Hoot Hoot Hooray! Birthday cards with Owl Together Now

Here are a couple of cards I made for two little boy birthdays recently. I started with the same layout and colours, but finished them separately, and changed around the final details just a little, for variety (or, more precisely, because I thought of something a little different AFTER I finished the first one!)

They use the set "Owl Together Now" and boy is it a cute one! Owls have been a bit of a trend for quite a while now, and not just in the stamping and scrapbooking world either - a visit to your local homewares store will be proof of that! Maybe it has something to do with the on-going Harry Potter phenomenon, who knows!

OK, on to the cards...

The card bases are Kiwi Kiss, stamped with the little hearts image from the Owl Together Now set, using Versamark ink, just for a little texture,

Next, there is a large mat of Not Quite Navy, sponged around the edges with NQN ink.

Next, we have a thin mat of distressed Summer Sun cardstock, under the image band of Whisper White.

I stamped the branch and owls with Stazon, my preferred ink for watercolouring, using my indispensible Stamp-a-ma-jig. Do you own one yet? I sense a tutorial about it's merits coming soon...

I used blender pen and marker to colour the owls in shades of Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Summer Sun, a smidge of Pumpkin Pie and Not Quite Navy.

The sentiment "Hoot Hoot Hooray" stamp was inked up line by line using my trusty markers.

Here's where the cards diverge...

One card uses the Curly Label Punch and co-ordinating Cute n Curly Stamp set. I inked up the border with Not Quite Navy ink, omitting the 'thankyou' before stamping on Whisper White. I cut around the edge of the frame, as this allows me to punch a mat using the Curly label punch. I popped it up on dimensionals for depth. There is a tie of Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain ribbon at the right to finish , and three Vintage metallic brads.

The other card uses the Scallop circle punch layered onto 1 3/8 and 1 1/4" circles, and to embellish I have used two of the gorgeous "Build a brad" pieces. What is a Build a brad??? It consists of a brad base, available in Antique Brass and Pewter finishes, and a clear epoxy disc that self-adheres to the top. What makes them so great is that you can customise the middle layer any way you like. Here I have simply punched out 1/2" circles from Good Morning Sunshine paper scraps, but you can stamp a co-ordinating image and punch that out instead. Or, make a large glitter brad by filling the centre with Crystal Effects dimensional adhesive mixed with Supernova coloured glitter! A wee scrap of Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain, left over from trimming the first card I suspect, finishes it off. Ta da! Variations on a theme!