A Little Crumb Cake for Pam’s Birthday

I don’t want to be overly dramatic about this, but my life changed the day I met Pam Morris.  I had been away from stamping for many, many years.  It was the tail-end of Sale-a-Bration in 2011, and I had reached out to several local Stampin’ Up! demonstrators to try to get a new catalog and sign up as a demonstrator (I wanted to buy my goodies at a discount).  I received no return calls or emails until I found Pam.  Pam returned my call immediately and came to my house shortly after that to demo some new products.  I signed up, not really knowing where this demonstratorship would take me.

I am so grateful for my friendship with Pam – we talk almost every day.  Today is Pam’s birthday (it seems to happen this same time every year!), and I had to make a special card for this special friend.  Since Pam really likes simplicity and neutrals, I thought this was a perfect design and layout for Pam:Morning Meadow (hostess), Stampin' Up!, Brian King

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • Color Choices.  I’ve been sharing my thoughts about masculine cards for some time – my main encouragement is to select colors that are fitting the individual – not all “man cards” need to be blue or brown.  The same is true for a woman’s card.  While this card prominently showcases browns (Soft Suede and Crumb Cake), there’s a ton of femininity in the Blushing Bride border and ribbon – oh, and there are flowers here, too.
  • Ooopsies!  All I wanted on the face of this card was three flowers, a band of ribbon and a Happy Birthday Banner.  When I went to place the banner, thought I accidentally glopped some glue just to the right of the flower (“glopped” is the technical term for when you drop a glop of glue).  When I tried to get into the bitty space with my adhesive remover (best thing ever), I got too aggressive and ripped the paper a bit.  After a loud “argh!” with my fist to the sky, I reached for my Bird Builder punch and added some leaves to cover up that glob-induced mess.
  • Blushing Bride.  Blushing Bride is a returning color this year.  I think it was an In Color when I joined, but I didn’t invest time in it since it was about to retire.  I have to say I love the color.  Pink Pirouette is a paler, brighter color, while Blushing Bride is warm.  That’s why Blushing Bride pairs so well with Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.  These neutrals really bring out the warmth of Blushing Bride.Morning Meadow (hostess), Stampin' Up!, Brian King

One last tip:  I placed these flowers on the center piece of the card before mounting that to the Soft Suede base.  I wanted the flowers to overlap the border of the center piece a bit but didn’t expect them to overlap the edge of the card.  In my poor planning, they do.  How ever would I get them into an envelope?!?  The answer was easier than I expected.  Because I can make my envelope any size I want (thank you, envelope punch board!), I just adjusted the size of the envelope accordingly.  While the card base is 5-1/2″ square, the envelope is cut to fit a 6″ square card.  Easy as pie!

Stamp Sets:  Morning Meadow (hostess)  Inks:  Soft Suede  Papers:  Soft Suede, Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Pistachio Pudding  Accessories:  White Textured Embossing Powder, Pearl Basic Jewels, 3/4″ Chevron Ribbon (Blushing Bride), Bird Builder punch, Pansy punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Please help me wish Pam a very happy birthday!  She has promised she won’t look at my post until after our lunch together (she’s stopping by Cox tomorrow to “take a break from folding laundry”), but I’m sure she’ll be so happy to read your well wishes then.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today,

Brian

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37 Comments

  1. Happiest Birthday Pam! Put down the Laundry and have yourself a fabulous lunch on Brian! te he. Love the square card and spray of pretty flowers!

  2. Happy Birthday Pam. Great card Brian. A nice and soft change from the current Halloween & Christmas colors. You are so funny about the glob of glue and the leaves. They look totally planed. Thanks a bunch. 🙂

  3. Absolutely beautiful card for Pam! Happy Birthday to her! She sounds like a very sweet lady! And, I’m very happy that she helped you out when you wanted to get into Stampin’ Up!:-)

  4. i really love the simple warmth of this card and the colour combo you picked, Brian. Just beautiful.

  5. Nicely done Brian. The colors are. . . . . calming, soothing. Especially welcome to look at after listening to the Atlanta morning traffic report and driving in dense fog!!! I don’t have Blushing Bride in my stash but with your wonderful description of the color it will be on the top of my next shopping list. Thanks for another beautiful card.

  6. Oh I love these colors and I really like that you chose a soft green to do the leaves . I wouldn`t have thought about that choice . This is a great birthday card for Pam …And i wish her the happiest of birthdays !

  7. Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday, dear Pam! Enjoy your birthday lunch with Brian this noon. I am sure you will have quite a few laughs. How fun!
    Your card is LOVELY! I am so happy to see Blushing Bride on this card. When I first saw Blushing Bride and held it up to Pink Pirouette, I wasn’t really that impressed. Wrong! It isn’t supposed to be compared to another light pink! And seeing you pairing it with Soft Suede and Crumb Cake and the delicate Morning Meadow blossoms … so delicate! And I think the “glop” of glue was destined to happen because the Pistachio Pudding leaves totally complete the focal design!
    Thank you, “glop” 😉 and thank you, Brian, for sharing Pam’s beautiful birthday card and yet another “technical” stamping term!

