Hawaiian Inspired Birthday

My inspiration for this card came from two of the challenges on splitcoast, the sketch challenge and the free for all challenge. I don't always get a chance to make cards for the challenges and I wish I could since it gets the "creative juices flowing". The only thing stamped on this card is the sentiment, all of the other elements come from the Ice Cream Parlor Paper & Accents Pack. When I saw that the free for all challenge was called "Aloha Friday", I knew the colors from the ice cream parlor pack would be perfect and once I saw the sketch challenge everything just fell into place. The card base is a standard A2 card in whisper white card stock layered with a piece of blushing bride card stock and designer paper from the ice cream parlor pack. The scallop border strip was attached to hide the seam of the designer paper. I attached the flower accents to squares of whisper white card stock and layered the white squares onto squares of card stock that were the same color as the flower accents. Using the square scallop punch, I punch out four squares in whisper white card stock and attached the flower layers. The scallop squares were attached to the card with dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap piece of whisper white card stock with melon mambo ink and punch it out using the word window punch. I added rhinestones to each of the flower centers and to the sentiment for some added "bling".

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait, Marina Mist, Blushing Bride, Ice Cream Parlor Paper & Accents Pack; Ink: Melon Mambo; Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Scallop Square Punch, Word Window Punch, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Pink Cupcakes Square

I usually have a hard time using the smaller stamp images but if I can group the images together in a cohesive way I find it much easier to work with them. For this card I stamped the cupcakes 3 times and the sentiment once and punched them out using the 1" circle punch and mounted them to 1 1/4" circles that I had punched from the pink pirouette card stock. I laid out the circles on my grid paper to determine what size to create the square and then cut the card stock as needed. The white card square is cut at 3 3/8" and the pink pirouette is cut at 3 1/2" square. I pierced the layers before I added my circle images which were mounted using dimensionals. To get the images lined up I used my grid paper as a guide.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Pink Pirouette DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Old Olive; Stamps: Darling Dots, Birthday Bliss; Other: Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Crystal Effects, Grid Paper, Dimensionals

Monochromatic & Feminine Birthday

This is another card I made for one of my co-workers. I kept this card monochromatic and feminine by using the color rose red, adding ribbon, a scallop border and a rhinestone brad. This card could easily be changed into a masculine card by changing the color to blue or green. I would also change the ribbon to a strip of card stock and instead of a scallop border either no border or torn card stock with the edges inked to age it and maybe add a tied button or plain brad to replace the rhinestone brad. The next time you have an image that is gender neutral, try experimenting with colors and various design elements to see how you can make them work to be masculine or feminine.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Rose Red DSP; Ink: Rose Red; Stamps: Block Party; Other: Scallop Border Punch, White Taffeta Ribbon, Rhinestone Brad, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Dimensionals

Masculine Birthday Bliss

Masculine cards always seem to be difficult for everyone, including me. I have found that it is best to keep things simple when making masculine cards. This card is very simple but graphic at the same time. The colors make it pop even though it is simple. The hardest thing on this card was cutting out the sentiment!

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Jersey Shore DSP; Ink: Garden Green, Brilliant Blue; Stamps: Birthday Bliss; Other: Dot Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Single Cupcake

February is a busy month for me as far as birthdays go. In addition to my daughter and grandson, I make birthday cards for all my co-workers and 5 of them have February birthdays. I try not to have repeats and/or similar cards for my co-workers and sometimes its a challenge to come up with something new and different. This card was given to a co-worker that I usually make pink cards for but I wanted to give her something different this year. I really like this cupcake stamp because it can be colored or paper pieced very easily. I decided to color it to coordinate with my background paper but I could easily have paper pieced it. The background paper is from Basic Gray and is called "Cupcake", how appropriate.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Pacific Point, Basic Gray Cupcake Pack; Ink: Black, So Saffron, More Mustard, Bashful Blue; Stamps: Wagon Full of Fun, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Pacific Point Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Word Window Punch, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Dimensionals