Handmade Birthday Card for My Nephew Karim

Couple of weeks ago my nephew Karim turned one! Happy Birthday Karim! Karim is just the happiest baby I ever saw. When he smiles, his whole face smiles and especially his blue blue eyes. I love to make handmade cards for my family and friends when time allows and this time I wanted to make sure that Karim will get his special first birthday card.
I was not able to take pictures of the whole process but I was able to do so for most of it. You can choose the colors and patterns you like, I hope this card inspires you.

List of Supplies

• A chocolate brown cardstock paper (at least 5*10)
• An orange cardstock paper (at least 5*2)
• A colorful strip of paper to make the elephant punch
• A complimentary colorful strip of paper to make the border
• Ruler 
• A matching square envelop that fits the card 
• Small soft eyeshadow make up brush
• Foam adhesive square
• Glue 
• Elephant Paper Punch (Martha Stewart)
• A ballpoint tip glue pen (Martha Stewart)
• Glitter (Martha Stewart)
• Scoring board
• Paper trimmer

Method:

• Using the paper trimmer, I cut the brown chocolate card stock into 5*10 piece which will  become the card.  
• I also cut the orange card stock a 5*2 piece. 
• Using the scoring board, I scored the the brown stock card in the middle making a square card 5*5. You can use a bone folder instead of a scoring board 
• Using the elephant puncher, I punched 3 elephants out of the colorful paper. I put some glue on the elephant ears and sprinkled some blue sparkles on each elephant ear. I tapped on the back of each elephant to shake the excess. I do not discard the excess! I put it back in the container for reuse. I left the elephants to dry.
• I positioned the foam adhesive in the middle of the card using a ruler to make sure that they are aligned. I placed the punched out elephant on the adhesive foams. This creates a nice dimensional effect because the elephants are raised.

• Using the paper trimmer, I trimmed four 5 inches long borders and one 10 inches long border: 2 for the front page of the card, 2 for the inside of the card and the 10 inches boarder will be used on the envelop.
• I glued the two 5 inches boarder trims on the front page of the card, one on top and the other on the bottom border.
• Using the ballpoint tip glue pen, I wrote "Happy Birthday Karim" and then I sprinkled it with glitter. I made sure to cover the whole area. I used the color blue because it ties all the papers together. I shook the excess on a piece of paper and poured the excess back into the glitter container. Using a small brush, I cleaned the remaining glitter around the letter while making sure that I don't touch the glittered letters. I used a small soft eyeshadow make up brush that I don't use anymore and I left it to dry. 

• When completely dry, I glued the remaining two 5 inches long borders on top and bottom of the orange piece to create a frame effect

• I had a green square envelop that fits the card and matches the colors. I normally make my own envelops (I will post about that later), but due to the time crunch I decided to use an already made one that I had. My name is Nadine and I am a paperholic. 

• I wrapped the remaining 10 inch colored border around the bottom border of the envelop and glued it. I left it to Dry. I signed the card from the inside with a blue colored pen.

I just want to let you know that the postage of this card is 65 cents because of its square shape if mailing inside the US.