Birthday Card with Yellow and Violet Flowers

(See bottom of post for inside of card.)

For many years, from childhood on, I created greeting cards with my own art work. I used crayons, yarn, paints, markers, collage, sequins ... anything and everything.

Now, with some basic paper crafting tools and supplies, I'm beginning to try my hand at card making again.

This birthday card uses my 2009 daisy drawing. I printed the line drawing and the words onto Neenah card stock, hand-colored them with my Copic markers, layered them onto yellow card stock, and embellished with ribbon and pearls. See below for materials, as well as an easy technique for the dotted background and purple edge.

• Copic marker colors used: flower petals - Y11, V000,04, RV10; centers - YR14, V04; leaves and stems - YG91 base, YG23, G14,40, RV91; background - V000, Custom color YYR2000; edge - V04
• Technique - Background: Press down with the Copic marker brush tip to make dots of color all over your background. If you have Copic "original" type markers (my favorite type), you can do this technique with a cotton swab (such as a Q-tip). To put ink onto your swab, either use a few drops from your Copic ink refill bottle (easiest), or if you don't have a refill, press the chisel tip of your marker (pointed down) onto the tip of the swab (pointed up) for just a few seconds. Most of the swab will still be dry, but the tip will make dots of color.
  
• Technique - Edge: Using the chisel or brush tip (not the fine tip), run the marker along the thin edge of the card stock. (Be careful not to let your marker slip off the edge; you don't want it to mark the front of your card stock.) Play with it a little to find the right speed and pressure. Go fairly fast with an even speed, for a thin, straight-looking edge like my card front. Go more slowly with an uneven speed, for a thicker, less regular edge like my card interior. I like both effects - it's up to you how you want it to look.
  
• Card base: Papertrey Ink Perfect Match card stock (Lemon Tart color, from the 2009 card stock sampler) , cut down to A2 card size (5.5 x 4.25" when folded)
  
• White layer for flowers and words: Neenah and Wausau, cut down
• Ribbon: yellow ribbon received as "thank you" gift with order from Ellen Hutson
• Pearls: white 5 mm Hero Arts from Ellen Hutson - tinted with V04 Copic marker
• Words: Wishing you a very happy birthday!
• Font: Desdemona 48 point. Click here for a Google docs link to my Word document with these words (4 sets per page) which you can download, then edit as desired, and print. I assume you will need to have the Desdemona font already on your computer. (It was included as part of my Word program.) Note, when you view it on Google docs, you will not see the correct font, but (if you have Desdemona) it should be ok after downloading.