  8. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAM!! what a beautiful card you got from Brian!!! I love the colors, very soft, very sweet indeed. If you hadn’t mentioned the accidently glopped glue, no one would have ever noticed but the addition of the leaves really looks fabulous. This is a very educational blog, I never heard of the technical term “glopp” or “glopped” so thank you for expanding my craft vocabulary, Brian.

  9. What a soft and beautiful card for a very beautiful woman! Pam is such a sweet lady and love her contagious smile!

  10. Laurie Burns Gachewicz

    What a lovely card for a lovely lady!! Happy birthday Pam!!! So glad that you & Brian connected and are such great friends!!! You have perfectly combined Blushing Bride, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, and Pistachio Pudding Brian!!!!! 🙂

  11. Happy Birthday Pam! And thank you for returning Brian’s call!! Love the flowers overlapping the edge of this card and the addition of the “greenery.”

  12. Hi Pam, happy birthday! I hope that you love Brian’s card as much as I do. The colors look great together. This is what I would say is a simple and elegant card. (Well done Brian!)

  13. Brian, your card is stunning! Thank you for your tip on “glopping”. I do that a lot, so your wisdom will be put to the task. Pam sure is lucky. Enjoy your day.

  14. What a beautiful color combo, Brian! Pam is a lucky gal and from what it sounds like a most wonderful friend!

  15. So soothing and relaxing to look at. Very fitting for a special friend. I love it! Have a very Happy Birthday Pam!

  16. Pam rocks and so does this card!

  17. Ooh Brian what a BEAUITIFUL card , for a BEAUITIFUL Lady !!!! Pam have a vary happy happy Birthday ,
    Hugs to both of you ,
    Frenchie

  18. HBDTY, Pam!!! Have fun with Brian at your birthday lunch, wish we could all be there to celebrate with you! ( that would be a very crowded restaurant, no?)
    The card is gorgeous and will be CASED like crazy, I am sure. I’m planning on it!
    And yes, I too, read this blog for technical terms. I already knew this one, however…….LOL!

  19. Happy Birthday Pam! Thanks for your personal touch that brought Brian into the fold. You are both such a credit to SU and the stamping community. Oh, and beautiful card Brian!

  20. Happy Birthday Pam……………..we all owe you one for giving us Brian as a demonstrator! I mean really, what would we do without him?
    Fabulous card Brian (as always). I missed reading your posts while I was gone but will go back and play catch up as soon as time permits!

  21. Happy Birthday Pam….thanks for the inspiration Beian. Beautiful card.

  22. This is gorgeous, Brian! Can’t wait to make one myself. What a special birthday card.

  23. What a Lovely card! You are so thoughtful, Brian! ;-D
    And a very Happy Birthday, to Pam!!

  24. Happy birthday, Pam! I hope you enjoy your day and this beautiful card from Brian.

  25. Happy Birthday Pam, have a wonderful day! Beautiful, soft card Brian, love your colour selection.

  26. Happy Birthday Pam!! Wish I was there to celebrate with you and Brian. The card Brian made you is beautiful, with your clean and simple lines. Maybe you can ask Brian for me, how did he get the color around the petals of the flowers? Have a fun day!

    • Thanks! We had a great lunch (more tomorrow). I embossed the flower on colored card stock and then punched with the Pansy punch. The punch leaves a border around the stamped (or embossed) image.

  27. Happy Birthday, Pam! What a bonus you got in Brian–a new recruit AND a great friend! I’ll bet those other demonstrators you contacted, Brian, are still kicking themselves for not contacting you! Beautiful card!

  28. I love this card ALMOST as much as I love you. Great color choices.

  29. I can’t thank you all enough for all of the sweet birthday wishes. It has been a perfect day so far. I had lunch with Brian and got his stunning card, which is even prettier in real life, a wonderful, practical gift that was desperately needed (Big Shot platform) and a delicious lunch! Brian and I laughed all through lunch and I am sure he will share details soon. Thank you Brian for everything you did for me today, for your sweet post today, but mostly for being such a great friend and partner in stamping. I love you to pieces!

  30. Wow, this is beautiful! Happy Birthday Pam! Brian, you are too funny!

  31. Lucky Pam!! Beautiful card, Brian!

  32. Lucky gal; this card is gorgeous! Happy birthday, Pam!

  33. Hi Brian. I’m so glad Pam was there for you. I just found your blog and I’m a fairly new demo. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and passion for crafting. I wish you much success, crafting and all!

  34. Oh my goodness Brian. I have just watched the video of you and Pam, and had to come looking for the card post. It is so beautiful, Pam is a very lucky girl.

  35. I’m catching up on your posts in reverse order. *Love* Pam’s birthday card! I know that you two had a great birthday celebration lunch. HBB, Pam!!!

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