Happy Birthday .....

.... Morning!! Over the past year I've used up most of my card stash and I really need to make some new cards, especially birthday cards. Here's a fun card I made yesterday:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Stuck on You, So Much to Say; Newton's Nook - Cuppa Cactus
Inks: Distress Oxide - Victorian Velvet, Shabby Shutters, Twisted Citron, Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Gina K - Black Onyx
Dies: Newton's Nook - Cuppa Cactus Dies
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU - Basic Black; BoBunny DP - Garden Party; Copic Markers; Nuvo - Aquashimmer Brush; Visible Image Stencil - Two Tone

I used several challenges to create this card. The theme of cacti comes from Cupcake Inspiration Challenge - CIC#475, from Your Next Stamp - YNS#119 I got the idea to add Lots of Squares, the layout is based on the sketch from last week's Paper Players - PP452 challenge. I'm also submitting this to AAA Birthday - AAAB#04 where they want birthday cards for boys.

I made the card base from black card. I cut a panel of white card onto which I stencilled lots of squares using several shades of green Distress Oxide inks. On the smaller white panel I stamped a number of different cacti using Distress Oxide inks; they blend so beautifully. On a scrap I stamped the cacti in cups, coloured them with Copic markers and cut them out with the matching dies. I used dimensional tape to add the cups to the card, you can see the dimension in the photo below. I used a scrap of design paper from my stash and finished by adding a simple, bold birthday sentiment. On the inside I cut a panel of white card and added another cactus. I left the panel blank for writing my own message.

That's all for today. I'm really enjoying being back in my craft room!! See you soon.