Birthdays

Today I have several birthday cards made using Hunkydory Pop-a-Toppers pages - for young and not so young kids.  Most are from the set called Play Time, but the cat ones are from It's a Cat's and Dog's Life.

Card #1 (above):  One of the first questions that has to be asked when using these is, "What background papers are we going to use?" (since Pop-a-Toppers only have sentiment, focal, and embellishment die cuts)  I saw the black and white dotted border & immediately thought of some black and white dotted paper I had.  Then as I was looking at the stars, I remembered some AS (Adoreable Scoreable - printed card stock from Hunkydory) that I had left over from a Christmas set and thought - that would work great with this!  So, on the card front, all of the background is from that leftover AS EXCEPT the black and white border pieces (the border wasn't long enough to do top and bottom, but you wouldn't know it because the missing parts of the bottom one are hidden by the greeting.)   I backed the focal frame with black and white dotted paper from my stash - and added a sliver of a banner on the side so it would fit a challenge I was working on.  The focal itself is added with foam tape for dimension - as are the two sentiment pieces.

Inside:

On the inside, I used more scraps of AS and  dotted paper.  I also used a piece of the remaining border die cut at the top, from which I "hung" a sentiment using thin line stickers.  I wanted a piece of silver between the dotted paper and the AS at the bottom, so added a scrap from my stash.  I finished this border by adding a die cut embellishment.  Then I stamped a sentiment using a stamp from Crafter's Companion Compendium (CCC) - from the page called Celebrate.

Card #2:

For the background on this card, I chose a turquoise card base and some golden fur AS.  I cut the AS so the card base showed around the focal and border.  I added ribbon near where I glued the border, then added focal and it's frame (focal added with foam tape).  A round brad at the upper corner makes sure it meets the specifications of a challenge on the message board I frequent.  Then I found a coordinating tag from one of my HD Little Book of Essential Sentiments pages.  I added ribbon to this as well.

Inside:

Inside I have leftover pieces of AS - the bottom edge that was cut off, and the center that was cut out for the focal.  As you can see, I wrapped ribbon around both.  For the focal piece, I ran two pieces through holes in my sentiment (stamped & die cut using my Mom's stamps & dies) after I inked the white card stock to coordinate with the blue.  Finally, I cut a cat sticker from my stash and added it by the sentiment.

Card #3:

Here's a second cat card - this one using a bunch of scraps I found on my work table to complement the HD focal, and an odd-sized card made to fit a stray envelope I found.  The card when folded measures 3 3/4" x 6 1/4" - made from card stock from my stash.  To this I added a strip of brown before embossing the front of the card with a Cuttlebug embossing folder called African Weave.  Then I added the little scraps of printed digi paper that form the borders top & bottom.  The focal frame is glued directly to the card, while the focal itself was added with foam tape.  I added a little banner in the top left-hand corner, along with an enamel dot (so it would fit a challenge I was working on).  The sentiment is from a freebie digi print - fussy cut and raised with foam tape.

Inside:

A couple of simple brown strips form borders on the inside, along with a stamped sentiment (CCC - Celebrate).

Card #4:

This card has LOTS of layers - pink card base and pink mats, black and white star paper, pink patterned paper, black and white dotted paper, and silver holographic.  The pink/black/silver around the black and white pattern was a frame which I cut apart diagonally at the corners.  The black/white/silver border at the bottom was a die cut from the set.  The "Congratulations" was just a printed die cut from my stash.  The focal and birthday sentiment were both from the set and added with foam squares.

Inside:

Black and white paper formed borders top and bottom on the inside.  The pink/black/silver across the bottom one is a border from the set.  Three more die cuts decorate the inside.  Once again I stamped the message using a stamp from CCC - Celebrate.

Card #5:

And now for some masculine cards.  Here's the first.  I made it as a fold back card.  I wanted to pull in a variety of the colors in the die cuts I had - focal, frame, and sentiment - so went to my scrap drawers to see what I could find.  I ended up using scraps in 3 colors - and a couple of star punches in different sizes.The large red star and the die cut sentiment are both on foam tape.  Obviously, I only glued half of the focal and frame so that the card would open.

Opened:

As you can see, I added a stamped message on the inside - from CCC Birthday-Male using Faded Jeans Distress Oxide Ink.

Card #6:

Here's another Fold Back Card - this time with a scooter for a focal.  The red/gold paper is scraps from a "handmade" paper I got years ago at Costco.  The blue is also scrap from my stash - though not from Costco (not sure where I got it).  As you can see, I matted the blue on white & then used that to mat the focal & frame.  I added two sentiment pieces from the set - but only the round one is up on foam tape. I again punched stars for additional interest, but chose to hide most of them behind the focal until the card is open.

Opened:

Again the stamped sentiment is from CCC - Birthday-Male.

Card #7:

The last one of these that I need to make for awhile - YAY!  This one combines the remaining pieces from the Pop-a-Topper page with misc - mostly scraps - from my stash.  Only the focal and the word "cool" were from the Pop-a-Topper - the rest was from my stash.  Focal and greetings were added with foam tape - everything else was just glued in place.

Inside:

As you can see, I've used scraps from the card front - and a couple misc corner pieces from my stash to help decorate the inside.  Again the stamped sentiment is from CCC - Birthday-Male.