In-Laid Background: Happy Birthday

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• Products Used
  • Stamp Sets:
    • Altenew Label Love
    • Altenew Painted Butterflies and Dies
    • Altenew Halftone Circles
    • Altenew Floral Alphabet and Dies
  • Ink:
    • Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Carmel Toffee
    • Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Honey Drizzle
    • Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Paper Bag
    • Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Permanent Black
    • Copic markers: Y15, R08, G21, 100
  • Card Stock:
    • Neenah White card stock
    • Velum card stock
    • Stampin’Up! Daffodil Delight
  • Other:
    • Clear sequins 10mm, 8mm, 5mm
    • Foam tape
    • Misti

The focus of this card is to use the in-laid technique to create a background that becomes the focus for the card. The initial background is created with the Altenew Halftone Circles stamps of three different sizes and Altenew Honey Drizzle Crisp Dye ink. These stamps have a direction to their image so be mindful of this when stamping. The three circles are randomly stamped on a piece of Neenah White card stock measuring 3 1/4″ x 6 3/4″. The yellow panel behind the stamped panel is measured at 3 3/8″ x 6 7/8″. The card base is 7 1/2″ x 7 1/4″ and is scored on the 7 1/2″ border at 3 3/4 inches. This card will fit into a No. 7 envelope.

Once this background is created, stamp out the letters for “happy” using the Altenew stamp set Floral Alphabet onto a piece of scrap Neenah white card stock. Once stamped, these are colored with Copic markers. Die cut each letter out using the matching dies. Using a ruler, mark out and draw a line with a pencil one inch from the bottom of the panel. This line will be used to line up the letters on the card panel. Lay out the letters and mark where the first letter lies so you can die cut the letters from the card base. Be sure to erase all pencil marks once the letters are die cut from the base.

Be sure to save the negative pieces when you die cut the letters from the card panel. You will use them to fill in the negative spaces when the colored letters are glued into place. You can see how this makes a difference with the letter A in this image.

The sentiment words in the Altenew Label Love stamp set are created from negative space. This makes a wonderfully bold sentiment image but it is easy to “fill” that negative space with ink when stamping, thereby obscuring the sentiment. To avoid this, use a stamp positioning tool such as the Misti. Stamp the image lightly with your ink and repeat the stamping until the image is well stamped. The image is stamped onto Neenah white card stock, then cut down to remove the “happy” of the sentiment and to remove any border. The edges are colored with a black marker and the image is attached to a piece of velum. This is the attached to the card using foam tape.

Create the butterfly using Altenew Permanent Black, Carmel Toffee and Paper Bag Crisp Dye inks, die cut it out, and attach to the card with foam tape. Attach this panel, using glue, to the Daffodil Delight card stock, then attach to the card base with foam tape. Mail to someone you love and repeat. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this card and it inspires you to make you card background the focus of your card. Thanks for visiting.

Aimee Pankau