Gift Set Of Six Bees Birthday Cards

Recently I saw these great bee cards made by Kelly Acheson and I was inspired to CASE Kelly's design.  I liked the idea of making multiples and I ended up making a set of six cards as a gift.  I had a lovely time in my craft room, I had the radio on and was singing along as I was creating!  I made one entire card first and then cut all the CS and paper and finally die cut and stamped all the images I needed for the other five cards.  I put the cards together by working in an assembly line fashion.

Here's the six cards and envelopes.  I rarely make multiples of cards but I so enjoy seeing a set of cards together when I do.  I definitely want to get in the habit of making more than one of a design when it comes to Christmas cards.

I used two different patterned papers and made three of each design.  I stamped the hives in Daffodil Delight ink, the bees in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and I coloured the stripes using a Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends marker. The ribbon is retired Daffodil Delight stitched ribbon.  The hives are popped up on Dimensionals and the bee wings are shimmered by way of some Wink of Stella.  I finished off each card front by adding three gold foil die cut honeycomb shapes.

Here's how I decorated the inside of each card. 

Here are the envelopes - I used two different patterned papers and made three of each.

Here are the cards and envelopes in a cello bag tied up with ribbon and a tag.

Here's a closer look at the tag.  I die cut a 'Stitched Rectangle' shape from Basic Black CS and punched a hole for the ribbon.  I die cut a gold foil honeycomb shape and removed a few hexagons for interest.  I popped the hive up on Dimensionals and popped both bees up too.

Not only did Kelly inspire me with her card design she also shared a fabulous tip about stamping and die cutting multiple images using the SU! Stamparatus.  Kelly's video is HERE and the Stamparatus tip happens around the 6 minutes 40 seconds mark on the video if you'd like to fast forward just to the tip.  Kelly also has a separate video where she fully demonstrates the technique HERE.

It really is a fabulous tip and it helped to make creating this set of cards quick, easy and frustration free!  I don't know how many times I've stamped images and then when I've die cut the die has moved and I've had  to start again.  It's so frustrating - especially if you're stamping multiples - and especially if you've already cleaned your stamp and you've got to ink it up and clean it again!  I was so impressed with this tip I ended up die cutting a shed load of hives and bees and I still have my stamps in place on one of my Stamparatus plates.  Every now and then I'm going to ink the stamps up and stamp some shapes and then I'll have pieces all ready to go when I want to create another bee card.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Honey Bee', 'Sending You Thoughts' & 'Birthday Blooms' sets
CS: SU! Daffodil Delight, Basic Black & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Golden Honey' DSP
Ink: SU! Daffodil Delight, Memento Tuxedo Black, Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends marker
Tools: SU! 'Detailed Bee' & 'Stitched Rectangle' die sets, circle punch, Crop-A-Dile
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Daffodil Delight stitched ribbon, Wink of Stella pen, cellophane bag, Dimensionals
Ruth