Happy Birthday, Shirley!

Today is my MIL Shirley's birthday. Earlier this week, I posted photos of her gift. Here is her card. It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is the kickstand card that I posted the sketch for last weekend. So when the card is closed, you can see the inside of the card at the bottom. Originally, this card was going to be purple, but Shirley's favorite color is blue. I decided to use Soft Sky and Blue Bayou for the blue shades, and Mellow Moss with Always Artichoke for the green shades. (I got the greens from the Color Combo wheel.) The card base is Soft Sky with 2 inches cut off the bottom front. I stamped the Weathered bg in Mellow Moss before I cut off that piece. The stamp set is Blossoms Abound. It's 2-step stamping, which makes the layering of color really easy! The first stamp for the flower is almost solid with just some hints of the flower shapes. I stamped that twice in Soft Sky onto Shimmery White cardstock. The second stamp is much more open with more of the flower shapes. I stamped that in Blue Bayou. Since the first stamp is so solid, the flowers look great even if they aren't perfectly aligned. (Mine are definitely not!!) For the stem and leaf accents (this was all one stamp), I used Always Artichoke and then stamped the solid leaves over the top in Mellow Moss. I stamped the stem again for the flower on the left, but it ended up going onto the leaves; I won't do that again! I matted the focal image onto Always Artichoke; both layers got the ticket corner punch first. I took a strip of Mellow Moss cardstock, punched the bottom edge with the corner rounder and attached it to the bottom of the card front. (Two mistakes here: the mat was supposed to be Blue Bayou, and you can't even see the scalloped edge.) I tied a piece of Moss gingham ribbon around it where the 2 layers meet. After adhering the focal image, I stamped Happy Birthday in Bayou Blue. Tip for applying adhesive to the focal image: I turned my card over so the front was laying on the table. I lined up the focal image on the INSIDE of the card front so I could see where to stop applying the adhesive. (Hope that made sense!)
I told you about all of the mistakes on the card so that you can see that projects can turn out great even when there are mistakes!
If you still need some inspiration, don't forget to check out Beate's weekend sketch challenge or the challenge forum on SCS. Happy stamping!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Blossoms Abound, Weathered, It's Your Birthday; Paper: Shimmery White, Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss; Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke; Accessories: ticket corner punch, corner rounder punch (retired), moss gingham ribbon