Paper Pieced Sloth Belated Birthday Card

Hello, Crafty Friends! 

Wow, has it been a while! Spring has crept its head and is finally here! Here in Texas, it went from freezing temps to rain. Warm humid air and...yup, rain... and lots of it! Which just set off a chain reaction that made every flower, weed, tree, and grass send blooming clouds of pollen into the air that has my eyes, nose, and throat hating me right now. You know what I'm talking about... the dreaded seasonal allergies!!

Allergies hit pretty bad and put me down and out for a bit. And it made me miss events and even birthdays. No one likes to miss out on anything let alone birthdays. So for today's project, I'll show you how I made this paper pieced Sloth and created a Belated Birthday Card.

Supplies Used

Xyron Creative Station Lite 

Xyron 3" Sticker Maker

Big Shot Machine (Sizzix)

Sloth (Sizzix)

Lynda Kanase - Tropicool Banner (Sizzix)

Lynda Kanase - Card Front, Tropicool Leaves Sizzix)

Eileen Hull - Bookplates, Hinges, & Labels(Sizzix)

Tim Holtz - Stitched Ovals (Sizzix)

Tropical Leaves 3D Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

Sloths (Pink and Main)

Eileen Hull ColorBox Blends Inks - Frog, Leaf, Nutmeg. Golden, Ebony (Clearsnap)

ColorBox Archival Dye Ink - Wicked Black (Clearsnap)

110 lb. White Cardstock (Recollections)

Corrugated Cardstock (DCWV)

Cardstock - Moss Green, Light Green, Light Brown, Brown, Dark Brown

Vellum

Black Fine line Pen

White Gel Pen

Red Chalk

Foam Adhesive

Clear Liquid Adhesive

Paper Trimmer

Mini Mister Bottle of Water

I gathered my supplies. I wanted my finished card to be 5"x7". So, I started by first creating the background, I cut a piece of light green cardstock to measure 4 1/4"x 6 1/4". Then I lightly misted it with water. I inserted into this 3D Tropical Leaves folder and ran it through my Big Shot with a multi-purpose platform on Tab 1 and only 1 clear plate.

 Spraying your paper before you run it through will hell the fiber to relax while it's being embossed. It helps prevent tearing and gives the embossing a crisper impression.

Then, I inked over the entire raised image using my Eileen Hull ColorBox Blends ink Leaf. These inks have built-in applicators so you can ink directly onto your paper.

There's no need to wait for the ink to dry either. Next, I applied Golden lightly throughout. Followed by Nutmeg around the edges.

While the ink was drying, I worked on my sloth. I used this adorable Sloth die from Sizzix to die-cut cardstock in 3 shades of brown (light brown, brown, and dark brown). Then shaded all the die cut pieces with Nutmeg ink.

 I ran the smaller pieces through my Xyron 3" Sticker Maker and adhered his little face onto his body. Then used a fine line back pen to draw his eyes and used a make-up brush to dust his cheeks with chalk and added highlights with a white gel pen.

I wanted more of a jungle feel to my card so I die-cut these monstera leaves from moss green cardstock using 2 of Lynda Kanase's Tropicool sets (listed in supply list above).

 I inked over the edges using Eileen Hull Blends Inks in Frog for a big pop of green.

With my Sloth and Background taken care of, I assembled my card...

I cut my card panels and pieces to the following sizes...

  Card Measurements:

Base- 5"x7"

Corrugate- 4 3/4"x 6 3/4"

White Cardstock- 4 3/8" x 6 3/8"

Embossed Background- 4 1/4"x 6 1/4"

I wanted a focal point without blocking all that beautiful embossing. So I used the largest Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals to die-cut vellum.

 Then ran it through the Xyron Creative Station Lite. It gave edge-to-edge coverage that made the adhesive virtually invisible behind the vellum.

I die cut a label using Eileen Hull's Bookplate, Hinges, & Label dies from white cardstock. 

And I found the most perfect sentiment in my Sloths stamp set from Pink and Main. It read... "I'm a little slow, Happy Belated Birthday". It was just too perfect so I stamped it in Wicked Black ColorBox Dye ink. 

Look how adorable the finished card turned out...

Sometimes we're late. Sometimes we miss Birthdays. Thankfully, we have creative ways to make up for it!

I hope you enjoyed this card tutorial and it inspires you to create something... even if it is a little past due!

Until next time...

HAPPY CRAFTING!

~Mitsyana

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