Thoughtful Blooms Birthday Card

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you’ve had a great weekend. Yesterday I had a good sort out in my studio of everything I had lying around which had been accumulating all of last week. Normally I’m pretty good about tidying up as I go so I’m not sure what wrong last week. The good thing about all this is that I’m starting a lovely fresh week with a lovely fresh desk! The design of today’s card is very similar to my videos number three and number ten, but with different stamp sets of course! LOL!

I chose to use the Thoughtful Blooms Stamp Set which is available as a gift in the Sale-a-bration Brochure. When I decided on the design for today’s card, the ladybirds didn’t feature, but as I was going through my box of Whisper White Cardstock (CS) off-cuts and scraps I found a piece on which I had stamped the four small ladybirds stamp from the Little Ladybug Stamp Set.

I chose Garden Green for the leaves and Real Red for the flowers. Using my Grid Paper I lined up my Whisper White CS top layer so I knew where the centre of the vertical left-hand side was. I stamped the first leaf stamp in the centre of the layer but towards the left-hand side. Next, I turned the top layer up the right way, re-inked the stamp, and tilted it sideways to stamp so the leaves didn’t look uniform. Then I repeated this for the other end of the layer.

Using Real Red Ink I stamped eight of the solid flowers from the same stamp set and punched them out using the Small Bloom Punch, which is also available as a gift in the Sale-a-bration catalogue. I curled all the petals upwards and then adhered two flowers together making sure that the petals were offset. I also painted the ladybirds and fussy cut all four of them – they did need a lot of patience!

I chose the HAPPY BIRTHDAY sentiment from Magnolia Blooms Stamp Set which has become my go-to birthday sentiment recently. One of the reasons I like this stamp is because it fits the solo die in the Stitched Rectangle Dies. I call it a solo die because there aren’t any bigger or smaller dies for it to nest into. I hope that makes sense!

I adhered three of the ladybirds in various positions on the leaves, and the fourth one, who looks as if he’s on his back, falling towards the sentiment. It adds a little bit of humour to my card! I want to play with this stamp set again because I can see some different ideas, but they are just in my head at the moment and it’s not until I get the ideas onto paper that I’ll know if they will work!

To decorate the inside of the card I added a layer of Real Red CS and a top layer of Whisper White CS. I stamped some of the leaves in the bottom right-hand corner and added the fourth flower I’d made. By this time I had adhered all four of the ladybirds to the front of the card and I didn’t fancy any more fussy-cutting – yes, even I have my limits!

Before I go, I want to show you a small addition I made to the two Forever Blossoms Embossed Tone on Tone cards I shared with you on Friday. I always leave my cards standing on my desk for twenty-four hours after I’ve finished them, and these two cards looked as if they were lacking something. I added two double Whisper White Baker’s Twine bows on the stems. I think it made a subtle but worthwhile difference.

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

JanB. xx
Cardstock Layer Sizes: Europe & South Pacific (A4)                                                                                                                                                                                 Card base 8¼” x 5¾” scored and folded at 4 1/8”                                                                                                                                                                                  First layer: 2 pieces 3 7/8” x 5½”                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Top layer: 2 pieces 3¾” x 5 3/8”

Cardstock Layer Sizes: North America (Letter-size)                                                                                                                                                                                      Card base 8½” x 5½” scored and folded at 4¼”                                                                                                                                                                                          First layer: 2 pieces 4” x 5¼”                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Top layer: 2 pieces 3 7/8” x 5 1/8”

Products used for this project: please click on any of the links to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. The Hostess Code for January 2020 is NCFPAHXQ. Thank you. xx

Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] £8.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £9.00	Thoughtful Blooms Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [152290] £0.00	Magnolia Blooms Photopolymer Stamp Set [152729] £13.00	Little Ladybug Host Cling Stamp Set (English) [152384] £0.00
Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad [147084] £7.00	Real Red Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [103287] £3.50	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin’ Pad [147111] £7.00	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [133651] £3.50	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Refill [133456] £4.75	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin’ Blends [147935] £8.50	Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [145058] £8.50	Ivory Stampin’ Blends Marker [144606] £4.25	Brick & Mortar 3D Embossing Folder [149643] £9.25
Stitched Rectangle Dies [148551] £33.00	Small Bloom Punch [152316] £0.00	Pearl Basic Jewels [144219] £4.75	Paper Trimmer [152392] £23.00	Bone Folder [102300] £6.50
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 [154974] £3.75
Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75	Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals [144108] £3.75