Hamsterific Birthday | September 2023

For this birthday card, I’m using some supplies that were already in my stash from My Favorite Things (MFT) and Mama Elephant that I just didn’t think I showed enough love to during their initial release.

I started this project by cutting a piece of diagonal striped patterned paper from the My Favorite Things “Time to Celebrate” paper pad and trimmed it to measure 5” x 5”. I took the paper and cut a hole in the center using a circle die from the Hero Arts “Nested Circle Infinity Dies. For the decorative trim for the circular hole, I used the “Nested Decorative Circles” dies (the middle sized one that looks rainbow-ish) from Scrapbook.com and a piece of black cardstock, then glued this trim piece to what will be my card front.

Using a scrap piece of white cardstock and the hamster with balloons stamp from Mama Elephant’s “Celebration Hamsters” stamp set, I stamped and used my Prismacolor Premier colored pencils to color the balloons in colors that closely resembled the stripes of the MFT paper for the card front, as well as colored in the little hamster. I also stamped a sentiment from MFT’s “Itty Bitty Celebrations” onto white cardstock, used Simon Says Stamp Black Ultra Fine Embossing Powder, and heat set the birthday greeting. When the heat embossing cooled, I cut out the sentiment using Avery Elle’s “Simple Sentiment” dies.

Since this card was going to be a shaker, I cut a piece of acetate and glued it to the back side of the hole in the card front and added strips of foam tape around the edges of the card front and around the edges of the hole in the middle. I filled the well (the center of the cardstock that is covered with acetate and surrounded by foam tape) with a few different types of clay bits I had in my stash and carefully placed this aside so I could work on the card base.

For the card base, I cut a piece of 110# cardstock to measure 10” x 5” and scored it on the long measurement at five inches. I used another piece of patterned paper from the MFT “Time to Celebrate” paper pad and glued it to the front side of the card base. Next, I carefully removed the backing from all the foam tape and adhered the card base to the shaker card front. WHEW!! That part is always sketchy for me!

Now for final assembly. I added Simon Says Stamp 3D Foam Squares to the back of the sentiment strip and hamster with balloons image and adhered those to the card front.

My final touch was adding Pink & Main “Musical” enamel dots in random places on the card front for some additional interest. Project complete!

I hope you enjoyed the card. Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…

Happy Birthday Bear

I purchased this adorable Gerda Steiner stamp set when it was released, but only now am I getting the opportunity to use it. Shame on me!

I began creating this card by using Waffle Flower's "Confetti Foil Plate" and the Gemini Foil Press along with Spellbinder's "Rainbow" foil to hot foil the metallic-looking confetti on the base panel for the card. I trimmed this panel to be 4-1/4" x 5-1/2". Next, I cut two more cardstock panels - one from turquoise cardstock and the other from white Canson Bristol Smooth cardstock.

My next step was to stamp the images I wanted to use on the card front from Gerda Steiner's "Birthday Bear" stamp set using Lawn Fawn's Jet Black ink pad onto the Bristol Smooth cardstock. I colored the images using a combination of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, Karin Star Sparks DecoGel pens and Sakura Glaze pens. Once the gel pens dried, I cut out the image using the Brother Scan 'N Cut and attached it to the card front using Spellbinders White Foam Squares.

I attached the stamped card panel to the turquoise panel, followed by adhering those two to the hot foiled panel, then glued all the panels to an A2 size top folding card base. My last task was to add some Pink & Main "Floral Pumpkin Sparkle Dots" to random locations on the decorated panel for a touch a magic.

Thanks again for stopping by to check out my card... I appreciate you doing so!

Katzelkraft Foxy Birthday Card

Hi Friends! Today I’m sharing a birthday card I created for my niece. I thought this fantastic stamp from Katzelkraft - Renards Tandem – was the perfect image for my focal point. Let’s get started!

To start the card front, I used Paul Rubens metallic watercolor paints on a piece of cold press watercolor paper. The colors I used are: C4627, C425, C400 for sky colors and C4628, C303 for the transition colors to the pathway. When the watercolor paint dried, I stamped the cobblestone pathway along the bottom edge of the paints using a My Favorite Things stamp called ‘On Solid Ground’ then cut the panel to an A2 size using the Paper Rose ‘Stitched Rectangles’ die.

My next step was to stamp the ‘Renards Tandem’ image onto a piece of white cardstock. I colored the image using Prismacolor Premier colored pencils and added metallic accents on the bike using Hana’s Kawaii Crafts (Etsy seller) mica watercolor paints in the colors Electric for the light bulb on the bike and Tinsel for the silver metallic portions of the bike. I then used my Brother Scan n Cut to cut the Renards Tandem image. LOVE my Scan n Cut machine!

For the cobblestone pathway, I colored it using the Prismacolor Premier pencils and used a Tombow water-based marker in color N35 to fill in the space in between the stones. Next, I added Simon Says Stamp 3D Foam Squares to the back of my bicycle image and set it aside while I stamped the Altenew “Birthday Builder” greeting to the painted card front panel.

Once the card front was completed, I attached the colored Renards Tandem image so that it was partially on the cobble stone path to give the appearance of the foxes riding the bike down a street. I finished the card by adding Trinity Stamps “Crystal Ball Dewdrop Baubles” here and there on the card front for a little bling and attached the decorated card front panel to an A2 sized card base to complete the card.

I hope you enjoyed this cute foxy card. Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…