Happy Birthday | AALL & Create/Simon Says Stamp/My Favorite Things

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a colorful birthday card featuring products from AALL & Create, My Favorite Things, Hero Arts, and Simon Says Stamp.  The My Favorite Things die is an older one, but a much loved one.

The supplies used:

     AALL & Create – Clown Around Stamp

     Simon Says Stamp – Scripty Birthday Background Stamp

     My Favorite Things – Happy Birthday Circle Frame

     Hero Arts Baloon Bunch Die Set

     Spellbinders – Precision Layering A2 A Die Set

     X-Press It Blending Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Breeze Cardstock

     Heavyweight White Cardstock (any brand)

     Copic Alcohol Markers – RV17, RV06, RV13, YR07, YR04, YR01, Y38,

          Y18, Y13, G12, G05, G16, B16, B14, B02, E11, E01, E000, C02, C00

          R29, R24, R20, 100 (Black)

     Simon Says Stamp – Ink Pads – Carnation, Peachy, Lemonade, Spring, Marine

     Lawn Fawn – Jet Black Ink Pad

     Winsor & Newton White Designers Gouache

     Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents

Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     My Sweet Petunia - MISTI Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

I die cut a piece of Spellbinders Breeze cardstock using the second largest die in the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A die set which cuts the panel to be approximately 4” x 5-1/4.  I placed the blue cardstock panel into my MISTI stamping tool and using the Simon Says Stamp Scripty Birthday Background stamp, I stamped the background using Simon Says Stamp’s inks in the colors Carnation, Peachy, Lemonade, Spring, and Marine in a gradient down the surface of the panel.  Using an ink blending tool, I lightly blended the Marine ink around the outer edges of the inked panel for interest.  I mixed a couple drops of water with Winsor and Newton White Designers Gouache and applied spatter across the panel using a small paint brush.

Creating the Focal Point

Using the My Favorite Things Happy Birthday Circle Frame die, I die cut it four times from white cardstock (saving the negative circle portion from one of the die cuts).  I used Bearly Art Precision Glue to glue three of the die cuts together and placed them under an acrylic block until the glue dried.  For the fourth layer, I used Copic alcohol marker 100 (black) to carefully color only the words from the die cut then glued it to the rest of the stack and set aside to dry.  I lightly blended Simon Says Stamp Marine ink onto the one negative circle I saved from the die cutting – this will serve as a background for the clown image that gets created in the next step.

I stamped one of the clown images from the ALL & Create Clown Around stamp set onto a scrap piece of X-Press It Blending Cardstock using Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink.  After the ink dried, I began coloring it using Copic alcohol markers in the following colors:

     Hair:  YR07, YR04, YR01

     Flesh:  E11, E01, E000

     Eyes:  G16, G05 (white gel pen accents), C02, C00

     Nose:  R29, R24, R20

     Shoes:  RV17, RV06, RV13, YR07, YR04, YR01

     Hat:  B16, B14, B02, RV17, RV06, RV13

     Trousers:  B16, B14, B02 (gold gel pen buttons)

     Shirt:  G16, G05, G12, Y38, Y18, Y13

Once the Copic coloring was completed, I fussy cut the clown image with a pair of fine tip scissors and used Copic's 100 (black) marker to go around the edges of the die cut to hide any white paper from showing.

My last touch for the focal point was to pull a scrap of red and silver from my scrap bin to die cut the single balloon and string from the Hero Arts Balloon Bunch die set.

Assembling the Card Front

I started by utilizing Scor-Tape to adhere the background panel to the white A2 card base.  I glued the balloon where I thought it looked best and added liquid glue to the back side of the happy birthday, stacked die cut and placed it onto the center of the lower portion of the card front followed by gluing the ink blended circle into the center of the stacked die cuts.  I glued a few scraps of white cardstock behind the center portion of the clown to bring him level to the sentiment circle die cuts and glued the clown to the center of the sentiment circle.  Lastly, I applied a thin layer of Glossy Accents to the balloon to give it shine.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

2025 Holiday Card Series #4 | Merry Christmas

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a 5” x 7” Christmas card with a card front aperture.  I don’t make a lot of this size card, but since I wanted to use the Penny Black collab with Simon Says Stamp stamp set, I thought a larger size would be best.  Let’s see how this works out!

The supplies used:

Simon Says Stamp/Penny Black 2025 Stamptember

        Collaboration – Bright and Merry Stamp/Die Set

     Birch Press Design – Merry Christmas Dapper Script Die Set

     Spellbinders – Simon’s Snow Globe Die Set (circle die)

     Simon Says Stamp – A7 Frames Die Set

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Watercolor Cardstock

     Anna Griffin – Gold Matte Foil Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Indigo Colorwheel Cardstock

     Ranger/Wendy Vecchi – Watering Can Archival Ink Pad

     Mijello Mission Gold Watercolor Paints – Hooker’s Green,

        Olive Green, Burnt Umber

     Iuile Watercolors – Gold, Red, Silver

     Pinkfresh – Metallic Matte Gold Embellishments

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Card Front Background

I cut a piece of Spellbinders Indigo Colorwheel Cardstock that measured 5” x 7” and glued the panel to the front of a white 5” x 7” card base.  Once the glue dried, I placed the circle die from the Spellbinders Simon’s Snow Globe die set onto the card front and centered it on the upper two-thirds of the card front.  I secured the circle die with low tack tape, opened the card base so that it was flat and ran it through my die cutting machine to die cut the circle aperture into my card front panel.  To frame the card, I used the Simon Says Stamp A7 Frames die set and die cut the 4-1/2” x 6-1/2” frame using Anna Griffin’s Gold Matte Foil cardstock.

Creating the Focal Point

My focal point for this card will be inside the card (hence the aperture on the card front).  I stamped the Christmas tree from the Simon Says Stamp/Penny Black 2025 Stamptember collaboration onto a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock using Watering Can Archival Ink. I watercolored the image using Mijello Mission Gold paints – for the tree foliage I used a mixture of Olive Green and Hooker’s Green, then for the tree trunk I used Burnt Umber.  For the ornaments, I used Iuile Watercolors in the colors Gold, Red, and Silver.  Once the paints were dry, I die cut the image using the coordinating die from the set.

Building the Sentiment

Utilizing the Birch Press Design Merry Christmas Dapper Script die set, I die cut the words Merry Christmas three times from Spellbinders Indigo cardstock and once from Anna Griffin’s Gold Matte Foil Cardstock.  I glued all four layers together with the matte gold layer on the top.

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I added liquid glue to the back side of the thin matte gold frame and adhered it to the card front.  I also glued the sentiment to the lower center of the card front using the T-square to ensure it was as straight as possible.  Once the glue dried on the frame and sentiment, I glued the Christmas tree on the inside of the card ensuring the portion I wanted showing through the aperture was front and center. 

For the final touch, I added a sprinkling of Pinkfresh Metallic Matte Gold embellishments onto the card front.  Another holiday card completed for the 2025 season!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting.