Birthday Card Trio

Hello friends - we had another busy week and I didn’t get any of my cards posted. I think things will slow down after this weekend though, once we get through Thanksgiving (we are hosting) and get our RV winterized and closed up for the season. We were hoping to get another couple of weekends in but the overnight temps are plummeting so that’s it until Spring. Sigh. I am SO not looking forward to the cold.

Today’s cards feature what could be my new favourite card layout. I tried it out when I had some leftover strips of patterned paper with various width’s. Eventually I settled on 2.5” width with a 2.75” mat. The length is as long as your card (or as long as you wish) - for these A2 sized cards they are 5.5” long. Now I know a lot of you will be feeling like a 2” strip would be a more efficient use of the paper, but that is not my goal. I have a ton of patterned paper in my stash and I know I will come up with a use for the leftover pieces after cutting them from a sheet of 12x12” paper. 

I chose a stamped and matted circle for these cards, but really - most shapes will work and you can play around with placement and size. I changed the location of these circles depending on what parts of the patterned paper I didn’t want to cover up.

Below is a peek at the inside, with a narrow strip of rainbow paper cut into a fishtail banner to bring in some colour.

 

Supplies used:

Patterned paper - Party Fun, Echo Park

Double Stitched Circles - Divinity Designs

Front sentiment - Little Something Sentiments- Catherine Pooler

Inside sentiment - Big Birthday Bolds, Divinity Designs

Four Floral/Butterfly Birthday Cards

I haven’t used this card layout in a long time - so I pulled out this older floral paper and made four Birthday Cards for my nursing home donation bin. The paper is double sided, so the teal strip is actually the reverse side of the floral. I stamped a sentiment onto white card stock and popped them up with foam tape.

I die cut two rectangles then cut them in half so I had one for each of the cards and I adhered them on the right side below the teal strip. The pretty butterflies are a die from Divinity Designs, and they were also popped up with foam tape after I added a dot of glitter glue to the centres.

Below is what the inside looks like - all four are done the same.

Several years ago, I mistakenly ordered 20 sheets of this patterned paper when I meant to order two. I’m still working on whittling it down, ha ha.

Supplies used:

Patterned paper - Basic Grey

Label die - Stampin’ Up

Butterfly die - Butterfly Trio Divinity Designs

Front sentiment - Anything But Basic Birthday Wishes, MFT Stamps

Stickles glitter glue

Inside sentiment - Cake & Candles, Avery Elle

Mini MISTI

September Sheetload Birthday Cards (2nd round)

I had intended on posting this yesterday, but once again the day got away from me. This is my 2nd play with the September Sheetload and I think the cards turned out so cute! I can see me using this one again and again as you can really change up the look depending on what you add as your decorative element.

I did some stamping and colouring for mine - four of the card have this cute chick (MFT Stamps) and four have a hamster in a cupcake wrapper (Your Next Stamp)

Inside I added a sentiment from the Birthday Chicks stamp set and they all have a punched banner to bring a little colour inside.

 

Supplies used:

September 2025 Sheetload of Cards - Call Me Crafty Al (find her on YouTube)

Enjoy your special day - LJD Birthday, MFT Stamps

Patterned Paper - Birthday Bisque, Jillibean Soup

Banner Punch - Stampin’ Up

4 w/ Hammie Sweetness Overload

4 w/ Birthday Chicks - MFT Stamps

Circle die - Tasteful Label Dies - Stampin’ Up

Alcohol Markers

White paint pen

Stickles

Back To School Shaker Card

This is a card I made for one of our grandkids for heading back to school this month. It’s a ‘Faux Shaker’, where the transparancy is folded around a journal card and secured at the back after adding some shaker filler. Then it was matted and added to the front of a 5x7” card.

NOTE:  I cut the transparency 1” larger than the journal card, in this case it’s a 4x6” journal card so the transparency was cut to 5x7”. I scored 1/2” on each side of the transparency then mitred the corners. Using a bone folder to ensure nice crisp folds of the transparency I used red line tape to attach it to the back of the journal card on three sides. That left me room to add in the sequins etc into the front side before securing the 4th side.

Inside, I added an apple sticker and a cut apart from some patterned paper in my stash. There was lots of room to write a note inside.

Supplies used:

4x6” Journal Card - stash, either Echo Park or Photo Play

Transparency

Sequins

Apple bits (filler)

5x7” card and envelope

‘Cut Apart’ I love School, Echo Park

Double Z Fold Birthday Card

 

It’s Fun Fold Friday here on my blog, and today I’m sharing the Double Z Fold birthday card made for our eldest granddaughter. She is very interested in space etc, so I pulled out this very old paper pad for her card. 

Below you can see the card open and standing for display.

I always like how nice and sturdy these cards are and I was able to make use of some border strips and other cut-aparts in the paper pad for decorating. The flowers, stars & moon were fussy cut and added as decorative elements.

There are a number of pages in the paper pad that contain four 6x6” panels. I rarely make 6x6” cards, but I cut one down for the front of the envelope and wrote her name inside the moon. Since we were hand delivering the card, I didn’t have to worry about anything catching in the mail so the fussy cut flowers were added with thin foam tape.

