Happy Birthday #60

A friend commissioned me to make a birthday card for her husband. He is a woodworker, so she wanted a woodworking theme of some sort. I couldn't find any woodworking imagery per se (e.g. tools) that really worked for a birthday card, so I incorporated other elements.

For design inspiration, I perused my Pinterest board I have saved birthday cards on. I found this one, & liked the overall layout & how the greeting ran vertically rather than horizontally. So I decided to go that route.

I began with the balloons. I die cut the large balloon with a "Nesting Balloons" die from Paper Rose from cherry wood veneer paper that I've had in my stash for years. I die cut "60" from the balloon with the "Little Numbers" from My Favorite Things (discontinued), as the recipient was turning 60. I also die cut the numbers from gold mirror cardstock. I backed the balloon with kraft cardstock, & inlaid the numbers. I made sure also to add the inside bits of the numbers that had been die cut from the wood paper. For the 2 cardstock balloons with a woodgrain pattern, I first die cut the balloons, and then stamped the woodgrain with a slightly darker color ink, using the "Tree Ring Background" stamp from Concord & 9th. I cut another balloon from a plaid paper from Recollections, & a fifth from an inky technique piece that's been sitting on my desk for ages. I tied a string around the neck of each balloon, and set them aside while I worked on the rest of the elements.

For the presents, I decided to make them look like blocks of different species of wood. For the maple block, I just used a scrap of cream cardstock. I "dyed" another cream cardstock scrap with Seedless Preserves Distress ink, going direct-to-paper, for a purpleheart block. For the walnut, I used Walnut Stain to color a scrap of brown cardstock, again with the direct-to-paper technique. After drying those with my heat gun, I stamped the woodgrain pattern on each with darker shades of ink, using the "Designer Woodgrain" stamp from Hero Arts. Finally I stamped the gifts onto my scraps, using Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps' (now Creative Worship) "All Wrapped Up" (discontinued) for the 2 larger ones & Lawn Fawn's "Birthday Before 'n Afters" for the walnut block. I also stamped each gift box onto a scrap of a contrasting cardstock. I fussy cut the gifts, and then fussy cut the ribbons/bows from the plain cardstock pieces to glue on top. I also stamped the "maple" gift image onto a scrap of kraft cardstock & cut out just the tag. After I'd cut everything, I "painted" the edges with a black felt-tip pen to camouflage the paper core, & glued the ribbons & tag to their respective boxes.

I die cut the "happy" word from navy cardstock with the "Happy" die from Winnie & Walter (discontinued). I also cut it 5 more times from scraps of navy. After I embossed the first die cut with the "Woodgrain 3D" embossing folder from Honey Bee Stamps, I glued them all together for a stacked, chipboard-type word. I gold heat embossed the "birthday," from Altenew's "Birthday Builder" stamp set, on a scrap of Bazzill Icy Mint cardstock, and cut it into a label. I glued it over the descender in the "y," and added a few layers of cardstock to the end of the label that hung past the letter, just to keep it level when I glued it to the card.

I found a piece of tone-on-tone blue paper in an old patterned paper pad from Momenta. I thought it looked like a page from a notebook like a crafter would work out designs in, so it seemed serendipitously perfect. I cut it down for my background, & adhered it to a white 5x6" card base. I used liquid glue to adhere all my elements, running the balloon strings to end behind the presents. And that finished this card! It was a lot of work & took a lot of careful thought to follow the woodworking theme, but I really love how it came out in the end.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Seize the Birthday Challenge #309: Anything Goes

Inkspirational Challenge #346: "Birthday"

Ellibelle's Corner: "I Spy with My Little Eye - Something to Celebrate"

The Paper Funday Challenge #78: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Season's Greetings Mouse

This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is a sketch challenge. I followed the sketch pretty literally, just slightly changing the lengths of the strips going across to incorporate my greeting into the design better.

CCT July 2025 Sketch

I decided to pull out the "Merry Little Mice" stamp set from Honey Bee for my focal image. I actually got this set during their New Year's Eve sale last year, but it has sat in my as-yet-unused stash since. This seemed to be the perfect occasion to use it though.

I decided to begin with the background, since I was using white pigment ink & that would need time to dry. I got out my Penny Black "Dotlets" stencil (discontinued) & stenciled onto a panel of kraft cardstock with Lawn Fawn's Yeti ink. After I hit it with my heat gun to speed the drying a little, as well as letting it sit & air dry for a few hours, I replaced the stencil. I shifted the stencil slightly to one side & up, & inked over it again with Candied Apple Distress ink. My intended look was offset stenciling, but it didn't quite match my vision in the end. While the bit on each circle where the red ink is not over the white does look a hint darker if you look at it just right, it's not truly as noticeable as it should be. I'm not sure what happened, but I think maybe the kraft cardstock I used is just too pale to allow the darker ink color. I might need to experiment with this technique more. At any rate, I decided it's OK, & moved on.

I stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto a second piece of kraft cardstock. I don't often color on kraft cardstock with my colored pencils, but decided it would complement my stenciled panel better than white. I used my Prismacolor pencils, & then cut out the image with the coordinating die. Because the pencils covered some of the black stamped lines with a colored haze, I tried going over them with a black felt-tip pen. Unfortunately, the ink wouldn't really mark on the waxy finish, so I ended up using my black colored pencil. That worked much better, so a little pro tip there. Finally, I used a black glaze pen to go over the mouse's eyes & nose to give them a bit of shine.

For the greeting, I pulled out my "Sentiment Strips: Christmas" set from Pretty Pink Posh. I stamped it onto a scrap of white cardstock with the Versafine black ink. I cut it into a 3/8"-wide strip to match the 3/8" wide ribbon I wanted to use for the accent strip on my card.

To assemble the card, I first trimmed my stenciled panel to 4x5-1/4". I adhered green cardstock to my white A2 card base to mat my main panel. I cut a piece of patterned paper from the "Christmas Plaids" 6x6" pad from Recollections, & adhered that to my stenciled panel to go behind my mouse. I wrapped the striped ribbon around the panel & adhered the ends to the back. I added my greeting strip, & trimmed the ends slightly to fit the width of the panel. Finally, I adhered the stenciled panel to my card base, & glued the mouse on. I am really pleased with how this card came out, & will send it to Send a Smile 4 Kids. Hopefully it will bring some joy to a hospitalized child this coming holiday season!

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

Send a Smile 4 Kids: "Christmas in July 4 Kids"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #550: "Christmas in July"

The Paper Funday Challenge #78: "Anything Goes" (playing the "fun with stencils" optional twist)

Peace, Love, & Joy

This week at Christmas Card Throwdown is their "Pillar Tower Card" theme challenge. I had to look up how to make one, and found a good tutorial on Splitcoaststampers (which, unfortunately, I can't find now!). I decided to be a little extra on this one & use die cut trees for my panels rather than rectangles. Even with having to figure out how to make that work, this card didn't really take all that long.

I made a mock-up first with just scrap paper to see if my idea would work. Thankfully it worked without any difficulties. I began the actual card by choosing 7 patterned papers from an old pad from The Paper Studio. (My paper was single-sided, so I needed to glue my papers back-to-back to have patterns on both sides.) Two of the papers I actually found in my (ahem - vast) scraps collection, but for the rest I sadly had to cut into "virgin" sheets. I'm sure I'll use the large leftovers for something, though!

Once I cut my papers to size, I die cut each one, plus a piece of cream cardstock, with one of the "Nested Fir Trees" from Scrapbook.com. I used one of the cut trees from my mock-up as a pattern, & cut a small section off 3 of the trees. I glued those back-to-back with 3 uncut trees, & then used scissors to cut the uncut trees down. I just figured this would be easier than trying to cut everything first & then possibly have the straight edges not line up perfectly due to miscuts.

I made my pillar from a scrap of Bazzill Butter Mints cardstock. I cut it a little shorter than the full height of my card, since the trees obviously weren't rectangular & I didn't want my pillar to stick out at the top & bottom. I scored the 4-1/2 x 3-1/2" panel every 1" along the long side, folded & burnished along the score lines, then added glue to the 1/2" tab at the one end to glue the panel into a hollow rectangular prism shape. I was able to glue my trees to that, lining up the straight edge of each with one edge of the pillar.

After I cut the left section off my cream tree, I stamped a greeting from the "A Holy Holiday" by Paper Smooches (discontinued). (Having the side piece cut off made it much easier to line everything up in my MISTI stamp positioning tool.) I glued that to the last (uncut) patterned paper tree, cut off the excess as for the others, & glued that to my pillar. While I would have liked to have a star at the top, I couldn't make that work. (Believe me, I tried!) So this first Christmas card for our personal stash is done!

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

Paper Funday Challenge #78: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Creative Knockouts Challenge #550: "Christmas in July"

No One Elf

The theme this week for Christmas Card Throwdown's challenge is "Santa's Helper." For my card, I used this cute upside-down elf selfie image & greeting from the "Christmas sELFies" stamp set from My Favorite Things (discontinued).

I stamped the image onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. After heat setting the ink, I used my Inktense pencils & damp paintbrush to color the elf & ornament. I added a pale blue wash around the image, & dried it with my heat gun.

