Simple Birthday Card

I can't resist pretty paper, especially when it is on sale.  I am sure this is an affliction that I share with many of you.  I wouldn't dare to tally up my paper stash but I have no doubt that I could spend a year crafting and I wouldn't run out (but I might not always have the perfect color...that's why we buy so much, right?).

Sometimes papers are just "too pretty to use" but I am working on conquering my reluctance to use them.  No matter how pretty the paper is - there is always new paper coming out that is even prettier and we need to make room for it!

 

I've had this pad of double-sided paper by Susan Winget called Spring Blossom for quite a while.  I was lucky to find it on clearance for about $8.  The large floral designs are beautiful but not something that I would generally use for a scrapbook page.

I chose this sheet of daisy paper and looked at it carefully to find a section that would work well for a card front.

Sometimes I cut pieces from the center but in this case the top left corner was just right.

The large daisy fits neatly in the typical A2 card size and there is a nice "blank" space for stamping the sentiment.  The "Happy Birthday" is from one of the stamp sets that comes with the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I stamped it with brown ink - I thought black would be too harsh on the pretty watercolor design.

The card base is pink shimmer cardstock.  Even though I am trying to use my paper stash, I still like to be "green" and conserve my supplies.  I've showed this little trick before (but not for a while...).  When I am simply matting a card layer, I often cut another shape from the bottom layer.  In this case I used a scalloped oval Nestabilities die from Spellbinders. 

This is the side that will be adhered to the card front.  There is plenty of room for the adhesive around the edges.

The brown layer adds a nice frame to set off the floral paper from the pink card base.  I cut the brown cardstock at 4 x 5 1/4 inches and trimmed the floral layer a bit smaller to leave just a thin line of brown showing.

I will keep the cut and embossed oval shape in a dish on my table and it will probably show up on another card soon.  Sometimes when I don't know what I want to make I "browse" through my extra bits and pieces and find interesting combinations.

I used a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set called Geometric Frames to make a mat to write the message inside.  My punched edge was slightly misaligned  (look carefully at the corner) but I was planning to add some flowers to the inside and I knew that they would cover this.

The green flower was too light and bright so I inked it a bit with some Crushed Olive Distress Ink.  Here you can see the before and after.

I added a smaller white flower and held them together with an antiqued frosted gem brad in pink.

The card front is very plain so I decided to add pink pearls in three corners to coordinate with the flower inside.

I also added some pink pearls on the lower right corner of the mat inside the card.

This card was for our niece and when I was wrapping her gift I noticed that the pattern on the inside of the fabric card holder had a design very similar to the punch that I used - almost like I planned it!

It is a nice change to make the card front very simple and then add more decoration inside the card. 

We will be off on some adventures today - we might even end up in Salem (always a fun place to visit this close to Halloween!).

I hope you have a great Friday and a crafty weekend planned!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  For the rest of the month, everyone who leaves a comment on my blog will have a chance to win this Sizzix "Scrap Pink" set.  You can see more photos and details at THIS POST.  For more chances, you can leave a comment everyday for the rest of the month - but just one comment per day please.

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