A Birthday Card for Little Boys for Mojo Monday

Well, I am concentrating on little boy  birthday cards lately for the simple reason that I'm going to need a lot of them in the coming months and years.  I already have 3 grandsons and 1 granddaughter, and I just learned last week that the grandbaby we are expecting in January will also be a boy! I had three daughters, who I love dearly, but no sons, so I didn't get to experience raising boys.  My girls are helping me make up for that by supplying many little grandsons for me, and I'm loving it.  (And Cedar, you are a special little granddaughter, too!)

I used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week as a rough basis for my layout:

I had fun designing the front of the card using the Boys Will Be Boys stamp set.  It has such cute images and they are images of things little dudes like, such as anything to do with technology or building!

• I'm loving the colour palette of warm, autumn colours here, including a sheet of water-coloured Crushed Curry from the Colour Me Autumn DSP in the new Holiday Catalogue.
• Finally, I'm getting around to using the Striped Grosgrain Ribbon which I love!  It has a great bold look to it, adding another dimension to the project.

And speaking of dimensions, this card has a surprise inside:

• This is an example of the Building Block Pop Up Technique which you can see in a little more detail here!  I'm not going to give you much in the way of details, because this is one of the sample cards from this month's Stamp of the Month Club.  Find out more here.

And it's Tuesday, so here are this week's weekly deals!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today! 

Product List

Boys Will Be Boys Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134138]	Boys Will Be Boys Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134135]	Hip Notes [wood] [133501]	Hip Notes [clear] [133504]	Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper [135820]
Crushed Curry 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131199]	Always Artichoke 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [105119]	Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [119685]	Crumb Cake 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [120953]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [101650]
Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad [126972]	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [126966]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [131173]	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965]	Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [132187]
Crushed Curry 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon [134555]	Postage Stamp Punch [122344]	1" Square Punch [124094]	Stampin' Trimmer [126889]	Envelope Punch Board [133774]
Paper Snips [103579]

Boys Will Be Boys for The Paper Players

You would think that with all my grandchildren coming for the weekend, that I would be all over doing a child's birthday card, but I was having a hard time designing today.  However, I'd been thinking about The Paper Players latest challenge and so finally got serious about it.  I'm still not sure about the outcome, but I'll let you be the judge.

The challenge is for a clean and simple child's birthday card.

Maybe I'm having trouble with it because it is clean and simple and that is my least favourite style.  One of my Stamp of the Month Club members requested a stamp set for this month with a child's theme as well, so I got out my new set, Boys Will Be Boys and started working with that.






When I was deciding on my colour palette, I thought about my oldest grandson, Parker, who is 2 1/2.  He would insist that Purple is the best colour ever.  (He sometimes calls himself 'Purple Man'!)  So I decided to use Blackberry Bliss (and other purples), Smoky Slate and Always Artichoke.

         

• On my first attempt, I added almost all the toy images in the stamp set, to mimic a toy-strewn playroom floor.  It did look authentic, but from a design point of view, it was too crowded and I wanted to add the parachute guy, popped up on dimensionals, looking like he was floating in with birthday greetings.  Finally, I decluttered the floor and it works much better.
• I do have a bit of a problem with the "best kid ever" sentiment.  I don't know about your family, but my kids would have been like, "See, I told you Mom loves me best!"  I had to be so careful with everything, making it all even in one way or another.
• I finished it off with 3 Elegant Eggplant candy dots and it's going to have to do!  What would you add to this, or take away from it?

                         

Today is the first day of the Starter Kit Promotion!  How amazing!  To pay $125 and get $190 worth of your choice of product.  And for three months after that, even if you don't sell a thing, (although it's a good return if you do), you can get a 20% discount on the stamping supplies you love!  Email me if you want more information.  Check out the benefits of joining my team here.  And when you can't wait another minute click the Join My Team tab on the top menu of this page and follow the prompts.  Don't wait, though, because this promotion is only on for a week.  After August 28, 2014, you will miss this amazing offer.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

Boys Will Be Boys Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134138]	Boys Will Be Boys Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134135]	Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133675]	Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131202]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]
Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad [133642]	Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad [126972]	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [133654]	Regals Stampin' Write Markers [131262]	Wisteria Wonder Stampin' Write Marker [131903]
Regals Candy Dots [130932]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]	Paper Snips [103579]