Too Hot to Think Straight

On these hot hot days, I find it a little hard to muster creativity. I want to sit still in an air-conditioned room, play games on my phone, listen to a podcast, and try to keep from sweating. But my Jodie turned 30 years old yesterday, and I also wanted to make her a special card.

So I found a compromise. Here's the finished card:

I bought two of the same birthday card, cut one of them up, and embellished the second card with bits of the first. Here's how:

First, I embellished the outline of the card with gold glitter tape. I outlined the banner with 1/8" yellow tape. Then I cut the "30" from the first card, embellished it with the same gold glitter tape, and adhered it over the "30" on the card with pop-up adhesive dots. 

The theme of Jodie's gift from Dale and me was gardening. So I pulled these very cool 3-D stickers from my stash and adhered the flower pot to the bottom corner.

On the inside, I added some of that same narrow yellow tape above and below the Happy Birthday. Then I added two more of the stickers to the inside of the card.

Here's a close-up of the large sticker. It has a flat base with the printed background flowers on slick paper. Then it has a pop-up cardboard glittery vase with a few other flowers. The layering creates a stunning effect.

Then it was time to embellish the envelope. I added another of the 3-D stickers to the front of the envelope. Then outlined the envelope flap with more of the gold glitter tape.

On the inside of the envelope, I inserted a coordinating piece of scrapbook paper. By embellishing both the card and the envelope with the same elements, it creates a cohesive color theme. 

The yellow tape on the banner and around the Happy Birthday on the card wouldn't make much sense if the envelope hadn't been yellow. There was also yellow in all of the stickers. 

The gold glitter tape mimicked the glitter on the stickers. That same gold glitter tape on the envelope flap echoes the gold frame of the sticker on the front of the envelope.

Starting with a base store-bought card helped my creative juices start to flow. Then pawing through my stash of paper tape, scrapbook paper, and stickers helped the ideas solidify. 

After that, it was a matter of playing and getting lost in the creative process ... flow.