Whimsy Stamps ~ Some Special Birthday Cards

Hey crafty friends, I have two family members celebrating their birthday today! So of course I've had fun trying out some card ideas for them. I went through several 'permutations' before settling on the design I am actually giving one of them today. My big sis is in Canada on a skiing holiday, so I'll share her birthday card down the track.

I had such fun with this amazing Lava Lamp Die Set, I tried several different ideas! I rather like them all, so I'll share each of the designs with you. This first one above, I've used the same pattern as the one that follows, but I paired it with the fabulous Good Vibes Word Die Set. I really like this set and you may recall seeing the first time I used it here. I diecut the letters from surround from black cardstock and the background layer from blue. I've kept the letters for use on another project and used the background and surround, adding back in the little centres to the letters to finish the panel. I added it to the lava lamp popped up on low loft foam. I completed this design with some sparkly thread wound several times around the lamp and tied with a simple bow. 

I think this one with this curious Aliens peeking out of the 'mother ship', is a fun take on this set! For these blue versions, the base was cut from black glossy cardstock, then the lamp from gold matte cardstock and I used a particular section of one of the Lava Slimline Papers which gave these fantastic swirly blobs that mimic a lava lamp so well! I stamped a sentiment for this alien version from the ExtraTerrestrial Clear Stamp Set. The little aliens are from the Space Aliens Die Set. This one makes me smile, as I've a friend whose birthday is soon to follow who I think will get a kick out of this!

The version I gave to my 20 year old today, was this one with the retired die set Smiley Hello, which features the cutest emoji smiley face and a couple of word options in a circle die. I thought 'Hello 20' was a great way to celebrate this pretty big milestone for my kiddo. I just love the Slimline Lava Paper it really has so many fun options for using in combination with this Lava Lamp Die Set, which if you're not up for creating your own background, makes a really effective and easy option. I went for a classic paired back design which really let the cool Lava Paper feature. The 20 is from a Spellbinders die set.

 

For this purple and orange Lava Lamp, I added a base frame cut from Spellbinders Plum Cardstock, which is a lovely rich dark aubergine. I layered the silver elements over this and then added the lava section which I had ink blended with Distress Oxide inks in Carved Pumpkin, Seedless Preserves and Dried Marigold. I diecut the 'bloopy' bits of the lava lamp from Gold Vellum. I love that there is a die provided for this option, so you can choose either approach when making your card. I was very pleased with how this one turned out and didn't want to cover much of it, so just added a very simple Happy Birthday in a toning pale shade of ink to it and wrapped the base with a little silver twine from Spellbinders. Their Vivant Finn Cord in Silver Metallic is a lovely weight and texture, but the ends do fray quite easily, so I cut it long and trimmed them back after tying. I really love this version, I am so pleased with how the ink work looks on this one. 

This Lava Lamp die set is pretty cool, you could diecut the Lava Lamp to add to a slimline card, or do what I did and diecut the card base from white cardstock and mount your coloured layers over top. For the first cards, I added the largest frame die to the folded edge of a slimline card and pushed the cutting edge just past the edge of the cardstock, so that some of the die would not cut through the edge, giving a seam that the card can open and close from. It gives a shape that's just a little shy of the full profile on the folding edge, but you'd never know once the top layer is glued over it and means you have a really fun 'shaped' card. For the purple and orange version, I made a 'top folding' card. I did this very simply, but cutting a second white base and with the second one, I scored about an inch down from the top, glued above that and adhered the plum layer to the white. The glued section above the scored fold, gives a great 'top folding' card base. I'll be sharing a reel which shows this over on my IG channel, so watch for that.

I used a Xyron Adhesive tool to add the glue to the gold vellum bloopies. I didn't want it to show through and I find the only way to ensure this is to evenly adhere the entire section. You can do this with a light layer of liquid glue applied with your finger, but I find not matter which liquid glue I use, vellum will curl a little as it's wet, so I prefer the Xyron method. It adhered cleanly and without any obvious glue marks showing through, a wonderful fix for a panel like this. Don't the gold vellum bloopies look cool on this? Thanks for stopping in today. I will be back to share another of my Whimsy creations very soon. Until then, happy creating! Hugs, Wends xoxo

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible and occasionally am paid a small commission. I do not earn affiliate sales from my Whimsy links. This is just for tracking data. It helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice and track my contributions. I am deeply grateful if you use them for these reasons. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

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