Hope your birthday is ON POINT!

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.)

Explore New Design Techniques for Cardmaking.

Getting Started:

Card Base: 4.25 x 11, scored and folded at 5.5

Card Face: 4 x 5.25

A small scrap of card stock for the sentiment

Card Face:

• I played with the position of the stencil until I was satisfied and then secured it: this is a large 6 x 9 stencil so I had enough wiggle room to get the orietation the way I wanted it on the card.

• Using dye based ink and blending brushes, I added yellow at the top and bottom and a bright pink in the center. I blended gradually in the middle, creating an orange tone where the two colours overlapped.

• I spritzed the card face lightly with water: because I used a dye based ink the water began reacting as soon as it hit the surface. After a few seconds I carefully blotted the surface, and was left with the fun, textured look you see in the image.

Assembly:

• I centered the card face on the card base and glued it down

• I have a binder with a collection of words, die cuts and coloured images - I looked through that and very quickly decided that the little dancer would be perfect on this card. I glued her in place.

• Using my stamping platform, I stamped the Happy Birthday several times to give me a really intense image. I die cut this, added metallic thread on the back, then a dimensional and secured it to the front of the card.

Other:

• I added a small grey shadow under the dancer.

• I didn't want a black layer under the card face on this one, but I still wanted a bit of definition. I took my ruler and a microliner and very carefully added a black line at the edge of the card face.

• I scattered some confetti bling here and there as a finishing touch. (Confetti is similar to using sequins, but there is no hole in the middle.)

Stretch your Pennies:

Techniques like the spritzing used in this card can create the look of a more expensive designer cardstock without the need to invest in a quantity you might not need. There are many, many ways to achieve this - backgrounds stamps, smaller stamps turned into backgrounds and of course, stencils. I always like to protect those pennies - so I can use them to buy other craft supplies.

Final Thoughts:

In retrespect, I think I would have preferred a very narrow border with black cardstock over the hand drawn border with a marker: however, I'm happy with the card aside from that.

Supplies: (and links where possible)

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

Stencil: Contrails, A Colorful Life Designs

Stamps: Hippo Happiness, Teeny Tiny Wishes Stampin' Up! (both retired)

Ink: Stampin' Up!

Mint Tape: Scrapbook.com

Blending Brushes: Stampin' Up!

Alcohol Markers: Stampin' Blends, Stampin' Up!

Memento ink (used to stamp the outlineof the focal image): Stampin' Up!

Stamping Platform: Scrapbook.com

Adhesive: tombo Aqua, Michaels

Confetti: Pastel Rainbow, Studio Katia

Card Base: Accent 100 lb., Amazon

Card Face: Accent 80 lb., Amazon

Thanks for popping by!