Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Boy birthday cards

In addition to the cupcake birthday card I made for my three-year-old cousin in August, I also needed a couple of boy birthday cards last month. I settled on an airplane for the one-year-old and a superhero scene for the six-year-old (he was having a Spider-Man party, so that was an easy call).

Blue card with clouds embossed on the background and a stamped and cut-out sun and airplane pulling a banner that says "Look who's one!"
Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Splendid Day (Close to My Heart)
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White card stock
Ink: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker
Accessories: Cloudy Day embossing folder, Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue

I stamped the airplane once in red and then the wheels in black and the propeller in gray. I cut out all the pieces and glued the propeller and wheels onto the red airplane. I also stamped and cut out the sun and banner (I hand-wrote the message) and used Dimensionals to adhere everything to the cloud-embossed background. I hand-delivered this card with the present, so I didn't need to fit it in an envelope. That meant I could let the plane and banner extend past the edges of the card for a little visual interest.

On the day of the birthday party I felt like I needed to add something to this card, so I placed a few gold sequins scattered among the clouds. I know sequins can seem girly, but I decided they were sparkling sun rays. And they did finish the card nicely. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take another picture after that last-minute change, so you'll have to use your imagination for the final product.

Black card with embossed striped background and retro comic-style images of a skyline and "shazam" and "kapow" in action bubbles.
Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Calling All Heroes
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Crushed Curry (pad and marker)
Accessories: Brights Candy Dots, Stripes embossing folder, Dimensionals

I was so excited when Stampin' Up! introduced the Calling All Heroes photopolymer stamp set. It's great for making cards for kids or anyone who is a fan of comic books or super heroes. To make the focal point for this card I started by stamping the dotted background four times in Tempting Turquoise ink on a piece of white card stock. I stamped the skyline in black on a separate piece of white card stock, colored in the windows with a marker, cut it out and adhered it over the dotted background with Dimensionals. (Tip: Cut the Dimensionals into narrow pieces to fit behind the skinnier buildings. The foam edge around the sheet of Dimensionals is great for this, too.) I matted the panel with a piece of Real Red card stock and used Dimensionals to adhere it to a Basic Black card base embossed with stripes.

I used the alphabet part of the stamp set to make the action words in the word bubble shapes then cut them out and adhered them to the card with Dimensionals so they overlapped the focal image. To repeat the element of the blue dots I added three Tempting Turquoise Candy Dots below the focal image. Inside the card I hand-wrote the message "Have a SUPER birthday" and stamped a couple of the mix-and-match superhero faces from the set.

Thanks for stopping by!

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