I die cut one of the frames from the "Polaroid Tag Set" from Mama Elephant from plain white cardstock. I adhered that over the image. Thankfully, the window in the frame was *just* the right size to cover the black border on the image, as I didn't want that line showing. Whew! The first time I adhered the frame, I actually had the image upside-down. I didn't even notice this until I used the frame-with-image to "audition" patterned papers! Fortunately, I had used double-sided tape to adhere the 2 together, so with a little Undu adhesive remover, I was able to flip the image panel around.

For the background, I found a scrap of an old patterned paper from The Paper Studio in my stash. I cut it to size, & matted it with green cardstock that I'd adhered to my A2-size white card base.

I stamped the greeting in 2 parts onto a scrap of Bazzill Icy Mint cardstock. I masked off the second part of the greeting with a small piece of painter's tape, inked up the rest of the stamp, removed the mask (always the most important step for this technique!), & stamped the text. I flipped the cardstock 180° & repeated the process to stamp the second part of the greeting. I cut them into small strips, & adhered them to the bottom of my frame, a little askew for a more playful look.

After I adhered my frame to my card (again - almost upside-down 😕), I die cut the clip from the "Polaroid Tag Set" from silver shimmer cardstock. The die actually cuts so you can fold the clip in half along the top. I suppose that's if you need the back to be as nice as the front. I didn't need that, though, so I just cut it in half at the top fold line, & glued it in place. Finally, I coated the ornament ball & jingle bell with Glossy Accents. I will send this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids later this year. Hopefully it will bring a smile to a hospitalized child's face.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Anything Goes"

Paper Funday Challenge #77: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday June/July challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create's June Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Yappy Mother's Day

Every year for Mother's Day, I create a card for my sister-in-law from their dog. This year the current challenges at Double Trouble Paper Crafting & Try a Sketch on Tuesday inspired my color choices & design. (Melissa Grant's card featured at TSOT inspired the stenciling on my card.)

Double Trouble's challenge, as usual, is a 3-2-1 Recipe challenge. The elements this month are 3 pastel colors (excluding neutrals), 2 words in one greeting, & 1 slimline card (either mini or full-size). You can exceed the numbers of elements, but need to include at least that many of each. I went with Tattered Rose, Squeezed Lemonade, & Cracked Pistachio Distress inks for my pastels; a 3-word greeting; & a mini slimline card.

I stamped the puppy from Hero Arts' "Fawn and Friends" stamp set (discontinued) onto a scrap of Strathmore vellum bristol paper, & colored it to look like their dog, Glennis. Then I die cut it with the coordinating die.

For the background, I used my chosen Distress inks to color over the "Gingham" stencil by Tim Holtz. Inspired by the sketch, I masked off each section as I ink blended, moving the masks as necessary.

I stamped my greeting with Lawn Fawn's "Harold's ABCs," using their Doe ink for a softer look. I cut each word into a strip, & inked the edges with the same Distress ink colors I'd used for the background, going in the same color order as I'd done the stenciling.

To ground the puppy, I die cut a heart from white cardstock with a die from the Nellie's Choice "Straight Heart" set (discontinued). I laid it on my background where I wanted it & made tick marks where it overlapped each stenciled section. I masked off each section as I'd done with the background & inked in the corresponding colors. Then I glued that to my background, & glued the puppy on top.

I adhered my greeting strips, angling them for a more playful look. Finally, I adhered my panel to a white mini slimline card base. All I have left to do now is add an inside sentiment, & this card will be ready to present.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Make It Girly"

Ellibelle's Corner: Ellibelle's Corner April Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Paper Funday Challenge #75: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Holiday Greetings - From Rudolph & Friends

This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Sparkle." The inspiration for my card came from this one by Teri Pocock that I had saved on one of my Pinterest boards. I added my sparkle with Christmas Red Stickles glitter glue on Rudolph's nose as well as fake "snow" flakes along the tops of my snowy hills.

I began by punching my reindeer heads with the Stampin' Up "Owl" punch (discontinued). I punched a total of 9, so that I had extras to layer behind each head for increased sturdiness. I inked the edges of each with Walnut Stain Distress ink, including the layering pieces. For the antlers, I used a branch die from Honey Bee Stamps "Lovely Layers: Winter Greenery" set. I die cut it twice from dark brown cardstock, & trimmed off bits to add to my reindeer. I used a 3/8" circle die from Waffle Flower's "Additional Circles" to cut 2 brown noses & 1 red one. I glued the antlers to the backs of the main head pieces, and then glued the layering head pieces on, sandwiching the antlers in between. I don't know if this truly gives the antlers extra strength, but I figure it can't hurt! I glued the noses in place, added a bit of blush to their cheeks with a pink Prismacolor pencil, & used a white gel pen to add freckles to each. Finally, I applied a generous coat of Stickles to Rudolph's nose, & set that aside to dry.

