Perennial Essence Birthday Card

Hello, Crafters.

I have to say today’s card isn’t the card I had in mind when I started making it! That was the bad news but the good news is I know what I can do to turn it around so it’ll be a card I’m really pleased with! LOL! Looking at the card as it now, it just needs a bigger sentiment. I have a box on my desk which contains sentiments stamped and die-cut but not used. One is from the Beautiful You Stamp Set, stamped in black on Whisper White Cardstock (CS). I held it on my card and YES!

The sentiment is LIVE WITH PASSION LAUGH OUT LOUD LOVE DEEPLY. Sometime today I will stamp it on a piece of Balmy Blue CS using Blackberry Bliss Ink and then die-cut it using the oval no. 2 die in the Stitched Shape Dies. Leaving aside the sentiment, I’m happy with the card design – it’s just not what I had in mind! My original plan was to heat emboss a vellum flower using Whisper White Embossing Powder, and adhering it just above the ribbon on the left-hand side.

I used the three petal flower in the Floral Essence Stamp Set and heat embossed, punched and layered three of them. They looked very pretty together but too big – I think this comes back to the sentiment being too small, although I didn’t realise this at the time! My next idea was the die-cut branches in Balmy Blue CS. I used dies from the Detailed Peacock Dies and added a Rhinestone at the base of each set of the top three leaves. I like the look of these.

The branches went a long way to help balance the card but by this time I was about ready to give up and time was running out! I decided to call it a day and think about it today, but when I starting photographing my card, I could see that the sentiment was too small, which is when I held a ready stamped sentiment up against my card!To decorate the inside of the card, I added a layer of Balmy Blue CS and then a layer of Whisper White CS. Using Balmy Blue Ink I stamped the corner using the corner stamp in the Hold on to Hope Stamp Set. When this stamp set retires, I will definitely be keeping it because I have used this little stamp so much. The measurements for the layers on the front of my card are the same as I used for the Cup of Cheer on 5th December 2019 (see beneath my signature on that date).

Just to give you a list of cardstock and paper used: the card base is Blackberry Bliss CS; the middle layer is Balmy Blue CS and the Designer Series Paper (DSP) is Perennial Essence. The birthday sentiment is from the Band Together Stamp Set. The ribbon is Whisper White 5/8″ Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon. I will provide a full list of all the products below under my signature.

That’s it from me today! I hope you have a terrific Tuesday and I look forward to being back with you tomorrow. In the meantime, happy crafting!

JanB. xx 

Products used for this project: please click on any link to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. December 2019 Hostess Code is RVWA74X3 Thank you. xx

Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock [133682] £8.25	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock [147007] £8.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £9.00	Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper [149100] £10.75	Band Together Bundle [151076] £50.25
Hold On To Hope Cling-Mount Stamp Set [151243] £20.00	Royal Peacock Photopolymer Stamp Set [149464] £20.00	Royal Peacock Bundle [151100] £44.00	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ Pad [147105] £7.00	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [147168] £3.50
Embossing Buddy [103083] £5.50	Versamark Pad [102283] £8.75	Versamark Refill [102193] £5.50	White Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109132] £5.50	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220] £4.75
Whisper White 5/8″ (1.6 Cm) Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon [146912] £7.00	Take Your Pick [144107] £9.00	Paper Snips [103579] £9.25	Grid Paper [130148] £11.75	Silicone Craft Sheet [127853] £5.50
Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755] £3.75