Hi, everyone! I’ve got a bright, cheerful, very blinged out birthday card to share today, featuring the candle border from the Designer Birthday Cake stamp set from Streamside Studios.
I colored in the candles using a rainbow color palette. Using the largest die in the Slimline Scallop Frame die set from Simon Says Stamp, I die cut six frames from white card stock and glued them together in a stack to form the walls for my shaker card. Into the shaker, I put some micro beads, some flat, iridescent sequins and quite a few “diamonds” from Kort & Godt, before adding a piece of acetate to seal the shaker. I die cut one last scallop frame to put on top, this time from a super glittery silver card stock from Kort & Godt. It’s very sparkly, and the glitter doesn’t rub off, I love it. I die cut Happy birthday from the same cardstock and adhered the letters onto the acetate to finish the card.
Lots of colors for this one. That happens with rainbows 🙂
I stamped 
I used one of the Precious Polaroids dies from My Favorite Things, as well as a wishes die from Mama Elephant. I die cut both four times from Blue Yonder card stock from My Favorite Things and stacked them for a dimensional look. Directly onto the card base, I used a blender brush from Taylored Expressions with Classic Kraft ink from Papertrey Ink over a Tim Holtz mini layering stencil to create some interest in the background. I stamped selected words from two sentiments from the 
I’m woefully short on envelopes to fit A2 cards, and definitely didn’t have any blue, kraft or white ones to go with my card, so I pulled out my A2 V Flap Envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp and created one using scraps of patterned paper from Papirdesign. Blue with snowflakes, can you get any better for a blue, wintery birthday card?
Very limited color palette this time, but it’s no wonder given the size of the image. I also used B90 for the hat, which is a color I’ve made myself.
I went with a combo of cool Copic colors and even used the E80s, which I hardly ever use. I cut my colored piece down using a faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things.
I used some old scraps of patterned paper to create this card. On my desk I have a container of scraps of patterned paper that I’ve cut down to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″, making them very convenient to use. The paper I used to cover the entire front of the white card base is from My Mind’s Eye (it’s the same sheet as the one I used for the sentiment banner), the one with the white lines running through it is from Autumn Leaves, from their Manhattan line, which happens to be from 2007. I definitely have some old papers in my stash. The lightest piece is from Kaisercraft. I decided to add dark blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to break a little from the monochromatic patterned paper I had going, and also to reintroduce the blue from the image, even though I really like the grayish teal of the jacket and the patterned paper scraps.
I stamped the sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and die cut it using one of the fishtail flag frames dies from My Favorite Things.
Quick and easy coloring of this one without too many colors. As usual when I color snow, quite a few of the colors were used for the snow alone. I also used BG71 on the jacket, which is a color I’ve made myself.
I started by coloring my image. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do when I started, so I lightly traced a circle and colored everything inside. Using a peachy pink combo with the fairly light blue helps sell the idea of this not being a holiday card.
Once the image was all colored up, I took the same die that I’d used to trace my coloring area to die cut circle windows in four panels of white card stock, before adhering them together for a dimensional look, making sure the window was in the same spot on each of them. I used the Detail Ringlet Plate from Simon Says Stamp to die cut from another piece of white card stock. Lining up the circle once more, I die cut a window from this layer, trimmed 1/8″ off from each side and added it to the stack of die cuts I already had. I glued the colored piece behind the window, and adhered everything onto a card base made out of Berry Sorbet card stock from Papertrey Ink.
Using the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp, I die cut three pieces from white card stock and one from a piece of X-Press It that I’d colored with the same peachy pink Copic combo that I used on my image. I glued all four pieces together for a dimensional look, and used a shimmer spray on top for some sparkle, before adhering the stacked die cut to the front of the card, before adding a few blue enamel dots from Papirdesign as a finishing touch. I didn’t have a colored envelope to match, so I used a white one from My Favorite Things instead.
