Girl's 11th Birthday [PTI Blog Hop]

Needing a birthday card for a preteen girl, I took the inspiration colors from Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop challenge.

 Branching out a little bit for me to try a more artsy/whimsical card. After spending so much time figuring out where everything should go, I have a deeper admiration for those who make cards like this look so random.

I am in love with the PTI Simple Stripes impression plate. It give such a subtle, even texture in person, but try taking a photo and it completely disappears! I used it here on the inset "Celebrating your Birthday" panel.

The "11" sits on a cake stand and is masquerading as two candles with a wire wick and hand-cut flames. This would work well for any age, but "11" is perfect for candles! 

 The flowers are masked, and I love how the little sunburst stamp fills an area. See the text? That's a fun technique I got from Artsy Lynn to put Scotch tape on a dictionary page, and then rip it off. You get the top layer of printing so it's transparent when you add it to your card. Love how irregular the shape is too. I can see using this technique quite often when a card needs a little something extra.

It was so fun using washi tape (yellow dots on top of the cake stand.) Do you know that Target now sells 4 packs of "paper tape" under their house brand Up?!? I found out about this at Taste of Chicago a couple weeks ago. The Art Institute had a craft table for kids to create their own pop art (in honor of the new Roy Lichtenstein exhibit). And they gave them washi tape! I was strangely jealous.

And although their masterpieces looked fantastic, I couldn't help but think maybe I'll steal a few strips off their paper once we got home and they forgot about it (so wrong ... I know, I know!!) Instead, I asked where the Art Institute got the tape and that's when I found out about Target. 

The best part is, they sell 4 rolls of it for ... $4! I can do a buck a roll! I think there's a fifth "multi color" package that was out of stock on the shelf (office supply section.) I grabbed one of each and feel fully stocked now.

Thanks for looking!
- Kelly

Supplies used:

stamps:  PTI mini hexagons (pattern on the "1's"), PTI Movers and Shakers Sentiments, Pink Paisley Celebrations
impression plates: PTI Simple Stripes 
dies: PTI Mat Stack
ink: PTI Hawaiian Shores,  PTI Mellon Berry, PTI True Black, Color Box Yellow Ochre
other: wire, dictionary, Up! paper tape