I cut a panel of light blue cardstock to 4x5-1/4" for my background. I used My Favorite Things' "Snow Drifts" dies (discontinued) to cut 2 snow hills for the front. To create the fence, I die cut brown cardstock with 2 of the "Barn Wood Planks" dies from Honey Bee Stamps multiple times. I cut them narrower & shorter, & then glued each to a scrap of kraft cardstock for sturdiness. I trimmed the kraft around each plank, & cut one end of each of the vertical pieces to a point. Then I glued the vertical planks to my background panel, & glued the horizontal piece on top.

I stamped my greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Merry and Bright" (discontinued) in Festive Berries Distress Oxide ink onto the bottom of my front snow bank. I heat set that, to keep the ink from smearing, & then glued down my snowy hills. To keep the hills level with the fence, I first glued a scrap of white cardstock to the bottom of my background, extending down from the bottom of the fence pickets, to support the hills. Finally, I added a bead of Glossy Accents to the top of each hill, & pressed clear iridescent flakes of "snow" into that. I set that aside to dry for a few hours.

After the Stickles & Glossy Accents had dried, I assembled my card. I added my deer heads with foam tape along the top of the fence. I glued on googly eyes to each with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. To finish, I added a red cardstock mat to my white A2 card base, & then adhered my panel to that.

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

Ellibelle's Corner: "Anything Goes"

Paper Funday: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

1 Sketch - 2 Cards

Christmas Card Throwdown has a Sketch Challenge this week. For both my cards, I was able to make use of scraps & frames from my stash, which always makes me happy!

I used images from the Essentials by Ellen "Santa's List" stamp set (discontinued) for both of my cards. I found a couple of chipboard frames in a desk drawer that I have had for years. I picked out one for each card to use for the smaller element in the sketch. 

For my first card, I stamped the reindeer onto a panel of Strathmore vellum bristol paper that I'd cut to fit behind the frame. I masked off the deer, and then stamped the tree from the set "behind" the deer & another on the right side of the panel. I masked the first tree I stamped & stamped a third tree next to it. I was very careful to make sure the baseline of each image that was behind another was higher in the scene than what was in front, to make sure they truly looked like they were in the background. I colored the images with my Prismacolor pencils, & then used white acrylic craft paint to splatter snow over the scene.

I covered the frame with a scrap of patterned paper that was larger than the frame. When the glue had dried, I used my craft knife to cut around the outside of the frame & cut out the center opening. After I used a nail buffer to smooth the edges, I inked around the inside & outside with Barn Door Distress Oxide ink to finish everything off. The frame already had holes punched in the bottom section, so punched through those in the patterned paper. I threaded some red ribbon through them & tied a bow in the middle. Finally, I glued my scene panel behind the frame.

I got my greeting from Simon Says Stamp's "Merry & Bright" stamp set (discontinued). I die cut 2 tabs from white cardstock with one of the "Tab" dies from Creek Bank Creations (one for each card), & stamped my greeting onto those. I glued one to to back of my reindeer frame so it peeked out from the top.

I adhered my patterned paper (again from my scrap stash) to the left of my card front, & then glued the frame on top. As a finishing touch, I added a drop of Christmas Red Stickles to the reindeer's nose. (I just had to make him Rudolph!)

I kept my design for my second card even closer to the sketch. I used most of the same processes & products to create this one. I stamped the sleigh onto a panel of vellum bristol. I also stamped Santa onto vellum bristol, and cut him out with the coordinating die. I stamped the list image onto a scrap of heavyweight white cardstock, & die cut that as well. I used my Prismacolor pencils to color Santa & the sleigh & sky on the image panel. I also added some shine to Santa's eyes & buttons with a black glaze pen. Then I glued the list to his hand & a bit behind the bottom corner of his coat.

To ink the edges of the frame, I used Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide ink. I glued the image panel behind my frame, and glued Santa on top. Because he overlapped the inner edge of my frame, I added foam tape under him in that part to give more support. I also used foam tape under the edge of the list that overhung the outer edge of the frame. I adhered my patterned paper panel to the card front, & then glued my frame element to the card. As a finishing touch, I squeezed a dollop of Tulip Puffy fabric paint to the pompom on top of Santa's hat. I let that dry (as per the instructions), and then steamed it with an iron to puff it up. I will send both cards to Send a Smile 4 Kids, hopefully to bring some holiday joy to a couple of hospitalized kiddos!

I'm also entering these cards in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Use Patterned Paper"

Send a Smile 4 Kids October Challenge: "Holiday/Celebration Cards 4 Kids"

Ellibelle's Corner October Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create October Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Die Cut Divas October Challenge: "Anything Goes on a Card for World Card Making Day"