The Most Fabulous Birthday Ever

Here's my card for this month's Viva la Verve sketch.  It's actually my second take on the design.  I really wasn't happy with how my first attempt turned out, so I went back to the drawing board and came up with this one, which I deemed worthy of sharing.

I used the sketch to make a birthday themed design.  The card was built around the striped patterned paper scrap adhered to the center of the card.  I topped it with a pale gray pierced square die cut stamped with the birthday sentiment from Verve's Better Together stamp set.  The sentiment panel was accented with a teeny, tiny silver pierced star die cut, adhered with foam tape for dimension.  After adhering the striped piece to a light blue cardstock panel, I added a strip of pale gray cardstock, edged with darker gray, along the left edge of the striped panel.  The finished panel was adhered to a pale gray card base.

Materials Used:
Better Together stamp set (Verve Stamps); Memento Luxe Gray Flannel ink (Tsukineko/IMAGINE Crafts); Grout Gray and Steel Grey cardstock, Die-namics Pierced Square STAX and Pierced Star STAX dies (My Favorite Things); Soft Sky cardstock (Stampin' Up!); Recollections Silver cardstock (Michaels); Chalk Studio Basics 6x6 paper pad (My Mind's Eye); foam tape