Don't Bug Me!

a fun birthday card

TUTORIALSTENCIL

9/12/20232 min read

Would you like to experiment with a design like this? You'll find a supply list below, including a link to the stencil I used from A Colorful Life Designs . Follow the link and use discount code ChrisFan10 to save 10% on your entire order! (Master Creator Bundles are excluded as they already have a 20% discount built in.)

Let’s Get Started:

Card Base: 5.5 X 8.5, scored and folded at 4.25

Border: red cardstock, 5.5 x 4.25

Card Face: 5.5 x 4

Small Scraps of Cardstock for Sentiment and Bug

Card Face:

I secured the first layer of the stencil to the card face, grabbed an assortment of green inks and got to work.
I decided to mix blue greens and yellow greens on this card face, so I grabbed the lighter shade of each and applied the ink so that there were a variety of tones on the card face.
I removed the first layer, lined up the second layer and repeated the process with the darker shade of the inks.
I put the card face into my stamp positioner and stamped Happy Birthday in black ink directly onto the stencilled leaves. I stamped several times to get enough intensity to stand out against the green.

Other:

I had already stamped, coloured and cut out the little bug: he was patiently for his turn in my Ready To Go binder. However, when I cut him out I deliberately cut off his arms, legs and antenae as they would have been really difficult and time consuming to do well.
I positioned the stamp used to create him on my card front (which was still in the stamp positioner) and stamped a couple of times with black ink. I glued the coloured portion of the bug directly on top, and now the image was complete again.
I stamped and die cut the speech bubble sentiment.
I wasn't keen on all the white space, so I added tiny dots with a gold metallic pen.
I still felt that it needed "something" .... so I added small white dots on the leaves with a white gel pen.

Assembly:

I glued the red border layer to the card base, and the card face on top of both, centering vertically.
I glued the speech bubble in place as shown.
I put a tiny red gem into the open dot on the word "birthday".

Final thoughts:

This little guy looks pretty spiffy, balanced on his leaf . I learned the "stamp-cut-stamp" technique from watching Jennifer McGuire. Such a great tip!

Supplies: (and links where possible)

I have listed which products I have used, and where they may be purchased. It's a huge marketplace and in most instances there are multiple sources and many alternatives to choose from.

Stencil:

Stamps: Layered Fall Foliage, A Colorful Life Designs

Stamps: Bug - Globeland Cartoon Animals, Amazon

other stamps: Stampin' Up! (retired)

Ink: Stampin’ Up!

Memento Ink: Stampin’ Up!

Mint Tape:Scrapbook.com

Blending Brushes: Stampin’ Up!

White Gel Pens, Gelly Roll, Scrapbook.com

Metallic Glitter Pens: Kaisecraft, Scrapbook.com

Alcohol Markers

Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Up!