Birfday Cards

So I finally had time to do something crafty.  Sort of out of necessity, because we're going to a birthday party tonight and I don't buy cards in the store anymore because a) they're lame, and b) they're so much cheaper to make yourself!

I'll admit these aren't my most creatively inspired cards ever.  My creative energy appears to expressed in my breast milk (which leaves me at an alarming rate thanks to The Small One who is constantly hungry.) Did I mention he's a month old today and wearing 3-month-old clothes already?

Wait, what was I talking about?  Oh, right.  Birthday cards.  Like I said, not the most inspired, but at least they're cute.


I made two cards, one that says "Happy Bird Day" and the other that says "Another Year Wiser."  I didn't intend to have a bird theme, but I ended up with one.

For the Bird Day card, I started with a natural card and sketched out a silhouette of a bird to make a template.

Then I used clear stamps to add some subtle interest to the background of the card.

I cut out a bird using my template and some teal paper and glued it on the center of the card.

Then I used alphabet stickers to spell out my message.

For the second card, I started by sketching out a picture of an owl.  When I make templates for cards or sewing projects, I start by doing a Google image search of what I intend to make to get some ideas of what I like.  Then I take my favorite aspects of different images and make them into my own design.  That way everything I make is my own and I don't have to worry about copyright infringement or anything.

So here's my owl design:

Then I took that template and cut it apart into different pieces to use for each type of paper.  I raided my paper scrap box and found some coordinating papers of different patterns and textures to give visual interest to my owl.  Then I free-hand cut out a branch for the owl to sit on and glued everything together on an ivory card.

I printed the message out on a heavy vellum sheet of paper and attatched it to another coordinating paper with green brads, and glued that next to the owl.  And voila, you have two cards!