Happy Birthday, America!

My first Inspiration Team Challenge is Envelope Art and I knew I wanted to make something patriotic!  I’ve had this retired Stampin’ Up set for a very long time and it was perfect for this project!  The first thing I did was to clear-emboss the stars onto a piece of watercolor cardstock, then  silver-embossed Happy Birthday and You’re The Best from Brutus Monroe‘s Super Sentimental set.  Using Fired Brick and Faded Jeans Distress inks, I sponged the background then sponged a little Pumice Stone around the edges.  A scrunched up baby wipe, lightly tapped over the sponging made a subtle texture!

Setting that aside, I heat-embossed my central image with silver embossing powder and tore around the edges, then sponged on more distress ink.  I found a piece of mulberry paper which I’ve had for YEARS, and placed it beneath the image, then adhered it to my card front with a bit of foam tape.  A few sequins and a white card base completed my card!

Now for my envelope!!  I have a great stamp of the Pledge of Allegiance and stamped it twice in Pumice Stone onto the front and back of my envelope.  Lady Liberty  graces the lower right hand corner and Sent with Love (from Super Sentimental!) in black on the left corner.  I randomly stamped stars in red and blue then sponged red and blue around the edges.

I love how this duo turned out for the Envelope Art challenge and look forward to creating more projects using Brutus Monroe’s fabulous products!