Birthday Hugs!

One of my dearest friends celebrates her birthday in April; therefore, a birthday card is definitely in order!  Since my right knee replacement, I have not been back to my crafting table for several reasons:  1) it is still early in recovery to have my knee in an unelevated position and bent to 90 degrees for any great length of time; 2) stair climbing, where my crafting table is located, is still quite painful and difficult; and 3) lengthy standing and getting up and down from a seated position repeatedly is painful and difficult.  So, needing this card, I decided now was the time.  All this said, I did get the card done, but now I think a day of elevated recliner rest is needed.

Take a peek below at Sandy's finished birthday card; the inside verse and design follows; and if interested, "The Card Story" can be seen even farther down.

Ingredients:  Papers: Recollections Kraft pack; Stampin' Up cardstocks--Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla; DCWV French Country stack; scanned music sheet on vanilla cs (butterflies).  Dies:  Spellbinders Labels 17.  Punches:  Martha Stewart--Monarch Butterfly; Three-in-One Butterflies; Stampin' Up--Elegant Butterfly.  Pearls: Stampin' Up.  Offray Ribbon Roses.  Hug Snug Apricot Seam Ribbon.  Maya Arts Jute Twine.  Stash: Black & Rhinestone button trim.  Chatterbox verse/ computer-prepared.  Size: 4-5/8" x 5-7/8".

The Card Story

I have had the layout for Sandy's card in my mind's eye for several months, and just before surgery, I made a quick sketch in my layout idea book for future reference.  I also knew I wanted butterflies and music paper on the front and on the butterflies.  Before I actually began, I checked a few SCS challenges to give me some inspiration for the colors I might use with my music paper. 

I had the idea of a two-panel veritical layout, but I wanted the edge to be curvy rather than just boxy straight lines, but did not have a wavy edged border die that would work where the two patterned papers would meet.  Then, I had a "light-bulb moment". . . I thought maybe a decorative rectangle or square die might work if I only ran it partially through the Big Shot.  I found the Spellbinders Labels 17 fit my idea and the biggest die in these nested dies would be large enough for the height I wanted my card to be.  

Take a peak at the card above and note where the black music paper meets the floral rose patterned paper.  I die-cut my "rose" paper only allowing part of the die to enter under the Big Shot roller press and then cut the top and bottom straight just after the corner curve was complete with my paper cutter.  A smile appeared, showing how pleased I was about how well it worked and how good it looked with the two papers joined together!

My butterflies were the next item to work out.  I decided to punch my butterflies out of cream background music paper that I made by scanning a song sheet onto a piece of vanilla cs with my printer.  My butterfly punch that was just the right size for my little square mats is the Martha Stewart "Monarch" punch with lacy holes in the butterfly wings.  It was pretty, but it some color peaking through the lacy holes, but I did not have a solid butterfly that matched the "Monarch" shape.  Another "light-bulb moment" when I thought of trying the solid Stampin' Up "Elegant Butterfly" punch, which is a bit smaller and has a totally different wing shape than my Monarchs.  It didn't really seem to matter about the shape as long as it filled most of the lacy holes on the wings and as a bonus, I really like the little bit of the cantaloupe cs peaking out on the bottom of the wing.  From this point, the card fell together like clockwork, and I was totally happy with the results as I think my friend will be.