Birthday Fishes

 

Here's a simple but fun card structure that my Mom showed me.  It consists of two card blanks - one colored and one white.  The colored one has an aperture cut in it.  The white one is about 1/4" smaller than the colored one to create a margin all around, with the right side folded as for a fold-back card (see second photo below). 

 

 

Here's how I made it.

 

Materials Used: 

Blue card stock

White card stock

Patterned paper

Spellbinders Coastal Escape View dies 

Spellbinders ATC (Artist Trading Card) die set

Distress inks

Sentiment from Sassy's LLC.

 

Card Assembly: I cut the blue card stock to 10" x 7" and scored it in half, folding it to create a 5" x 7" card.  I cut a piece of patterned paper to 4 7/8" x 6 7/8", centered it in place on the card front, and used temporary tape to hold it in place. Using a rectangular die (Spellbinders ATC), I cut an aperture through both layers, then glued the remaining patterned paper onto the blue card front. Next, I cut the white at 9 3/4" x 6 3/4" and scored it in half - and then one of the sides in half again, folding it into a fold-back card. I then glued the white card to the center inside of the blue one - with the fold back on the right.  Then I took the blue piece that had cut out and glued it in place, to the right side only, so it could be seen through the aperture.

 

Decorating: I created a background on white card stock (cut 1/4" smaller than the aperture piece) using distress inks and a wavy "stencil" that I cut using card stock.  I then added various ocean scene pieces to create the scene you see in the pictures above.   I glued this in place on the blue aperture piece (which became a mat for my scene).  I added a matted sentiment (one from Sassy's LLC), then added a few die cut shells (from the same set).  To finish the inside, I cut scraps of the patterned paper to form borders top and bottom as you see in the picture above.