Let's Party Birthday Cards

Happy Monday, y'all!  Yesterday was a rainy day, so the kids and I made some chocolate cupcakes just for fun using a Ghirardelli mix and homemade icing from the recipe on the back.  They are delicious!  That got me remembering some birthday cards I made recently with the very fun Simple Stories Let's Party collection.  (I also created a layout for my son's birthday).

For this first card, I trimmed one of the journal squares, distressed it, and layered it over a strip of patterned paper.  Some enamel dots and staples, and it was a quick and nice card!

Angled view:

My next card is perfect for a boy!  I used another journal card, lined with stripe paper matted onto aqua paper, and stitched along the edges.  Enamel dots, a sticker, and a foiled star complete it.

Here's a better look at the foiled star that I created using my PixScan mat and my Mini Minc.

I was inspired for card number three by photo corners.  I created two different size triangles from square scrap pieces of the red Happy Birthday paper.  A few stickers, a New Bradz, and some stitching were finishing touches!

I was inspired for this last card by my Heidi Swapp Memorydex dies that I just got on sale.  I used one to cut a file folder out of the red Happy Birthday paper (love that paper!!) and used it as my base.  A few more stickers, some more enamel dots, and stitching...et voila!  I'm sending this one to my brother for his birthday!

That's it for me today.  I hope you are inspired to create some cards - they don't have to be time-consuming to be pretty!

Chocolate and hugs,

Majken

Dolphin Encounter - Creative Scrappers Sketch 295 Reveal!

Hello scrappy friends!  I'm so excited to share my first layout as part of the Creative Scrappers design team.  It's such an honor to be a part of this team!  And how great is it for Kristine to bring back the sketches - they are so fun to create with.  You can rotate them, mirror them, change the # of photos, etc. though mine usually end up around 90% similar to the original sketch.  

For this layout, I dug back in to some more honeymoon photos.  Remember, I'm still on a honeymoon bloggy time warp!  Don't be shocked if you see more honeymoon getting scrapped in the next six months.  :)  In April I shared another honeymoon layout also using Simple Stories You Are Here - it's so pretty!  It captures the laid back beachy feel that makes me think fondly of that trip 16 years ago.  Okay, so on to the layout!

I had such fun with this sketch creating all kinds of texture.  First up was trimming some CTMH Lagoon cardstock for the main mat area and then trimming a couple of the Simple Stories papers for the base of the photos.  After pulling together those main pieces, I distressed the cardstock, sewed it to textured white cardstock close to its distressed edges, and then curled up a few edges with my finger.  

Then I adhered the Simple Stories papers and my matted photos.  I felt something was missing, so I trimmed a strip of Heavenly Blue cardstock.  But it seemed "flat".  Inspiration came in the form of Martha Stewart fringe scissors.  I used them on another summer layout in 2014.  Doesn't it make you think of a tiki bar and a refreshing drink with an umbrella in it?  Ahhhh....

So the base part of the layout came together quickly, but I knew I needed some embellishment areas.  Enter in Just Nick Studios' Broken Heart Background.  I cut out three in different sizes to use in lieu of the stars on the sketch.  After I cut them out, I backed each "window" with different papers from the collection for a fun mosaic look. I also popped them up with foam tape! Here's the large one at an angle (and I love the Simple Stories New Bradz and photo stickers!):

Now that I had the main part done, I felt the bottom left corner was sparse.  Yet, I didn't want to deviate from the sketch drastically or draw attention away from the photos.  I decided it would be a cool effect to cut some waves in white and sew them to the bottom.  I used an Echo Park cut file and modified it to stretch to 12".  White on white can be powerful!  But in this case, I felt it still needed something.  Enter in some watercoloring -- using Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Peacock Feathers and Evergreen Bough) and my CTMH watercolor pen -- along the stitched edges, similar to some cards I did recently.

I think the subtle color was just enough to anchor the layout.  I love it when a plan comes together!  I then used the alpha stickers from the collection for the title, and you can see another heart here, too.  Note to self:  go put a dab of glue under the rebel orange letters that don't want to stay stuck.  ;)

All that was missing now was the journaling strips, and I printed some out using the brown/gray color on more textured white cardstock.  If you are stuck on how to match font colors to your layout, I have a little how-to tutorial.

That's it for me!  I hope this inspires you to grab that sketch and link up on Creative Scrappers InLinkz for a chance at some goodies from our sponsor, Jillibean Soup.  Don't forget to check out the other design team members' layouts for more inspiration, too!

Have a great day!
Majken