Keeping it Simple? Happy Birthday Card

This is the card I originally created for the current Cards in Envy challenge--Keep it Simple (create simple cards). And while it was simple to make, it did take longer with lots more steps so I decided it wasn't simple enough for the challenge.

I do like how it turned out and will share the products and steps below on how I created it.

• I used white cardstock for the base of the card, A2 size.


• I matted the plaid patterned paper onto the card base.  This paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Tea for Two 6x6 paper pad.


• I then cut out another piece of white cardstock and stamped the two bottom flowers directly to the white mat. These are acrylic stamps from the Wow! "Hey Little Flowers" set.  I used Memento Black Tuxedo Ink for the flowers.


• I also stamped the sentiment onto the white mat which is from the Wow! "Just Saying" acrylic stamp set.  I used Memento Red Ink for the sentiment.


• The smaller two flowers were colored with Copic Markers.


• The large red flower was from my stash.  I'd colored it last year with my Chameleon Markers and fussy cut it out.


• I used a black fine tip marker and ruler to draw the lines all around the flower mat piece.


• Once the lines were drawn, I attached the large red flower with foam tape.


• Before attaching the flower mat to the card base, I used watered down black ink and a brush to add splatters to the piece.  I allowed some splatters to land on the flowers.


• The last step was to attach the flower mat to the red plaid that was already matted to the card base.

Fairly easy to create, but as I said earlier, I think it had too many steps for a Keep it Simple challenge.

Happy Crafting!
Sandy