Birthday and Thank You Cards

While on my recent vacation I had very limited stamping supplies and stamps on hand but I tried to rise to the occasion using what I had.  I needed to make a masculine card for my friend John's 86th birthday and thank you cards for two very dear female friends. Looking through my sets I decided to do double-duty and use a retired set called Nature's Wonders to create both cards. 

This wonderful 4-piece wood block stamp set from 2006 features stippled reverse images of a flower, sand dollar, dragonfly and a leaf or twig. 

To make the most of these images you need to have a very juicy stamp pad and a firm hand.  I chose to use the flower and leaf stamps for my cards.   I'm thinking that the new foam pad stamp pads that Stampin' Up will be releasing in June would be perfect for this type of stamp image.

My card base is Whisper White layered with a piece of 4  x 5 1/4" Poppy Parade cardstock.  The next layer is a piece of Whisper White that's been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  The image is stamped in Poppy Parade and layered up with dimensionals on more Poppy Parade and Whisper White layers. 

Here's a closer look at the image which I absolutely love. 

I kept the inside of the card simple just adding the flower image to the upper right hand corner and adding a Thank You sentiment.  Both were stamped in Poppy Parade. 

For the masculine birthday card I chose Really Rust (retired cardstock) for my card backer. I layered this with Basic Black, Really Rust and a piece of Whisper White cardstock that was stamped in Really Rust with the French Script background stamp. 

To make the leaf image pop off the page, I first stamped it into Versa Mark Ink and then inked it up again in Basic Black Ink.  I stamped the image four times (reinking each time) on my piece of Whisper White Card stock and then covered the four images with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set them. 

I then cut the images into 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares which were mounted with dimensionals onto a piece of Basic Black cardstock, leaving a 1/4" gap in-between the four images to give a window pane effect.

In this closeup you can see the fine detail of the images and sentiment and how embossing and heat setting really brought the images forward.  You also get a small glimpse at the French Script on the 4th layer. 

For the inside of the card I chose to layer again with Basic Black and Whisper White and added a simple stamped leaf in Really Rust to the bottom right corner.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was heat set using Basic Black Ink, Versa Mark and Clear Embossing Powder.

I hope you enjoyed these cards and the steps used to make them.  Although the Natural Wonders set has long been retired it is one of those sets that I've brought out time and time again and I've always been pleased with the results.