Cards for Charity: Happy Birthday with Distress Blending

 I received a call that more cards were needed at my friend Pam's church charity card sales; especially Birthday cards and Sympathy cards. We're making 15 of each design of cards now, so it's quite a production.

I made Birthday cards first, and the goal is to choose a design that can be easily duplicated. Church members will mount my cards onto base cards that are stamped with their charity's information, so I only needed to make the tops.

Since I have been in a creative funk lately, I had been passing the time by blending Distress ink through stencils. It's fun to try out different color combinations.

 This is my favorite method of sparking creativity. I'm playing with my art supplies, and creating very fun backgrounds by just blending beautiful colors. What could be more satisfying?

I made 5 each of 3 different colored backgrounds. People who buy these cards are told that since they are handmade, there will be variations.

I made a prototype card, and once I was happy with it, I started making all the parts, starting with the stenciled blends. 

I started with my favorite Distress trio to blend, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, and Wilted Violet. The stencil is Ornamental Fans from Gina K Designs, and is hands down one of my favorites. In the above photo (nothing is stuck down at that point) you can see that I cut the panels with the Greetery Crimped Frame die (the middle size) and I put a strip of the mat cardstock on it as I was cutting it so that it matches up with the crimps on the panel.

I decided to cut out ovals of vellum to go behind the sentiment so that it didn't get lost in the busy backgrounds, and it took two ovals for each card to look the best. This great birthday sentiment is a die from Elizabeth Craft  Designs. There is a thin mat of black behind each stenciled panel, and a larger mat of a coordinating color.

Once I cut out all of the pieces for the 15 cards, I sat at my desk and listened to an audio book while I put them together. The time went by so fast when I was making these, that they were done before I knew it.

Once I lined all 15 cards up, I was so happy with them! I loved making these, and I might make more to send out myself.

Products Used:

Gina K Designs Ornamental Fans Art Stencil

Distress Inks: Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet;

Speckled Egg; Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed

Elizabeth Craft 1439 Happy Birthday Small die

The Greetery GD-M-016 Crimped Frame Die

Hero Arts DI337 Nesting Oval Infinity Dies

Hero Arts DI198 Infinity Nesting Rectangle Dies

Translucent Vellum

PTI True Black cardstock

PTI Tropical Teal cardstock

Stardream Fuse Fairway cardstock

Stampin Up Cajun Craze cardstock