A Very Wonderful and Happy Birthday

You may have seen this card on the @papertreyink Instagram page the other day, but I wanted to post it here just in case anyone wanted a few details on how I created it! It was one of those crafty sessions where I wasn't headed in any clear direction, but just had fun playing with this and that!

To begin, I die cut a panel of Kraft cardstock using the Cover Plate: Trellis Die (back in stock) and then glued it to an A2 panel of Kraft cardstock for a tone-on-tone look. As you can see, I left the smallest little centers in some of the pieces of the Trellis background. These ones don't come out easily and I don't poke them out because I like how it looks AND it gives me additional places for liquid glue so it is glued securely! ha ha!

I also die cut a Vintage Cream frame using the Border Bling: Skinny Dotted Frame. Once it was cut, I added some Classic Kraft ink around the edges using a blender brush. I, unfortunately, needed to buy a new Classic Kraft ink pad; remember when I was so excited about ink blending with metallic gold ink for THIS card? Well, I used my brown blender brush and when I put the brown blender brush into my Kraft inkpad, it still had metallic ink on it and ruined both the pad AND the brush! So, the lesson to be learned is that you need to keep a brush exclusively for metallic inks! ugh! Oh well.....live and learn! 

I used the Border Bling: Skinny Postage Frames for the focal image; I die cut it from Vintage Cream cardstock and then had fun gussying it up! I used the newer Vintage Postage Stamp Set

for the large birthday sentiment (stamped in black) and then the top right portion. The circle outline is from the newer Penciled Outlines stamp set; these elements are all stamped in Weathervane ink.

 I used the versatile Stencil Basics: dots Stencil Collection to add some light polka dots here and there on the focal panel; I love the soft detailing that it adds to the overall design.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't really have any set ideas on how this was going to turn out, so I rummaged around in my "leftover" pile and found this beautiful bloom that was created using the Into the Blooms II die collection (also back in stock). I love how it looks like a real postage stamp!

I used one of the beautiful new photo corners included in the Vintage Blooms die collection and glued one on each corner using liquid glue. I also die cut a vellum circle using the Love to Layer: Scalloped Circles and glued it behind the focal panel for additional softness! 

For not knowing where I was headed, I really like how this card turned out! I actually made another version while I had everything out, but I used the Inspired: Lord die and the Inspired: Lord Mini Stamp Set for the focal panel and a few more blooms framing the sentiment. I had to get it off to a camp to thank a speaker who would be sharing her story with the youth of our church (their theme this year is Trust in the Lord) so I didn't have time to take pictures (which I'm really bummed about)! Anyway, I think this particular layout works so well for many occasions, so I thought I'd at least type out what I used so your creative juices could start flowing if you wanted! ha ha!

Thanks for fluttering by!