Not a whole lot of colors for this one. I have, however, used quite a few colors to color in the snow. B41 was used for the sky, but the rest of those light blues, the BV20 and the BG0000 were all used for the snow, as well as the blender. For the sky I also used B40, which is a color I’ve made myself.
I have a great crafty friend who suggested I 
Starting with the raised die cut inlay card, I did some serious ink blending. I love the look of ink blending, but I have a shoulder that protests every time I do it, meaning it doesn’t happen every day. I don’t have colored inks from MFT, so I used the brands I have and made it work. I used Hero Arts Wet Cement and Papertrey Ink Soft Stone inks for the gray balloon, Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores and Distress Ink Speckled Egg for the teal balloon, and Altenew Dark Night, Azurite, Ultramarine and Eastern Sky for the blue balloon.
Once the panel was inked, I used the Big Birthday Wishes die to die cut the panel, making sure to keep all the little pieces for the stacked inlay technique. I die cut five more pieces from white card stock and stacked all the individual letters, putting the inked piece on top, giving me a total of six layers for each letter. I no line colored a few of the bears from the Bitty Bears stamp set to look like polar bears, and added them to the big letters at the top.
For the second card I used the same color inks to ink blend the balloons, cut off the edges to make it a smaller panel and used the negative of a die cut for the shaker window. I built up the walls of the shaker using thin strips of white card stock. I’m not a fan of foam tape for shaker windows, I prefer to take the extra time and effort to build dimension with cardstock. It’s fiddly and time consuming, but I love it!
I glued the negative die cut onto a piece of acetate, and filled the shaker with the Starry Sky Mix of jewels from Pretty Pink Posh before adding the piece of acetate and negative die cut on top, sealing in the jewels. The colors of the jewels are perfect for the color palette I was going for. I glued the finished shaker piece onto a top fold card base I made from Berrylicious card stock, and my card was finished.
I had so much fun creating these two cards, but will admit that I struggled with which bears to use, I’d colored all but one bear from the stamp set. Indecisive is my middle name. So is procrastinator, perfectionist and a whole bunch of other descriptors.
All the bears (except for the one that couldn’t fit on this panel) all colored up like polar bears. While the stamps were still in my Misti, I used a Memento Rich Cocoa dual marker on the eyes, noses and mouths and stamped them on top of the fadeout ink from Inkon3 I’d already used. This is a trick I like to use, and it saves me from having to draw eyes and mouths in after my coloring and risk ruining my images.
Last, but not least, the colors I used. Not a lot, but enough to make these cute bears look like polar bears and for them to match the color palette for the MFT color challenge.
I colored the image with Copics before fussy cutting right up to the black lines. I contemplated leaving a white border, but opted for this look in the end. I feel it’s cleaner, somehow.
For the background I used the Detail Ringlet Plate from Simon Says Stamp on a piece of Sweet Blush card stock from Papertrey Ink, and glued it onto a cardbase made from Stamper’s Select White card stock, also from Papertrey Ink. It’s my favorite white cardstock, and whiter than anything else I’ve tried, which ticks of a huge box for me! I used Gina K. Connect liquid glue on the back of my image to adhere it to the textured background.
I die cut the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp five times from Spring Rain card stock from Papertrey Ink, glued them together for a stacked look and adhered the layered die cut directly on top of the cake and the textured pink background. I stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from the Bitty Bears stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a scrap piece of Spring Rain cardstock, cut it down to a strip and added four more behind it, making it flush with the die cut above. I finished the card by adding a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
Those stacked die cuts add a lot of dimension to an otherwise very simple card. I pulled out an envelope from My Favorite Things in the color Blue Breeze to match the card, it’s uncanny how well the Blue Breeze color from MFT matches the Spring Rain color from PTI.
Simple images don’t require a lot of colors. However, in addition to these, I did use B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.
I started by coloring my little snowman and his friend using my Copics. I went with a bit of a split complementary color scheme on this one. I’m no fan of complementary colors, but split complementary are infinitely better, and blue green (which I used for the snow on the snowman), purple and orange are split complementary colors. I didn’t want a bright orange, though, so I went more coral, and I love how it turned out.
