Masculine Birthday Card

The woman I send cards to for Send a Smile 4 Kids has mentioned a couple of times recently that she needs boy cards desperately. So I have been working to make some for my next shipment. This is one that was inspired by the "One Layer" challenge at A Blog Named Hero.

I remembered a lesson in the "Stenciled" class from Online Card Classes that I took ages ago. Jennifer McGuire demonstrated turning the "V-Pattern Mask" from Studio Calico (discontinued) into a diamond design. So I decided to combine that technique with the "LOL" stamp set from Hero Arts to create this one-layer birthday card.

I first stamped the phone from "LOL" in Versafine Onyx Black ink in the center of an A2-size panel of white cardstock. I also went ahead & stamped the greetings in Hero Arts Lime Green & Navy inks. I stamped the little hand icon with Hero Arts Stone Wash ink, & the 2 smiley face emojis with Simon Says Stamp Sunshine ink. The green & yellow inks kind of mooshed on the paper when they dried, so I ended up going over the letters in the greeting and the eyes & mouths on the smiley faces with a white gel pen. Finally, I masked off that area.

For my background, I used Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Lucky Clover, Evergreen Bough, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, & Blueprint Sketch Distress inks. I taped my stencil over my panel, and masked off on either side of one of the chevrons. I inked that, moved my masks, inked with the next color, & so on. The Blueprint Sketch ended up being too warm a blue, though, so I inked over that also with Mermaid Lagoon. Finally, I flipped the stencil around & went back the other way with the same colors.

I removed my mask, & drew 2 black lines along either side of the inked diamond pattern. All that was left then was to adhere my panel to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create #201: "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #134: "Feathers/Scales and/or No Patterned Paper" (obviously, the latter category)