak up the Sun" 6x6" pad (ice cream cones); Me & My Big Ideas (polka dots & stripes); and another unknown from my stash (multi-colored squares). I adhered the triangles on their corresponding sections. I did end up having to adjust the measurements from those in the tutorial. In the tutorial, the author used a border punch system to punch the perimeter of the cardstock base, which I didn't do. I don't know if that affected the sizes of the squares you cut the triangles from, but when I cut them according to the provided measurements, some triangles were too small. So I ended up refiguring and cutting those again. Live & learn!

Inside of card

For the images on both the front & inside of the card, I used Penny Black's "Birthday Party" stamp set. One of the traditions in my sister-in-law's family is that, however old you are, that is the number of candles on your birthday cake! So the image of the little mouse with the cake full of candles seemed perfect. The hedgehog on the front is just there for the cute factor! :) I also used the "Just one more candle" stamp from Simon Says Stamp's "Big Birthday Wishes" for the greeting on the inside. I stamped both images & the greeting in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink onto Strathmore Bristol paper. I then colored the images with my Zig Clean Color markers, using a damp brush for shading & highlights.

When I had finished coloring, I die cut the panels with a Spellbinders "Labels One" die. I also die cut a piece of green cardstock with a "Scalloped Labels One" die by Spellbinders. For the yellow polka dot frame on the inside, I used a larger "Scalloped Labels One" die to cut an opening from the center of my panel. After inking the edges of the focal panels with Mustard Seed Distress ink, I adhered them to the green scalloped mats. For the inside, I applied thin strips of foam tape on 3 sides of the panel, then adhered it in place. (Leaving the fourth side open gives me a place to slide in the tag.) I cut a tag from orange cardstock, created a hole reinforcer with the smallest of Simon Says Stamp's "Stitched Circles" dies, punched a hole, and threaded some fibers through.

For the belly band, I cut a piece of green cardstock and punched the 2 long sides with a Fiskars border punch (exact name unknown). I adhered a length of rose-colored ribbon to that, and adhered a piece of yellow polka dot paper over the ribbon. I used my ATG gun to adhere one half of the band to the center back of the card. You then just wrap the rest of the band around the card and tie the ribbon to keep the card shut. Once I had that in place, I adhered the front image panel to the band with some foam tape.