I used a faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into a nice panel. I love these dies, they add such a finished look. I sprinkled on a moderate amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the powder. I love the snowy look this gives.
I mounted my die cut piece onto a card base made from Lavender Fields cardstock from My Favorite Things using plenty of foam tape. This color perfectly matched the purple in my image, something I always try to accomplish in my cards for a nice, cohesive design. I die cut and stacked four Hurra from Melon Berry cardstock from Papertrey Ink using a Kort & Godt die. I love stacking die cuts, it adds a super nice look of dimension. I also white heat embossed a sub sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto more of that Lavender Fields cardstock, and stacked that, as well, making it flush with the die cut word.
I added a couple of sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and my card was complete. I cut a little bit off the largest one with my scissors to make it look like it’s tucked behind that sentiment strip.
Last, but not least, the Copic markers I used to color my image. I also used B40 and BG71, which are colors I’ve made myself.
This first one might not even technically be a proper slimline card. It’s about 7-3/4 x 3-3/4″. I’ve used beautiful patterned paper from P13 for both my cards. I wanted the paper to be the hero, so I didn’t do too much to it. The sheet I used for this card is 
I used a 
My second card uses a different part of that same sheet of patterned paper, as well as the same slimline die from Pinkfresh Studio. The sentiment is even die cut using a die from the same set as the sentiment on my first card. 
On this one I have four layers stacked on top of each other, then a vellum circle, then another four layers of the negative word die, making this sentiment really stand out as a statement on my card. 
I colored in my little scene using more Copics, die cut that using the same die, then fussy cut around the trees, snow and house. I added a sprinkling of snow by heat embossing chunky white embossing enamel on both panels. I glued my blue background to a cardbase I made from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added the rest of the scene on top using 1 mm foam squares – lots of them! I added a stacked die cut sentiment using a die from the So Many Snowmen die set from Mama Elephant and my card was done.
I didn’t use too many colors on this, and most of these were actually used on the sky and the snow.
This is a small, but mighty one. It may look very unassuming as a 2-3/4″ square shaker card, but there’s a secret. It opens up to be quite big in the end. The shaker itself is filled with sequins, gems and a few die cuts in colored cardstock die cut using one of the dies in the Tag Builder Blueprint 5 set. I cut them down a little with my scissors and cut the ends off so they wouldn’t get tangled inside the shaker.
The gorilla from the Picture Perfect Party Animals stamp set covers the entire front, but there’s a magnetic flap on the back, and once you undo that, more is revealed.
Flip the gorilla over, and you’ve got more animals ready to join the party. I used the yellow polka dot pattern from the Party Patterns paper pad for even more fun and a way to get even more happy color into my card. These three panels are flaps that open to the sides (two to the right and one to the left) to reveal even more…
The last three (technically four, since there are two parrots in that one selfie) animals are ready to party. They’re tucked inside pockets, and I’ve stamped a couple of the sentiments that come with the stamp set onto Razzle Berry heavyweight cardstock from MFT and heat embossed them. That pink really packs a punch. I die cut my sentiments using the largest of the Fishtail Flag Frames dies, and cut down another patterned paper from the Party Patterns paper pad to strips that included the yellow, green and pink colors that I have throughout my card. I also added some die cut streamers from the Tag Builder Blueprint 5 die set using Razzle Berry, Pineapple and Limelight cardstock, all from MFT.
You can pull the selfies out of their pockets, and there’s room to write a personal message to the birthday boy or girl on the back of the selfies. The best thing about this card is that no specialty dies are required, this is all done with a paper trimmer, score board, bone folder, craft knife and a steel ruler. I prefer the craft knife and steel ruler over the paper trimmer, but that goes way back to my days of creating architectural models. Those knives are handy!
There you have it, my entry for the Innovation Master category for MFT’s annual superstar contest.
Papirmølla 