Some birthdays deserve elegant flowers and heartfelt sentiments… and some deserve a dramatic “HOLY COW!” This playful birthday card combines bold cow-print patterns, colorful balloons, and the sweetest little Highland Cow for a celebration that’s equal parts cute, cheerful, and hilariously honest.
To create this card, you will need the following products from Kat Scrappiness:
Cow Spots Background 6x6 Stencil
Stitched Uppercase Alphabet Craft Dies
Sentiment Shoppe - Within The Fold: "Highland Cow Mini Moos Sentiments" 6x6 Stamp Set
Stitched Rope Nested Rectangle Dies
Birthday Essentials Craft Dies
Kat's Color Studio - Premium Cardstock - Smooth Bright White 120lb
In addition, you will need the following additional supplies:
Black Cardstock
Black Glitter Cardstock
Die cutting machine (optional embossing mat to dry emboss the stencil)
Stamp positioner or stamping blocks
Black Ink Pads (either dye or pigment, I used pigment black ink)
Red, Blue, Yellow Ink pads
Blending Brushes or Kat’s Crafty Dabbers
Liquid Adhesive
Foam Tape
Tape to secure the stencil such as painters tape
Alcohol Markers or Colored Pencils
Once you have everything gathered, let’s begin!
Step #1- Background
Trim a piece of white cardstock to 6”x6” and lay the Cow Spots Background 6x6 Stencil on top and secure it to your workspace using the painters tape or another preferred method. For my card, I used an A2 sized white card cardstock and a grip mat to secure everything in place.
Color in the stencil using your blending brush or Kats Crafty Dabbers and the black ink pad and set it aside to let the ink dry. I used a dabber for my inking and loved how easily it was to apply the ink.
(Optional step: To step up this card, I dry embossed the background panel. Although it’s not readily noticeable, you will feel the added texture when finished and it adds just that little touch to the card. If your die cutting machine came with an embossing mat, follow the instructions that came with the machine. Line up the stencil with the inked panel and tape the sides together so neither shift while going through the dry embossing process.)
Step #2 – Highland Mini Cow
Select the cow you would like to use for this card from the Highland Mini Moos Stamps set and color it in with your alcohol markers or colored pencils. Fussy cut the image with scissors and set it aside. I used the cow with his tongue sticking out since this is a funny, snarky card. I used gray alcohol inks to color in his fur, a teal color for his eyes, a light pink for this ears and red for his tongue.
Step #3 - Balloons
Die cut three balloons from the Birthday Essentials Craft Dies and keep those little reflection cut outs. (For this card, one large and two small balloons were used.) Ink blend the balloons (not the little reflection cut outs) using your blending brushes or Kats Crafty Dabbers with the red, blue, and yellow inks.
Die cut three ribbons from the set as well. You can either ink blend the red, blue, and yellow colors or use alcohol markers to color in the ribbons. I used alcohol markers for my ribbons.
Step #4 – OMG Letters
Die cut the letters ‘O’, ‘M’, and ‘G’ from the Stitched Uppercase Alphabet Craft Dies with black cardstock and set them aside to glue later onto the card panel.
Step #5 – White and Black Squares
Using two of the dies from the Stitched Rope Nested Rectangle Dies (3 ½” x 4 ¾” and 2 ¾” x 4”) place both of them onto black cardstock, evenly spaced inside each other and run this through the die cutting machine. A black frame will be left over to use on the card.
Take the smaller of the two dies you just used (2 ¾” x 4”), and die cut that using white cardstock. This white triangle will used next for the sentiment and inlayed into the black frame. (Note: Save the negative piece to use in just a bit.)
Select the sentiment “Holy Cow! You’re How Old” from the Sentiment Shoppe - Within The Fold: "Highland Cow Mini Moos Sentiments" 6x6 Stamp Set and stamp that using black ink onto the bottom right corner of this white rectangle and set it aside for later.
Next, take the black rectangle frame from earlier and glue that onto the left over white piece of cardstock you just used but slightly offset so you have the start of a white, even border. Then, trim off the extra white cardstock on the other two sides so that the white border is somewhat the same size as the other two sides. (No one will see that you used a leftover and you are using your scraps!)
Step #6 – Black Glitter Cardstock
Cut the black glitter cardstock to about 3 ¾” x 4 7/8” (slightly larger that then the piece from Step #5).
(Optional: To save on the glitter cardstock, you can use a rectangle die to die cut the middle of this glitter cardstock panel and save that piece for a later project. You only need a small frame and no one will notice that the middle is missing. That is what I did here.)
Now that we have everything ready to go, let’s put it all together!
Step #7 – Background panel
Trim the cow stencil panel to 4 ¼” x 5 ½” if you started with the 6x6 panel in the beginning.
Add liquid adhesive to the glitter cardstock frame or rectangle and adhere this to the cow panel at an angle on the bottom left corner.
Next, add glue to the black rectangle with the white border and adhere that on top of the glitter panel, leaving an even border around.
Next, add glue to the back of the white rectangle with the stamped sentiment and insert that into the middle of the black rectangle.
Trim off the excess that is hanging off.
Step #8 – ‘O’, ‘M’, ‘G’ Letters
Add liquid adhesive behind the letter ‘O’ and adhere that to the white rectangle, slightly at an angle, above the 'Holy Cow!' Follow that up with the other two letters.
Step #9 - Balloons
To adhere the small white reflection die cuts, I added tape behind each of the openings behind the balloons and inserted the die cuts so I know they will stay in place.
Add the ribbons to each of the balloons by adding some liquid adhesive to the tip of the ribbons and placing them behind the balloons.
Glue the three balloons together, offsetting them a little.
Next, add some foam tape behind the balloons, remove the backing, and place them onto to the card panel to the right of the rectangles.
Step #10 – Highland Cow
Add foam tape behind your cow and adhere that to the card panel on top of the ribbons and just on top of the right bottom corner.
Step #11 – Card base
Cut a piece of white or black cardstock to an A2 size, side folding card base and adhere the card panel. I ended up trimming the whole panel down just a little so there is a border from my black card base.
And that completes the card!
I hope you enjoy making this cute card! It’s a fun, snarky way to wish someone a Happy Birthday.
We would love to see what you create using Kat Scrappiness products especially the new cardstock! Lots of beautiful colors, heavy in weight, and options to choose from including choosing colors for your own bundle!
Don't forget to participate in our monthly card challenges! You can find the information here: https://www.katscrappiness.com/blogs/kat-scrappiness-blog/reminder-kat-scrappiness-card-making-challenge
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Thank you for stopping by and happy crafting!
Crafty Bo
