#1085 – Beach Birthday

Hello and welcome! Welcome to a new challenge at Seize the Birthday challenge! It’s always an Anything Goes challenge with an optional topping provided by the leading lady of that challenge. This time, our leading lady, Vicki, have chosen the topping as ‘Beach Theme‘.

And here’s what I made –

I don’t have any beach themed stamps or dies or stencils with me. I do have ocean themed ones, plenty for under the sea. So I had to make something myself. To top it, my mojo was running low..

So anyway, I browsed Pinterest searching for something that could easily watercolor, without taking too much time, and without me having to learn a new technique. There was one where the foam of waves were first drawn using white wax crayons and then the piece was watercolored. I tried that, but of course, it didn’t work… Nothing would work and I finally gave up and instead used an even simpler technique. I used messy watercoloring for the beach and used coloring over stencil (Neat and Tangled Rice Paddies) to create the waves.

I then drew and painted the starfish over a scrap piece of watercolor paper. And then I fussy cut it.

The piece which I had previously watercolored dried up and I wanted to die cut it with My Favorite Things Stitched Wonky Rectangle. However the die didn’t cut the paper completely when I ran it the first time and ended up shifting the second time… Sigh.. just wasn’t my day. 😦 So then, I managed to save the piece by just trimming off the points which were double die cut.

I then thought of stamping the sentiment right over the beach segment, so that it would look like someone wrote it on the beach. I used Winnie and Walter Wish Big With Evelin T Designs stamp and Waffle Flower Congrats stamp for the sentiment. I finally foam mounted the watercolored piece on white card base and also adhered the starfish on it. And that finished my card!

Although I had a pretty shaky start and mishaps in between, I do somehow like what I ended up with. I will, however, find time to learn how to make the waves look better! 🙂

Now, there is loads of better inspiration and they are all creative in the Seize the Birthday blog. We also have some wonderful inspiration from our guest. Check them out and get inspired to join the party! 🙂

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#1084 – STB: Off The Edge

PE: Tic Tac Toe challenge Designer’s Choice!!

Hello and welcome! Welcome to the next challenge at Seize the Birthday challenge! It’s always an Anything Goes challenge with an optional topping provided by our leading ladies. This time, our leading lady, Shirley, have chosen the topping as ‘Off the Edge‘.

And here’s what I created –

I used MFT Fancy Flowers on white cardstock to stamp the flowers and leaves using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink and colored them using Zig Brush Markers. Once they dried, I fuzzy cut them right up, as close to the edge as possible. I also colored the back of the images black. This would help it not look so odd when the card is opened.

Next, I used a trimmed piece of black cardstock for the card base. Instead of the regular 4.25″ x 5.5″, this one is 3.5″x5.5″. In fact, this is a proper leftover after trimming out regular size cards from a 12″x12″ cardstock! What a great idea to use to spend all those scraps! 😀

So, anyway, I used another piece of the same width to die cut from Neat and Tangled Star cover plate. I then adhered that over the black card base. And then when adhering the flowers and leaves, I kept a scrap piece of 4.25″ x 5.5″ beneath it and adhered the flowers so that the width is covered. So the card becomes 4.25″ x 5.5″ and can be used with a regular envelope.

For the sentiment, I used MFT Anything but Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set. I stamped it over white cardstock, trimmed it and rounded off the top right corner before foam mounting it on the card.

And that’s my card. I’ll be joining the following challenges too –

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #466: Make Your Mark

Paper Craft Crew Challenge ##567: Floral Theme

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Tic Tac Toe challenge #246 (with the diagonal element Flowers-Free-Die cuts)

Checkout the Seize the Birthday challenge blog for more inspiration from our talented DT and from our party guests.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#1083 – Yellow Daisy Field

Hello and welcome to yet another challenge at Seize the Birthday challenge. I thought I had this post scheduled but apparently not!! Well, better late than never! 😉

It’s always an Anything Goes challenge with an optional topping provided by our leading ladies. This time’s leading lady, Nancy, has chosen the topping as ‘Any Color and Green‘.

I had my sister’s birthday coming up for which I was going to make a card anyway, so I thought I would go with my familiar field of watercoloring flowers. I have wanted to paint daisies or sunflowers for a long time, and this seemed like a great time to try, since I had my mojo up and running! 🙂

And here’s what I made –

I used stamps from Winnie & Walter In Bloom: Addie’s Garden and In Bloom: Anna’s Flora. For the paper I used Canson Montval and then used Daniel Smith watercolors to paint. To mount it on a card base, I trimmed it a bit. But then started having problems with what color to choose for the card base. I finally went with kraft colored, but stamped a few dots and speckles on it before adhering the watercolor panel.

For the sentiment, I first colored a scrap piece of cardstock using Prima sparkly paint in brown and then once it dried, I used Dress My Craft Fancy Birthday die. I also die cut a couple more pieces using the kraft cardstock and then adhered them. The ‘wishes’ comes a part of a stamp from Reverse Confetti Tall Blooms.

And that’s my card for my dear sister! A very happy birthday to you, sis! May your days be as bright and cheerful as these sunflowers! ❤

I will also join the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Spring Flowers

Checkout the Seize the Birthday challenge blog for more inspiration from our talented DT and from our guests.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#1082 – STB: Spring Flowers

Hello and welcome! It’s time for another Seize the Birthday challenge! Our leading lady Linda and she has chosen the topping of ‘Spring Floral‘. Of course, the topping is optional, and you can just make any birthday themed project and join us.

And here’s what I made –

I used the floral die from Pink Fresh Studio called Floral Squares, then used distress inks to watercolor them. This is cardstock with a smooth surface, so naturally some texture was created while watercoloring. I also added some shimmer using clear Wink of Stella. I also added a couple of extra layers of die cuts behind the top layer for some stability.

For the sentiment, I used Neat & Tangled Celebrate die. For cardstock, I used photo paper, which I colored using black marker. I also adhered a couple of extra layers behind for dimension. The stamped part is from Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words Birthday, which I stamped on scrap cardstock and trimmed and foam mounted. I added a few clear sequins for some embellishment.

And that’s my card! I’m also joining the following challenges –

AAA Birthday card challenge #59: Geometric

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #464: Any Occasion

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Hop over to the Seize the Birthday challenge blog to checkout more inspiration from the rest of the design team and also our guest designers.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#1081 – STB: Coordinating Tag and Card Combo

Hello and welcome! Time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and this time, our hostess Jules is asking us to use ‘Coordinating Tag and Card Combo‘. Of course, as always, you’re also free to ignore this topping and go with ‘Anything Goes‘ birthday project.

And here’s what I made –

I used Waffle Flower Bear and Bird stamp set on both the tag and the card, making slight changes in the focal image, sentiment and the background color. The rest remain the same.

I started with the images, of course. I stamped the images from Waffle Flower Bear and Bird in Vintage Linen distress ink on Canson Montval paper and then over that I used Daniel Smith watercolors to paint. Once the main elements dried, I colored over the background, and once that dried, I added some splatters on. Finally, I stamped the sentiments using distress inks misted with a water spray.

For the card, I die cut the watercolor paper panel using a die from My Favorite Things Blueprints 27 and then adhered it over a soft grey cardstock. For the tag, I decided the same grey would not work since the peach-pink background brought in a warm tone. Instead I used a kraft cardstock for the base and attached a length of jute string on it.

And that’s my card+tag combo! Hop over to the Seize the Birthday blog to see more inspiration from our design team and our party guests!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