Never ending birthday wishes for Renee

Today's card is one I made for my dear friend & SU team member Renee, who celebrated her 40^th birthday in style at the beginning of March. Renee herself gave me the idea to make her a never ending card, when we last caught up, as she said she'd like to try making one. So, I thought she might like a sample. If you haven't seen one before, the basic idea is that the card has four different panels that you can see as you fold the card. So, here we go with the front.

 I've mixed & matched Love Letter DSP for most of the panels, mixed with a little stamping. The happy birthday on the front is from 'Engraved Greetings'. A very elegant set in the IB&C I hadn't really noticed, until my friend Leanne kept using it & convinced me it was a must have – especially for a vintage look. Thanks Lea. I added some basic pearls to make to add some detail without adding much thickness. My Timeless Type alphabet came out again for the 40 & it got the pearl treatment too.

Then, you fold back the panel... & you can see the second view.

This page includes a panel to write a birthday greeting (& did you notice I managed to sneak in one of my favourite 'Fabulous Phrases' stamps again?) & more dsp, which I fussy cut to match panels. I've also included the happy birthday scallop greeting from the SAB 'Punch Bunch' set.

More folding & you see the third view, which also includes some more 'Fabulous Phrases' words, which I stamped & punched so they link to read 'happy birthday to you friend'.

One more fold & you have the fourth & final view. The saying I've used here is from the retired 'It's Your Birthday' set (I think) & is a birthday favourite of mine. 

Once you fold over this page, you're back to the front page again.

I have to say that using this dsp was a bit of a challenge for me, as while I love & use heaps of riding hood red, I very rarely use black & the paper design is a bit more vintage & combining all the patterns isn't my usual style. However, as one of my stamping goals this year is to challenge myself more (as well as just stamp more!), I was glad I used it & was pretty happy with the final result...although at times I'm not sure, lol. In any case, I hope Renee liked it, as that's always most important!

Anyway, hope this gives you some ideas to try. Never ending cards are really fun to make & always give a real wow...especially to guys who can't work out how you did it. If you'd like to see some more of my never ending cards, you can check out these ones I made ages ago & also check out this video by Dawn, which I very much needed, the first time I tried to make one. Hope you have a happy weekend. Thanks for popping in.

Inky wishes, Di

PS: In case you're wondering, the finished card front is 14cm x 14cm

Supplies:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases (Summer Mini), Punch Bunch (SAB), Engraved Greetings, It's Your Birthday (retired)

Card/Paper: riding hood red, Love Letter DSP

Ink: Basic Black & riding hood red ink pads

Accessories: basic pearls

Tools: Big Shot, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies, square scallop punch