I definitely tried making more elaborate cards in 2018 when I started with a specific person in mind. On the other hand, the birthday cards from 6×6 paper pads were fairly generic and not overly embellished. I mostly used card sketches for those and tried to use up multiple paper pads.
Window Card
The window card only took a single crafting session – but it left my craft area a huge mess! I also had to make a few attempts to get the die cuts layered perfectly. Since I was using a Becca Feeken die (Amazing Paper Grace collection), it was quite intricate. Plus, I layered it 3 times across the width of the card, which took ages to line up. The entire card was inspired by the tiny Lawn Fawn elephants. The cousin who this card was for is a HUGE fan of elephants and as soon as I saw the Deco Alpha set from Spellbinders, I knew I wanted to do something reminiscent of a circus. The deep red card from Lawn Fawn and mirror card from Tonic Studios helped pull the entire look together.
Watercolor Card
For the peach-orange card, I knew that I wanted to make a watercolor painting for one of my cousins, but I didn’t know what theme/scene I should paint. But I was just browsing landscape photos and noticed a gorgeous sunset that pulled in lots of orange shades. Since my cousin loves orange that seemed like a perfect start. It took a few weekends to paint the scene but it was really relaxing and I love how the card turned out. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink stamp set and I thought the font matched perfectly with the balloons.
Multi-Layer Cards
The multi-layer birthday cards for my sister and cousin were planned out over a few weeks, whenever I had free time. For example, with my little sister’s card I knew I wanted to use different shades of purple (her favorite color) and to make it especially feminine in style. However, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted the end product to look like. So, I pulled out a few sheets of paper and tried cutting out 1-2 die cuts every time I crafted. I ended up with lots of extras that I set aside to pull into other cards in the future.
With my cousin’s card, I didn’t want to just put a standard happy birthday sentiment. Instead I used the scripty ‘Sending Hugs’ from a Simon Says stamp set and embossed it in Gold (Ranger). My cousin’s away at school so I left the inside blank and let everyone write their own (long) personal messages.
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Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday. Its always useful to read articles from other writers and use something from their web sites.