Tulips & Friends Birthday Card

I recently attended a Zoom craft session coordinated by Bridget Casey and taught by Pam Boedecker, and I had so much fun creating this card! Pam gave me the idea to use this Build-A-Garden: Tulips & Friends set from my stash (I have had it for months but hadn't ever used it before yesterday!) along with Altenew's Sparkled Frame die, another item from my stash that I hadn't ever used before. So many great Altenew products, so little time, am I right?! 

During class, Pam showed us how to color the flowers using alcohol ink markers, but my marker coloring skills are not great, so I opted to use the coordinating stencils in the set with some lovely new Altenew inks to color in my stamped image (Bubblegum Dreams Fresh Dye Ink collection, Fresh Leaf from the Whispering Woodland Fresh Dye Ink collection, Maple Yellow and Honey Drizzle Crisp Dye inks). I chose colors that would pair well with the design on the Altenew bubble mailer I wanted to recycle on this card. The mailers are just too pretty to throw away, but I have a stack of them piling up right now! So I trimmed a portion of one to fit a 5X7 card base and then glued it to the card base for a pretty background. 

Next, I die cut three Sparkled Frames using 2 layers of white cardstock and one layer of chipboard from Altenew's foam tape roll packaging. I adhered the three layers together and then added a few enamel dots from Altenew's Bubblegum Dreams enamel dot collection to decorate the frame. 

I wanted to break up the busy pattern from the bubble mailer a bit behind the frame, so I watercolored some cardstock using Altenew's Quinacridone Magenta watercolor from the Palette Perfection Artists' Watercolor Tube Set. I trimmed the watercolored panel to fit behind the white frame and adhered it to the back of the frame. Then I adhered the frame to the card base using foam tape. I added more foam tape to the Tulips & Friends stamped image (doubling up in places where it overhangs the frame) and adhered it down to the card. 

To finish the card, I stamped and die cut the "happy birthday" sentiment from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Splendid Bouquets set and adhered that to the card. This is going to be my mother-in-law's birthday card for her 81st birthday in a few days, so I wanted to make something extra special for her. She is such a wonderful person, and I'm so grateful she raised an amazing son! My husband and I just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary last month, and we both feel so grateful to our parents for the loving example they have set for their families in their own marriages (62 years for my in-laws and 57 years for my parents). 

The Altenew Bubblegum Dreams and Whispering Woodland Fresh Dye Ink collections and enamel dot collections in those same colors will be available for purchase Feb. 7, 2025. I have the fantastic opportunity to be a guest designer for Altenew's February's new release, and let me tell you it's been an amazing experience! I've had so much fun playing with all the great new products they sent me! Thanks, Altenew! 

I've recently become an affiliate for Altenew, so if you are interested in ordering something lovely from Altenew and would like to use my link, thank you very much! Here's the link: Carrie's Altenew affiliate page 

Challenges I'm entering:

2 Cute Houseplant-Themed Cards | Inspiration Challenge (ends at the end of the month)

Snippets Playground: ATG with snippets with an optional twist of Love is in the Air (my snippets were white cardstock snippets for the Sparkled Frame die cuts and the "happy birthday" sentiment die cut as well as pieces of packaging I used for the floral background and for the third die cut Sparkled Frame behind the two white cardstock die cut frames--I'm not sure if recycling packaging on a card counts as using snippets but thought I'd mention it just in case 😊) (1/1; ends 2/1/25) C10

Allsorts challenge blog: Close to Nature or ATG (3/5; ends 1/31/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for the week; 7/10 for the challenge; ends 1/28/25)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (1/3; ends 2/3/25) C10

A Place To Start: ATG with option of adding a balloon (ends at the end of the month)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with optional twist of monotone magic (ends at the end of the month)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (6/6; ends 2/12/25)

Crafter's Cafe: ATG, twist of birthday (ends 2/7/25)

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game!: ATG with stencils; optional twist of hello/winter (I used the coordinating stencils in this set to color in the stamped image) (3/3; ends 2/1/25)

No more challenges.