Sunflower Birthday Card

Hi everyone!  Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying a gorgeous autumn day!  I live in Atlanta, Georgia, and the weather has been so pretty--mid to upper 70's during the day and low 50's at night.  The breeze is blowing and we're far enough north in the state to enjoy the beautiful fall colors.  I have lived many places, but I have come to love Georgia very much.  We enjoy all four seasons here, but the temperatures remain fairly mild in winter, so we never freeze.

Today's project is a sunflower birthday card.  I used a few techniques on this card, including flocking.

This began with a landscape card base in kraft cardstock which I split into two sections, covering the top and bottom with coordinating patterned papers, and using a strip of faux leather paper with a ribbon over top in the center to cover the transition between the two.  For the bottom section, the paper was not the shade of green I needed, so I blended it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint.  Then I ran it through my crimper to give it the look of corrugated cardboard.  After matting the layers together on brown and gold mats, I paper pierced the outside edge and adhered it to my card base.  Hopefully, you can see the detail a little better in this photo.

The focal sunflower image is a wood mounted rubber stamp by Inkadinkado #92249.  I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black and inked the background with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy.  The image was colored with Letraset alcohol markers and, for an added touch, I flocked the flower centers in brown flocking. 

After the coloring and flocking process, I matted the image on golden and brown cardstock.  Then I cut some mats out of two shades of olive green using my Cricut Expression and the Lacy Labels Cartridge (ThnkgYou).  I love this cartridge and I have used it in many different applications.  In this case, the cut lends itself perfectly to the pattern in the background paper.  The final touch was to pierce the edges using templates from Stampin' Up.

I centered and adhered my focal image and then looked through my stash for some metallic elements to embellish it further.  I found an alphabet paper clip, as well as a small metal label holder, both by Tim Holtz.  However, neither were in a metallic shade that would go nicely with my project, so I got out some Rub-N-Buff and changed the finish to antique gold.  Instead of using the alphabet stickers that came with the paper clips, I got out my dimensional stickers and trimmed down a round sticker to fit just inside.  I used Glossy Accents to adhere it securely and added it to my focal image with a bow to finish it off.

For the label holder, I stamped a sentiment on golden cardstock and trimmed it to fit.  Then I trimmed a piece of acetate to fit just inside and sandwiched them together and adhered them both with Glossy Accents.  I then mounted the label holder to the bottom center of the focal image with brown brads and added a metal butterfly from my stash.

Once I was satisfied, I mounted the entire thing onto the card front using foam adhesive circles.

For the inside of the card, I wanted it to match, but not exactly, so I chose one pattern from the card front to cover it completely, but using the same faux leather in the center.  Earlier I had cut the same image from Lacy Labels but it was too small.  However, I believe in "happy accidents" and thought it was the perfect size for the sentiment on the inside.  :o)  I cut small mats from golden and brown cardstock and mounted them together, paper piercing around the edges.  Then I used my Fiskars Stamp Press (which is brand new and I LOVE it!!) to combine two images from different stamp sets for the sentiment.  I offset the sunflower to include only some of the words and combined it with my birthday sentiment.  I really like the way it turned out!  :o)  Then mounted it to the Cricut cut, but only adhering three sides and leaving the left edge loose so I could slip in two tickets stamped and die cut from one of my Whimsy Ticket sets.  I did not adhere them--they are meant to be removable. I finished it up with a matching ribbon bow.

Finally, I finished the back of the card with my logo, using another cut from the same Lacy Labels Cartridge (ThnkgYou).  It is one of my favorite cuts to use with my logo stamp.

Thanks for joining me today and I hope to see you again soon with another card!

 

Merilee



 

Recipe
Stamps:  Friendship Ticket Sentiments by Whimsy Stamps; Summer Assortment Mini and #92249 by Inkadinkado; Big Greetings by My Favorite Things
Cardstock and Patterned Papers:  Mosaic Memories by Recollections; Solid Colors and Specialty Papers by Recollections; Acetate-recycled blister packaging
Ink:  Memento-Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink-Peeled Paint, Brushed Corduroy; Versa Magic Chalk Ink-Jumbo Java
Ribbon:  Really Reasonable Ribbon-Silver and Gold Assortment
Markers:  Letraset Alcohol Markers
Cricut Cartridges:  Lacy Labels-Bliss; ThnkgYou
Other:  Glossy Accents; Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist-Lemon Zest; Michael's Dollar Bin Flocking-Dark Brown; Rub-N-Buff-Antique Gold; Tim Holtz Metal Embellishments
Tools:  Cricut Expression Machine; Martha Stewart Scoreboard; Fiskars Paper Trimmer; Fiskars Crimper; Stampin' Up Paper Piercing Pack Essentials and Piercing Mat; CGull Tools; Tim Holtz Blending Tool
Adhesives:  ATG gun; Hot Glue Gun; Zots; Foam Adhesive Circles, Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive; Flower Soft Glue