Masculine Birthday

This is another card I made for a challenge on the PWMB.  The background paper and many of the die-cut pieces came from a HOTP Artful Card Kit called "Confetti Cake".  Here's how I made it:

Background:

• The background paper was from the kit, but had pink in it - which I didn't want for a man's card.  So, I took a fine line dark blue marker and colored over the pink!
• I had planned to mat the background paper with plain blue card stock from my stash, but hated to waste all the lovely paper by just covering it up with the patterned paper.  So I did as I often do, and cut a piece out of the center with one of my cutting dies (Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles).  When I had done so, I realized I liked the outer edge as a frame instead of just using it as a mat!  I added white outline stickers to finish off the frame.

Car Focal:

• I wanted a car focal and realized that I didn't have any car stamps!!!!  So, I found a card I liked on the 5000 Ephemera CD from HOTP.  However, its background was brown and I wanted blue - so I changed it with my photo editing software (should have gone with a bit lighter color) and enlarged the background before printing it to create my basic focal!  I rounded the corners and attached it to the card with foam tape.
• The car seemed rather plain, so I found the gear-shaped edges in with the die cuts, cut them off of the label they were attached to, and added them behind the car.  Then I added a star-shaped die cut in the upper right corner of the car (popped up with foam tape) and put a border around it using the same white outline stickers I used on the outer edge of the card.  It still wasn't enough to set the car off as nicely as I wanted (because the blue was too dark!), so I added some Gold Thin Line Dazzles (HOTP) in a sort of "sun ray" pattern around the car.  You can't see them as well as I'd like in the picture, but in person they're metallic and nice.

Sunburst in corner:

• The sunburst in the corner was a full circle that I cut in half (used other half inside the card).  It was pink and yellow so I colored over the pink with a yellow marker to make it more orange.  
• I attached the sunburst to a lable-shaped piece of blue card stock that I cut with a JustRite die (Vintage Labels Four).
• I added a gold "Happy Birthday" sticker from my stash and attached the whole thing to the card with dimensional foam squares.

The inside is pretty self-explanatory - same materials as on the front of the card with similar alterations.