Nature’s Thoughts – Birthday

Another fun evening…Christine Bertram’s Mystery Stamp Night for December.

Following instructions set out in Clue #1, I prep all the pieces and wait for the event to start to see what will be the end result…

If you have figured out that I do not exactly follow the “rules”, I will tell you about all the changes I made.

I often change out White and/or Vanilla for another Neutral color and when I do, I start with the patterned paper.  I was in an “earthy” mood when I was selecting the pieces as required by the Clue.

• Patterned Paper (5¼” x 4”) Woodgrain from Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper.  The colors are Sahara Sand and Soft Suede.
• Sahara Sand (5¼” x 4”) for the inside of the card – not shown
• Very Vanilla – thick (5½” x 1¼”) Scrap from my bin that had been spritzed with a Gold Frost Shimmer Paint and Alcohol mix.
• Sahara Sand (2¼” x 3¼”) cut down ¼” to a preferred that size.
• Coordinating card base in Soft Suede (8½” x 5½” scored @ 4¼”)
• Optional Vellum (2½” x 3½”) cut down ¼” as it eventually went over the trimmed Sahara Sand rectangle.

Focal Image – can be anything.  A stamped image that can be fussy cut or die cut.  An image fussy cut from a piece of patterned paper or just a straight die cut image.  Suggested scrap size:  to fit in a 2½” x 3½”. I chose to die-cut three feathers from the Nature’s Thoughts Dies in Brushed Metallic Gold and Copper along with Soft Suede.

A sentiment stamp to fit a 2¼” x 1” space.  I chose Happy Birthday from By the Dock because I really like this particular font.

A background stamp, small or large.  To coordinate with the die cut feathers, I chose the feather stamp from Tasteful Touches.

Coordinating Ink etc.  Soft Suede was the natural choice.

Other per Clue #1.  A sponge and some type of Ribbon or Thread.  Given the “earthy” nature of my card pieces, I chose to use some Metallic Slub Yarn that I have in my stash.

Following the subsequent clues, the final result turned out really nice.  A birthday card that is pretty but not too glitzy for a fellow.

What do you think? Do you like it?

Cheers, Jolanda!