Beach Birthday Card with Xyron & Paper House

This project is a collaboration between Xyron and Paper House. The Xyron Design Team members were each sent a pad of 12x12 paper (including stickers!) plus a couple rolls of washi tape from Paper House. I chose the Sun Drenched pad because it is so colorful, and I'm dreaming of summer (hoping for warm weather soon)!

When I saw the pad of paper, I had the perfect dies in mind: Karen Burniston recently released the Palm Tree Pop-up as well as some other ocean themed dies. I love how fun this card is!

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Making the Card

1. Cut dark brown cardstock 7 x 10 inches; fold in half to form a 5 x 7 inch top folding card. Cut black cardstock 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. Cut 2 3/4 inches off bottom of sunset patterned paper (Sun Drenched, Paper House) then cut 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches horizontally from left bottom corner.

2. To create palm tree/hill silhouette, die cut black cardstock with palm tree hill top die (Tropical Scene dies) with about 3/4" from the bottom, on the left (i.e. enough to cover the island printed on the patterned paper). Extend the cut with the hills die without trees (hint: I used a black fine tipped Sharpie to mark where the blade is located to make it easier to line up). Use scissors if it doesn't cut perfectly. From black cardstock, also cut the tops of 3 palm trees. Trim middle section in a V to make birds; trim one smaller by cutting off part of the "wings."

3. Die cut Happy Birthday from white glitter cardstock. Carefully cut words apart following the curve of the letters.

4. Put all pieces (but not card base!) into Creative Station with permanent adhesive. Rub around all pieces before pulling off cellophane - I recommend cutting the pieces apart first. When removing, pull the backing sheet away from cardstock/paper to keep them from bending. Adhere black cardstock to card base, then sunset patterned paper, then black silhouette hill and palm trees (over the one pictured on the sunset paper). Add a strip of shell washi tape to the bottom as shown. Optional: add stickers shells (Sun Drenched, Paper House) where shown.

Cut pieces apart; pull backing away from cardstock/paper to avoid bending

5. Put birds into 1.5" Create-a-Sticker; rub around edges of birds. Color "Happy" and "Birthday" with alcohol markers (see Supplies for a list of markers I used). Gently blend with colorless blender (note: if you rub too much, the alcohol may dissolve the glue, depending on the glitter cardstock used). Adhere "Happy" to card where shown (save "Birthday" for inside of card). Adhere birds to card where shown (see final image).

6. For the inside of the card, first cut the pieces of paper to line the inside. Reinforce the paper by lining it with black cardstock such that the black will form a border around the card, excluding the inside fold area. To do this, find the sand image paper (Sun Drenched, Paper House) with the wave/sea foam at the top. Trim the right side of the piece 6 1/2 inches from the right edge. Trim up from the bottom (i.e. the side without wave) 4 3/4 inches. Repeat from the bottom of the larger piece 4 3/4 inches, trimming off most of the wave. You should have two pieces 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches. Cut two pieces of black cardstock 6 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches (hint: if you have a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch cardstock, first cut 6 3/4 inches down the length of the paper - so you have a long piece - then cut two pieces from that at 4 7/8 inches each). Put the sand pieces (not the black) through the Xyron Creative Station with permanent adhesive. Attach each to a piece of black cardstock such that the long edge matches up with one of the long sides on the black - this will eventually be towards the fold; for the piece with the wave on the corner, match the opposite side to the black edge. See photo below - the edge towards the fold is flush with the black (sorry it is difficult to see - there is no black between the fold and the sand edge). Important: do not run black pieces through Xyron or attach to card yet! Trim a very small amount (< 1/16 inch) from the edges without the borders in order to accommodate the fold.

Adhere sand pieces to black but do not adhere the black yet; they will first be placed only temporarily inside the card.

7. Find the paper with the water and yellow-green sky (Sun Drenched, Paper House). Cut 6 1/2 inches from the right side. Use wave die (Tropical Scene) to cut across the light wave area (I angled the die to match the light area) - the stitched line will be towards the bottom of the page. You will need to extend the cut like you did with the palm tree hill by marking the die (black fine tipped Sharpie) and continuing to cut along the light area (use scissors if it doesn't cut perfectly). Once you have the wave piece, cut off about 2 1/2 inches from the bottom on the right side, leaving 1 1/2 or so inches measuring from the bottom to the wave on the right side; set aside for a moment. Next, cut about 3 inches off the leftover sand piece (by about 5 1/2 inches wide). Cut black cardstock the same size or a little larger. Put the wave and the sand into the Xyron Creative Station. Adhere the sand to black cardstock (you will cut the palm tree bases from this); adhere the wave to the bottom of the piece from step 6, covering the printed wave, so it lines up with the the edges.

Wave piece going into Xyron. Sand piece adhered to black cardstock; palm tree base die pictured, ready to die cut

8. Watch the following assembly video but don't assemble yet. Cut the pieces as described below the video then watch it again while you assemble. Use the Xyron Mega Runner to secure the die cut sand/black border pieces in the card as shown in video; use the Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker for adhesive on coconuts and turtle shell pieces.

Using the Palm Tree Pop-up and Sea Animals dies, die cut the following then shade (described in steps below):

• Light brown cardstock: cut 2 sets of pop up tree trunks, 2 smaller tree trunks, 1 turtle shell
• Dark brown cardstock: cut 3 sets of coconuts (9 total), 1 turtle shell detail
• Green cardstock: 2 sets of large tree tops, 2 small tree tops, 1 turtle
• Salmon cardstock: 1 crab
• Black cardstock: 1 oval piece for behind crab's eyes
• Sand with black cardstock backing (from step 7): 2 tree bases (strips with 4 holes)

Use blending tool and Walnut Stain Distress Ink to shade and stencil (using dies) palm tree trunks. Use Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink to add highlights to palm tree fronds. Note: Use the Xyron Adhesive Eraser on any extra adhesive, such as removable tape residue used to hold the pieces in place or any stuck around the edges of cardstock or paper.

9. Once you have assembled the card as described in the video (minus hammock), add the extra tree as shown. Adhere coconuts as you like. Glue black oval behind crab's eyes and use Black Copic Multiliner .5 to draw through crab die as a stencil for the mouth. Add shading with Barn Door Distress Ink (I applied it with a blending tool). Adhere where shown.

10. Use Bundled Sage Distress Ink to shade turtle body and Walnut Stain to shade main turtle shell. Use Black Copic Multiliner .5 to draw through turtle body die for eyes. Assemble turtle and adhere where shown. Adhere "WARM" "Birthday" and "WISHES" where shown, using stickers from Sun Drenched, Paper House for "WARM" and "WISHES".

Supplies

• Xyron: 9" Creative Station, Permanent Adhesive, Mega Runner, 1.5" Create-a-Sticker, Adhesive Eraser
• Paper House 12x12 Pad: Sun Drenched (PP-0081)
• Paper House Washi Tape: Beach
• Karen Burniston in Cahoots with Riley and Company Dies: Tropical Scene (1038), Happy Birthday (1030), Palm Tree Pop-up (1039), Sea Animals (1037), Tiny Accessories 1 (1025)
• Cardstock: Dark Brown, Light Brown, Black, Green, Salmon
• Glitter Cardstock: White (Preferably Warm Tone)
• First Edition Art Graphic Markers: Lemon, Sunset, Coral, Rouge (Alternatively Copic Markers, or Spectrum Noir Markers)
• Copic Colorless Blender
• Distress Ink: Walnut Stain, Barn Door, Bundled Sage
• Distress Oxide Ink: Twisted Citron
• Blending Tool
• Black Copic Multiliner .5

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