A Birthday WISH...in the form of a card

Eventually I will have time and inspiration to sit and create a ton of cards for birthdays, sympathy, thanks, congratulations, just because...  Then I'll have a slew of beauty to choose from when I need one.  A hand crafted wonder to hand out that bears my hard work.  And I won't be stressed because I don't have time to make it when I need it...

One day.  Eventually that'll happen.  Right?

Until then, I'll stick to doing my best to make them as I need them.  Most of the time this still leaves me either stressed and working late into the night, or sometimes sadly, resorting back to a store bought card...

I really wanted to make the cards for the birthday boys I mentioned in my last post.  First off, I had an idea in mind that wasn't too girly so I could actually make it work for men (making manly cards can be quite difficult...and sometimes a drag without all the frill we girls like).  Second, I love all three of those fellas and wanted to pour a little of myself into what would be their gift holder (I'm big on the giving of gift cards...).  Third, I found a dose of determination.

So here's what I came up with:

I love the subtle punch of fun that the chevron embossing adds.  Plus, how fun is that pun to spell the word "wish" using a candle?!  The Polka Dot Parade DSP gives a festive embellishment without seeming too girly; plus I chose the manlier colors of the pack to help that cause. I didn't have the Bigz alphabet die with me that night, so I had to improvise and use the Cricut.  

I also love that using an embossing folder adds quick and easy embellishment to both sides of your card.  This gave me the opportunity to use some Stampin' Dimensionals to raise the birthday sentiment, keeping it simple with tone on tone paper (Whisper White) and a solid ink color (Real Red).  

The numbers at the bottom make me grin... :)  The stamp is one piece, so I had to get creative one highlighting their ages (and I'm so glad their ages were numerical.  this wouldn't have worked so nicely had they been turning, for example, 52.)  I cut a post it note to the width of the two numbers I wanted red and covered them up before inking the Basic Black.  Once the stamp was covered nicely, I removed the post its and covered the 2 and the 5 with a Real Red Stampin' Write marker.  Just a fun little touch :) 

*If this had been a kid's card--or if the numbers didn't work out to stamp their age--you could use this technique or multiple markers to jazz up the stamp and make it multi colored!*

Both sentiments inside the card are from the Patterned Party Stamp Set (#123065-W/#123067-C).

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happy crafting,

angie