Honeybee Birthday Card

It’s a friend’s birthday on New Year’s Day and because I’ve been ill, I’ve got very behind with things, and I’m not going to get this to her in time. I have managed to finish the card, but the glue is still wet so it can’t be posted. Like everything else this year, it can’t be helped!

This friend is a keen bee keeper, and to go with the honey soap I have made her, I’ve decided to make a bee-themed card.

I began with a piece of yellowish-cream card which I embossed in a honeycomb pattern using my Cuttlebug and a Fiskar’s Texture Plate. This was inked by smooshing distress inks in Scattered Straw, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade onto my non-stick craft sheet, spritzing with water, and pulling the card through the wet ink.

I sprayed the top part with some Dylusions spray ink in Pure Sunshine, and held it up and allowed it to drip.

I blotted up the spatters from the craft sheet onto the card to add a bit more interest. After drying it with my heat gun, I spattered it with water droplets and blotted it off on kitchen paper, and dried it again.

The card base was formed from an A4 sheet of white cardstock which I inked with the same three distress inks, and again I spattered it with water, blotted it off and dried it.

The edges of both card base and topper were distressed with Rusty Hinge distress ink, using one of my home-made blending tools.

I inked the inside of the card with the same distress inks.

Using my Stampotique Big Bee stamp, I stamped the card base using sepia archival ink.

 

I also stamped a piece of cream card with the same stamp, and coloured it with Rusty Hinge and Wild Honey distress inks, using them as watercolours by smooshing them on my non-stick craft sheet and picking up with ink with a wet brush. I added some shading with the two colours to give the bee a bit more dimension.

I cut out the bee and painted the edge with some Walnut Stain distress ink.

Turning the bee over, I embossed it from behind, using ball embossing tools onto a fun foam base.

Stamping the sentiment. I used the “Happy Birthday” from the Stampin’ Up Perfectly Penned set, using sepia archival ink. I also stamped this sentiment inside the card.

I layered the topper onto the card base using my ATG tape glue gun, and inked and stamped the envelope with the same distress inks and water spattering, and stamped some bees using Antique Linen distress ink for a more subtle effect.

The bee embellishment was attached using a thick application of Pinflair gel glue and left overnight to dry.

The wings of the bee were emphasised with a coat of glossy accents, and once this was dry and the bee was firmly adhered, I added some more Pinflair glue underneath the wings to stop them from becoming crushed flat.

The finished card.

Detail of the bee embellishment.