Alan's Birthday Card & Money Holder Card

It's Alan's birthday next week and I've made this card and a small square money holder card for him. I based the birthday card layout and colour scheme on a masculine birthday card I made last year. The card measures 5 1/2" square. I've used the SU! Touch of Nature stamp set - very kindly loaned to me by my friend Jan.

I followed the Faux Wood Frame tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers - but I used a woodgrain stamp rather than inking CS and using the distressed stripes Cuttlebug folder 'cos I don't have that one. Click here to go to the SCS tutorial.

I stamped the woodgrain stamp on Creamy Caramel CS with Close to Cocoa ink and cut a frame using square Nestie dies. After making the mitred corners, I swiped Chocolate Chip ink on all sides of the frame pieces. I cut a large plain caramel square and have glued my frame pieces onto that and then nested my bird image inside the frame.

The bird image was coloured with SU! Watercolor Wonder Crayons and I also sponged on some distress ink and stamped the speckles. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the leafy background images and a CB folder for the caramel textured strip. I added a thin olive strip for a contrasting pop of colour. The half circles are punched 3/4" circles glued to the inside front of the card so only half show on the card front. A Nestability Label Trio die was used for the sentiment.



I had a faux wood square left over from making the frame so I used that on the small square money card holder - it measures 4 1/4" square. I coloured the plums image using the crayons again and trimmed it. I then added the sentiment oval, photo corners and the olive dots. On the inside of this card I have used the SU! Slit Punch so I can tuck a banknote inside.



Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Touch of Nature set & sentiment from Wow Flowers set, speckle stamp from SU! Itty Bitty Backgrounds set, Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain Design Block stamp - SU! Oval All set for sentiment on money holder card
CS: SU! Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip
Ink: VersaFine Vintage Sepia, SU! Close to Cocoa & Chocolate Chip, Tim Holtz Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks
Tools: SU! Earth Elements Watercolor Wonder crayons, square & Label Trio Nestabilities dies, Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder, Sizzix Sizzlits Photo Corners die, SU! plain oval punch, SU! 3/4" circle punch, SU! Slit Punch, handheld 1/4" circle punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Embellishments: Antique brass finish brads