Happy Birthday to a Great Guy

a masculine birthday card

STRETCH YOUR PENNIESSTENCILTUTORIAL

12/24/20242 min read

Would you like to experiment with a design like this? Below, you'll find a supply list, including a link to the stencils 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 Layer: 5.25 x 4 **

Card Face: 5 x 3.75

** See Cheating on Layers and Borders under Stretch Your Pennies in the Header

Once again, this card began with a card face that had been stamped (the diagonal lines) but set aside to be finished another time. I love this stamp from Altenew and was happy to finish this piece.

Card Face:

After I laid the (stamped) card face on my Grip Mat I positioned the Multishadow stencil and went over the entire exposed surface with brown ink.
I removed that stencil and replaced it with the Shadowed With Love stencil. I used the openings selectively on the card face, moving them around and placing them strategically, inking with navy.
I used a ruler and a taupe marker to draw a border around each square.
I set the card face aside for a while to ensure that the ink was completely dry, and then I generously dusted the entire surface with anti-static powder.
I stamped the same firework image into each blue shape with Versamark embossing ink, masking when necessary to keep the image from extending into the background.
I sprinkled on copper embossing powder and set this with my heat gun after shaking off the excess.

Other:

I stamped the sentiment with embossing ink on a piece of scrap paper, added copper embossing powder and set it with my heat gun.
I used a stitched rectangle die to cut this down to the finished size.

Assembly

I glued the navy border layer to the card base, and then added the card face on top of both, centering on all sides for both layers.
I added dimensional foam tape to the back of the sentiment and put it in place as shown.
I added copper bling randomly to the card face.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I am happy with this very graphic-feeling masculine card.

The fireworks stamps in the blue squares and rectangles look more like blossoms : I would select a different stamp if I were to remake this design.

Supplies: (and links where possible)

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

Stencils:

Multishadow, A Colorful Life Designs

Shadowed With Love, A Colorful Life Designs

Waffle Flower Grip Mat, 8.5 x 6.5, Scrapbook.com

Versamark Embossing Ink: Simon Says Stamp

Copper Embossing Powder: Wow, Simon Says Stamp

Stamps: Woven Stripes, Altenew

Dies: Stitched Rectangles, Stampin’ Up! (retired)

Copper Bling: A Colorful Life Designs

Ink: Stampin’ Up!

Blending Brushes: Stampin’ Up!

Adhesive: Tombow Aqua, Michaels