This project is proof that rustic birthday cards can be truly pretty!
We’ve seen some rustic birthday card ideas that, while lovely to look at, weren’t what you would call “pretty” – this one breaks the mold! Natasha says “I fell in love with the Birthday Vase Stamp set and love the rustic feel of the vase. I was inspired to create a colorful card using this stamp set along with pattern papers from my stash!” Well, we sure are glad she did – let’s check out the making!
First, Natasha stamped the vase from our new Birthday Vase stamp set using Versafine Clair ink on watercolor paper and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Say it along with us……clear embossed images keep those colors where they belong! She then taped her paper to her surface to prevent any warping or buckling when she water colored this image.
Natasha colored up her vase and flowers with her Karin markers, adding plenty of layers of color, allowing each one to dry before applying the next to ensure maximum vibrancy and detail.
Once this miniature work of art was dry, Natasha cut it out using the second largest die in our Nested Oval Stitched Die set. She then used a variety of distress oxide inks to add some color and shading to this piece, even splattering it a bit with some metallic watercolors for a glam take on the rustic feel.
Now Natasha shopped her stash of patterned papers, choosing two that she liked together, and after cutting her panels to her desired size, cut one end of each with our Borders #2 set for a fun angle.
Now she took a piece of cream colored card stock and stamped it with our Distress Wire Background in Versamark and heat embossed with a dark brown powder. She used more of her distressed ink to build up color on that panel as well, to help reinforce the feeling of age and patina to enhance her rustic aesthetic. When she had it all colored, she cut it out with one of the dies from our Nested Rectangle set. She also took this opportunity to stamp her sentiment on a scrap of the same cream card stock, trimmed it closely and applied the same coloring technique to the strip.
Now she adhered all her layers together; from top to bottom, first patterned paper, second patterned paper, wire embossed panel, last card front sized piece of patterned paper. Before adding them all to a card base, Natasha wrapped some twine around the layers and tied it off in a simple bow.
She then added her stamped oval to the front of her card with some dimensional adhesive and then her sentiment strip with more dimensional adhesive over that.
If anyone had any doubts that “rustic” could be beautiful, this card surely dispels them! Here’s what Natasha used today to make this gorgeous, texture rich card: