Butterfly Birthday

Here's my card for August's second Viva la Verve sketch.  I used the sketch to make a card to go with the gift card I gave my sister for her birthday.  It was orange and aqua with butterflies all over it, so I used those elements for my card.

My butterflies are from Verve's Blue Skies stamp set.  I colored them with Copic markers and cut them out with the matching All Aflutter dies. The blending on the butterflies is a lot softer IRL than in the photo.  I used two shades of orange for the background panel, adding a long dark orange cardstock strip to the lighter orange panel.  I adhered a striped orange patterned paper panel edged with just a bit of aqua cardstock across the orange panel.

The "happy birthday" sentiment from the Small Packages stamp set was stamped on an aqua pierced circle die cut in white ink, then heat embossed for a nice pop. I set the circle on top of the panel, then added an orange fishtail flag strip just beneath the words.  The butterflies were arranged at the end of the fishtail flag strip, using foam tape for dimension.  A few orange-y sequins scattered around the butterflies added a touch of sparkle to the design.  I layered the panel on a dark orange mat, then adhered it to a card base made from matching light orange cardstock.  I'm so happy with the way this card reflects the gift card that goes with it! 

Materials Used:
Blue Skies and Small Packages stamp sets, All Aflutter By dies (Verve Stamps); Memento Tuxedo Black and Memento Luxe Wedding Dress inks (Tsukineko/IMAGINE Crafts); markers (Copic); Summer Sun, Orange Zest, and Aqua Mist cardstock (Papertrey Ink); Lush 2 Orange Stripe designer paper (My Mind's Eye); Die-namics Pierced Circle STAX and Fishtail Flag STAX dies (My Favorite Things); Recollections Snow embossing powder (Michaels); orange sequins; foam tape