Penny Black Cupcake Mice Birthday Card

My mom's favorite color is purple so when her birthday rolled around, I sent her this birthday card with lots of purples (as well as blues). The image is from Penny Black's clear stamp set Critter Party. I stamped it using Versa Fine ink in Onyx Black on watercolor paper and colored it with Distress Ink reinkers. Although it doesn't show in the photographs, the candle, scarves, and cupcake have some added sparkle with Spica Glitter pens and a touch of Wink of Stella clear brush tip marker. The image and decorative border were cut with Spellbinders dies.

The tag was made a while ago, probably with the Sizzix scalloped tag die. I embossed it with "a moment in time" and a little flourish then colored it with Distress Inks using a blender tool. I also added some to the edges of the tag. I used the same Distress Inks to dye the ribbon (really, seam binding from Hug Snug) to match. The envelope was cut from vellum with an original Sizzix manila envelope die (the die is no longer available from Sizzix but you can find it on eBay, item number 38-1104). The heart was cut from chipboard using the Sizzix Primitive Hearts die (my original die only has 2 hearts instead of 4 with the new version); I colored it with Viva Decor Inka Gold paint in violet. The small heart was punched using Martha Stewart's Heartbeat deep edge boarder punch. I love this punch because it punches 4 sizes of hearts plus makes a beautiful border.

The flowers are from Petaloo (the leaves were cut with my trusty Sizzlits Branches with Leaves die). You can see how I colored the flowers in an earlier post. Below is a close up that better shows the dimension on the card. The happy birthday sentiment is from the same Penny Black stamp set as the image (mentioned above). I stamped it on white cardstock then cut it out by hand in a banner shape. After sticking it down to dark blue cardstock, I cut around it leaving about an eighth of an inch border. I popped it up with dimensional tape.

A little baker's twine, a strip of paper, and some washi tape finish off the bottom of the card.