Card Exchange

I'm participating in a card exchange with some friends, and we each had to make 10 birthday cards. The party chick card (in my last post) was my prototype. I made the design a bit easier by not cutting out the square, and just adding one on top. You can't really see the difference without opening the card, so I'm glad I saved the time!

I ended up doing several different designs, as I couldn't decide on just one. For this first group, I wanted to use this set I just got, Summer by the Sea by SU. I stamped the image with Timber Brown Staz-On (thanks again Shelley!) and coloured it with SU's watercolour crayons. Then I used a SU blender pen to soften and blend the colours.

The pp is from one of those bulk packs from Costco, and it's hard to tell, but it has sand dollars and little flowers. Perfect for the stamp! I used SU's ticket corner punch on each of the corners.

I used one of the stamps from SU's Itty Bitty Backgrounds to add some interest to the right side of the card. I think the stamped image looks like sand. I added brads, eyelets, or a snap to the image, and popped it up on dimensionals. The inside has the phrase "Wishing you happiness" also from Summer by the Sea.

I'm really happy with how these turned out, as the colours are not my normal style. The image is so pretty, I just had to try it!

The next group the same idea, just with different styles. I used basically the same supplies: mostly SU, with some Costco pp and miscellaneous brads and snaps.




For the blue cards, the brads match the paper better than it looks in the photo. Again, not my normal style, but I like the Lexicon of Love stamp that has a definition of the word celebrate.



On the purple cards, I embossed the Happy Birthday phrase and added some Stickles glitter to the flower image on the right (it's hard to see in the photo).






The next card uses a fun SU set, Computer Quips. I love the cat/mouse image, and the "Hope your birthday is glitch free" phrase is entirely appropriate, especially as when stamping it, I rocked the stamp a bit and the edge made a line on the card. Hence the birthday cake stuck next to it :p

Again I used the Timber Brown Staz-on and then SU's Pure Color pencils to colour the cat. I used baby oil to soften and blend the colours, then Crystal Effects to add dimension to the mouse and the cat's collar.

The birthday cake is stamped with Tempting Turquoise, also coloured with Pure Color pencils. I embossed it with clear powder. Finally, to add interest to the right side, I used one of the stamps from SU's All in a Row with white craft ink and clear embossing powder.

I was going for a retro look with the last card, and tried out Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) on the Happy Birthday stamp. I stamped the image with Chocolate Chip, then Versamark, sprinkled on the UTEE and heat set it. I repeated the Versamark, UTEE, and heat, and ended up with a "wet" look that I really like. I added a couple white eyelets a sheet of white paper on the inside (the brown paper is too dark for normal pens).

This second photo shows the UTEE effect better. It is clear, it's just reflecting the light in this photo. You can see how it really is quite thick, and that's only two layers! You can layer more, and then let it dry and crack it, or press a stamp into it to create reverse embossed image. I can't wait to play with the UTEE again!