LOTV - Happy Birthday!...

If you didn't already know, next month, Lili of the Valley celebrates its 10th birthday, and in celebration, there's a birthday card challenge going on right now...and I hope you'll join in, too!  Each of us on the design team have made a special card just for the day. Today it's my turn to share my card in honor of a wonderful company that I'm so happy to be working with.

I love the beautiful rose papers in the Always & Forever paper pad, so it was my first choice for this card...there are so many surfaces to cover that I didn't have to choose only one or two...I had lots of options...

I first saw this card design last April on Marianne's blog ... and after a good bit of oohing-and-aahing, spent a bigger bit of time trying to find a tutorial so I could make one like it. It seems to be a cross between a gate-fold card and a napkin-fold card, but I had no luck finding an existing tutorial. So, as you can imagine, I used quite a few (at least 5) pieces of cardstock trying to find the magic combination of folds, creases, punches, etc. to get the look. Then, when I finally did, I set the folded and punched card aside for another day when I had time to "gussy" it up just the right way, and write up some sort of tutorial. And there it sat, and I had almost forgotten I had it there in my "template" basket, until it was time to make up the LOTV birthday card. It was the perfect occasion to tackle this card again. 

As luck would have it, in the meantime, an online friend of mine got the same idea, and wrote the perfect tutorial...and that's when I said to myself, "self, why didn't you just wait until Rebecca got her hands on it and save yourself a lot of time and cardstock?!" So if you decide you'd like to try a card like this for yourself, head on over here to Rebecca's blog, where her tutorial makes it look so much more stress-free than I remember feeling as I was experimenting with it...LOL. 

The fun part is that there are so very many places on this card to add embellishments and decorations...and the removable large tag is what holds it all together. The large sentiment on the tag is from LOTV's Set 61, Quotables/Celebrate ...the stamped roses are from Set 66, Grunge Elements (I stamped them verrrrrrry lightly to add to the "grunge" background look)...and of course, the lace and pearls I can always find a spot for on my cards...

The mini tag at the top of the large tag is stamped with a sentiment from Set 29, Vintage Sentiments/Just to Say ...

Once you remove the tag, the card stands open like this...

There are two different papers from the Always & Forever pad used on the front. On the pink-striped corners, I stamped a decorative corner from Set 68, Corners, and heat-embossed them with white embossing powder.  With the pretty rose papers I used, I couldn't resist decorating the front corners with pink and red mulberry roses, accented with a small leaf stem and shabbied up a bit with a snippet of cheesecloth...

On the inside of the card, a couple more patterns from the Always & Forever paper pad were used, and a sentiment block added to the center.  The sentiment verse is from the A5 Verses set, and the cursive sentiment is from Set 25, Handwritten Phrases ...

A little more lace and pearl trim was the final touch...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  LOTV Always & Forever paper pad

Stamps:   LOTV Set 61, Quotables/Celebrate;   Set 66, Grunge Elements;   Set 29, Vintage Sentiments/Just to Say;   

Set 68, Corners;   Set 10, A5 Verses;   Set 25, Handwritten Phrases

Edge Punch:   Martha Stewart Swirling Lace PATP          Scalloped Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com

Pearl spray:   local craft store          Pearl flourishes & mini pearls:   Recollections

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous:   cheesecloth, white embossing powder, white craft paint

To recap, I used (4) different pieces of patterned paper from the 8"x 8" Always & Forever paper pad to decorate this card (one of the papers used on the inside of the card was also used on the large tag), (1) 12" x 12" piece of white cardstock for the card base, and (1) 12" x 12" piece of red cardstock as "mats" for the patterns, the large tag base, and front corners between the pieces of white cardstock.

If you like using images on your cards, the large tag is a perfect place for one (as Marianne did on her original card), and you could have some fun adding them to the side pieces on the inside of the card, too. But since my focus on the LOTV team is the use of sentiment stamps and patterned papers, I decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to use several sentiment stamps on their birthday card!

I hope you'll join in on the Monthly Challenge going on right now on the Ideas to Inspire Challenge blog and enter your birthday card for LOTV...we'd love to see what you can create!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!