Happy Birthday, Cait!

Today is my friend, Cait’s, birthday. We met in university while living in the same residence, Arts House, where we got up to many crazy adventures. Cait and I share many interests, but the first one that comes to mind is loving cats. Naturally, a cat-themed card came to mind first thing when creating a card for her birthday.

This is another hand cut card. I used a metal-edged ruler to guide my knife for all of the straight cuts, but did the rest freehand.

Supplies:

·      Sheet of 8 1/2” x 11” red card stock

·      Sheet of 8 1/2” x 11” white text paper

Equipment:

·      Computer

·      Printer

·      Paper trimmer

·      Bone folder

·      Craft knife

·      Metal-edged ruler

·      Cutting mat

·      Black marker

·      Glue stick

·      Glue runner

·      Piece of wax paper

·      Heavy book

Directions:

1.     In a design program, create the kitty on the windowsill image, making the window outline 3 3/4” wide x 5” tall. I used this cat silhouette for the kitty and drew a box to create the window, drawing intersecting lines to create the windowpanes. On the same document, create a 2 3/4” wide text box and type in the words, “Happy Birthday!”, using the font of your choice. Position the text box so that there’s enough room around it to create a 3 1/4” x 4 1/2” rectangle. Print the page and allow time for the ink to dry.

2.     Cut the red card stock in half with the paper trimmer, creating two pieces measuring 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”. Set one aside for future projects.

3.     Fold the red card stock with the bone folder to make a 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” card.

4.     Cut the printed white paper so that the cat image and the text are separated. Trim a 3 1/4” by 4 1/2” rectangle around the “Happy Birthday” text to create an inside panel for the card. Trim the cat image so there is a small border around the window image.

5.     Use the glue runner to attach the “Happy Birthday” text panel to the inside right panel of the card.

6.     Use the knife and ruler to carefully cut out the kitty on the windowsill image.

7.     If there are any unprinted (white) areas left on the cut out image, use the black marker to touch them up.

8.     Wash your hands. Trust me, you’ll be covered in black ink, no matter how long you let the printed image dry (I left mine overnight and I still had smudgy fingers) and you don’t want to accidentally smear black ink from your fingers on to your card.

9.     Place the cut out image face down on a scrap piece of white paper. Spread glue on to the cut out with the glue stick. Carefully lift up the cut out image and glue it to the centre of the card’s front panel.

10. Lay the wax paper over the closed card (face up). Put the book over the wax paper and press until the glue is dry (to prevent the cut out from curling or peeling).

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday for the start of a series of creative and beautiful Valentine’s Day cards.

P.S. Velvetkitten, over at In the Kitchen with Kitten promoted Card Tricks in her post last Wednesday! Check it out here.