Birthday Bridge Card

Ellen Hutson has their September Pin-Sights challenge up. In fact, this is the last day to enter! I created this card for a friend of mine whose birthday is coming up soon.

Pin-Sights challenge mood board

I decided, after reading this tutorial, to make a bridge card. A special card for a special friend! I created the card base from white 110 lb. cardstock. I cut patterned paper strips from 2 papers in Graphic 45's "Couture" 6x6" pad. I matted them with navy, and adhered them in place on the card base.

For the focal image, I used the Essentials by Ellen "Mondo Magnolia" stamp set. The full flower was a bit too large, but fortunately, the coordinating die set has a die that cuts out the middle section of petals. I stamped it on Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper with Versamark ink, & heat embossed with Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing powder.

I colored the flower with 2 blue Tombow markers, using a water brush to help blend the colors & add shading. I did the center with an orange marker. Because the flower was on a different paper than the card base, I knew the whites wouldn't match, so I just colored the edges of the flower blue. Finally, I die cut it with the coordinating die.

Another view of the card

I wanted leaves, but the "Mondo Magnolia" set has none. So I pulled one of the dies in the "Wild Garden" set, also from the Essentials by Ellen line. I die cut it 3 times from a scrap of bristol, and colored it with a teal-green Tombow marker & water brush. To tie in with the gold embossing, I painted around the edges of the leaves with gold paint from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set. The die cuts out the inner portion of the leaf, but I wanted the whole thing intact. So I just adhered the die cut leaves to white cardstock, & fussy cut around them.

For the greetings, I pulled stamps from 2 sets: Winnie and Walter's "The Party," & My Favorite Things' "Birthday Greetings." I stamped the latter onto a panel of white cardstock that I had matted with navy, and gold heat embossed it, before adhering it to my card base. For the "Happy Birthday," I cut a piece of the striped patterned paper I'd used for two of the vertical panels. It has a mottled teal pattern on the back side, so I stamped & heat embossed on that. I matted that strip with navy as well, adhered it to the "bridge" strip for my card, and used Scor Tape to adhere that to my card base. Finally, I glued my flower & leaves in place, and the card was finished!

I'm also entering my card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.