A Little Birthday Wish

My Favorite Things Summer School Session 2 is in full swing this week. Day 2's lesson was on Focal Point. I created this pleated skirt card for a friend who has a birthday coming up.

I first created the pleated skirt portion, following the instructions in this tutorial at Splitcoaststampers.com. I didn't have any double-sided patterned paper that was suitable, so I cut a piece of floral paper & another piece of green that had a subtle check pattern (both from my scrap stash). I pretty much coated the back of the floral pattern with ATG adhesive, and adhered the green paper. That way, when I did my folds, the green paper peeks through from behind the floral one.

For the top of my card, I cut a piece of yellow cardstock so that it would cover the portion above the "skirt," but not extend below it. I stamped it with the "Delightfully Delicate Background" stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (apparently discontinued), using Hero Arts Butter Bar ink. It is very subtle tone-on-tone, but gives a bit of interest. I also stamped my greeting, from My Favorite Things "Birthday Greetings" set, in Memento Northern Pine ink.

For my focal point, I used a flower from My Favorite Things "Watercolor Flowers" stamp set (discontinued). I stamped the base layer with Lawn Fawn Wild Rose ink, the middle with Memento Lady Bug, and the top layer with Memento Love Letter ink. I stamped the center & the base of the leaves with Memento Olive Grove, and the second layer for the leaves with Northern Pine. To make the leaves look like they were under the flower, I stamped the base flower layer onto a full-sticky Post It note, and cut out just the portion where I wanted the leaves to go. I masked off my flower with that, and then stamped the leaves. Finally, I cut that piece with a "Stitched Circles" die from Simon Says Stamp. I did a bit of "outside the box" die cutting, since the leaves stuck out a little too much for that die. I fussy cut around the larger leaf, slipped the die under that, cutting side down, and ran it through my die cutting machine. That way, the leaf was not cut with the die.

I adhered the "skirt" portion to a white A2 card base, and adhered the yellow panel above it. I had to lift the top of the skirt piece up a bit, to tuck the yellow underneath. Then, I added a piece of blue satin ribbon as a "waistband," to cover the seam. I used Scor Tape to add a piece of fun foam to the back of my floral circle, so that it wouldn't get distorted when I adhered it over the ribbon & pleats. Finally, I used more Scor Tape to adhere that to my card. I added some Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops to the flower & leaves, for "dewdrops," and this card was done!