Surprise Party Guest!

I’m honored and surprised every time I win a challenge, but I was super-excited to win at Seize the Birthday! Although I don’t participate as often as I could, it’s always been one of my favorite card challenges and is run by one of my favorite card makers. So this win was a special one, and now I’m thrilled to be the Surprise Party Guest for the current challenge!

The challenge this round is a great one–right up my alley:

It didn’t take me long to come up with a plan. One of my favorite embossing folders (dry embossing) is Altenew’s 3-D Magnolia Ballerina. I chose to emboss an arch die cut from Ellen Hutson’s Essential Arches. I die cut the arch and then placed it in the embossing folder exactly where I wanted the design to be. I used Fluid Cold Press watercolor paper which I dampened slightly using a baby wipe before embossing. I love the way it came out.

I then recut the arch from black cardstock and added just the frame when I adhered the floral to a card base created with the same watercolor paper. I embossed the greeting from Pinkfresh Studio’s Nothing But the Best with rose gold embossing powder (wet embossing) on black paper and die cut it, adding it to the card with a bit of dimensional tape.

I love the depth of 3-D embossing folders ,and this one is especially gorgeous. I used a Jane Davenport Golden Age Ultimate Colour pen to add some gold to the centers of each flower. Although the floral takes up most of the card, I think this turned out to be a very Clean and Simple design–one I’m sure to use again. I’m also a fan of the watercolor paper–thanks to Cécile Ribon who kindly answered my question about what kind of paper she uses. It has a beautiful, though subtle, texture. 

Be sure to hop over to Seize the Birthday and add a card to the gallery! If you’re like me, birthday cards are one of the most frequent cards you make.

I’m sending this one on to two other challenges where they are looking for birthday cards: Double D and The Paper Players.