Art Impressions Blog: Birthday Blessings Card w/ Stenciled Background by Lynn Dionne

Happy Wednesday Ai Fans!!!

Watch video tutorial here!!!

Today we will be using one of the wonderful FREEBIE stamps which can be obtained for free with a $30 purchase from Art Impressions. There a several FREEBIE'S available including the Robin that we will be using today, as well as, a Chickadee, the Stellar Jay, a Cockatiel, a sweet Puffin, and a pretty Hummingbird!

To get started we will be using the Ai Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies and the Ai Oval Double Stitched Dies to die cut the rectangular panel for the front of the card and to die cut an oval from the center.

To set the scene, we can use a beautiful leave stencil to create a background. We will ink this up using a small 1/4" blending brush so that we can add some shadows to the leaves. This will give our stenciling a lot more dimension and interest!

Now we can select some pretty yellow/gold paper from the Echo Park paper pack for the opening in the oval. We will ink this up around the edges of the oval using a coordinating ink.

Let's stamp our little robin and color it in using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in the following colors: Blender, Yellow, Orange, Lt Gray, Platinum Brown.

We can use our detail scissors to cut this out, leaving a little white border all the way around.

Next, we can die cut a lattice border (Ai Pocket Set) and some leaves/sprigs (Ai Journal Rectangle Frames), and a pretty flower (Ai Journal Oval Frames).

We can give the leaves and flowers a bit of dimension using our sculpting tools.

Before we complete the assembly we can add a few sentiments from the Ai Birthday Sentiments Set. This will say "Birthday Blessings" and "May your every wish come true!".

Let's assemble the card and add a few iridescent stars to the oval area and a pretty gem to the center of the flower!

Thank you so much for joining me today! Have a fun and crafty day!!!