Supplies used:

5 x 6.5” card base & envelope - Michaels

Patterned paper - Moon Flower Magic, Craftsmart (old form my stash)

Large Birthday - Technique Tuesday

Self Adhesive Gem stickers - Dazzles

Stardust gel pen - Sakura

Collage Style Birthday Cards

When I was poking around in a drawer of 12x12” papers, I found this single sheet with a collage of different patterns. I have no recollection of where I got it and it wasn’t included in a paper pad. But I liked the cheerful colours so decided to cut the sheet down and make some birthday cards for the nursing home.

I cut the panels to 4 x 5.25” and added a striped washi tape were the patterns intersected. The edges of the tape were wrapped to the back of the panel which secured them firmly as the panel got attached to the card base.

I stamped the Happy Birthday onto white card stock and punched them out before attaching them with foam tape. Finally, I added a dollop of Nuvo Drops.

Below is a peek at the inside, with all the of them done the same.

Supplies used:

Patterned paper - unknown, collage/colorblocked and only one 12x12” sheet

Washi tape

Blending sponges

Sentiments - Large Birthday, Technique Tuesday

Label punch - Stampin’ Up

Nuvo Drops

September 2025 Sheetload of Cards

Today I’m sharing my first play with the September Sheetload of Cards - and I quite liked it. After I got these ones cut, I pulled out additional sheets from the same (really old) paper pad so I could make another set. I’ll share those another day.

These went into my Nursing Home donation bin - I have needed to build up my stock for them! The label and ice cream cone are older punches from Stampin’ Up and I aded a stamped sentiment as per the Sheetload sketch.

Inside each card is a two toned stamped sentiment and a little fishtail banner for a pop of colour.

Supplies used:

September Sheetload of Cards - Call Me Crafty Al

Enjoy your special day - LJD Birthday, MFT Stamps

Patterned Paper - Birthday Bisque, Jillibean Soup

Ice Cream Punch - Stampin’ Up

Label Punch - Stampin’ Up

Sweet Ice Cream stamps - Stampin’ Up

Shimmer Spray

Banner Punch - Stampin’ Up

Two Teacher’s Aid Appreciation Cards

I have a number of cards that I created back in June that didn’t get shared and here are two more of them. These are 5x7” cards I made for the teachers aid’s. I let the patterned paper do most of the work, but added narrow gold tape to dress them up a little. One has a gold card stock shadow below the die cut Thank You and the apple stickers are from my stash. 

This is an easy layout that would work for multiple card sizes and you can customize the top area to coordinate with whatever patterned paper you choose!

Leaving lots of room inside for the kids to write their own message, I added more of the narrow gold foil tape and another apple sticker inside each of the cards.

This is the second card - you can see the shine from the apple sticker in this photo.

Supplies used:

Patterned paper - I Love School, Echo Park

Narrow gold foil tape - Amazon .ca (old)

Simply Sentimental Teacher - Trinity Stamps

Essential Classic Words - Pinkfresh Studios

Gold card stock, Recollections

Apple stickers - Amazon .ca

Father’s Day Card/Gift Card Holder

It’s Masculine Card Monday here on my blog, and since I didn’t get it shared back in June I’m sharing a Father’s Day card/gift card holder. We were pressed for time so I combined the two and our son-in-law was still quite pleased with it.

I cut a black card stock panel to 6.5 x 4.5”, then centred the Grassy Grove and die on that. I added scenic patterned paper in behind then wrapped a narrow gold tape around the bottom edge. The panel was secured it down to the 5 x 7” card base leaving an even white border. The stamped sentiment was popped up with foam tape and I added a couple of glitter dots for some subtle sparkle. Finally, I added a stamped and die cut deer from the Grassy Grove set.

I used a gift card pocket die inside, which comes with the layering piece. I just moved the layering die around on a patterned paper scrap until I liked what I saw. The large Treat Yourself is a stamp I’ve had for a couple of years and I love how bold it is.

Supplies used:

Patterned paper - Water Colour Landscapes 1.1, Paper Rose

Grassy Grove (stamps and dies) - Stampin’ Up

5x7” card and envelope

Happy Celebrations - Studio Katia

Glitter Dots

Gift Card Pocket - MFT Stamps

Treat Yourself - Pigment Craft Co

Piano Teacher Slimline Thank You Card

Whoa - it’s been ages since I’ve posted! I took a lot of time off this summer, spending it with family and friends instead of in my craft room. Of course, we didn’t have great weather this summer so it would have been a perfect excuse to craft, but … … …

I did manage to make a few cards here and there - and even got photos of them, but haven’t yet shared them so I will have some new content soon. Meanwhile,  this is the card I made for our youngest granddaughter’s (amazing) piano teacher at the end of June and she said he loved it.  I used dies & stamps by Karen Burniston including the Music Charms for the Grand Piano. It got sprayed with shimmer spray and I popped up the lid with a black foam dot.

Inside is the Piano Keys Pop Up - how fun, right? Two of them fit perfectly inside a Slimline card and I left room for her to write him a note.

Side view so you can see that the black keys are raised above the white ones. 

Supplies used:

Patterned paper - Guilded Ink, Recollections

Piano Keys Pop Up - Karen Burniston

Music Charms - Karen Burniston

Crosshatch Long Rectangles - Karen Burniston

Thanks - Biggest Wish, Stampin’ Up

Wink of Stella

Just A - Music Sentiments, Karen Burniston

Gold foil card stock

Glitter Dots flat adhesive stickers