Skull And Cross Buns | Tropical Birthday Card | Video

Compensated post – see disclaimer at the end.

It’s definitely getting Summery here in Southern Finland recently, so I thought it would be the perfect time to create a Summer-themed birthday card. I focused on how to make your own tone-on-tone patterned paper for this design.

I began with a large snippet of white card. I measured the die I wanted to use against the paper, then drew a light pencil mark in to divide it into three sections. I then ink blended a section at a time with Catherine Pooler inks. I used Limoncello, Tiki Torch, and Lime Rickey.

Once I’d finished all the ink blending I dried the panel with the cooler setting of my WOW! Dual Speed Heat Tool, treated it with my Anti-Static Powder Tool, then repeatedly stamped the citrus slice from Skull and Cross Buns’ Tropical Party all across the panel before clear heat embossing. This is what creates the tone-on-tone design. A more traditional emboss resist technique, where you clear heat emboss prior to ink blending, would instead give white citrus slices.

I used a now retired die from Simon Says Stamp to cut one bikini from each of the coloured patterns I had created. I set my die cut pieces aside whilst I worked on my background.

For the card base I added some interest by splattering on each of the three colours of ink I had used for my ink blending. Using the same colours helps to tie the whole design together.

I didn’t entirely like how the bikinis looked directly against the card base, so I used a Lawn Fawn Stitched Oval die to cut a piece of vellum to add to the card. I then black heat embossed a sentiment from Quirky Sentiments onto the vellum.

I used Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue to adhere the bikinis to the vellum oval, and applied foam tape to the back of the vellum hidden behind the bikinis. I popped the panel up on my card base, and finished off the design with Nuvo Drops in Limoncello, Ripened Pumpkin, and Bottle Green.

Making your own patterned paper is so fun because you can really get it to look exactly how you want it. It also makes it easier to match up colours of the different elements, simply by reusing the same inks. I’m really happy with how the card came out. The bright colours and subtle citrus pattern are ideal for a summer birthday card, don’t you think?

Love,

Lady Joyful

P.S., use code DESIGNTEAM when you purchase from Skull and Cross Buns to save 10% on your order!

*The stamps used on these cards were sent to me free of charge to use as part of my Design Team obligations.*

*Affiliate links may have been used in this post. For more details on affiliate links as well as other ways to support me, visit this page.*

Challenges included:

{PIN}spirational Challenge – Photo Inspiration (the elements I picked up on were summer and feminine)

AAA Birthday – Use Vellum

Classic Design Challenge – Anything Goes

Die Cut Divas – Summer Fun

Dies R Us – Summertime Fun

HLS Anything Goes With Dies Challenge – Use Dies

Polkadoodles Craft Challenge – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Sprays and Splashes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Summer Fun