Birthday card, finally

 I wanted to create a special birthday card for a special friend.  This is the finished card.

I could stop here, but wanted to show you the frustrating process of creating it.  I started with this set of stamps from Altenew.

This involves stamping several layers on top of each other with different ink colors.  I'm not good at getting them lined up and had quite a few problems.  After stamping the flower, I cut a mask with the die that came with stamp set.  The mask had a space around the image, so that when I added the leaves, there was a space.  Here are some of my problems:

I tried to fill in the gaps in image with a stump dipped on ink pad. This helped a bit, but not completely.  I also had problems getting ink smudges on the cardstock.  I tried the sand eraser for lightening smudges and covered others with an old whiteout pen.

I finally added my image to the card base with a die cut frame and sentiment.

My next frustration came when I stamped a message inside the card.  The ink smeared, so I stamped it on another piece of cardstock and added a frame around it to cover the smeared mess.

After thinking I was finished, I discovered a spot on upper part of front of card.

We all make mistakes in cardmaking, but the recipient only sees the finished product.

Thank you cards

 My neighbor and good friend recently had a kidney transplant.  She wanted to thank some of the good folks who helped her.  I made some cards for her to send.  I used 2 dies for these cards.  The Maple Leaf Corner die is by Simon Says Stamp and the Thank You Flourish die is by Poppystamps.   The leaves are loose, so they can be made is different colors.

Window birthday card

 This special window card took a long time to make.  To learn the technique, I suggest you watch Jennifer McGuire's video.  My card isn't as well made as Jennifer's, but I tried.

This is the front of the card.  The stamp, die, stencil set if from Altenew, called Inky Bouquet.  The image is stamped on heat resistant acetate and embossed with gold embossing powder.  The die is used to cut out image on cardstock.  The acetate is glued behind the cardstock window.

The image is stamped inside the card, so that it is lined up with window.  It is then colored using the stencil and blending brush.  Another piece of cardstock with diecut window is glued to cover back of acetate.   Please see Jennifer's video to learn the technique.