Happy Birthday

 

My aunt's birthday is coming up, so I decided to make her a card. Because she lives in Florida, I wanted to use Hero Arts' "Color Layering Hibiscus" stamp set & coordinating dies (discontinued). To get inspiration, I did a search for that set on Pinterest, & found this card by Yana Smakula. I liked the frame idea, so decided to use that & build my card around it.

I first stamped out my flowers & leaves. I used photos of hibiscus flowers to guide my color choices. For the second layer of the pink hibiscus, I used the same pink ink I had for the first layer, just stamping it multiple times to build up the color. For the stamen, I used gold embossing powder on the orange hibiscus, & yellow on the pink ones, just for a little something different. However, I apparently didn't stamp the flowers exactly "right," & the dies wouldn't line up properly. So I fussy cut those. Thankfully, I was able to die cut the leaves. Lesson learned - die cut the flowers first and then stamp!

I cut my white frame first, since I knew it would be the larger element. I used a paper trimmer to cut the main piece, then used a Waffle Flower "Nesting Squares" die to cut out the opening. I then cut another frame piece from black cardstock. Before I cut the inside window, I marked where I wanted the happy to die cut. I used the happy die from Spellbinders' "Happy Birthday Banner" die (discontinued) & partial die cutting to cut the word from where the window would go. Then I used a craft knife & ruler to cut the remainder of the window. The "Happy Birthday Banner" cuts the word both right side up & upside down (connected to each other), so you can fold it over a string to make a banner. So once I'd cut away the excess of the window, I folded the upper part of the letters over, & glued them to the back of the lower part, to provide a little more reinforcement. I stamped the birthday, from Altenew's "Birthday Builder" set, on the white frame, & adhered the black frame behind the white.

For some added interest in the background, I embossed a white panel with the "Lumber" 3-D embossing folder by Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I matted that with black, adhered it to a white A2 card base, and arranged my flowers, leaves, & frame. I glued everything down flat, except for the flower in the upper right corner, which I popped up with foam tape.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

 

Aud Sentiments Challenge #277: "Anything Goes Plus a Sentiment"

Dies R Us Challenge # 171: "Anything Goes with Any Brand of Die that DRU Sells" (used Spellbinders die"