Butterfly and Woodgrain Birthday Card

This little card, which I made for a friends 30th birthday, was pretty quick to make but I'm really pleased with the results. The design is inspired by some Ikea wall art I have hanging in my bedroom. I started with a Hobbycraft 5x5 white notecard and layered on a peice of patterned paper from one of my favourite 6x6 paper pads, Fresh Cut by Basic Grey - I just love the vibrant lime green and pink tones in this paper! I used the scallop cartridge from my American Crafts trimmer to create a subtle decorative edge. Next I cut a piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock to size and ran it through my Cuttlebug in a Couture Creations woodgrain embossing folder. I then used the Bitty Butterfly and Elegant Butterfly punches from Stampin' Up to punch shapes from the embossed cardstock. Initially I adhered it to the patterned paper, without the butterflies, using foam tape to create dimension. Before attaching the butterflys into the punched spaces, I gently shaped them with my fingers to give them more movement. I adhered the butterflies with Dovecraft silicone glue, ensuring I allowed a sufficient amount of adhesive to sit under each wing, helping to keep the wings in a flying/fluttering position. The sentiment, from the Stampin' Up Label Love stamp set, was stamped with Versamark ink and embossing powder from American Crafts, in a colour called Powder. I then punched the shaped label using the coordinating Stampin' Up Artisan Label Punch. I again used foam tape to adhere this to my card. Finally, I used several sequins in coordinating colours to complete this pretty card. The pink and peach sequins are from the Neat & Tangled Pixie Dust sequin mix and the remainder are from a selection in my stash.

I really love it when I'm able to coordinate the inside of my cards with the design on the front. To create the sentiment below I used a blue/green ink from Stampin' Up called Pool Party and a peachy pink ink called Blushing Bride, also from Stampin' Up. I stamped 'happy' and 'birthday' directly onto the notecard using the Winnie and Walter The Big, The Bold and The Happy stamp set. The 30 was stamped using a Hobbycraft Script alphabet set.  Next I used the banner and 'celebrate in style' stamps from the Bloomsies stamp set by Mama elephant. I fussy cut the banner and adhered it to the card with foam squares. The design was completed using sequins and a Bitty Butterfly punch from the same Fresh Cut patterned paper as before.