Mosaic Birthday Card

Dear Reader,

Over the Thanksgiving break I watched a lot of Youtube videos with my mom (my sister reluctantly and not so happily watched some too).  She is over the moon for them and also fell in love with Lawn Fawn, October Afternoon and Betsy Veldman (I think they are all pretty swell too).  She also really liked Laura Craigie's Finally Friday videos for Two Peas in a Bucket.  One such card was the inspiration for the card I made.  To see Laura Craigie's card go HERE.

My aunt's favorite color is kelly green, but she also loves red so that was the genesis of this card.  I remembered the mosaic square tile technique Laura Craigie used and decided to give it a whirl for this card.  Having punched or cut out squares a lot in the past, her technique did indeed save a lot of time and effort.

I picked out patterned paper from Crate Paper's Story Teller collection (love this collection!)...perfect colors and patterns for this card.

I will tell you a secret.  I wrapped a border of red washi around my panel of squares because of some issues with how the edges looked (they were a bit unsightly).  Like Julia Child said, no one needs to know what happened in the kitchen...or studio in this instance.

Another issue arose when I tried to stamp upon the today sticker label from the phrase stickers from the Story Teller collection...the surface did not like my inks and it became an issue so I had to find some layers to add on top to cover up the stamping fiasco.

The red grid sticker came from my much used State Fair Die Cut Stickers from the State Fair collection by Studio Calico.  The other die cuts all come from the Sidewalks Flower Sack by October Afternoon.  I sure hope they bring Flower Sacks back because they are awesome!

Last touch was the trio of pearls to create the butterfly's body.  The whole panel was then adhered to a white cardbase.

More detail:

Inside:

Thank you so much for visiting!

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:
Today Square Mosaic Birthday Card
stamp: happy birthday from In & Out: Birthday, Papertrey Ink
ink: seed packet, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger
Cardstock: solar white, Neenah Paper
Patterned Paper: from Story Teller collection, Crate Paper
Other: red grid label sticker, State Fair collection by Studio Calico; today sticker label, Story Teller collection by Crate Paper; die cuts, Sidewalks collection by October Afternoon; pearls, The Paper Studio; washi tape

Look Ma No Stamping!

Dear Reader,

I am a big fan of a high saturation of bright white with splashes of color and touches of inky black.  A master of this is Christine Middlecamp. Sigh.  Her work is gorgeously layered and so vibrant like this project HERE.

Last night I found I needed a birthday card for an aunt of mine and I wanted to explore these colors and go a different route in making the card or in other words: make a card with no stamping!

After exploring my big tub of embellishments I picked out the Sidewalks collection flour sack from October Afternoon, elements cardstock sticker sheet from the Out of Print collection by Basic Grey and die cut stickers from the Countryside collection by Studio Calico and a lovely woodgrain embossed white tag from my new July ohDEERme kit from Freckled Fawn.  I happened to have some older paper from the Lemonade collection and a scrap from June Bug (both favorites of mine) by Basic Grey out from another project that worked with these items.

I realized I needed touches of black to make the colors pop a bit more so I added some black lines to the sticker from the Out of Print collection and adhered the yellow butterfly to a black scallop circle cut from cardstock.  The black and white twine tied on the tag and it's pattern paper backing seemed like a natural fit.  To the card base I added a piece of doily I had left.  The card still looked a bit bare in the bottom right to me so I punched the corner and added a strip of patterned paper behind it to add another element of green and interest.

One last shot before it gets sent off:

I hope my aunt likes it.  I had fun making a card a bit different than the norm for me.

I appreciate you taking the time to visit!

Shay.

Celebrate! birthday card
Cardstock: white, Georgia Pacific and black, Neenah Papers
Patterned Paper: Strawberry Patch and Tee Time from Lemonade collection and Picket Fence from June Bug collection, Basic Grey
Tools: postage border punch, Fiskars; floral corner punch, Martha Stewart Crafts; scallop circle die, Spellbinders; Cuttlebug, Provocraft
Other: elements cardstock sticker sheet from Out of Print collection, Basic Grey; element sticker sheet from Countryside collection, Studio Calico; flower sack from Sidewalks collection, October Afternoon; woodgrain tag from July ohDEERme kit (from curtsey boutique www.curtseyboutique.etsy.com), Freckled Fawn; doily from stash; baker's twine, Divine Twine; Precision Pen, American Crafts