More Birthday Wishes

My boy who just turned 16 is not into cards, so I didn't make him one. But if I had, this would probably be what I would've been going for. Something eye-catching, but not too over the top. Something short and sweet and to the point. I love that, once I figured out what I wanted to do, this card took less than 10 minutes to execute.

The layout was inspired by a door decoration I saw while driving through our neighborhood yesterday. The stars dangled vertically, attached to each other in a purposely haphazard manner. Immediately I thought of my Stars #2 Originals die for the Big Shot. It has four different sizes of the shape, and they all layer inside each other. I used some scraps to get stars in Real Red, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, and Pacific Point.

I pulled out my new Celebrations Designer Series Paper, and the 4" x 5.25" piece made the perfect background for my stars. Check out the link to see all the patterns offered! Really, go ahead; I'll wait. I like that the numbers pattern can stand for a birthday year or the number of wishes available for the recipient!

The base is Old Olive, which coordinates with the colors featured in the paper and the stars. The sentiment, stamped in Pacific Point, is from Heard from the Heart, and I like that it's a less than predictable way to say "Happy Birthday". I made a little banner, because birthdays are about proclamations.

Need a good birthday card for a male in your life? I can't think of one who wouldn't like this. Want to shop right now for the materials? Here's a quick list of what you'll need:

Celebrations Designer Series Paper
Heard from the Heart stamp set
Old Olive card stock
Pacific Point classic ink
Stars #2 Originals die for Big Shot
Big Shot

Here's the link to my online shopping site. Everything will come right to your doorstep.

Trying New Things is Hard Sometimes

Oh my. My nephew Nik's birthday is Monday, and I sat down this morning, thinking I had a plan for his card and would just whip it together and post it on my way to work later today. I feel as though I have conquered the arch enemy of creativity by finishing this card!

Ten is a difficult age, especially for a boy. Things that were once cool start not to be cool, and yet you're not old enough to embrace the things of adolescence. So, I knew when I looked at the image I'd chosen that it wasn't going to work. It was just too juvenile. So I pulled out Extreme Elements and grunged up my card a bit. I'm so not grunge, so this was challenging.

Then I went back to my original image, the Builder Wheel trio of Candle Crazy (retired) and Birthday, to see if there was anything there I could salvage. At this point, I was feeling the clock ticking...LOUDLY.

I ditched the candles and even paired down the words from Happy Birthday to You as far as I could to remove as much of the Whisper White. That would work...I thought.

My next idea was incorporating the NUMBER of Nik's birthday into the card design, but in order to do that I had to call my mother-in-law to confirm that he is turning 10. I had made a mistake on my niece's birthday card in this category, but that's another story for another time...

Okay, yes, he will be 10 on Monday (at this point, this card might not make it there before he turns 11!), so I pulled out my retired Headline Numbers and stamped them on Basic Grey. Blah. So I ran them through the Big Shot in my Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder (could we please come up with some agreed upon shorter name for this?!) and liked that look. I mounted them on the card using Stampin' Dimensionals and used the same to place the sentiment.

Done? Please? NO! The card looked unbalanced on the left side due to my placement of the word "Happy". I was NOT "happy" at this point. Glancing around my desk, I saw a piece of Silver Metallic card stock that I had embossed with the aforementioned folder and remembered I had the Big Shot Stars #2 Originals diecut in the shape of stars! Yes, yes, yes, I would finish this or DIE!

The stars adhered, the card was complete, and I am glad I pushed through all the obstacles my arch enemy used to try to deter me.

Now I have to cram some lunch down my throat, change clothes, and run this by the post office on my way in to work. Whew! Who said card making was relaxing?!