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!