Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Weekly card project - Birthday Birdie


Weekly Card Project:
Birthday Birdie

A little bird told me it was your birthday........
What a fun way to share your birthday greetings for a friend - the recipient is sure to love the special touch of a handmade card! 

The girls and I have been busy crafting and creating.  I photographed the card the best I could but I am not a great photographer.  It was very difficult to capture the depth and dimension of the layered effects and the distressed finish on film.  Here is a quick tutorial.......


Front of Card 
-The base for this project was an olive and white  plain, blank note card.  This was purchased at Michael's craft store for $1 a pack.   Michael's is a great source for inexpensive blank card sets.

- The front was partially covered with an embossed rectangle of light gold cardstock - this was created using the Sizzix Texture Boutique Embossing Machine with a swirl and Swiss dot embossing folder included within the package.

-  The edges of the embossed cardstock were "aged" with a light application of a gold art marker.   This shows up a little more stark on film - in person the actual effect is much more muted.

- For a debossed effect, the embossed side was adhered to the card face down using craft glue stick.

- Embellishments added were a Cricut bird (Straight from the Nest cartridge I believe) and a flower created using a punched black cardstock circle and black patterned foiled cardstock flower.  The flower was adorned with a layered "3-D" foil and cardstock butterfly sticker).  The bird was adorned with a sea foam green rhinestone eye.

- The olive sections at the sides not covered with cardstock was given a decorative border in black ink using a clear acrylic block and ornate border stamp.

- The stamped image was distressed by lightly sponging over the image with a stamp pad and the brushed  in a cross hatch style using a "dry" ink wash  (black ink semi-dried on dry paintbrush).  Once fully dry this was lightly sanded for an aged finished.  This same technique was used on the Swiss dot section at the bottom of the card.

- "Happy Birthday" rub-on lettering that was included in the Sizzix Texture Boutique kit was added.


Inside of Card:

- 2 identically sized gold squares were glued to the inside left and right panels of the card.

- The squares were given an aged  patina by using the distressing technique outlined above repetitively (black and brown stamp pads, inkwash and sandpaper).  This was done until  finish desired was achieved.

- The white border around the cardstock was painted with a heavy, black wet ink wash, blended with the cardstock and set out to dry.
 
- The left side of the card was adorned with a piece of black cardstock with intricate "lace" decorative shaping at all 4 corners using a Fiskars corner punch.

The black square was embellished with a flower created using a circle punch on black print card stock with a foiled / shiny finish.  The Cricut flower cutout was aged using the distressing techniques outlined earlier.

- A vellum "quotes" overlay was added.  Because the vellum is translucent, the glue dots used to adhere to the card were slightly visible through the paper; these dots were covered using larger sea-foam green rhinestones.

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There is quite a bit of dimension on both the front and on the inside of the card.  The gold against the olive, black and brown gives a great pop of color.  The distressed finish gives a great rustic, vintage feel but the bird, foil and rhinestones add a touch of contrasting glitz for a great combo.



1 comment:

Jenny Meyerson said...

I'm amazed at you and others who make all your own cards. My sister makes all of her own cards. I think it's time to jump on this bandwagon. Thanks for the ideas.

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