Hello Crafty Friends! It’s Marie back on the blog with a fun and bright birthday card featuring the Strawberry Basket Die and the adorable Bee Happy Stamp Set. I absolutely love the way these two sets play so perfectly together!

I started off by die cutting all my Strawberry Basket elements from bristol smooth cardstock paper. Bristol Smooth cardstock is my favorite paper to use when ink blending is required because I find that inks always glide on so smoothly and evenly. I inked all the strawberries with three shades of red ink starting with the first layer of Distress Oxide Ink in the color Worn Lipstick. The second layer of ink is My Favorite Things Premium Dye Ink in Fire Coral. The final color I used on just the edges of the strawberries is Amarena Cherry Premium Dye Ink from My Favorite Things. For the strawberry tops, I used the colors Sour Apple, and Field Day Premium Dye Inks from My Favorite Things and darkened the bottom of each top with Distress Ink in the color Mowed Lawn. For the center of all the flowers, I colored them with bright yellow Copic Markers in  Y02 Canary Yellow, and Y11 Pale Yellow. For the basket I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink and darkened the bottom with Milk Chocolate Premium Dye Ink from My Favorite Things. Lastly, I splattered some water on both the strawberries and green tops for a soft textured look.

Next, I stamped out my images from the Bee Happy Stamp set and the Strawberry Vine image from the Strawberry Patch Stamp Set onto watercolor paper with water soluble Distress Ink in the color Antique Linen. I colored all my images using Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils.  I then cut out all the images using the corresponding Bee Happy Dies and Strawberry Patch Dies.

For my background and cardbase panels, I used the Nesting A7 Die. I cut out my base panel from white 110 lb Neenah Solar White Cardstock and the background panel from Bristol Smooth Cardstock. Starting from the outer edges of my background panel, I lightly inked some Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide. I used Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink for my mid tone followed by Uncharted Mariner Distress Ink on the very edges to create a nice gradient leaving the center white. I lightly splattered the background with some water and dabbed if off with a paper towel. I then adhered my background panel to my cardbase using double sided tape adhesive.

After playing around with the placement of my dies and images, I adhered them using Bearly art Precision Craft Glue, and double sided tape adhesive.  For the sweet bees, I used some double sided foam strips to give them dimension. Finally, I stamped my sentiment “happy Bee-Day” one word at a time with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink and using the smallest die from the Nesting A7 Die Set, cut them out separately and adhered them in a playful way using double sided tape adhesive.  For all my finishing touches, I used some Stickles Glitter Glue for the center of the flowers and some Glossy Accents on the honey and crown. I also used a white gel pen to create some highlights on the bees!

That does it for this sweet birthday card! Thank you so much for joining me today! Until next time, Happy Cardmaking!