After making the decision many years ago to blog with a new project every day I’ve made thousands! Since I started counting I’ve designed 391 bookmarks, 100 boxes/bags, 224 gift card holders, 248 gift tags plus lots of other projects. Today’s card is number 2365. The inspiration, as so often happens, came from patterned paper. This pretty floral design with tiny butterflies is another from the Symbols of Fortune 12″ x 12″ Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. For the birthday sentiment I used the Timeless Tropical Stamp Set.

SYMBOLS OF FORTUNE

As soon as I saw the pretty flowers and butterflies on this paper I was smitten. The colour combination called to me too and I love the way the Calypso Coral flowers really stand out. I didn’t want to distract from that and so I chose two other colours from the DSP for my card layers.

First, using my Paper Trimmer I cut and scored some Crumb Cake Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to make the card base.

Next I cut a 2-7/8″ x 4-5/8″ piece of the DSP. Then using a Blending Brush I added a light touch of Soft Succulent ink around the edges just to soften them a little. With that done I cut a 3″ x 4-3/4″ piece of Soft Succulent Card and mounted the paper onto it using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Then with more liquid glue I fixed the assembled layers onto the front of my card base.

I’d already decided to make the most of this Symbols of Fortune design so now turned my attention to the coordination for the rest of the project.

I began by cutting a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece and glued it to the flap of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Then with Paper Snips I trimmed off the excess paper using the edge of the flap as a guide. To further coordinate with the card front I put some scrap paper under the flap, then brushed Soft Succulent ink around the edges of the DSP.

My final piece of the DSP was cut at 3/4″ x 5-1/4″. I glued this down the right-hand edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. Then I fixed the completed layer inside the card base.

SIMPLE ACCENTS

Now I was ready to add the accent pieces and sentiment to the front of the card.

I began by choosing “May your birthday be memorable” from the Timeless Tropical Stamp Set. This makes a nice change from the basic “happy birthday” and while not small, is still compact. Using Evening Evergreen ink (inspired by the butterflies) I stamped the sentiment onto Very Vanilla Card. Then I punched it out with the Everyday Label Punch.

Instead of trying to hand cut a mat for the sentiment I decided to keep it simple. After pulling out my Brushed Metallic Cardstock I found a couple of smallish scraps. The copper coloured piece was 2″ x 2-1/2″ and had a hole in it where I’d previously die-cut a flower. The smaller bronze piece was 1-3/8″ x 1-3/4″ and contrasted nicely. They would be perfect.

So using liquid glue I attached the smaller piece onto the larger one, hiding about half of the hole. Then, making sure I covered the rest of the hole, I attached the sentiment on top using Stampin’ Dimensionals. With that done I added more Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back of the assembled sentiment before adding it to the card front.

All I needed now was one final touch, some Very Vanilla embellishments from the new Classic Matte Dots. I chose one 4mm dot and two of the 3mm dots and placed them in a line in the top right-hand corner. These really finished off the design and my project was finally complete.

I’m really pleased with how this project turned out. It’s got a softness to it that I honestly didn’t expect when I started designing the card. As someone who would never call themselves an artist, I never fail to be surprised at what I can create using stamps, ink and paper. Do you ever feel like that?

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