by: Bea Rosenleaf

 
Thinking outside the box is not something I do well. What can you expect from someone who worked with numbers most of her life?  Left brain, right brain, definitely more left...um,  I think. And then, some may say no brains at all.  But I digress...

I was looking for inspiration for a great birthday card idea for one of my grandsons who is turning 5 and came across directions for the stairstep card.  So I decided this might be something fun for a 5 year old recipient.  Then the hunt was on for a 'cutsie' stamp, after all, you should use a cutsie stamp image for a child, right? Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a 'cutsie' stamper and own very little in the way of 'cutsie' stamp images.  What to do?  I don't live where I can just jump in my car and drive to the craft store to buy a stamp. And why would I want to buy a stamp that I will probably only use one time?  It was a dilemma...after all, grandsons don't turn 5 everyday!

I started looking through all my stamps. No, that one wouldn't work. Ummm, well maybe this one...okay maybe not.  Then, lo and behold I ran across an old stamp set I got years ago.  The wonderful bear image would work perfectly.  Tristen loves anything to do with the great outdoors!  THEN, I remembered I had the Cricut cartridge called Camping Out. And THEN, I remembered I had a decorative paper pad from WAY back that had a camping/outdoors theme.  Oh, yeah!  Now I was in business!

Here are the results of  'The Grandson's Birthday Card Dilemma:'

Supplies:
Stamps:
Bearable (Dream Impressions)
Birthday sentiment (The Angel Company)
Papers:
White ultrasmooth cardstock
Cream cardstock
Brown cardstock (Bazzill)
Dark green scrap of cardstock
Medium green scrap of cardstock
Sepia colored sky scrapbook paper (unknown)
Into the Woods bitty Scrap Pads (Provo Craft)
Inks:
Mementos ink pads (Tsukinenko)
     Rich Cocoa
     Black Tuxedo
Shinhan alcohol markers:
     107 Sand
        92 Chocolate
        18 Peach
       s26 Pastel Peach
     139 Flesh      
Other:
Cricut die cutting machine (Provo Craft)
Camping Out cartridge (Provo Craft)
Quickie Glue pen (Sakura)
Carmel Latte Tan Fun Flock (Stampendous)
Adhesive of choice (I use an ATG gun)
Pop Dots (All Night Media)
Scissors
Black Zig Memory System pen (Kuretake Co., Ltd.) [can use any black pen]

Directions:

1. Cut sheet of white cardstock to 5.5" x 11".  Score at 1.25", 2.5", 4.25", 6" and 8.25".  (Hint: A Score Pal or Scor It Board makes this an easy job. Or you can use your paper trimmer and bone folder, running the bone folder along the groove.)
2. Fold the cardstock to create stair steps: 1.25" score is a mountain fold; 2.5" score is a valley fold; 4.25" score, a mountain fold; 6" fold, a valley fold; and the 8.25" score, a mountain fold.
3. Set the cut size for the mountain at 3" on the Cricut machine. Cut the large mountain from dark Brown. The smaller mountain from the Sky print paper, and then do a blackout cut of the large mountain from the Cream cardstock. Adhere all three layers together. The sides need to be trimmed just a bit to fit the width of the card. Set aside.
4. Set the cut size for the trees at 3.5". Cut the row of trees from the dark Green cardstock. Next cut the tree layer from the medium Green cardstock. Layer these together a little off-set to create a look several trees. Set aside.
5. Stamp the bear with Rich Cocoa ink. Color his coat with the Sand color marker.  Outline the dark brown markings with the Chocolate marker. Color the bear's nose with layers starting with the Peach (this was a mistake on my part, I was only going to color the nose with pastel Peach), then with the Pastel Peach and then with the Flesh.  Layering the colors created a better color for the nose (even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted). 
6. Using the Quickie Glue pen, 'color' in the tan portions of the bear's head. Sprinkle with the Fun Flock and lightly press.  Do not rub off yet.  Now do the leg portion of the bear, followed by the body.  (Hint: Do smaller portions at a time so the glue doesn't dry out.) Once the fun flock has set for a while, then gently rub off and discard the excess (either put back into the container, or throw it away) Cut the bear out. Set aside.
7. Cut decorative papers to fit the fronts of each of the folds and adhere.
8. The paper pad had a nice bordered block that I used for the front of the card and stamped with 'happy happy birthday.' Stamp the sentiment with Tuxedo Black ink. Now we start to layer the pieces to the card.  When adhering the mountain to the back 'step', make sure the peak stays within 4.25", so that it will fit in an A2 envelope.  Adhere the trees to the left side of the middle 'step.' Adhere the sentiment block to front of the card.
9. Attach 3-d pop dots along the bottom of the bear only.  Attach him to the front right side of the card.
10. Optional: To personalize the card, write a note to the recipient on the mountain. I wrote: "Tristen is 5!" going up and then down the lighter layer.
11. Make sure you sign the back of your work of art and then proudly send off.

Note:  I included the fun flock on the bear to give the card texture and it makes the card more interactive for a young child.  When Tristen receives his card, he can have fun 'petting' his bear whenever he wants to.